Copied and pasted from the PM I just sent those of us who took part on Saturday, a few book suggestions:
1)
Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking, by Kate Colquhoun (non-fiction, 2007)
From the Iron Age to the Industrial Revolution, the Romans to the Regency, few things have mirrored society or been affected by its upheavals as much as the food we eat and the way we prepare it. In this involving history of the British people, Kate Colquhoun celebrates every aspect of our cuisine from Anglo-Saxon feasts and Tudor banquets, through the skinning of eels and the invention of ice cream, to Dickensian dinner-party excess and the growth of frozen food. Taste tells a story as rich and diverse as a five-course dinner.2)
Zoology, by Ben Dolnick (fiction, 2007)
A funny, wise and heartwarming story of a young man's first forays into love during a long, hot summer in New York City. Henry likes to think of himself as a promising jazz musician. The truth, however, is considerably less glamorous. At 18, he's dropped out of university, lives at home with his bickering parents, and spends most of his time with the family dog. So when his brother offers to put him up in his New York City apartment for the summer, Henry leaps at the chance to start living the life of his dreams! In the Big Apple, Henry lands a job at the Central Park Children's Zoo. Over weeks spent chopping vegetables and shovelling dung, his world gradually expands to include a motley crew of zoo keepers, doormen and animals of every description. Amongst these, the undisputed star is Newman, the zoo's stoic Nubian goat, in whom Henry confides his growing love for Margaret, the alluringly wholesome girl next door. As the months unfolds in a haze of jazz bars, ill-advised romance and hard truths about family, Henry learns what what it is to love -- and to lose -- in this hilarious, inventive and touching debut novel.3)
The Power & the Glory, by Graham Greene (fiction, 1939 - introduction by John Updike)
In a poor, remote section of southern Mexico, the Red Shirts have taken control. God has been outlawed, and the priests have been systematically hunted down and killed. Now, the last priest strives to overcome physical and moral cowardice in order to find redemption.If we do read a Bronte novel, I vote for
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte - I've never read it but have heard interesting things! Wikipedia says she was born in January....
And I definitely like the alliteration of Yorkshire Yanks!
