Une gourmandise - Gourmet Rhapsody

This is one of those books I read after I've first read about the author, and have become intrigued by their personality.  Une gourmandise by Muriel Barbery, is the first of the two books the author has written, before giving up writing and moving from France to Japan.  
The book covers the last days of a famous food critic and his attempt to remember a type of food from his childhood which should epitomise the absolute "taste".  It is a very long journey down memory lane, with detailed descriptions on his first / best experience with all staples of cooking: from the humble tomato, to the multi-tasking bread, to the fresh sushi...  Together with his re-discovery of past dishes in his life, we also encounter his "entourage", thereby getting to know his real character, which is far from nice.
I found Barbery's writing style and technique very good, which makes it easy and relaxing to read this book.  I could not,  however, find the content was that exciting, even though I consider myself a foodie.  At times, I rather felt sorry for the main character, who would regard food as his only pleasure in life - the proof is that nothing from all these descriptions has stayed with me. 


Hidden behind all this food though, I thought I could discern the author's attempt to describe the different aspects of our lives and that of those around us, and how the two intertwine, sometimes without us knowing.  She succeeds in doing so by interchanging chapters of the main character recalling his encounters with the different types of food and of the people around him and how they regard him, offering thus a peek into this personality - pleasure (of food) and pain (of the person).  I particularly found the chapters of the family members very moving, referring to the love/hate relationship towards the main character. 


One of the most memorable quotes in the book is actually the end:  "la question ce n'est pas de manger, ce n'est pas de vivre, c'est de savoir pourquoi" (the question is not (just) to eat or to live - it is to know why)
All in all, it was a pleasant book - I will however reserve judgement on the author until I've read her second book,   L' élégance hu hérisson (The Elegance of the Hedgehog), which I'm told is extraordinary.

(This was the second book I read in French and I'm now confident that I can try more difficult books in that language!)

Read for the We want you to read French Authors and the European Reading challenges

Black Dagger Brotherhood

Patricia is guest-blogging

I have always been a big fan of vampire novels.  I faithfully read the Lestat series by Anne Rice, was reading Sookie Stakehouse's adventures before they were turned into a TV series (True Blood) and have even read the Twilight series, but my favourite are the Black Dagger Brotherhood novels, by J.R. Ward.

When I started reading book blogs, a couple of years ago, I was constantly coming across references to the vampires of the Black Dagger Brotherhood (BDB for the fans). Avid fans refer to this series as 'crack'.  There are blogs and facebook pages devoted to BDB where fans dissect each book, their favourite brother and discuss which actors they would like to see playing the different characters if the series was ever transferred to movies. So I decided to see what the fuss was about and bought the first novel 'Dark Lover'.  I started it reading it one evening and I have to admit that I did not get much sleep that night.  I was hooked.  I immediately rushed out to buy the rest of the series, which I devoured and avidly await each new addition.

The novels focus on the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a group of 'highly trained vampire warriors who protect their species against the Lessening Society.  As a result of selective breeding within the race, the Brothers possess immense physical and mental strength, as well as rapid healing capabilities.'  Each novel focuses on one warrior and his mate against the backdrop of their ongoing war with the Lessening society, an 'order of slayers convened by the Omega for the purpose of eradicating the vampire species', and vampire politics.  The mythology is very straightforward and easy to follow, unlike some other paranormal romances where elaborate timelines and background notes are sometimes necessary to follow the books.

Book festival loot

It's fun going on a shopping spree.  It's especially fun going on a shopping spree at a book festival - it's Paradise!! (yes, first experience, please forgive...).

So, when Patricia told me of the Book Festival in Leuven, I knew I would have a great time.  Quite close to home, plenty of space for whatever one can imagine about books.  I was prepared however:  I had one sturdy bag with me for any heavy coffee-table books, and a couple of linen bags for the rest.  

I can only recommend this experience.  The vastness that is a book festival and the variety of books - not to mention the prices, which are really very low - make it worth the while getting up early in the morning and setting out for the excursion.  The excellent organisation as well of such an endeavour means that there is a book trolley at my disposal and plenty of space to walk around at ease and browse the titles.  And that's how I got my first loot!  Very good experience, to be repeated as soon as possible!

For literary purposes, I got Ian Rankin's Watchman, Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls and Maggie O'Farrell's The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox.  For my other interests, I got a book on Indian Cooking and Nicky Epstein's Signature Scarves - Dazzling designs to knit.  

The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet

When The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell was proposed in my book club, I was excited. I had first heard about it during another writer's visit and presentation here in Brussels, A.S. Byatt. She spoke so highly of this book, that I knew I would love it too (since I love her books, it follows that I'll love the books she loves too...).  Added to this that the book is about the Orient at the time of the Dutch sea trade, and I was already imagining epic movies of the golden-era...

