Erin
The exhibit this book covers made me cry, dear reader. A fitting memento if you went, or facsimile if you didn't. It makes me a very happy nerd to have it on my bookshelf.
I really like the idea of this book.
Introduce a basic recipe concept (e.g. frittata, smoothie, ‘smooth soup') and then offer variations presented in a way that reinforces that the recipes are really all kinda the same. It reminds me of “Ratio” in that way - the goal is to convey a skeleton and teach you about the variety of fleshes that skeleton can wear.
Nothing super inspiring that I had to go out and cook RIGHT THEN, but a fuck of a lot less pretentious than the shit Heidi is getting up to now, with organic monk blessed pollen from unionized bees etc. etc.
Clearly this trip to the library involved a lot of vegetarian bowl cookbooks. I am a simple human.
This one is too fussy and too “healthful”, though. Totally passable cookbook, but uninspired (I could just read your blog, hon), and it's SO CLEAR that this husband is a photographer because there are entirely too many 1. landscapes 2. macro vegetable shots in this book.
Didn't hold up to a re-read.
Jaron has some interesting thoughts, and I share his broad pessimism, but this reads like a series of fragmentary blog posts and anecdotes. which is a bit funny, considering his beef with fragmentary modes of communication.
Meh. Wildly uneven. Also I was expecting fiction/sci-fi and instead got a bunch of essays that read like printed out tumblr posts. Nothing wrong with that, just not what I was after. Kinda feel like you can save yourself the $ and just develop a good blog roll?
It's like they fucking wrote this thing for me.
Flavorful veg recipes that allow for fishy condiments? sign me up.
The writing is funny and clear, the recipes are diverse and good, and it's laid out in a way that's accesible and easy to read.
No overwrought personal memoirs or musings on bullshit, and the photography style sort of reminds me of high school science textbook (this is a compliment).
Hits all my cookbook points, so I have to reason to dock stars.
It's got that 70s self-help smell all over it, but at its core (if you ignore some of the more godawful example entries) this book provides a lot of interesting journaling techniques.
I do find that some of them get me writing more than I otherwise would, and in ways that clear my head and feel helpful. Its tone doesn't suit me, but the content underneath is good.
This is too beginner for me, but so far I like the way it's organized and the rate/style with which concepts are introduced. If I needed to teach someone to cook, this wouldn't be a bad place to start.
I read this from a technical writing perspective rather than a proposal writing one.
Chapter 3 (The rhetorical situation, audience and context analysis) and chapter 9 (High level style guide) were both somewhat helpful.
I loved this. It was a subtle coming of age novel, with a likable main character growing up in ways I identified with. And the juxtaposition of Miranda's relationship with Nate and with Ana was really well done. Also bonus point for non-tragic lesbians.
DeConnick is in the upper quartile of comic book writers.
I loved Wendy and the rest of carol's support network, but this just didn't grab me the way some other books have.
So thorough! So well researched! Such a loving but academic tone! This one was a joy to read.
Interesting beginning, with some gentle forays into semiotics et al, but totally ruined by casual misogyny and boring shit in the second half. Not nearly enough interesting psychology for me. Alas.
I love the subtle character work and small small dramas of post-war English life in Barbara Pym novels. Mildred is such a self-deprecating but lovable narrator, and so well rendered. I loved this slow and in some ways unexciting book. Strongly recommend!
A few passable/interesting recipes, but this falls into the low-fat/whole-wheat/no-oil bullshit category farrrrrr too much for me to take it seriously.
I was hoping for the rare treat of a pescatarian cookbook, and got a poorly written screed about fat dairy-consuming americans instead. a bore.
good voice, unique recipes, and an organizational apparatus I found charming and in line with her blog.
I vehemently disagree with all the prudes who found this book via her Food Network show and think swearing is a dealbreaker.
God is dead, it's 2019, etc etc etc
I love “remix” cookbooks. If there's a sub-genre I'm a sucker for, that's it.
I love Music's “a dozen to [cooking method]” concept, where she explains a common cooking method, loosely, and then shows 12 ingredients that benefit from that treatment. It's simple, the photos are inviting, and it encourages experimentation and educated guesses.
In the same vein, her “spin it” concept (when she offers substitutions right off the bat, as a means of cooking to the produce that looks good that week) is a good one, and the two or three recipes I've made so far have all been with substitutions (kale instead of collards, e.g.).
My only gripe is that while I am a foodie and will totally spend my extra money on the nice anchovies, this shit gets to be a little bit wealthy and brooklyn-y and doesn't so much raise my hackles as it makes me long for class revolution. lol.
Using fucking instacart for your pantry staples is mayyyybe logistically sensible in nyc, but it's underpaid gig labor that shifts risk to contractors, and I'm ashamed that a hippie/boho cookbook made it from draft to publish with that still in as time-saving advice. We can do better, world.
I am not a romance reader (fic does it better and is queerer), but enough people suggested Courtney Milan as a well-written exception that I gave it a shot.
I thought I was getting regency cishets, and I did, but with a big dose of labor rights and unionization. Hell yeah!
Still not my genre, but this surpassed my (low) expectations. Well written, tolerable sex scenes, healthy relationships and communication. Probably better than 90% of romance novels.
May or may not care enough to continue the series.
While Anne Boyer =/= Anne Carson, she hits exactly the same vein of thought and feeling in me as a reader, which is to say my favorite vein.
I checked this out from the library. I will be buying it for my personal library, along with her more recent publication, sight unseen.
Goddamn Anne. Thank you.
Disappointing read right after “The Argonauts.” Makes me like her writing less.
Tired and obtuse in that breakup way. I probably would have loved it at the right time in my life. As it is? Meh.
Simple and direct. An introduction to tools, dough, and shaping, followed by a variety of fillings :)
Did myself a disservice by reading this immediately after “Sweet Life in Paris” - anecdote duplication approached 100%
It's got some interesting ideas, and the start of some interesting characters, but I had to give up about half-way through. The writing just isn't very good, and I'm loathe to spend unnecessary time of a life already too short to read all the great works on things that aren't enjoyable.
shame that the Neil Gaiman intro sucked me in. Oh well.
