The Jane Austen Recipe Book

 The Jane Austen Recipe Book by Robert Tuesley Anderson

A delightful read from beginning to end. A kind friend brought me this littlle book from France, stamped inside with the Shakespeare and Company logo. I'm not able to travel but a souvenir like this from a thoughtful friend lets me feel I've been a part of their adventure and I am very grateful for it.

As the title says, it is a recipe book, but each recipe comes with a charming story. It may refer to one of Austen's novels, typical meals from that era, or even thoughts on food taken from Jane's own letters to her sister, Cassandra. It's all beautifully written and put together, and the recipes are very tempting.

The book is divided into six sections: Breakfast; Picnics; Nuncheons & Other Light Meals; Dinner; Trash & Sweet Things; and Entertaining: Routs and Balls. 

To tempt you further, here a few of the recipes offered - Stuffed Tomatoes; Strawberry & Lavender Shortcakes; Netherfield White Soup; Cassandra's Lobster & Asparagus; Mrs. Austen's Spinach & Potato Gratin; Charlotte Lucas's Mince Pies; and Champagne Ice. You're bound to find something you want to try. And to make it easier, all of the recipes have been adjusted to accomodate changing times and availability of ingredients. 

For any Austen fan this book will be an inspiration in the kitchen and a joy to read.

Past Imperfect

 Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes

The story's narrator, a middle-aged writer of moderate success, is contacted by Damien Baxter, a friend from youth, to help locate his heir. Immensely wealthy, bed-ridden and dying, Damien wants to know if any of his old flames may have had a child by him, someone to whom he can leave all that he's accumulated.

The narrator, who remains unnamed - I will call him N - visits each of the women in their old crowd to learn who has children and when they were born. It seems the outwardly charming Damien had been intimate with a number of them dispite his dislike of most people and their dislike of him. He's a complicated character whose treatment of others kept me from any real sympathy for him even as his condition worsened, though his final act just before dying tempered my opinion somewhat.

N's conversations with Serena, Candida, Dagmar, Joanna, Lucy, and Terry take us back to the 1960's world of debutante balls and high society parents who hold very firm opinions about who their daughters should be befriending. Now, years later, most are settled into lives that, falling short of their youthful dreams, nevertheless provide a certain stability they don't want upended by old secrets coming to light.

Unlike Damien, N developed into a sympathetic character I liked better and better as the book went on. The others we come to know in succession as they talk with N about their shared history - especially one ghastly night they all refer to - and what they've done with their lives since. You don't find out exactly what took place until all their stories finally merge in a climactic scene that forever blows apart this group of friends, though I'm not sure 'friends' is quite the right word for this group.

What kept me going through the first part of the audio book, which I didn't find particularly interesting, was the reading by Richard Morant. His easy-on-the-ears voice, kindly with a lovely English accent, perfectly created the refined, but down-to-earth, world of this story. 

I had my doubts in the beginning, but now, having finished it, I wish there was more. 

The Candy House

 The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

What an unusual and interesting novel. 

It's told in interconnecting stories narrated by different characters in different times. I got a bit lost trying to figure out who was talking and how they were connected to the person in the previous chapter, so I made a sort of character map to help keep them all straight. It wasn't pretty with criss-crossing lines and arrows showing who each one was to the other, but it helped me see the overall picture so I could concentrate on the story. 

The setting is the near future, when a new development in software enables people to upload their consciousness to an online server, then download it onto a piece of personal hardware called a cube. You could use it to regain lost memories, to re-live your best - or worst - days. Everything you've ever done, said, or thought, the good and the bad, all readily available.

With further development came the opportunity to upload the contents of your cube to a collective consciousness that everyone would have access to. As ominous as that sounds there were some benefits in areas like law enforcement and medicine. No one was required to join the collective, but if you didn't you wouldn't have access to those of others. People in favour of this data sharing were called counters, those opposed, eluders. 

The stories, some narrated in the first person, some in the third person, one in the second person "you", and one that's simply a list of text messages, examine how the technology affected different people at different times. It looks at connection and what we give up when we trade privacy for information. 

The software program - called Own Your Own Conscious - provides the basis for the story, but the book is much more about the people who designed and used it than it is about the tech itself, and that's what makes this such a compelling story. These characters came to life in a way that made me forget they're words on a page and that none of this really happened.  

Once I figured out who was who and where it was going, I loved it. 

News From Thrush Green/The Silmarillion

 News From Thrush Green by Miss Read

This third book in the lovely Thrush Green series takes us into the schoolroom of the infinitely patient Miss Watson and Miss Fogarty; the welcoming kitchen of kind Winnie Bailey, retired Dr. Bailey's wife; the parsonage of vicar Charles Henstock and his wife, Dimity; and Tulliver's, a house that long sat empty, now being being enlivened again by Phil (Phyllida), a writer of stories, and her young son. 

