Art Garfunkel famously keeps track of the books he has read since 1968. As of writing this, the count is 1327 (he does not add a review). I thought I could do something similar but I am adding short reviews of books as I read them, and I rake my brain over what I read over the last decades. This is, evidently, a work-in-progress: there are 537 reviews so far. Titles marked with a * are particular favorites.
Julian Barnes: Pedant in the Kitchen
A jolly enough and rather short compilation of what I supposed started as newspaper columns, and all being around and about cookbooks. A subject dear to my heart. I applaud Mr. Barnes’ love of Marcela Hazan; but do not quite understand the reverence for Mme. David. I mean: yes, I also dipped my tooes into Frenc and Italian cooking guided by here, but here is an awful lot of “a handful of this” and “cook until done”. Not very precise, that. Sometimes you wonder if she even cooked some of the recipes first at all.