2009/08/15

Shelf Love: reviews by a couple of book-lovers

A nice book blog by two women that does so well what I do not really do here, review books. I found it while searching for references to Ringle, the Baltimore clipper in the Aubrey/Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian.

With copies of Library Journal, Booklist, and Ingram's Advance landing weekly in my in-box, I am confronted with so many capsule reviews that it would make me cross-eyed if I tried to read them all. I dispensed with Publishers Weekly long ago to cut down on the volume. It's refreshing to read a blog where a couple of readers pick what they think they might like and ignore the rest.

Their most recent review is of Laurie Colwin's 1974 short story collection, Passion and Affect. Readers who know her fiction may not know that she was also one of the great food writers. Because my wife subscribed for years to Gourmet magazine, I first heard of Laurie Colwin in connection with her writing about cooking. Her column about how to roast a chicken is legendary. She published two books about food, Home Cooking and More Home Cooking, largely collections of her columns from Gourmet, which I gave my wife for Christmas last year.

3 comments:

Jenny said...

Brett, thanks very much for the nod! What kind words. And coming from someone who is both a librarian and a Patrick O'Brian fan -- I know you must be one of the true lovers of books!

Brett said...

You are welcome, Jenny! I hope that my few readers will pay Shelf Love a visit.

A wise old professor of mine used to hold, contrary to reports of the demise of books, that, "a new medium increases the use of all other media", and I think that his observation has been borne out.

"Give you joy of your blog", as O'Brian might say.

Jackie H said...

Oh, yes, I visited. And, in very short order, bookmarked! Many thanks for that reference.

Also visited "how to roast a chicken." A simply scrumptious article! I myself have a cherished roast chicken recipe. My dad and I were both very proud of celebrating Thanksgiving every year, just the two of us, with roast chicken. In truth, I think really we were downright smug about it! But I will be trying out Laurie Colwin. For sure.

Jackie H.