Book Lovers' Supper Club

BOOK LOVERS' SUPPER CLUB What is it? Well, it has the glorious advantage of doing exactly what it says on the tin.... If you love books, and enjoy good food and wine then this is for you. We hold the event (which is about once every six weeks) in the gorgeous vintage barn in Ditchling, East Sussex. It starts at 6.30 and you arrive and are welcomed with a glass of wine. Grab a seat at the tables and enjoy your Sussex based tapas style supper (the menu changes seasonally) but to give you a taste of the menu from last time we had: High Weald Dairy Sussex Cheese, homemade green tomato chutney, mushroom & walnut pate, courgette & lemon croquette, roasted butternut squash and spicy winter coleslaw, followed by homemade chocolate gingerbread and a nip of damson vodka. We then have a reading from a couple of best selling authors, followed by an interview with them and a chance to ask questions (as well as getting books signed) We have some truly amazing authors lined up for 2013 - so do come and join us, either on Facebook - Book Lovers' Supper Club or on twitter @ Bookloverssupper Tickets are available either in person from The Post Office, Ditchling, or The Mint House Hurstpierpoint, or from Brighton Dome Ticket Office on (01273) 719719 Look forward to seeing you there!

Isabel's Skin by Peter Benson published by ALMA What a treat. And the perfect weather to read this gothic tale of misty haunting horror in. Perhaps horror is too strong a word - but certainly low level menace and mystery. Stylish, sharp and memorable. I urge you to give it a go. Especially if you are curled up infront of a fire with a glass of red wine. Enjoy.

Book Doctor

April 23rd. World Book Night. And where else would I be other than the local library - offering my services as The Book Docotor. Bored with your bookshelves? Hacked off with your holiday reading? Then come and talk to me.... I've done this a few times now, and it always starts off the same. People are a little shy, then they notice the home made Madelaines and the bottle of Maderia ( a nice Proustian touch I thought) and then pretty soon there's a queue. First up was a charming woman who just lost her sparkle with reading. "I regularly go to Waterstones, but I look at all the covers on the 3 for 2 tables and I end up buying stuff that I just know I'm not going to like" A common problem madaam, and one I can sympathise with. We had a chat about older books and she went off clutching a prescription for some Angela Thirkell, Sylvia Townsend-Warner and Molly Keane. Next up was an Irish girl who only really enjoyed science-fiction and "nothing with monsters in" Marge Piercy it is then... An elderly woman who wanted something modern. A Visit from The Goon Squad was soon on loan from the library. Two very assured teenage girls who 'rather enjoyed speculative fiction'. Gulp. And loathed Harry Potter AND Twilight were given I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and the woman who was splitting up from her partner and needed a joyous good read - well - there's was only one choice really - Nancy Mitford. Natch. The queue was now out of the door and I had great fun writing prescriptions for some classics, some moderns and some mates books too.... especially Every Vow you Break by Julia Crouch - now THAT should help the insomnia (evil laugh) Really looking forward to the next time - perhaps by then I will have got myself a white coat.

Things that you make go hmm

I don't know what's wrong with me.  Every new book that I pick up I feel like hurling across the room. Admittedly I did set myself the onerous task of reading Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell over the holidays. - three hundred characters.  Yes.  Three hundred.  Then there was The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst.  And someone who was raving about it gave me The Rules of Civility....oh dear.  Well, let me say that Dance to the Music (12 volumes.  Yep, 12) is going to have to dance on without me and Alan Hollinghurst who is a fabulous writer lost me on that one too... As for Rules of Civility - well, I don't feel like being very civil about it to be honest - Dominick Dunne dun it better guv.  Honest. Oh yes, and I read Pure which won plaudits and prizes galore and I was like - meugh...I've read better. So it's not that I haven't been reading (frankly that will never happen) but it's just that I haven't been inspired.  AT ALL. I even in a moment of desperation picked off the shelves an old Iris Murdoch - The Philosopher's Pupil. Crikey.I gave that a miss, too.
Then - thank goodness I went to swish bookish party at Waterstones in London and in my goodie bag was a freebie proof copy of My Policeman by Bethan Roberts. Hoozah and Hoorah! Finally - a great book.  One worth reading.
It's set in Brighton in the 50's and is an absolute corker. I don't want to give anything away - but do urge you to read it.  You'll LOVE it.

