Book Chat Issue #39

Three great books and one salad dressing

Hello reading friends

Don’t the weeks roll around quickly? I can’t believe it’s two weeks since I sent out the last issue. If you’re new here, welcome aboard, it’s lovely to meet you. Please say hi, don’t be shy.

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This week I have a whole bunch of recommendations. Something for everyone!

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What I’ve been reading

I managed to do some serious reading this week, helped along by a nice long train trip to the city and a couple of rainy days.

First on my list was a comfort read by Clare Pooley called The People on Platform 5, a perfect read for a holiday, or any time you want a feel-good book with a happy ending.

Iona is a larger than life columnist who, at a mere 57 years of age, is fast approaching her use-by date at the magazine where she works. She travels to work every day on the London underground with her French bulldog Lulu, but never talks to anyone. It’s not something one does in Britain, or anywhere really.

One day there’s a minor crisis on the train and she and the other passengers begin to connect. They all have their own problems, but before you know it, they are all helping one another out in ways they never imagined. It’s an absolutely lovely read and recommended if you need a boost.

If you live in the United States, it was released under the title of Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting. I have no idea why books are released with different covers and titles in different regions, but it always fascinates me. Authors generally have no say in the title, or the cover design, so heaven knows what they think of all this.

The second book I read was Dirt Town, by Australian author Hayley Scrivenor. Similar in tone to Jane Harper’s The Dry and Peter Papathanasiou’s The Stoning, Scrivenor does a great job of depicting country people doing it tough in hot and unwelcoming environments.

Dirt Town features a detective trying to track down the killer of a local girl in a town where everyone has a secret. All the characters are believable, from the female detective still hurting after a failed relationship, to the local copper needing to maintain relationships with the townspeople after the big city coppers have solved the crime and gone on their way. I read this book in a few days and it was excellent. The Guardian describes it as outback noir. Apparently it’s a thing!

Lastly I read The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. This book was recommended by a subscriber (thanks Jennie) and was a fascinating read. The story focuses on Li-yan, a young woman who lives with her family in a remote mountain village in rural China. Li-yan is the only daughter of a tea growing family who cultivate an ancient variety of tea. The book is set in the late 20th century, but the local people are still governed by their beliefs in cleansing spirits, rituals and taboos. Twins are thought to be defective and are killed at birth. Li-yan witness this horrific practice as a young girl when she accompanies her mother, the local midwife, to a birth.

And although sexual experimentation is encouraged in a kind of try before you buy kind of arrangement, having a child before marriage is forbidden, so when Li-yan finds herself unmarried and pregnant, she is forced to give birth in secret and leave the baby at an orphanage.

Li-yan eventually becomes a tea seller and moves to America with her wealthy husband and the rest of the novel centres on her quest to find her daughter. The ending is entirely unrealistic, but curiously satisfying all the same. I also learnt a lot about tea!

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What I’ve been cooking

With all that reading (and some gardening), I’ve hardly done any cooking. But the warm weather is on its way and I’m thinking about salads again, so here’s a recipe for a scrumptious salad dressing that I tried recently. It can be used to dress fresh greens or cooked vegetables.

Caper and Anchovy Salad Dressing

1 or 2 anchovy fillets

10 capers

1 clove garlic (minced)

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Blend all ingredients together and pour over cooked potatoes, beans or broccoli.

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That’s all for this week. Wherever you are in the world, please be kind to yourself and make some time for reading.

Warm wishes

Marg xxx