Book Review: The Robber of Memories

I don't know how many times I've been having a terrible day and a little break with a great book has saved me. Throwing yourself into a fantasy world can make you forget your troubles, but sometimes it's the non-fiction books that really help, showing you that another place, another real place, has it much harder. It makes you appreciate the fact that you get to sit in Starbucks and read for an hour, even if you have to leave eventually.

The Robber of Memories: A River Journey Through Colombia by Michael Jacobs

I'm a big fan of Tom Feiling so I wasn't really looking for a new perspective on one of my favourite countries. I found the novel in the stock room of Granta, the publishers of the book, whilst I was doing an internship. But The Robber of Memories is an immensely fascinating and emotional read, so it's no wonder that it was a runner-up for Dolman's Travel Book of the year, and i'm so glad I didn't get blindsided by amazing Tom.

Jacob's intertwines a physically exerting exploratory journey down the Magdalena with the mystifying history of Gabriel Garcia Marquez- which is absolutely fascinating if you've previously fallen in love with One Hundred Years of Solitude. Probably the only romantic story I have to tell is the fact that my boyfriend bought me a copy from a old bookstore, with absolutely no hints dropped from me. Most interesting during the book though is not the name-dropping of the prolific writer but Jacob's incorporation of his own struggles with parents with alzheimers with the group of townships he meets on the river. I'm sure that it's not just me that can relate to these struggles.

His writing is gorgeous but I do have a bone to pick. My need to go to Colombia has reached it's absolute peak and i'm in desperate need of £700 for a ticket. Damn you Jacobs!

Oh and also.. This week I made...

Raspberry cream and white chocolate ganache macaroons and cinnamon Christmas cookies (because it's never too early!)

Recipe Book Review: Goo Goo for Gü

So, since Christmas is coming, and i'm thinking about what books i can resist buying to ask for for
Christmas, i thought i'd review my present from last year and some of the recipes that have really turned out well.

Gü: Chocolate Cookbook
About 5 years ago i started buying these chocolate pots from the supermarket. Rich, gooey and decadent, they were only teeny things but they made the most amazing desert when i had too busy a week to bake.
Nowadays, Gü have a range of puddings, tarts and soufflés to buy, and have brought out a recipe book so that we can have a go ourselves!
Before i get to the recipes, something has to be said for the chapter on Chocolatey Basics. It's no fun when recipes are really long, but things like choux pastry, chantilly cream and chocolate custard can be really technical. The cookbook separates these techniques from the recipes so if you know them you can push straight through and if you don't you can really get stuck in to a proper explanation.

My favourites are the white chocolate eton mess, pain au chocolate bread and butter pudding, chocolate madeleines, Viennese biscuits and chocolate eclairs.

Eclairs are ridiculously intimidating- the pastry is supposed to be one of the most difficult and the threat of curdled custard makes me nervous! But i was suitably impressed. The recipe went down without a hitch, which i really didn't expect. Although i would recommend that you resist eating them until the chocolate ganache is actually set because i did make a massive mess.

The stand out dish for me was probably the most simple: hot chocolate. I'm not a fan of the jars of ready mixed hot chocolate that you throw in a mug with water like tea: not sweet or decadent enough. My favourite comes from Carluccios. Every Christmas me, my sister and my mum would go off to Bluewater shopping centre together to get presents, and end up there for a rich, thick cup there before heading home. It is literally like melted chocolate. Gü's recipe for 'thick hot chocolate' simply describes heating half cream with half milk, and whisking it through with 2/3 dark chocolate and 1/3 milk. The product is beyond heavenly- i haven't even tried the other flavours, it is so easy and so delicious!

By all means, there are thinks i don't like about the book- the savoury dishes just don't appeal to me at all. I'm a chocolate addict so i want to see chocolate in it's rightful place, which is not in a stew or with fish. Nevertheless, there's no denying that the portion of the book that is for sweet dishes is more than enough to satisfy me. So, i can forgive them. And what to get for Christmas this year? I'm thinking Gino's Italian Escape (although i'm not sure if it's because of his hotness or his cooking) or Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food (definitely his cooking).