The size of the book did not hinder me from starting with gusto! This novel starts off so beautifully and before long, pages started flying away, chapters went by ... and I was left perplexed. Did I like the book or not? I just couldn't tell. This is the first time something like that has ever happened to me, so I was quite at a loss. In discussing this with other people, I soon discovered that I was not the only one. But why? Something as simple as liking a book (or not) surely should be evident. It was only when I started reading another book in parallel (that was the exact opposite of this one) that I discovered what the matter was.

The book has excellent content and the research carried out is extensive - and this alone makes me love it.  The information on the Japanese Empire of 1799,  the lives and mischiefs of merchants, courtesans and interpreters, the corruption among the Dutch East Indies officials were all there to ignite my imagination.

What is lacking however, at least for me, is the eloquence. So much is lost in the transcription of all the stories happening to de Zoet during his stay in the Orient. I cannot feel the passion, the tension that I would imagine was happening to someone "invading" a culture so foreign, so closed to outsiders. The writing style and tone is constant throughout the book and this makes the characters in the book colourless, odourless, tasteless. (The most colourful characters are the minor ones...). As I was reading of the adventures, I was constantly surprised that they were described as a "matter of fact". I wanted the highs and lows, the vibrant colours, the excitement, the lure of anything oriental... Alas, it was not meant to be. It seems like several (perhaps too many?) stories start throughout the book, but are never finished. Characters or relationships are not developed enough so that I could make almost no sense of the actions.

Was I wrong in expecting more emotion? Was the purpose of the book perhaps the unveiling of this truth  - that whatever we Westerners believe happened in those days in the Far Orient is just a figment of our imagination? Who knows...

Books to read when ill

I've been down with the flu for 4 days now, and my brain is no longer functioning... this makes me very sad, because there are plenty of literature books I would like to read, but do not have the capacity... The only books I can muster to just barely read are some like this:

The French Archive of Design and Decoration

Sketches, designs and patterns of all the ideas for furniture, textiles, wallpapers -- anything basically to do with the interiors.  On a good day, I would be inspired to start changing my own house, but on days like this, I just look at the beautiful pictures and perhaps make a note somewhere for a later date...

Elizabeth Taylor - My love affair with jewelry

Well, I can't say much - she did have beautiful jewelry (I actually had the opportunity to see some of them at Christie's in Paris), but really, they are good for the soul!  Such exemplary stones counter the effect of all the medication I'm taking...

Carolyne Roehm - A passion for flowers

One of the most inspirational publications I've ever read about flowers, I constantly return to this book, just to marvel at the beauty of nature!  Roehm used to be a fashion designer, before making a turn in her life and discovering the "little pleasures" - it's always reassuring that however ill I am, there are these colours around me to comfort me...

(now, back to sleep...)

The turn of the screw

I've heard so many things about The Turn of the Screw,  and about its being the first horror/suspense fiction.  I've also heard about the movies that are based on it, so I've decided to tackle them both:  read the book, watch "The Innocents". 

The book is primarily the diary of a governess that is being read aloud during a Christmas Eve gathering by the fire - already the setting is ideal for attracting the suspense type of story-telling.  A governess new at a place, discovers secrets about her predecessors in the house, her master, as well as about the children in her charge.  Normally, these components would be sufficient to keep my interest quite high.  Being a diary, however, I also felt that, at least in the beginning, the tone was very calm, and I wondered whether the effect would lose its edge because it was not experienced first-hand, but rather described. 


I needn't have worried.  Even as descriptions, the scenes that should be scary are so, and the language used is spot-on for encouraging the appropriate reaction in a group. While reading, I tried imagining how the guy would read it aloud - tried reading it aloud myself - and I found that the intonation was excellent, the capital words used showing the peak of emotion - this is really suspense!  I remember talking about this book in my book club, and already there were people who, after having read it once, did not wish to read it again...


The story-telling is attention-grasping, with only some middle chapters providing a cushion away from all excitement.  The ending is T-O-T-A-L-L-Y unexpected and contrary to all previous practise of the times... also, very ambiguous - who is the devil? Quint or the governess?  Excellent trick - I simply loved it! (sorry, I can't say any more on this!)


The only complaint I have is that I only got to read one side of the story - the governess'.  Especially for the children, I did not feel their characters were fully developed in the story, while they are supposed to be the main actors of this relationship (if there was one) with Quint and Jessel.  Perhaps that was why I can analyse the whole story from two almost different perspectives - the ambiguity is due to the "secrets" left unsaid. But, on the other hand, perhaps that is exactly the purpose of this story!

****

I've had  "The Innocents" for quite some time now, but never gotten around to actually watching it.  Once I had finished the book, I thought that the movie would complement it perfectly.  Deborah Kerr stars in it, as the governess trying to find what has happened in the house.  Now, in general, the movie follows the book in content, but the main differentiation for me was the type of "corruption" to the children.  Whereas in the book I could almost imagine two child-molesters, the movie centred on the pair as "possessing" the children - which in turn adds one more element in the story-telling...  Very good adaptation, very good performance by Kerr but an even better by the children, this is a film best watched like I did, half-asleep (even though I am a veteran in horror movies, I did have my startling moments during the peaks in the story) 


Read for mystery & suspense challenge