Cookery Books

This morning I read Jabblog's post about about cookery books and the collection or otherwise thereof.

I was married to a lady who was a superb cook and hostess (and mother for that matter). After we were married my wife announced that she would do the cooking and the ironing and I would do the housework.  I asked if that was negotiable and the reply was in the negative. Having said that I can't say that I did all the housework all the time.  However, I was not allowed into the kitchen to cook. 

So when we separated I had to rely on what knowledge I had gathered and cookery books. I was fortunate in that my Mother believed in her children being taught all the elementary aspects of running a house including cooking. I thoroughly enjoyed cooking and a dinner party for 12 (the maximum my table can take) held no fear whatsoever and as people kept accepting invitations I assume that they were reasonably happy with the results.

As for cookery books, like any other subject in which I became engrossed, I collected many. Very many. Far too many. Indeed a few years ago I had a massive cull of my bookshelves and, despite a few recent purchases including "Bosh" I only have 21 now (just counted!).  Having said that most of the time when I want to try something new now I search the internet for ideas and rely on my books for old favourites. In addition I have a folder with favourite recipes and tips in it and I also keep quite a lot of recipes on my computer.

The Hamlyn Books were my originals and I still refer to them. By far the most important at one time when I was doing a lot of dinner parties was "50 Great Curries of India". I learned a lot about curries but they can take days to make and I rarely make them from scratch now.  I've kept the book though because my late son gave it to me because, I think, he was friendly with the author's son. 

Whilst writing this post I thought I'd see just how popular cookery books are these days. The answer according to Google is that a great many are written and published. and bought - many probably as presents. Many end up in Charity Shops and apparently some are used. 

Old Books

Anyone who goes near a charity shop these days realises that books are two a penny. Indeed our biggest charity shop recently offered CDs, DVDs and books for 1p each simply to clear stock and make room for more. They have thousands (and that is not an exaggeration).

Over the years I have been clearing my loft of books and have given many hundreds to charity shops. Indeed on one occasion a few years ago I filled my very ample estate car (US station wagon) with boxes of books and vinyl records and took them to Glasgow where the Oxfam University Bookshop and the separate Oxfam Music Shop were delighted to take them. The books included a complete original Heron set of the Russian Classics which I'd had from my early twenties when I devoured them all with great relish. 

I recently came across a 150+ year old set of books on painters in my bookcase. I have a rule now - one out for every one in. I needed space for a couple of new books. I hadn't used these reference books for many years and would be unlikely ever to do so again. I'd just ask Google. I knew they would have no value in an ordinary charity shop so I looked on line to discover that the set had been reprinted many times and was still available as a 'new' book. The condition of my set wasn't good (good sets of that age were selling for a few pounds) so they went in the bin (refuse). I think it's the first time I've ever disposed of a book that way.

Although I use a Kindle, physical books still have a place. Apart from anything else digitised books go out of date very quickly. The format changes. Old formats are frequently not readable by newer programs. There's an interesting and straightforward article here. If I pop my clogs whilst living in my current home then there will still be books here for my son to dispose of. There will probably still be my CD collection of over a thousand (I've just done a rough count of the ones in the living room and there's many more in the loft). My very extensive DVD collection isn't going anywhere anytime soon either. I know I can stream what I don't have but I still like watching the occasional DVD. 

I've not mentioned digital newspapers. I only buy a paper when I'm going to have to go into hospital or spend a day on a plane or train. Apart from anything else the paper I buy has lots of puzzles which I can do without an internet connection.

It made me wonder how many of my Blogland friends and acquaintances have decided to go entirely or even mainly digital.

I've made a few guesses in my mind.

Where's Schrödinger’s Cat?

In the 5 months up to the beginning of August I had used the car for a handful of miles - principally for medical visits in Stornoway. In the last three weeks I have driven around 1500 miles including two round trips to Glasgow. In the next three weeks I will make another two trips to Glasgow and Ayr to have my two pre-op appointments and my kidney stent replaced. In between I will have to isolate for 14 days at home on Lewis. I've gone from the peace and quiet of lockdown with no deadlines to meet or appointments to keep to a hectic 'up at 4am to catch the morning ferry' lifestyle again. I know which I prefer....and it isn't the latter.

