Books I'm Reading

Good morning. It's a quick one today as the snow is melting and Angus and I have a date with a soft play centre, coffee and friends.

I wanted to share some books with you today.  Pre-children, I used to read a lot. I would aim to read 50 books a year. I think I once managed 45 (I am now amazed that I ever had that amount of free time). But now I read each night in bed before going to sleep and so it takes me a good month to get through a book.

I have recently finished reading What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt. It is very, very good. A story of two closely connected families, artists and academics, who live in New York. It spans twenty years of their lives and all the love and loss and children and thrills and fear that life holds. It is very creepy in places, dark and full of menace, which just made it even better.

I am currently reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It is for next month's Book Group. Essentially, it is a story of black maids who raise white children in the Deep South during the 1960's. So far, it is gripping. Full of tiny but vivid details of what people cook, eat, wear and how they behave, but hinting at much bigger themes to come like social injustice and the Civil Rights Movement. I think this will be a good Book Club choice.

Lastly, The Silver Spoon, the definitive book of Italian cooking, apparently. John found a copy of the old edition for a ludicrously cheap price and we spent all last night leafing through it planning delicious meals. Has anyone cooked from it? Is is good?

I would love to hear what you are reading!