Are you List-ening?

For those of you who have completed My Life in France (not me) and want to move to the next book or for anyone else who needs a title to add to your reading list, these are our upcoming GBC reads:

• February: Let us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans (In checking the authors for this book on a visit to Amazon, this book is nearly 500 pages in paperback, so begin soon! Shipping weight is 1.2 pounds if you are curious.)
• March: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Renin ("Pennies for Peace" book)
• April: Yet undetermined but possibly a Pat Conroy selection

If you have any suggestions, let us know. Enjoy the cold weather and happy reading!

Inspect Her Gadgets

I have completed the first two chapters (about one third of the book) of My Life in France. It appears that the last seven chapters are a bit shorter in length. [It is the math side of my brain which presses me to record such mundane details.] I was amused to learn that Ms. Child and I shared a common fascination: kitchen gadgets. Of course, her mortar and pestle were of a significant scale larger than mine, but well, she was a much better chef. If I start to whip up quenelles de brochet, then perhaps I will consider an upgrade. The chinois (strainer) is already on my list of things to come for the kitchen; I have been using one during volunteer activities in a professional kitchen, and it is extremely handy.

Another observation thus far is that some of the photos do not have captions identifying either place or persons. I wonder if this is due to an understandable lapse in memory on the details of a photo taken 50 years earlier, Ms. Child's death before the final version was completed, or whether the material was so obvious that the subject should be inferred, like the photo of Minette (p.38). I could not recall this item discussed in the Foreward or Introduction, but I do like closure to these types of details.

Regardless of any lack of captions, the book continues most pleasantly and even gave me a sense of foreboding when a certain meal was being prepared. It was as if I were cheering for her every success. Regardless if one has seen Julie & Julia or read Ms. Powell's blog, I think we owe her a bit of thanks for bringing a forgotten gem back to the limelight again.

My Life in Nashville

I spent time yesterday beginning My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme, our GBC read for January. The first 50 pages have left me with a longing for oysters, a baguette with butter, a man who speaks French and can tolerate the occasionally over-cooked meal, and another visit to Paris (and perhaps not in that order).

My target for our meeting later this month is to make a dish from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. We will see if I can manage to do so with the courage of reading water.

Due to the timing this month, we are less than two weeks from our gathering so I encourage you to begin the book if you have not already done so.

First Time for Everything

Little known fact: GBC T1m can identify some books by their BACK cover.

Here is to a year of exploring, revisiting favourites and perhaps doing a little something on the wild side in 2010. Take a risk and have fun.

Happy New Year!