So my recent visits to Blogland have been few and far between and my life is the poorer for that.

However I did visit Bob's post "I wish they would tackle world peace instead." which, as the title might not readily suggest, was partly about the Schrödinger’s Cat Paradox. 

I have, on several occasions, with Wendy (of my New Zealand Family) sat up into the wee smae hours with a bottle or two of New Zealand's finest red discussing the topic. So the post made me sit up and take notice. The first thing I did was go to a particular place on my bookshelves for the book entitled "Schrödinger’s Cat" or something containing those two words anyway.

To my puzzlement it wasn't there. A search of the rest of the bookshelves and the shelves in the loft all drew a blank. I'm not going to pretend that the loss of the book about Schrödinger’s Cat Paradox is going to change my life.  However the fact that a book, any book, is missing from its proper place is disturbing. What next?

A Walk and Unexplained Things

I decided on Monday night that, regardless of the weather next morning, I would resume my walks in the Castle Grounds. So I was a little less than enthused when the day broke wet and windy although, to be fair, at 4℃ at least the temperature had increased. So, waterproofs duly donned, I set off with the aim of being back at The Woodlands for my coffee just after opening time (10am in the winter).

I set off with my face into the wind and rain and chose a route into the trees and eschewed the coastal path. After a few hundred yards along a path into the woods I stopped to blow my nose and turned my back to the direction of travel for a few seconds whilst I did so. When I turned back there were two people about 20 yards in front of me. I was rather puzzled because there were no paths joining in that 20 or so yards and they hadn't been there before I turned round. I just wondered and carried on at the same pace as they were walking.

They appeared identically dressed. They both had dull peacock blue hooded jackets with the hoods up. The person on the left as I looked at them was slightly shorter. They were not holding hands so far as I can recall.

We walked on and then I looked down for perhaps 10 or 20 paces as the rain was in my face. When I looked up again they had disappeared. They were not on the main path. They would have reached two other paths off to the left and right. I had a clear sight down both for far further than they could possibly have run in that time, never mind walked. There was nowhere else for them to have hidden.

Some things in life may just never be explained. 

On the topic of unexplained things like Pixies here are the pictures of the book The Adventures of Pip as suggested by Rachel in a comment on my last post in case they jog any memories.

1948/9 Edition

1968 Edition

Pip The Pixie

I'm home and, after a couple of days catching up, I'm actually feeling alive again and raring to go.

Over the last couple of weeks bloggers have mentioned books from their childhood, games and Heron even mentioned what I took to be his Tree Elf. I don't have a tree elf but I mentioned that I do have a Pixie called Pip. So I thought this was probably a good time to introduce you. Of course some of you may already know Pip and may have learned some of the same things that I learned as a tiny child when reading about him. Indeed someone on the radio whilst I was travelling mentioned that she recalled how Blackbirds got their orange beaks through reading The Adventures of Pip by Enid Blyton first published in 1949 when I was just 5 years old.

As a result of reading these very short stories (30 in total in a book of about 180 pages with lots of illustrations) I learned all about hermit crabs, why lizards lost their tails, chestnut tree buds are covered in glue, that male sparrows have black bibs, how toads defend themselves, how caddis larvae stop tadpoles from eating them, what happens when the oak tree comes out before the ash and vice versa (not that I knew then what vice versa meant), the injustice of the naming of the 'slow worm', about cuckoos, the difference between butterflies and moths and oh so many more things. 

What was so brilliant about that book was that it taught me so much and, because it was in small chapters made reading interesting too. 

I shall doubtless do another post on my childhood books but in the meantime I shall re-read The Adventures of Pip.

HMY Iolaire

One hundred years ago today occurred one of the worst maritime disasters in United Kingdon waters since the loss of SS Norge in 1904. It was undoubtedly the most tragic single occurrence to befall the combined island of Lewis and Harris.

