Review: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This made him a star, launched his career, and for good reason. I'd never read anything so raw, real, searingly honest. Love love love this man and his work. So much more than a tour of the underbelly of the professional kitchen. His writing is everything: exposes what's underneath. There's no memoir/food blog/kitchen expose, etc. that even comes close to this. If you've never read it, please do yourself a favor and get yourself a treat--go get it ASAP!

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Review: A Fine Balance

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the most magnificent pieces of literature I have ever read. Period. It's much much more than a story. It's an epic exploration of human frailty. This work drips with empathy, so intense, darkly beautiful. After I finished it--and this was years ago--I HID it, yes stuck it behind a bunch of other books on my shelf. Why? I couldn't bear to walk past it and inadvertently see it. If this had happened, that I casually saw it, I would've broken down and sobbed. It cast a hypnotic spell on me, so mesmerized was I, I couldn't eat, sleep, nothing. It had me in thrall. I read it when it first came out and when either the internet was not yet here or it didn't have such a strong grip on me..when I read this book, I read it in one giant greedy gulp, unable to let go, riveted by it. This is hands down one of the most remarkable works in the English language. It is rendered with ;layers and layers and layers of dense humanity, so deeply felt, it hurts but in a good way. If I were to meet this author, I'd be fan-girling, obsequious, embarrassing, genuflecting mess :-)

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Review: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Before Delia Owens came along with the 'Crawdads' novel, Annie Dillard was here with the love letter to nature. Before I read this decades ago, I thought chicken came in a package (I exaggerate, but you get the picture :-). Dillard's 'Tinker Creek' is a lushly written song to all in the natural world. A sense of unity and wild peace, if there were such a thing, pervades the book. It's a slim to medium little work, but so dense. You enter this world she's written and come out the other end having lived through a tale so incredible, you'll never ever never see our world the same way again. Please read this, the book that began it all.

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Review: Excursions

Excursions by Henry David Thoreau
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the grandaddy of them all, the predecessor to Dillard and Owens. A philosophical, phenomenological, observational account of all he observes, rendered beautifully and faithfully. It's a bit heavy handed and takes a commitment to get through, but well worth it.

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Review: I and Thou

I and Thou by Martin Buber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Translation is everything--and Walter Kaufman sucks. The only translator (from the original German) that GoodReads lists is Kaufman, but the Ronald Gregor Smith translation is everything, and puts Kaufman to shame. Compared side by side (oh how I wish I could read the original :-( , but each translation contrasted with the other, is honestly like reading entirely two different works. The Smith translation made me fall in love with the relational/relationship/sacred construct. I read it when I was barely 18--and never looked back. I became so obsessed, I read it many many times more, including Kaufman--and currently own several copies of the same damn translation! This is simply magical. It's everything a work of literature should be. It's definitely not going to be everyone cup of tea. All the complaints you've heard about it are likely true, e.g. it's repetitive, boring, confusing, etc. It's a tall drink of water, for sure--a deeply dense and philosophical work. It's the the dramatic case for trust and developing a sacred space in relationship. It's a fantasy of mine that I'd get to meet Buber. He's aGod, no joke. This I promise you: you will never read anything like this ever. Just for kicks, check it out of the library. By the way, the Smith translation came before the Kaufman one, and because Smith was so difficult to understand, Kaufman came along and tried to render it more accessible. Instead, he butchered it, and removed the beauty, instead making it mundane rather than ethereal. If you cannot get the Smith translation, don't bother getting t at all, because you'll get a skewed and distorted picture of Buber's message. It hurts me to think that you'd come away with that :-(

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Review: Swann's Way

Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nobody describes a madeleine--or anything else, for that matter, like Proust, the master of literary observation and phenomenological, subjective and objective description. So unbelievably beautiful, you must read it to believe how he lavishes attention on something as mundane as a clock, a dresser, the sun streaming through curtains in a window, anything is putty in his hands. It took me a long time to make the commitment to read the entire series, because basically, once you start this, all bets are off for other novels. It's that engrossing. All writers should take a course in Proust, regardless of whether or not they aspire to writing of this ilk.

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Review: Me Before You

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's sappy, syrupy sweet, saccharine...yes, yes and yes, it's all of those things--and yet, I cried a bucket. I sobbed near the end, big belly tears rolling down my cheeks. If you've seen the movie, trust me: the movie is nothing compared to Moyes' work. This is not literature, no prizes will be given for the writing, and yet, it's compelling and indelible. I read it a while back when I was stuck somewhere with my family, all of them watching a football game. I polished this off in hours. Love and love and love. It gets to you, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's deeply felt and will shoot an arrow into your heart. Guaranteed. It's a quick read :-)

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