October's obsessions.

Since i've been working a lot, my baking and reading for pleasure has had to slow down a little bit. But luckily, the career i'm pursuing includes surrounding myself with a massive amount of books and there are plenty of bakeries in London!

ALBION in Shoreditch is one of those really lush looking cafes that sell organic oils and expensive looking tea. But beyond the slightly out of my price range produce there are some amazing, decently priced cakes.

This macaroon was £1.70 and pretty much the size of my head. Unlike with most, it wasn't full of simple raspberry jam- some kind of curd which was absolutely delicious.

In terms of reading, i've been working at different book publishers, and have had to read some really great novels. In particular, one of the latest Kathy Reichs novels. Reichs is a forensic anthropologist in Canada who uses her real life to inform her character, Tempe Brennan, who, in each novel, investigates and fights for the justice of the dead long forgotten by the authorities. The novels can be incredibly explicit- so you'll need a strong stomach- but beyond that, Reichs has created not just a technically precise career for her character, but an endearing personality. She's feisty, angry, compassionate, and flawed. Reichs has written a whopping sixteen in the series- so i'm excited to get going... starting from the beginning with no. 1: Deja Dead.

Book Review: Letters from Skye

Dear Reader,

Jessica Brookmole's Letters from Skye is one of those novels that has a little bit for everyone. Sometimes, romance fiction doesn't appeal to everyone but Brockmoles war setting, complicated family relationships and inclusion of definite hints of bromance, made it an all round winning title in my eyes.

Margaret's mother has always kept her past hidden from her, so much so that she has never known who her father is, let alone known him. As the blitz hits London, Margaret begins to dig into Elspeth's secrets, and pieced together by two suitcases of letters, she learns that her mother's life was lived in a whole other war, in a whole other place, with a family she doesn't know, and amongst a relationship between a man called Davey and a woman called Sue.

The fact that the novel is written in letter form gives it a really great period feel. As it skips from letters between Sue and Davey, Margaret and Elspeth, and Margaret and her own man, tension is built and cliff-hangers create great suspense.

Rather than the ending being obvious, with a man and woman clearly being destined for one another, jumping over hurdles for the duration of the novel, our romantic duo seem destined for failure since we receive Elspeth's present day narration, spent as a single mother. For this reason, expectations are controlled and the ending is kept hidden.

Brookmole also does an amazing job of making her characters likeable. As you read, they continue to make several really ethically questionable decisions. Elspeth, in particular, could be incredibly unlikeable, but Brookmole tells her story really well. Few people who will read the novel will have empathy with people living through war-times, and will have an understanding of how difficult it is to be so far apart from the one you love. With social media and mobile phones we're completely apart from Elspeth, who only had these letters, yet i understand her troubles and sympathize with her.

Bringing war-torn lovers into the tenth-first century, Letters of Skye engaged me completely and continually and, clearly, inspired me to write a letter of my own!

Jennifer

Book Review: Mad About The Boy

So i imagine it comes as no surprise that, as a woman, and a Brit, I've purchased the new Helen Fielding and have jumped straight back into the world of my rambunctious, witty heroine favourite. It's a while since Bridget Jones has been on the scene, and a while since a novel has a produced so much interest around its publication date- from the shock sneak peak that has killed off our lawyer lover to the printing mishap that saw Del Boy, Granville and Jack Frost perched in Bridget's living room with cups of tea.

Now I don't think I'm Fielding's target audience, much like with Sex and the City I'm the second generation of reader and the real proof of the author's successes as they propel into the masses. As such, I had no empathy with Bridget's single 30s when I was in my teens and now, have no understanding of her struggles as a mother and a widow. But that's what makes this review all the more interesting, and my epic love of Mrs Jones all the more fascinating.