The Islands had already lost about 1200 men in their prime during The War. The addition of 174 Lewismen and 7 Harrismen within yards of the shore of home made the tragedy even harder to bear.

Only 75 of the passengers survived, and the death toll may in fact have been higher as the ship was overcrowded and passenger records were incomplete. Many of the survivors were saved by the actions of John F Macleod, Port of Ness, who jumped from the boat with a line, miraculously made land, wedged himself in the boulders and hauled ashore a hawser, along which most of the survivors struggled to safety.

The tragedy has  been the subject of a number of books and many articles and there have been and will be many acts of remembrance during this week in which I shall, hopefully, participate and about which I hope blog.

Last evening there was a torchlight procession to a service and concert of remembrance attended by Scotland's First Minister and HRH Prince Charles.

I will not try and repeat much that has already been written but for anyone with an interest in the Islands, history, maritime history or who are just curious to know some more I will provide some links.

Wikipedia  Stornoway Historical Society  Virtual Hebrides  Hebridean Connections

Books:

The Darkest Dawn: The Story of the Iolaire Tragedy by Malcolm Macdonald and Donald John Macleod. (2018) Publisher: Acair. The most authoritative and thorough account of the event with details of those lost and those who survived.

When I Heard The Bell - The Loss of the Iolaire by John MacLeod. Publisher:  Birlinn Limited.

There are more which can be found by Googling "Books Iolaire disaster"

First Lines

I have a bad memory: I always have had. It is a strange irony that people constantly tell me what a good memory I have. Like most people I can recall certain things.

The Big Book Clearout made me think about first lines and I wondered how many I could recall. The answer is that the number of first lines I can accurately recall is remarkably small. However the number that I can almost recall surprised me.

I can recall several verbatim:

“No one had expected Ernest to die, least of all Ernest.” from Dead Ernest by Frances Garrood.

"The Mole had been working very hard all [the]* morning, spring cleaning his little home." The Wind in The Willows by Kenneth Graham.

"It was morning and the [new]* sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea." Johnathon Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.

"I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to." The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson.

"Pip the pixie was doing the washing for his Aunt Twinkle." The Adventures of Pip by Enid Blyton. 

There are many of which I can recall the general wording but had to check:

"The French are proud of the fact that they are the last people to invade the British Isles." 1000 Years of Annoying The French by Stephen Clarke.

"I have very pale skin, very red lips." Skin by Joanna Briscoe. (An odd book for a man to find intriguing, I suspect.)

"It is always difficult to find a beginning." An Evil Cradling by Brian Keenan. (A book that had a very very profound effect on me.)

"The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it." Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.

I was ashamed not to be able to recall the first lines of Tolstoy's War and Peace given that I've read it three times or The Piano Shop on the Left Bank which is one of my favourite books but whose author (T E Cathcart) I could not recall either.

I'm sure that there are very many other books which should spring into what passes for my mind but they haven't. 

Does anyone else remember first lines?

* Not quite verbatim, having checked.

Books: Keeping and Disposing

When CJ was staying we had a concerted clearout of my loft. I had already disposed of hundreds of vinyl LPs to the Oxfam Music Shop in Glasgow and now I had seven large (I have a trolley!) boxes of books for the Oxfam Book Shop in Glasgow's Byers Road as well. It's the University area so Oxfam and the charity shops have a big presence.  The local charity shops here are inundated with books and many of the books I was disposing of were not really local charity shop material anyway being, perhaps, more specialised or in the case of the complete works of Somerset Maugham (I had two sets) rather more likely to fetch a reasonable price for charity in a specialist bookshop.

The result is that my loft which has about 10 metres of bookshelf space which are now full as are the bookshelves in the living room. But the rest of the loft has no books all over the place impeding passage and impossible to find when needed.

A few of the ones I have kept are:

Books and People

One of the things that I do when I am in someone's house is look at their book shelves. Books interest me. In fact books interest most people that I know.

I was recently reminded of an incident about 40 years ago when I was living a few doors away from one of my colleagues. We were both new to the Isle of Lewis and were both from the North West of England. Our families had become friendly. We often shared a car into work.