Holidays

Well, it's been a while and I do apologise... Holidays and life has got in the way and a general dearth of what I call GOOD books.  I knew I was in trouble when I was sitting at the airport waiting for a flight to Sicily and I realised that I had no shampoo or conditioner with me but I did have a lemon zester and seven paperbacks. Most of them old books that have recently been re-issued.  Holiday reading fills me with panic.  Madly dash around the airport books hop - NO.  I once relied on that at Heathrow and it was closed - can you imagine the horror? So I bought a load of Stella Gibbons old novels that have just been released.  Hmm, well... Oh dear.  I mean I know that if you're written a big stonking best seller like Cold Comfort Farm you probably never need to write another book - and really, I wish she hadn't - or that I had lower expectations of them and simply hadn't bought them. 'Nuff said.
However due to the joys of The Harpies (book club) I have certain prescribed books that i would never have normally read - A Visit for the Goon Squad is one of them - I adored it....and I am just about to start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - yet another I would never have bought -so for that much thanks.  But  I find myself when going away always throwing certain books into the bag ( yes, I do see that a Kind;e would help here but I'm going to side step that issue for the moment) Saki, Waugh, Mitford, and Forever Amber are usually to be found in my luggage as you cannot rely on airports.  Heed the advice - do take some comfort re-reads with oyu!

Risotto with Nettles

Gosh, I love foodie books.  NOT cookery books (though I do of course like 'em) but books that lovingly recall forgotten meals along with memorable friends and relatives.  Of course *ahem* I wrote one myself, so I would, wouldn't I?  But Anna Del Conte who wrote Risotto with Nettles raises the bar.  The first thing I learnt which really surprised me was that whole towns were built in Italy to capture the sea breezes, purely for drying out pasta.  So whole streets had massive fringes of fresh spaghetti drying in the sun.  Must have been a wonderful sight... Also, fresh home-made pasta was in such demand and held in such high regard that women in the war would gather together over the kitchen table, often pulled out in a sunny square and make ravioli or tagliatelle to sell - and then with the money buy dried pasta to feed their families.  The food is mouth watering in itself but her life story is amazing too.  Shot at, nearly thrown in prison, her first job as an au pair in England, her marriage, her career as a cook are spellbinding.  And then, there's the irresistible pull of the Italian food. This is dear to my heart too, so much so, that I am off an a Sicilian adventure very soon to a cookery school in that sun drenched island of lemons.  No doubt I shall be making pasta but I sincerely I hope I avoid being shot at.
Oh - the jar next to the book is that wonderful thing that I make this time every year: Damson vodka - perfect for a Winter Twinkle cocktail (one part damson vodka, two pats frosty prosecco)

CULL

Yes, it's cull time again. I try to be ruthless.  Honest.  But then sentimentality gets the better of me.  Politeness, too.  I mean, I KNOW some of these authors and even if I'm never, ever going to read them again, I can't chuck them.  And then I'm vexed as to what to actually DO with 'em.  Yes, yes, of course I do charity shops...well, to be honest, I do when I can cajole someone with strong arms to carry them there.  Then we have the 'library' in the entrance hall where the top post shelf are full of the 7 flats here unwanted books.  The theory is of course that you 'borrow' one and replace one.  That's the theory.  In practice what happens is that it gets chock with unwanted Dan Brown and Jeffrey Archer (NOT mine I hasten to add)  Then I take a book bag to book club every month and dish 'em out.  Ditto to friends.  But even with all that I swear the pesky things are breeding.  Then, the other night, it happened.  The thing that I'd been dreading and yet expecting for some time.  An avalanche in the middle of the night.  A tsunami of books flooded the bed.  Crashing down on me (and Flo who really was no help at all.  In fact if I had ever thought that she would be any use as a guard dog, that theory was firmly quashed as her trembling body tried to wriggle under my pillow whilst making imploring yelps of distress.  Not growls of attack.) So, the bedside table is looking a little empty, the shelves are groaning, there are three book bags ready for the next strong armed friend to take to the shop and Flo is looking, well, a little more secure...