Quick Book Review: The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister (DNF)

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this book on a few blogs, and in a favorable way. Or maybe I just forgot about the negative reviews and just remembered that I read reviews of it?

Anyway, not for me, this one. A very short review.

Did not finish. I read about half way the book. I didn’t enjoy this story very much. There was a lot of food talk which is fun for foodies. For me, it was a little too detailed.

What I really didn’t like about the book was that the cooking school’s lessons, one every chapter, were a framework in which the problems and/or histories of the students was described, a different student each chapter. I found this too obvious, somehow. I guess the book felt unnatural because of this set-up.

I don’t like short stories much, and this almost seemed like a book of short stories with the excuse of the cooking lessons as a co-ordinating story pulling the individual stories together.

Also I didn’t connect with any of the students, mainly because they were mentioned only a little bit before their own chapter. So, these were really stories about people that I didn’t know about and not necessarily wanted to know about.

Rating: No rating, did not finish the book

Number of pages: 256 (read to page 120)

First published: 2009

Genre: contemporary fiction

Have you read this book?

Did you enjoy it?

Quick Book Review: The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (DNF)

One of the members of my book group had bought this book but had not get round to reading it, so she suggested it for our next meeting. I was curious about the book and the others were happy to read it too, and so we did.

Or at least, I read until about 2/3 of the book and then I had enough of it.

This book is about a middle-aged man, Julian Treslove. He used to work for the BBC but now he is a celebrity look-alike. His best friend back from when they were young is Sam Finkler, and together they befriended their mentor Libor Sevcik. Both Finkler and Sevcik are Jewish and Julian has always been fascinated by their Jewishness.

One night, on the way back from a party at Sevcik’s house, Julian is attacked and robbed in the street by a woman. The woman says something to him which sounds like “You, Jules!” (his mother’s nickname for him) but could also have been “You, Jew.” He becomes obsessed with the idea that he might look Jewish and investigates whether he has Jewish ancestors.

Sam Finkler, meanwhile, doesn’t live much of a Jewish life. In fact, he joins the ASHamed Jews, a group of people who are not happy about what is happening in Israel.

I didn’t get further than about 2/3 in the book, as the whole obsession of Treslove with Jewishness was getting too much for me. And that while I loved Chaim Potok‘s books that are absolutely full of Jewishness. Granted, it was many years ago that I read those books, but I think it’s not so much the amount of Jewishness but the obsession itself that I started to tire of.

While the book had some funny parts, it was sometimes too silly. Regularly there were conversations between people in which someone misunderstood the other, whether on purpose or not (“‘Come over’, he said, ‘I’ll order in Chinese’. ‘You speak Chinese now?’” [page 41]). It’s funny if it appears some of the time, but these kinds of conversations happened too often for my liking.

As it turned out, only one or two people in my book group finished the book. The others couldn’t get through it either.

Rating: No rating, did not finish the book

Number of pages: 312 (read to page 200)

First published: 2010

Genre: contemporary fiction

Book Review: The Blasphemer by Nigel Farndale (DNF)

This book had been on my TBR pile for ages, the main reason being that it was an e-book and I don’t have an e-reader. I put the book in my TBR Slash challenge in an attempt to finally read those books that had been on my shelves (or laptop) for ages.

When I ran into a paper copy of this book in the library, I was very pleased. It meant I didn’t have to spend ages reading it on my laptop.

Even so, I didn’t finish this book. I read only to page 319. I read this book as part of my TBR Slash challenge which stated that I could stop reading at page 75 if I wasn’t keen to continue.

The Blasphemer: What it is about

Not in my own words, this is from the Dutch online book store bol.com: “He had always been scared of flying. Now, the fear is real. A plane crash. The water is rising over his mouth. In his nostrils. Lungs. As Daniel gasps, he swallows; and punches at his seat-belt. Nancy, the woman he loves, is trapped in her seat. He clambers over her, pushing her face into the headrest. It is a reflex, visceral action made without rational thought…But Daniel Kennedy did it. And already we have judged him from the comfort of our own lives.

Almost a hundred years earlier, Daniel’s great-grandfather goes over the top at Passchendaele. A shell explodes, and he wakes up alone and lost in the hell of no-man’s-land. Where are the others? Has he been left behind? And if he doesn’t find his unit, is he a deserter? Love; cowardice; trust; forgiveness. How will any of us behave when we are pushed to extremes?”

The Blasphemer: What I thought

I did not finish this book. I read until page 319 and realised I had been bored for a while and had started to skim-read the pages. So no, I didn’t feel like doing that for another 100 pages to the end of the book.