One day I was in the friend's house waiting for him to get ready (I am compulsive about being on time. He wasn't). I started looking at the books on his bookshelves. When he came into the room I said (and I have absolutely no idea why I said) "I hope you don't mind me looking at your books." To which he responded that he most certainly did. Of course I thought he was joking. He was not. He went on to opine that it was a violation of someone's privacy because you could tell too much about a person from their bookshelves.

I suppose that he was correct but I certainly hadn't seen that coming.

Would you object if I was looking at your bookshelves and do you think I would learn a lot?

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I have just read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I'm not sure how I was first introduced to it but, as I said recently, I had a feeling it was through Monica or Meike. Anyway someone mentioned it on Meike's blog recently and I decided that as I bought it a while ago it was time to read it. It's not a long read. It is, however, a very good read. 

Of course that's a very subjective statement. The book, set in 1946, is written in the form of letters between the person who can be regarded as the central character/narrator, her friends and people on Guernsey who have lived through the German occupation of the Island and who formed the literary society which forms the title of the book.

The book was published in 2008 and according to the many positive reviews it was well received.

Once I had started the book I couldn't put it down (for long) but I have to say that the first part was far more compelling and promised more than about the last third provided. 

One of the things that kept me going though was some absolutely splendid quotations which, as always, are better in context than on their own:

Early on in the book: That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive - all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment. True not just of books but of blogs too.

I much prefer whining to counting my blessings.

Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.

....'Life goes on.' What nonsense, I though, of course it doesn't. It's death that goes on. Ian is dead now and will be dead tomorrow and next year and for ever. There's no end to that. But perhaps there will be an end to the sorrow of it.Sorrow has rushed over the world like the waters of the Deluge, and it will take time to recede.

The Blackhouse by Peter May

Arising from a comment by Carol on yesterday's post the following is the text of a post on A Hebridean in New Zealand on 11 December 2012.

I really should resurrect my book blog because last night I finished Peter May's book The Blackhouse.  I can think of no book I have read for many years that kept me so riveted to it: particularly towards the end when I couldn't put the light out until I'd finished it.  It's complex (though not really complicated)  and, in parts, implausible (are not most novels?) but the characters and places are so real it's uncanny. 

Having lived the majority of my years on Lewis makes it all the more poignant and I can see many of the characters in people I know or am acquainted with.  Contrary to at least one reviewer I do not think it is insulting in any way to the people of what has long been my home.  Every place has it's characters both good and bad and Lewis is no different.  Some of the less central characters who are there for the embellishment of the story though not from Ness are immediately recognisable (sometimes as an amalgamation of real people).

The descriptions of the Island and the places (I'm fortunate enough through my work, for example, to have been all over the Lews Castle before it was declared dangerous and closed to the public) are wonderfully evocative of the place and reading the book here in New Zealand I was transported back to Lewis: almost like being beamed there à la Star Trek.

Oh yes, the story.  Police officer, unpleasant senior police officer, friendly and loyal police officer colleague, murder, deaths and so much more (some of which would sow ideas which could give the stories - this is not one story - away).  Frankly you don't need to have a synopsis: it seems to me in many ways that the murder is just a way of having a setting on which to hang (sorry) the characters who are really what I think the novel is all about.

I would stick my neck out and say that I think that anyone I know who reads this book will enjoy it at one level or another.  

I bought it on Kindle (as I will now do the others in the trilogy) but when I return to Lewis I will have to have the real copies as well. 

I subsequently read the other books in the trilogy and I would thoroughly recommend them too.

I have yet to read the other books that I have by him but I'm sure that when I do I will not be disappointed.

What Do My Books Tell You?

Meike made a comment on a recent post "It does help getting to know a person better when you see what kind of books they have, doesn't it?" That reminded me of a couple of posts I did 5 years ago on the books in my bookcases. 

I started the first post with an anecdote from 40 years ago.  I was waiting for a colleague.  He had just moved in a few doors away not long after we moved to Lewis.  I was looking at his bookcase.  I have no idea at all why I asked but something made me ask if he minded me looking at his books.  He replied that he didn't like people looking at his bookcases because books were a private thing and you could learn too much about a person by knowing what books were in their bookcase.