The arrival of an attractive young woman in the village is a topic for much speculation, more so as Phil's husband does not arrive with her. Is she married? Where is this husband she speaks of? Separated? Divorced?  Her neighbour, Harold, who becomes her good friend, is particularly interested to know.

The daily doings of gentle people in a small Cotswold village make up the story and create a world that is always comfortable to fall back into. They are a gift I give myself when I grow weary of the world we're living in today. 

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

With over 200 named characters and a timespan covering what must be thousands of years, this is a book that requires some commitment. But I love Tolkien's writing and I wanted to learn the histories referred to in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, so I dove in, just hoping to get through it eventually. 

I finished it a few days ago and have to say I loved it. I'd get bogged down in all the names, places, and battles occasionally, then take a break and come back to it later, but I didn't at any point feel like giving up. It's beautiful. 

And talk about world building! With wonderfully lyrical language Tolkien builds a world that once entered, I never want to leave. Learning about the origins of that world gives The Lord of the Rings story and characters more depth and has even made watching the movies better.

My favourite part of The Silmarillion is the creation story at the beginning - absolutely stunning and worth reading again and again. Loved it!

The Wedding People

 The Wedding People by Alison Espach

Pheobe, a young woman whose husband left her for her now ex-best friend - arrives at a resort hotel planning to have one last good meal then end her life quietly in beautiful surroundings. Through a booking error she finds herself the only guest not part of the large wedding party commandeering the rest of the hotel. 

Lila, the bride-to-be, has the week meticulously planned. After a brief encounter with Pheobe, in which Pheobe has been remarkably open about why she's there, Lila makes it clear she does not want her wedding week ruined by a suicide. And it won't be, simply because Phoebe's cat's painkillers, which she hopes will do the job, are not as powerful as she thought they'd be.   

Over the next week she gets to know the various wedding people, is able to be of help with a number of their problems, and in many ways becomes exactly what they - and she - needed.

The first few chapters seemed a little unrealistic to me. I couldn't quite believe a bride could be that high maintenance, but I've been assured since that they can indeed, and apparently it's my good fortune that I've never known one. Anyway...she and the other characters gained depth as the story progressed, becoming more credible and the story more interesting.

It might have been a better story if the cringy and unnecessary "sexting" messages had been left out. They seem to have served only for shock value or maybe they make the book more marketable, who knows. And there was an inexplicable scene about a man having sex with a car, the details of which I'll spare you.

In the end I did get quite involved in the story and found some of the characters  relatable. I liked it, but didn't love it as some in my book club did.

The Paris Express

 The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue

A slow burn of a story that starts with people boarding an express train to Paris on Oct 22,1895, and building in intensity until it arrives at its destination with a spectacular crash into the Montparnasse staion. That's not a spoiler as this is based on a true story with the ending a matter of public record. At the close of the novel the author elaborates on the news story, explaining the changes and additions she made in her novel.

There are quite a number of characters, divided among the three third-class, two second class, and two first class carriages. In addition there is the engine, the post and two baggage carriages, and half-way along the route a private carriage is added. Toward the end I was lost as to who was in what car - and it made a difference - so I tried to make a diagram. But then I got so involved in the story I just had to keep reading to see how it would end for each of these people I'd come to know. I went back to the diagram later but found I'd have to re-read almost the whole thing to get it right. This is a book that really needs to include a map of the train, or at least a list of characters and where they were. It would be much easier to follow. 

The characters include:

 Mado, a 20 yr old anarchist/feminist carrying a homemade bomb

Henry, an African American painter, fleeing racism in America.

Cecile, a pregnant woman who goes into labor on the train.

Blonska, a Russian immigrant who becomes aware of what Mado is hiding.

Hakim, who goes from car to car selling coffee from a large tank strapped to his back 

Maurice, a 7 yr old boy travelling for the first time by himself.

Alice, a secretary traveling with her boss.

The Christophle family, traveling in the private car.   

Guillaume, who's driving the train

Victor, the stoker

Leon - senior train guard

Jean - Junior train guard

Point of view changes from person to person, letting us get to know each one and what they are about, bringing depth to the story and slowly increasing the tension as the train gets nearer the end of its run. Knowing for certain there will be a devastating crash at the end adds to the effect. By then you care about these people and are afraid for them. 

Having finished it I don't really need to sort out the cars and passengers anymore but I think I will anyway. I'll probably re-read most of it in the process, except for one rather lurid scene between two men in a washroom. I can't see how that contributed to the story at all, but it surely does seem as if every comtemporary novel now must have a steamy scene or two. As a society it strikes me as odd that we all have doors on our bedrooms for privacy - it seems we don't want others watching our private moments - yet we want to watch/read about the private moments of others. We've become a society of voyeurs, not an encouraging thought, but I digress....

I liked this one for it's character development, dialogue, differing viewpoints and the interesting world it created inside this train. I wished I could follow some of these characters after the accident to see how it affected them and how they would then live out their lives. 

Not wanting the story to end is, I think, a pretty good recommendation for any book.