The title and the cover suggested a more fluffy, chicklit like title than it is. Amaretti are Italian macaroons, sweet little nothings to nibble on. TThe title and the cover suggested a more fluffy, chicklit like title than it is. Amaretti are Italian macaroons, sweet little nothings to nibble on. To me however there is an equal measure of bitterness to the sweetness in the book. It's more Amore and Amaro. We are offered a journey into the inside life of restaurant workers through the Australian author's various stints in Italy's restaurants over her lifetime. Yes, there is a lot of beautiful food, great recipes, yes there are love affairs as well. There is beautiful Italy and memorable characters. But to me it is a book about Victoria's blues. It feels as if she suffers from depression and cannot quite climb out of it. Victoria's repeated travels to Italy, the country she got tied to from the first time she went there as a student, seem to be an attempt to reach out, to connect with purpose, with people, with life. The people Victoria meets also struggle and are also imperfect. There is an underlying suffering and inability to cut through it, and this is what makes the story very poignant. This is such a different book in tone that previously read by me As the Romans Do. As I immerse myself in books on Italy this one makes me more aware that all the different offerings by various authors are in the end their very personal experience, the portrayals of their inner state and how it relates to the country they are in. I meet different Italy each time I read a new book. When I go there it will be yet another Italy I will see, filtered through my own mind and my own senses. In the meantime I am having a great time enjoying my various vicarious experiences....more
I love books about farming, gardening, growing food and creating lasting bonds so no wonder I was drawn to this book.
Having recently enjoyed Susan JubI love books about farming, gardening, growing food and creating lasting bonds so no wonder I was drawn to this book.
Having recently enjoyed Susan Juby’s latest: The Woefield Poultry Collective I was hungry for more farming lore. Juby’s book is delightful and funny, a great entertaining read, but it is just playing farm. Now Kristin Kimball is the real thing. This wonderful writer is also a very serious farmer who together with her husband established and runs the Essex Farm.
Kristin Kimball's book came to me via Your Food Your Choice conference so I am lucky to have heard her speak about her life and her book. Once I got back home from this incredibly inspiring event, I have moved all my other books to the side and started reading. It's not for the faint of heart, full of graphic details of farm life in its entire glory, and it is an amazing and engaging read. It's a story of going back to land in times of economic upheaval, it is about going back to the roots literally and figuratively, it's about unhinged New Yorker becoming deeply committed to the ethics of hard work and growing good food as well as building community.
There are many many beautiful mindful moments in the course of the story such as milking the cows, making syrup from the sugar bush, working the land with the horses, weeding, harvesting food, cooking it, Kristin and Mark's wedding on the farm, and many more.
The chapter on milking and milk is not to be missed. It transported me directly to my childhood years in the sixties and seventies when I, a big city girl, had access to farms, cows, chicken and such during my summers spent mostly in the countryside. When Kristin talks about the taste of sour milk straight from the cow, I know exactly what she means, I can close my eyes and just like Proust reminiscencing about the taste of madeleines I can go back in time and savour the taste of cool sour milk drunk directly from clay bowls that stood on the shady parapets of the farmhouse window.
I remember being warned when I left Poland in the eighties: "watch out for their food in the West, it's all artificial and has no taste."
Growing good food, delivering it "two steps away from dirt", cooking it and eating with other people, we seemed to have forgotten that it is so essential to life and happiness, especially here in the North America but we are slowly forgetting it everywhere else as well. No wonder UNESCO declared French cuisine 'world intangible heritage’. Now we all need to rediscover this heritage because it's not exclusively French possession they just had been wisely holding on to it on every corner of their streets.
If you have ever tasted French macaroons you will not forget their delicate form and taste. They seems so unsubstantial, light, fluffy, little nothingIf you have ever tasted French macaroons you will not forget their delicate form and taste. They seems so unsubstantial, light, fluffy, little nothings, yet tremendous amount of precise and careful work goes into them. It's not a desert you can whip up on a whim. To me Zelda, The Queen of Paris is such a delightful and tasty read comparable to a beautiful macaroon. It's a slight and easy read, that reads in one sitting, fluffy and light on the surface, yet it came about out of a very specific state of mind and life that followed. In essence Paul Chutkow has written an ode to a beautifully lived life in which love, joy and care have been indispensable, required ingredients.