In the second post the subject of electronic books and the lack of book cases to look at was raised (I think by Monica). 

I had been looking for a book today. I knew it was a proper one but I checked the Kindle to be certain. It made me realise that I had a pretty eclectic set of books on it and thought I'd share them and see what you could tell from them. And if you can tell anything about me then you are a "better man than I am Gunga Din".

Cooking: The Books

Recently in a café I had some splendid spicy lentil soup. I make a lot of soup. I have not made spicy lentil soup though. So I went to my cookery books and discovered lentil soup recipes do not abound. although, to be fair, The New Soup Bible did have 5 with lentils. I also found a pasta and lentil soup in Nigellissima. It would, of course, have been much easier just to go on line and choose one of the hundreds that will come up with a Google search. It made me wonder why, despite culling the cookery books several times in recent years, I still have two shelves of them: one in the main bookshelves and one in the kitchen. Apart from the simple fact that I like books the thing I love about cookery books is that you can browse and get ideas. That’s not so easy on the internet.

'If''. The alternative (by Frances Garrood)

If you can fill your room with junk and clutter, 

And still contrive to find your (unmade) bed.
If you withstand your parents' angry mutter
And play your music extra loud, instead.
If you can hoard your dirty mugs and dishes
And grow green mould therein, and cease to mind,
Stand fast against your teachers' well-meant wishes,
And, stalwart, keep your place in class (behind).
If you can eat three plates of food at mealtimes
And still have room for cereal in between,
And leave your dirty garments where you dropped them,
So everyone can tell where you have been.
If you can leave the jobs you're meant to do, lad,
And make quite sure that they remain undone,
Yours is this room, and everything that's in it.
You've now become a teenager, my son!

Frances Garrood

Dedicated to T, B and J.( But particularly T.)

(With thanks to Tess at Magpie Tales for the picture, and apologies to Kipling)

Frances Garrood writes books.  In my humble opinion, and I am not alone in that view, very good and certainly very enjoyable books.  She also pens limerick after limerick and poem after poem on her blog (usually in response to Magpie Tales whatever they are).

This particular adaptation really appealed to me: possibly because Son 2 who is now one of the most meticulously fastidious of young men went through this phase with a vengeance.

I apologise for the repetition to those of you who have already read it on Frances's blog (with image). 

I Like 'Organised'.

I was looking at my bookcases this morning and wondering what to do with all the books sitting on the coffee table waiting for a home.  The books on the coffee table are some of those which I have acquired (either bought or been given) over the last few months.  That doesn't include Kindle acquisitions of course. The problem is that the bookcase in the living room is full so if any of the recent acquisitions are to be housed there some of the old ones have to go into the bookshelves in the loft.  That's all very well but they, too, are full.  I'm an Edwards.  We only dispose of books if we really have to do so.

One of the things that happens when books disappear into the loft is that they also disappear from the front of my mind.  This means that when I go into a charity shop and see a book I want I may already have it.  That's happened a number of times.  

Some years ago I started a list of all my books on a spreadsheet.  Somewhere along the way it got neglected.  Earlier in the year I acquired the software Delicious Library 2.  I heard about the programme when visiting a friend who mentioned it in a post here.  Having all my books catalogued and organised really appeals to me.

I sometime wonder if I don't spend too much time organising my books and too little time reading them.

Simple Things

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.

I've been using the kitchen breakfast bar as my 'study' since I came back from NZ.  It has the same beautiful view but it is much cosier in this cold weather (the study has lots of glass and even though it's double-glazed it takes quite a bit to heat it in cold weather).  In hot, sunny weather it's so bright it cam be difficult to see the screen.  The only problem in the kitchen is that the bar chairs are a bit too low when using the breakfast bar for the laptop.  I've been trying to think of a workable solution for a week or more.  I can't find higher chairs.  Obviously I can't lower the bar.  I tried cushions to no avail (not supportive enough and they keep falling off).