There are two stories in the book, one of Daniel and his plane crash and the other of his great-grandfather in WWI. I didn’t enjoy the story of the great-grandfather at all (I’m not really one for war stories) so that left me with only half a book of interest.

The story of Daniel also didn’t interest me after some point. Reading about the plane crash and the trying to get back to a normal life was quite good, with Nancy, Daniel’s wife especially having a difficult time. That story faded out (in my eyes) and then there wasn’t nothing left for me to look forward to in the book, nothing that I wanted to see resolved.

Not even the coming together of the two stories could keep my interest. This involved Daniel finding some letters of his great-grandfather that he wanted to investigate, but I wasn’t holding my breath for him to find out what happened to his ancestor.

I wonder if I would have picked up this book if it hadn’t been a free e-book, which teaches me to look a gift-horse carefully in the mouth before accepting. My aim is to read every book I own, so I better not own too many books that aren’t really for me.

Rating: DNF (read until page 319)

I got this book: from the library and as a free e-book download

I read this in: Dutch (Ongeloof, the original language is English)

Number of pages: 416

First published: 2010

Genre: historical fiction, contemporary fiction

Book Review: The Lady and the Poet by Maeve Haran (DNF)

I’ve read a few of Haran’s books and they were all contemporary, bordering on chick-lit. I bought this book mainly because I had read and enjoyed books by Haran.

I usually don’t like it when people that have really existed show up in fiction. In this book, I barely got to the point where the poet John Donne was introduced to the story before I wasn’t interested anymore.

I didn’t finish this book. I read only to about page 90. I read this book as part of my TBR Slash challenge which stated that I could stop reading at page 75 if I wasn’t keen to continue.

The Lady and the Poet: What it is about

A young woman, Ann More, sees her older sisters getting married off. She herself is sent to her aunt who is a lady at the court of Queen Elizabeth. She has arranged for Ann to be presented at court and eventually to take her place.

But Ann doesn’t enjoy her first visit to court and tells her aunt she doesn’t want to take up this place. Her aunt assures her that her only other option is to marry, where upon she has Ann dressed in servant clothes to learn the ways of the household.

Whilst dressed as a servant, she meets the poet Jon Donne, who at the first opportunity puts his arms around her and tells her that beds can be used for other things than sleeping.

The Lady and the Poet: What I thought

Dressing a high-born woman in servant clothes? I didn’t buy it. As this happened exactly on page 75 I decided to read on a little further but I could not be charmed by further events so decided to abandon the book.

Neither the story, which I found rather far-fetched, nor the period did anything for me. I wasn’t curious to see how anything in this book would develop. It seemed like a real romance novel, which is not a genre I generally enjoy reading.

Rating: DNF (read until page 90).

I got this book: bought at a book shop

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 384

First published: 2010

Genre: historical fiction

Book Review: The Wasted Vigil by Nadeem Aslam (DNF)

At a Dutch book bloggers’ meeting, two people named The Wasted Vigil as a favorite book. So we decided that it would be fun to discuss this book at the next meeting.

This is coming Saturday so I got the book from the library and started…

To stop again at page 90. Unfortunately, this book didn’t draw me in. I found what I read uninteresting and depressing.

The story centers around an English man who lives in Afghanistan, and whose Afghan wife was killed by the taliban. A Russian woman, Lara, is staying with him for a few days. She tracked him down as the father of a woman, Zameen, who may know what happened to Lara’s brother, who was a Russian soldier in Afghanistan decades ago. He was never heard of again. But Zameen is also dead and her boyfriend, who we find out knows quite a bit about Lara’s brother, pretend he doesn’t know.

Another foreigner, an American who has set up a school nearby, is the target of a suicide bombing near the school.

Unfortunately, I have no particular interest in Afghanistan and the war there. I only came across unpleasant people and situations in this book and there was nothing that piqued my interest. So after 90 pages, there were no people I wanted to know more about or situations where I wondered how they would be resolved.

I didn’t get attached to any of the characters either. It would may be have been more interesting if an Afghan person had played a role in the book but the only one that did (in the first 90 pages at least) disappeared from the book quite quickly.

I’m sure that people who have an interest in Afghanistan may enjoy this book, but it wasn’t for me.

Rating: 2/5 stars (not finished)

I got this book: from the library

I read this in: Dutch (De vergeefse wake), the original language is English

Number of pages: 368 (I read to page 90)

First published: 2008

Genre: literary fiction

Extras: Jackie from Farm Lane Books, whose reading taste I share, didn’t get very far in another book by Nadeem Aslam, Maps for Lost Lovers. Her post about it is here.