Zelda, a street dog, became part of the author's family when he worked in assignment in India. Against the advice of almost everybody, the author chose to give the little dog some medical care and eventually adopted her and took her with him when the family moved from India to Paris and later to California.
The skeptical taxi driver who became a friend, while observing the author's dilema, expressed it very well saying: "Life, Sahib, it is a great mystery. All we can do is follow our heart".
Reading about the adventures involving Zelda is very amusing and entertaining thanks to Chutkow's unassuming writing style full of humour and thanks to his attitude to life which can only be described as open minded and mindful. I also loved the drawings by J.C. Suares, whimsical and a little nostalgic, they reminded me of the books read in childhood, the ones that are so endearing to read and loved by adults as well as children.
The author's joie de vivre is contagious, so if you love dogs and are looking for something to lift your spirits, reach for this little book.
Some people go from child to teen, then adult and older adult stage without looking back. At every stage they act their age and move on. But as MadeleSome people go from child to teen, then adult and older adult stage without looking back. At every stage they act their age and move on. But as Madeleine L’Engle said “The great think about getting older is that you don’t lose all other ages you’ve been”. I can relate to that.
I noticed somewhere here on Good Reads people confessing to reading teen fiction. Well I should join the group.
My inner teenager craves laugh out loud teen fiction particularly those books written in the tradition of Mark Twain (Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn) or L. M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables) featuring quirky misfits getting into all kinds of trouble.
Susan Juby is one of many authors of such fiction. I absolutely loved her Alice series.
Juby, along with (no particular order) Frank Portman (Andromeda Klein, King Dork), Rob Thomas (Rats Saw God), Marcus Zusak (I Am the Messenger), Barry Jonsberg (The Crimes and Punishments of Miss Payne), Louise Rennison (Georgia Nicolson series), David Lubar (Dunk, Sleeping freshmen never lie), Ranulfo (Joker), Megan McCafferty (Sloppy First, and the other titles) is on my list of favourite authors. Authors of books that entertain while providing a great story and interesting characters.
Now The Woefiled Poultry Collective is not exactly a teen book, but it does have a youthful feel. Along with the main character (Prudence, in her twenties) it features a selection of funny characters of all ages, from 11 year-old Sara competing in a poultry club at school, to perhaps not quite twenty year-old Set and to 60+ not quite farm hand Earl.
I knew I needed to read this book when I read the following statement by the author in some interview:
“I’ve always wanted to be self-sustaining and able to grow my own food. All I lack is land and skill.”
I thought: how clever. She doesn’t have a farm but dreams of one, therefore she decides to write a piece of fiction about farming life. I immediately wanted to participate in the experience. Living vicariously is what I do.
Prudence, Earl, Seth and Sara form a very unlikely community of friends who individually and collectively face some really big challenges and together go through some serious upheavals and tribulations. They instinctively know that their strength lies in sticking together and learning to overlook each other many frailties.
As the eleven year-old Sara wonderfully states: “It’s important to give people the benefit of the doubt even if they don’t deserve it.” And they do.
The plot culminates with a huge and messy bluegrass concert Prudence organizes in order to save the farm. The grand finale features long lost family members' reunion as well as romantic reconciliation and much more. With the emotions and hilarity running absolutely rampant, it is a wonderful, heartfelt and heartwarming, laugh out loud book about very serious matters. If you followed Susan Juby’s writing you will know that she writes from much felt experience.
Make sure you don’t read it The Woefield Poultry Collective on public transit unless you don’t mind people staring at you when you burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter.
And I am so glad I still have one more Susan Juby's book left unread.
p.s. As you may have noticed the title of my edition of this book differs from the one listed here on Good Reads....more
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