Hello friends!
Welcome to a new edition of Book Chat, a newsletter for readers and eaters. If you’re new around here, here are two things you might like to know.
We have a book club
International Book Club is free for subscribers. (I hope no-one ever asks me how much it costs if you aren’t a subscriber, as I’ve never really thought about that).
We meet online every three months or so, and it’s a low key group. No need to sound literary or clever. You just need to love talking about books and you’ll fit right in.
Here are some of the books we’ve read and enjoyed.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
You are Here by David Nicholls
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
If you’d like to join the book club, just hit reply and let me know your email address and where you live in the world. It can be tricky finding a time that suits everyone, but I do my best.
Personalised reading recommendations for subscribers
The way it works is that you tell me three books you’ve enjoyed and one book you didn’t enjoy (and why) and I’ll send you a short list of recommendations. There’s no fee for this service, but if you want to support this newsletter please ask your reading friends to subscribe.
What I’ve been reading
I’m always amused by people who read ostentatiously. You know the type. They walk around with their books prominently displayed, hoping everyone will notice what they are reading and be impressed. I saw some people doing this at a writer’s festival I attended recently, and it made me laugh.
I’m also puzzled by people who belong to book clubs that only read the latest high-end literary fiction. I have nothing against literary fiction, in fact I often love it, but some books leave me cold and I don’t like being forced to plough through a book I’m not enjoying.
Worst of all are people who express surprise that you haven’t read the latest prize-winning book, as if you’ve got time to read every single book that’s in the news. It’s their smug attitude that annoys me. I try to explain that I’m a library user and the latest trendy book probably isn’t in the library yet, but I also like to choose whatever I feel like reading, because I’m a mood reader. I’m also a bit contrary and don’t like being forced to do anything, if the truth be known.
This doesn’t stop me being interested in what’s selling well and what’s winning prizes, or just getting a lot of love from my fellow book-lovers on Instagram.
I saw a rave review of a newish book called The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (not to be confused with The Correspondent by Peter Greste - see below) and was thrilled to see it was available at my library. It’s about an older woman who enjoys writing letters and is a fine example of an epistolary novel (a novel told through a series of letters and/or emails). Famous examples of this genre include 34, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows.
Her letters reveal her fraught relationship with her daughter and her fears about her diminishing eyesight. She’s gradually going blind, but she’s a stubborn old goat and doesn’t want her family to know. She writes to friends and authors including Joan Didion and various other authors including Ann Patchett. She gives them her frank feedback about their books, which is sometimes, but not always, appreciated. She also writes to friends and family and together the letters provide insights into her life, her regrets and her feisty nature.
This is an utterly charming book that’s easy to read and full of depth and warmth. If you’re after a comfort read that’s not gooey or sentimental, give it a try.
What I’ve been eating
Long-time subscribers will know I have a particular fondness for cake and salad. Not together, obviously. But when I’ve made and eaten a lovely salad, I often feel like eating a nice piece of cake. I don’t see this as contradictory. Life is too short to deny yourself good food and for me the combination of a salad followed by a piece of home-made cake seems very balanced.
This was the case last weekend, when I felt a deep need to consume a slice of something delicious. I didn’t have a lot of options in the pantry, but I remembered seeing a recipe featuring pumpkin or sweet potato, so that’s what I decided to make. I searched online and came up with a recipe that involved grated sweet potato and I was off and running.
Spiced Sweet Potato Cake
1½ cups of finely grated sweet potato
1½ cups self-raising flour
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs (large, room temp)
½ cup vegetable oil
One tablespoon of thick Greek yoghurt
1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon cardamom
Pinch of salt
Method
Whiz everything together in a food processor until well blended, then pour into a greased and lined 8 inch cake tin. Bake @350 degrees for 45 mins. Cool before icing with lemon icing.
Other reading news
As I mentioned earlier, I had the privilege of attending the Words on the Waves writer’s festival which is held every year at a local surf club. All the sessions I went to were interesting, but as usual, it was the sessions I wasn’t quite sure about that I enjoyed the most.
A highlight for me was hearing Peter Greste and Sean Turnell talk about their experiences of being wrongfully imprisoned in foreign countries (Greste in Egypt and Turnell in Burma).
Peter Greste, a dual citizen Latvian-Australian journalist, was working for Al Jazeera in Cairo when he and two of his colleagues were arrested and charged with trumped up terrorism offences.
Greste spent 400 days in prison and was released following pressure from his family, the international press, and the Latvian government. He now works as a professor at the University of Queensland and is a vocal advocate for media freedom. His book, also called The Correspondent, has been made into a film starring Richard Roxburgh.
Sean Turnell is the author of An Unlikely Prisoner, an account of his 400 days in a Myanmar prison on the trumped up charge of being a spy. (Don’t you love the term trumped up, so apt).
What really surprised me was their incredibly positive attitude to life. Turnell talked about the generosity of his fellow prisoners who shared their food and clothing with him. Greste, who still cannot travel to the US because he is technically still a convicted terrorist, talked movingly about how grateful he is to be reunited with his family, to have a voice, and to experience the many pleasures that freedom brings, including swimming in the ocean. It made me feel grateful too.
That’s all for this issue friends!
Until next time, look after yourselves and stay safe.
Marg xxx
A special note for new subscribers
Books have always been a huge part of my life, so to celebrate my 100th issue, I wrote a short series featuring significant events throughout my life and books that were important to me at the time.
The series is called My Reading Life and you can find it here:
Part one | Part two | Part three | Part four | Part five |
Part six | Part seven | Part eight | Part nine | Part ten
Always a great read, Marg. I’m with you on not needing to read the latest, most talked about book. In fact I sometime like to go back to old classics, even children’s books—anything to escape the present moment. I also laugh about how often “trump” shows up as a verb or adjective (trumped-up charge). I try to avoid using it whenever possible. Love your salad and cake combo—perfect!
Just wondering if you’ve picked the next book yet. Maybe an old classic?
Another great summary of a reading life. I was very interested in The Correspondent until 400 days in prison. I just cannot do prison scenes, stories anymore. Shantaram is a 2003 novel by Gregory David Roberts, and his prison stay cured me of any further prison stories. Great book, but no thanks. Love your eating habits. Thank you Margaret.