Book Review: My Life in France by Julia Child (DNF)

This book has become popular after the recent movie, Julie & Julia, which I didn’t see. I had no idea what the movie was about, but if I’d known it was about a cook, I’d definitely have gone and watch it!

The book was a bit longwinded, and I didn’t finish it. I got to about half-way.

My Life in France: What it is about

Julia Child was a famous tv cook in the US. This book is her memoir, written by her and her grandnephew Alex Prud’homme.

It relates her time in France, just after the second world war, when her husband was stationed there as a US cultural diplomat. Julia couldn’t cook at all, but after she enjoyed many good meals in French restaurants, she wanted to try for herself. After a lot of practice at home she decided to enrol at the famous Cordon Blue cooking school where she was taught by professional chefs.

Later, she wrote a cook book together with two of her friends in France and she gave cooking lessons.

My Life in France: What I thought

Not being American, and not tuned in to American tv, I had only vaguely heard of this author/cook and then probably only because of the movie about the book.

So, I had no preconceptions about the author or her work.

The story of her and her husband arriving in France and setting up home there was initially quite interesting. However, she describes in too much detail for my liking what restaurants she goes to and what she eats there. As a vegetarian, most of these dishes didn’t appeal to me so I couldn’t share her appreciation for these apparently wonderful foods.

Now, I am a fan of Masterchef (UK) so being a vegetarian can’t be blamed for everything here. I think it was also the amount of food information that I was given as well as the not-so interesting life that Julia was living, that made me decide to stop reading about half-way through.

Most people’s memoirs would be quite boring to read, I’m sure. I know mine would! Julia Child may have been a famous cook but the only two things that were special about her (as far as I can make out) is that she, an US woman, lived in France for a while and that she, the famous cook, didn’t know how to cook when she first was married.

That is interesting for a short while, but not for 400 pages. I did not hate the book at all, but it was all a bit bland, and 200 pages was enough for me. Maybe I would have found it more interesting if I’d known more about the author.

Rating: 3/5 (DNF)

I got this book: from a book swap last month

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 414 (I stopped at page 209)

First published: 2006

Genre: memoir, cooking

Book Review: Sunset Park by Paul Auster (DNF)

I saw this book in a bookshop out on a table with new books, probably at the beginning of this year. It looked interesting, but so did about 11 of the 16 books that were spread out there. For me, it was an all or none thing. Buying all would be excessive so it became none.

Then I came across the book in the library last week, and I took it home.

I read it, but I didn’t finish it. I abandoned the book at page 75.

Sunset Park: What it is About

The book is about Miles Heller, a 28 year old college drop out who works for a company that removes property from vacated houses in order to clean up the houses for new tenants.

He falls in love with 16 year old Pilar and although they have to keep their relationship quiet because of her young age, she does move in with him, happy to escape the house she shared with her three sisters, as her parents died recently.

When Miles was 16, his stepbrother Bobby died in an accident where Miles was present, and Miles has never been sure whether it was accidental that Bobby died, or whether he (Miles) had subconsciously planned for this to happen. His life has been on hold ever since.

When someone threatens to report him to the police (because of his relationship with Pilar) he decides to take up the offer of a room in a shared house in New York, where his friend Bing is already living. So he leaves for New York.

Sunset Park: What I thought

No rating, as I didn’t get all that far with the book. In fact, I wouldn’t know how to rate this book.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, but as the story of Miles went on, I started to get bored. At some point Miles leaves Pilar to go to New York, and I couldn’t care less. That’s not a good sign. When a few pages after that, it turned out that Miles’ part was over, and we went on to the story of his friend Bing, I started to doubt that I wanted to continue.

I should say that I must have missed the page after the title page that said “Miles Heller”, otherwise I’d have realised that the whole book wouldn’t be about him (else his name wouldn’t be on the first part). So, I was a little put out that I now had to turn my attention to another person, that had appeared so far only in passing, and didn’t seem interesting at all.

If that was not enough, the part about Bing Nathan started in rather inaccessible writing. Like this:

He is the warrior of outrage, the champion of discontent, the militant debunker of contemporary life who dreams of  forging a new reality from the ruins of a failed world.

Erm, OK! That’s just the first sentence of a number of pages like this and while I like good literary writing, I don’t like it too literary, to the effect that I have no idea what I’m reading (it’s the reason I’m not good with poems either).

So, this clinched the deal for me: I had seen enough of this book! Next, please!

Rating: n/a

I got this book: from the library

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 309 (I read about 75 pages)

First published: 2010

Genre: literary fiction