So what am I now using?  What have I got more of in the house than anything else (possibly excepting CDs)?

Books!

To Kindle or Not To Kindle?

That is the question.  I bought C'est La Folie by Michael Wright and enjoyed it very much indeed and it was the first book I wrote about on Eagleton Book Notes.  Now his second book Je t'aime à la Folie has appeared in paperback.  It is also on Kindle.  It's a series I'd like to collect and so my natural inclination is to buy it in paperback and put it on my bookshelf.  But buying it in Kindle format makes much more sense.  I can read it anywhere anytime.  Oh dear.  Decisions.  Wasn't life easy once upon a time.

Making Space

A few weeks ago I was trying to sort out some space on my bookshelves in the living room and the loft when I realised that I had quite a lot of self-help books.  A few I had dipped into.  Most I had been given for one reason or another but, presumably, because the giver had thought I needed help to help myself.  They were given quite a few years ago when my life was, how should I say, confused.  I ceased to be 'confused' over five years ago.  It occurred to me that I'd never be likely to open any of them again (there's confidence for you!) so I decided to get rid of them and make space on the shelves.

However I have kept one related book:  Richard Carlson's Don't Sweat The Small Stuff.  If there is a book which has given me a mantra then this is the book.  Frankly the majority of the 246 - albeit small - pages are superfluous because all that matters is that we realise that we shouldn't sweat the small stuff and that the great majority of the things that get to us on an everyday basis are small stuff.

There is a test.  If something, for example, annoys you, the first question to ask yourself is whether it will matter in a year from now.  If not, will in matter in six months?  Three months?  Three weeks?  Three days?  Tomorrow?  And if not, then why does it matter now?

Life's good.  Thanks to my friends.

Leakey's Bookshop and Café, Inverness

One of my favourite places for a drink and something to eat is Leakey's.  It is not only convivial and friendly with good coffee and food but is also a wonderful place to browse:

A Paperless Environment, Books - 2

When a new boss appeared in the late 1980s one of the first things he pronounced was that within 5 years there would be very little paper in the office and most things that we did would be computerised. He set out to achieve that end. By the time he left, an almost broken man, in the mid to late 1990s the office had more computers and more paper than ever before; I suspect that over 15 years later things have not changed.

I was reminded of this by the recent debates that have been taking place over traditional books v electronic books (which, for me, means Kindle).

Dawn Treader recently posted upon the subject of books and bookshelves from our houses disappearing as a result of changing ways of reading.  As you have seen I still have plenty of books in my house: many seen but many more on boookshelves which line a wall in my loft.  The number of books I have does not disgrace the Edwards name (Mum collected books and Niece Helen collects books just to name two) but is miniscule compared with the number my brother CJ (aka Scriptor Senex) has.

I have attempted to remove some of the paper from my Study by scanning many documents (eg insurance and similar documents) and doing away with Bank Statements and just reading them on line.  I started doing the same with my diary and address books etc but have realised that as records (I have most of my diaries going back to 1967 and my address books from my schooldays) they are invaluable in paper form.

When it comes to books I have discovered that many of the books I use on a daily basis such as bird and insect books and many other reference books with illustrations are just not available electronically at the moment.  On the other hand every recipeone could ever want is available on line.

So for me there are two issues when comparing the paper book with the Kindle: convenience and comfort.  There is something undeniably comfortable about holding a book and reading it.  On the other hand the Kindle allows me to travel with as many books as I am every likely to need when I am away from a home or, as with my music collection on my iPod, allows me to carry books from one home to another without any weight in my luggage (which is an important consideration these days with such weight restrictions on air travel luggage).  

Another great advantage of Kindle is that I can read a book on the Kindle reader or my cellphone or my laptop and because they all sync I am always at the correct page in whichever book or books I am reading and I can comfortably read on the plane or in a surgery waiting room or if I'm caught somewhere unexpectedly.

So I expect that during my lifetime at least books will always be with us but that more and more books will be read on electronic readers.  I, for one, shall embrace the new technology with open arms.

But here are a few more of my books many of which will probably not be 'Kindalised' in my time: