What I'm reading ...

I have started Taste by Stanley Tucci. I am a big fan of the author in his roles of actor and TV presenter. He has great style and a very listenable voice. And, I am told, he can write well. I am about to find out. Here’s the blurb:

From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen - the perfect accompaniment to your summer

Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and his legendary Negronis, he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around he table. In Searching For Italy, he revealed his passion for the secrets and delights of the country's many cuisines. Now, he shares the magic of a lifetime of meals, and the stories behind them.

Filled with anecdotes about growing up, shooting foodie films like Julie & Julia, falling in love across the table, and making dinner for his family, Taste is a reflection on the joys of food and life itself. Through five-star meals and burnt dishes, and from the good times to the bad, each morsel of this gastronomic journey is as heartfelt and delicious as the last.

The Starless Sea - by Erin Morgenstern

I am always rather wary of books that are pure fantasy and I guess that’s what this one is. However, I kept on turning the pages.

The book has an interesting structure. The main protagonist finds a book, with which he is intrigued. The book then starts alternating between the fantastical stories in the found book and the seemingly normal life of Zachary. As the book progresses things change and, by the end, the nature of the alternate pieces swaps. The excerpts from a book are quite normal, but Zachary’s story becomes downright weird.

It’s hard to say how much I liked the book, as I found it rather unfulfilling, but I did stick with it to the bitter end.

I suppose I won’t be in a hurry to read more of the author’s work.

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I have no idea where this book came from, but it is time for fiction again. Here’s the blurb:

When Zachary Rawlins stumbles across a mysterious book containing details from his own life among its pages, it leads him on a quest unlike any other.

Following the clues inside, he is guided to a masquerade ball, a dangerous secret club, and finally to an ancient library hidden far beneath the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians - it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes across time, and of stories whispered by the dead.

But when the library is threatened, Zachary must race through its twisting tunnels and sweetly soaked shores, searching for the end of his story.

Politics On the Edge - by Rory Stewart

This book totally delivered. It is very well written, with vivid descriptions of people, places and events. Rory covers the details of events and also gives a clear idea how he felt about them at the time, with what I felt was a lot of honesty. I learnt a great deal about politics and the mechanics of UK government; I am not at all sure that I like a lot that I learnt! I had always thought that Rory was a very clear thinker with views that strongly align with my own; this book reinforced that view.

I think that I might get a taste for political memoirs …