With the revelation of Mark Darcy's untimely death many readers prematurely concluded that the third novel just wouldn't be the same, and seemed to forget that our love for the story originates with Bridget Jones herself not the men she meets. I fell in love with Bridget for her haphazard thinking, messy lifestyle and confusion, as did Mark and Daniel. As equally gripping men fall for her in this third instalment i've fallen in love with Bridget all over again! 

I found the intended comedy of dealing with twitter nowhere near as funny as Bridget dealing with the other mothers at school in their SUVs and sunglasses, trying to look like Gwyneth Paltrow. Dealing with toyboys and children with hot chocolate down her white coat, a double knotted neck tie and skinny jeans, trying to look like the perfect mother, totally fit the Bridget i grew up with. Of course she still doesn't exercise, of course her mother still criticises her, of course she finds herself dangling from a tree with her thong hanging out. I laughed out loud on multiple occasions, most loudly at -'When he's hot, he's hot; when he's not, he's not. But at least there is always food' and found myself wondering what her kids looked like and who could play her new love interest- or interests? in the film adaptation.

Fielding deals effortlessly with Bridget's new life; she's a good mother and a patient widower. I feel satisfied that Bridget misses Mark and dealt with his death and am beyond happy when she meets new men. Just like before i am taken on a massive journey with her, coming out the other end thinking i know more about Bridget than i do myself.

And for those still holding on to the first 2 novels- don't worry, Daniel Cleaver is still in the picture.

Book Review: Fatherland

Fatherland by Robert Harris

The novel is set in an imagined alternate to WW2 history and it's subject and the idea of Hitler's success is heavy and controversial,-but don't let this put you off!

Xavier March, a criminal investigator working for the  Nazis some thirty years into their success in the war, stumbles upon and seeks to bring to light secret documents that prove the existence of the Holocaust.  Although it's hard to see a reality of death and domination that so nearly came true, Harris' novel continually transmits hopeful messages that the truth will out and justice will be served. The very idea that crimes could go so long undetected is, of course, terrifying, and yet one man's mission to unearth the truth brings back hope to humanity.

Harris' design of Germany is intricate and interesting; the government systems and secrets, statues and processions, along with the upcoming summit with the president of the United States give the novel layers and a thick history that must have taken Harris years to interweave. One of my favourite things, above all, is how Harris, in writing a story of Hitler's success, can so blatantly show his shortcomings as he continues to need the support of other counties and world domination alludes him.

The red of the 20th anniversary edition was what caught my eye in the book shop initially, and i'm glad that the marketing department at Random House made the novel pop from the shelves, or i could have missed a really excellent novel. Seeing evil get it's comeuppance really never gets old, whether 20 years after the book's first publication or 70 years after the war.

Book Review: A Week in December

A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks

Switching effortlessly between stories Faulk's bestseller is captivating and quick-witted. Another great train time read because of it's short chapters and constant action it made a great addition to my handbag this week. What's great about the multiple stories is that there's always someone that you can identify with and empathise with, almost as if you're catching up with a friend every couple of days- your lawyer buddy, the ex-classmate, your 2nd cousin the hedge fund manager.

As a Londoner myself i absolutely loved the constant references to icons, transport and issues in the city. The story of Jenny, the tube driver, and her battle with the courts against the family whose son threw himself upon her train in a suicidal bid was fascinating. The psychological marks left on her from the incident and the process she had to go through to carry on with her life have given me a peak at the human consequences of the trains i wait for as they are delayed on the London underground everyday. I think this story alone would have been a significant tale.

I really enjoyed Faulk's writing; i'm usually a fan of heavy action and cliffhangers, which there were few of in the novel but it didn't matter so much. Although there was little suspense, because you become emotionally invested in the characters you feel driven to continue to read. The novel served as a good break from the heart pounding blood pumping over excitement i usually get from my crime faves (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), although i'm not so sure that i'd have been interested if it hadn't pulled on my London heartstrings so much.