Book Chat Issue #122

It's a date!

Hello reading friends

Just a short issue today. The kind of note you might send to a friend to let them know you are thinking of them and wishing them well.

What I’ve been reading

I saw a list of the best books of 2025 (as voted by the BBC) and was unsurprised to see that many of the titles were unfamiliar to me. This didn’t bother me because, like many of you, I borrow nearly all my books from the library and sometimes you have to wait a while for a title to become available.

I usually don’t mind waiting, but nothing gives me more pleasure than being the first person to borrow a newly released book.

This is very odd because reading is not a competitive sport, and books don’t go out of date, but getting your hands on a brand new book is undeniably a pleasurable experience for reasons I can’t quite articulate. I can only assume that many of you feel the same way.

One of the books on the BBC list was The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami and yes, I’ve read it, and yes, it was great.

The Dream Hotel is speculative fiction and explores the consequences of our intimate relationship with technology and how it rules our lives.

Sara Hussein, an archivist and mother, is detained at the airport when she returns home to the USA from London. Despite protesting her innocence, she is taken to a retention centre because her algorithm has flagged her as a person likely to commit a crime.

Sara uses a sleep tracker which also monitors her dreams (Apple watch anyone?) and the authorities insist that the data doesn’t lie. It doesn’t help that she’s also a bit bolshie and argumentative and the authorities don’t like this. When did they ever like women who speak their minds?

The attendants bristle when one of the women calls Madison a jail. This is a detention centre, they say, it’s not a prison or a jail. You haven’t been convicted, you’re not serving time. You’re being retained only until your forensic observation is complete.

The most notable aspect of this novel is that it’s incredibly believable. Sara chooses to use the sleep monitor because it drastically improves the quality of her sleep and she’s an exhausted new mum trying to hold down a job and juggle all her commitments. But she wasn’t told how much data it was gathering, or what that data will be used for.

Herein lies our modern day dilemma. Each one of us shares personal information daily. Should we stop using every app and website that tracks our lives and spending, or accept this as the price of modern convenience?

The Dream Hotel was longlisted for the Women’s Prize and is a thought-provoking novel that is definitely worth reading.

A great new cookbook

I also love borrowing cookbooks from the library. Especially new ones! I really enjoyed browsing through this new cookbook by Helen Goh, an excellent baker and all round lovely person. She is very generous with her time and her recipes.

Someone told me that people usually only make a couple of recipes from every cookbook, and although that surprised me, I think it’s true. When we look through a cookbook, there are certain flavours we are drawn to, and certain recipes that appeal because they don’t look too complicated.

Then there are the dishes we will make ‘one day’. I used to think I would tackle more complex recipes when I retired and had more time, but both of these things turned out to be untrue. I don’t have more time (I’m usually quite busy) and I still don’t like making things that are complicated, but I still love looking at recipes and daydreaming about what I might make ‘one day’.

In the meantime, I made a batch of date scones which were okay, but not fantastic. I don’t think it was the recipe’s fault. I was a bit mean with the butter and also overcooked them slightly which meant they were a little bit dry. But I like the idea of pairing dates with orange zest, which in my book is a match made in heaven. At least they were edible. I used this recipe.

International Book Club

If you are a member of our online book club, please mark the date of our next meeting in your diary. It’s scheduled for January 15 in Australia, or Jan 14 in the US and Canada. I’ll send out a meeting request in the next week which you can add to your calendar at the appropriate time in your local time zone.

We are reading H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald. I was a bit nervous about choosing this book, but I’m enjoying it very much. I think we’ll have a lot to discuss.

If you’ve never been to book club and you’d like to participate, please let me know and I’ll add you to the invitation list. Book club is free for subscribers and is a low-stress event. You don’t need to be erudite, or even know what erudite means. You just need to love reading and talking about books.

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That’s all for this issue. As I said, it’s short and sweet today.

Hope you are all travelling well and looking after yourselves.

Warm wishes,

Marg xxx