Welcome to another edition of Book Chat, a newsletter for readers and eaters.
This newsletter is for people who love to read, but sometimes find it difficult to find just the right book. I like to think I’m saving you some time and effort by narrowing down your choices, so if you check out any of my recommendations and like what you read, do let me know.
I’d love to hear from you.
What I’ve been reading
I’ve had Jodie Chapman’s book Oh, Sister on my radar for quite a while and I finally picked it up from the library a couple of weeks ago, along with a stack of other books.
Every time I looked at the cover I would start humming the theme song from the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou (a very funny movie if you haven’t seen it). I’m humming away, even as I write this. I’m sure it’s very annoying!
I Went Down to the River to Pray is a song about salvation and redemption, so the title Oh, Sister is very apt for a story about three women who live in a community where all the important decisions are made on their behalf by Church elders. This is not dystopian fiction, but a fairly accurate portrayal of life in an ‘End of Days’ style religious community.
When the three women challenge those in charge, the Church turns its back on them and Jen, Zelda and Isobel are forced to make hard decisions about what kind of lives they want to live, and whether they are willing to pay the price.
This is an excellent read, at times confronting and sad, but very thought-provoking. I cannot imagine being part of a community where no-one is allowed to speak to you for six months because you’ve committed some kind of misdemeanour. But I also understand that it isn’t easy to simply shrug off ideas that have been fed to you since childhood, however bizarre they might seem to outsiders.
I was raised in the Salvation Army, and although this is hardly the same as being brought up in an environment where the end of the world is imminent, it still had an impact on my attitudes to life. I wrote about it here.
Another aspect of this book that interested me was the cover. I’m not sure who the publishers thought they were marketing to, but I can honestly say I would never have chosen this book based on the cover art of the digital version. Thank goodness the paperback cover was more restrained, but perhaps that’s the point of pitching the book to two different markets.
The cover blurbs are also noticeably different. Julie Owen Moylan is an author, whilst Ruth Crilly is a ex-model and Instagram influencer. Interesting!
Have you ever judged a book by it’s cover and been completely wrong?
What I’ve been eating
I’m having a little love affair with miso paste at the moment. This was largely brought on by reading various recipes in the New York Times and lots of other places on the internet.
White miso paste is incredibly versatile, and mixed with honey, soy sauce and a dash of rice wine vinegar, it can be used as a marinade on any kind of meat or vegetable, but is especially yummy on sweet potato and chicken. I added the magic combination to some eggplant (aubergine) recently, and it was delicious. After all, it’s got everything: sweet, sour, salt and umami.
Book Club
Just a quick reminder that the International Book Club is meeting this week to discuss “How to build a boat” by Elaine Feeney.
Book club is free for subscribers and is scheduled for Friday 10.30am AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time). If you live in the USA or Canada, this will probably be Thursday in you time zone.
Look forward to seeing you!
Link to join https://meet.google.com/pst-jsvo-afo
That’s all for this edition,
Be sure to share this with a book loving friend if you so desire!
Yours warmly,
Marg xxx
Marg, thank you for a very interesting and fun Book Chat. Since you asked the question, how would you change your reading habits, or do differently, and reading all your great book reviews, I have come up with a plan. I look forward to the next assignment!
https://writerswrites.com/
At first glance, I thought the book on the left had three letter Cs on it - strange perception I know but typical of me (I could do those 3D books popular in the 90s very easily) and I always thought the Batman logo looked like an open mouth with an epiglottis. In any case, I read it in the ebook version so only had one choice and I didn't mind it.