Books, Bakes, and Netflix

The sky has been beautiful this week!

Reading

"Foster," a novella by Irish writer Claire Keegan is narrated by a child trying to understand what's happening when her father drops her off in an unfamiliar family for several weeks. Poor kid never quite gets what is going on. You, the reader, can almost guess. At the start:

"She leads me into the house. There’s a moment of darkness in the hallway; when I hesitate, she hesitates with me. We walk through into the heat of the kitchen where I am told to sit down, to make myself at home. Under the smell of baking there’s some disinfectant, some bleach. She lifts a rhubarb tart out of the oven and puts it on the bench to cool: syrup on the point of bubbling over, thin leaves of pastry baked into the crust. A cool draught from the door blows in, but here it is hot and still and clean. Tall ox-eyed daisies are still as the tall glass of water they are standing in." (Foster p. 8).

Mystery Reading List

Beginning to run out of ideas on what to read, I was happy to see a Washington Post article titled: "The 10 best mystery novels of 2023: Richard Osman, Brendan Slocumb and Elly Griffiths are among the authors who kept us happily guessing whodunnit this year." I've read and liked three of the ten selections. I'm not crazy about The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp but I might try one or two more from this list to see if there are some good new ideas.

One of the Washington Post's 10 best mysteries of the year so far.

Leonie Swann is a pseudonymn for some German writer whose real identity seems unknown. The internet seems to have virtually no information about this author. I can't find any real reviews of The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp. I wonder how it ended up on the Washington Post list. 

I find this novel mildly offensive because of its very ugly ideas about elderly people and how brain-dead they are, and how they try to overcome their miserable mental and physical decline. The characters int he book rarely walk: they hobble or dodder or stumble. Their minds are foggy. Maybe some readers find this funny, or at least think elderly people are a fair target for insensitive humor. I don't find it so. 

It's true that each chapter has the name of a very typical British food, and that this food plays a role in the chapter. Chelsea Buns, Cottage Pie, Curry, Victoria Sponge, Scones, Bangers and Mash, Biscuits, Gin and Tonic and on and on. But this isn't the Great British Baking Show. This foodie stuff isn't enough to make me like the book. In fact, it's sort of mechanical and annoying.

The murder-mystery plot is not terrible, but not great either, and the ending is contrived. Maybe it's supposed to be some kind of farce or satire. Not very successful...I don't recommend it.

Two Books on Bread

The Bakers of Paris and the Bread Question 1700-1775 (published 1996) and Good Bread is Back (published 2005) by Steven Laurence Kaplan: two very scholarly and excruciatingly detailed books about bread. Topics include the history of bread in France, its social implications, economic consequences, controversies over acceptable ingredients and techniques, technical baking details, and more. These books focus on the 18th and 20th century. I found them tough reading, and didn't really read every bit carefully. But if you want to know about French bread, I think Kaplan is really the world expert and there will never be another.

Actual Bread in Our Kitchen

Reading about French bread inspired a bake from the famous Poilâne book...

Len's beautiful and delicious Poilâne loaf.

New Netflix Series

In eight episodes, this animated series follows a wandering samurai (or ronin) in ancient Japan has all kinds of adventures on a quest to find their father. The art work is fabulous, with echoes or even direct copying of Japanese woodblocks and other art works. The adventures are a bit predictable, but the beauty of the scenes and the use of Japanese themes kept me watching. In fact, I will probably watch Season 2 if it doesn't descend into too much repetition. Definitely adult content! Not for prudes or the faint of heart!

Reviews © 2023 mae sander