Review: Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen

Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I read this because it was recommended by Nigella Lawson, and when she says something is good I trust that. And rightly so - I've never had a bad recipe from her, and this book is a truly wonderful read. Lawson said of this book: "Laurie Colwin writes about food with love, lightness and an elegant intimacy reminding us that cooking is about life, not recipes". And this to me perfectly sums up this book. It may be about food, but food is life.

When reading you feel welcomed into the writer's world. It is not the food itself that is important but the life we lead around it and the memories we create. It is not the incredible dinners Colwin remembers but the people that were their and the things that happened. The food, in this case, is a side dish to a wonderfully full (if short) life. I particularly enjoyed her recollections of her first forays into cooking in her minuscule one-room apartment (intriguingly titled 'Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant') and her appraisal of potato salad - which she beloveds, and I agree, can never be truly awful. These are honest, everyday food experience to which every reader can relate. This is not a pretentious food snob telling you with gusto about the time the perfected their signature dish, it is your friend telling you about that hilarious time they ruined a perfectly good red snapper trying to seduce their future husband.

There are recipes in this book, but I doubt I will cook any of them for this book has touched me in a way that goes far beyond mere recipes and delves into the real reasons we cook, speaking to the heart rather than our stomachs.



View all my reviews

Book Review: In the Midst of Life

In the Midst of Life by Jennifer Worth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is a bit of a change in tone from the others (that I've read so far - I still have Farewell to the East End: The Last Days of the East End Midwives to read). It is more serious and sombre in tone, and the sense of nostalgia and memory is missing. This is not to its detriment however, as the book poses many questions and dilemmas that plague modern society thanks to the advancement of medicine. This is to say though that if you want more Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s. Jennifer Worth, then I suggest you give it a miss.

Death and dying is hidden away in modern life. We celebrate births and marriages, but is that final milestone that we find so hard to confront (either before it happens, during and after). Obviously, it is not a pleasant experience but does that mean it is something to be hidden? Jennifer Worth writes about those she knew in their last days with great practicality, logic and a firm belief that the way we die and the way we treat the dying has changed dramatically alongside the advancement of medicine. There was once a time where the dead and dying were farewelled by family and friends with grace and quiet reflection, each able to grieve in their own ways. Today however, Grandma and Grandpa are not laid out in the good room to be farewelled by all (from the smallest child to the eldest friend). Children are shielded from something it is perceived they cannot handle, from something that is entirely natural. Worth asks us to question if this is right; she asks us if death is really something to be feared.

There are no real answers (how can their be?), but there is plentiful 'food for thought'. Worth asks the important questions about how we deal with the ending of a life, as we are ourselves "in the midst of life". She asks us if we treat the dying how they may should be treated. And she asks us if modern medicine's ability to extend life is always a good thing - is there dignity and peace in death, do the dying have a right to choose to die, what kind of life is lead after being 'saved'? She asks us: is this all for the best?

Book Review: Is It Just Me?

Is It Just Me? by Miranda Hart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not quite as good as I wanted it to be, to put it simply. Perhaps my expectations were too high, or perhaps it really is not as great as it should be. I hesitate to add this, but if you are a Miranda fan some things may feel familiar, and not in a good way. I sometimes thought I'd heard these jokes before...

That said, I still really liked it and if you do love Miranda, read away! Its fun, lighthearted and amusing. I did laugh out loud, and I smiled the whole way through. Really, its impossible not too. She has a way of conveying a story that really is hilarious, and you never find it difficult to believe that these ridiculous things could happen to her. Her hilarity is just the way she is, so it certainly comes through in the writing.

Unlike other celebrity memoirs (not that I've read too many...) the voice was authentic and it was decently written. Perhaps that comes from the comedy background, and the fact she is not just an actor or presenter, but a creator. Basically, she has done this writing thing before.

So, if you like/love/adore Miranda, read the book. I can't deny its not fun, but don't go in expecting comedic genius. Genius is not what she does; she does hilarity and she does it well.