Not every book is destined to be your cup of tea. Not every book is destined to be your friend. But sometimes it can be surprising to read a book that is zeitgeisty, crowd-pleasing, universally adored—only to discover that — you hate it. Here are six books (two by the same author) that I, personally, deem unworthy of the profuse praise they have received. The final one is recent and is the inspiration for this list. A Confederacy Of Dunces John Kennedy Toole A satirical tale of the misadventures of Ignatius J. Reilly, an obese, fractious, misanthropic fool of a…
Pudding&Mess Posts
Born into poverty around 1650 — possibly in a brothel — Nell Gwyn began selling oranges at London’s Drury Lane Theatre as a young teenager: the seventeenth-century equivalent of hawking popcorn at the movies. In doing so, she became immersed in the theatrical world by default, absorbing the rhythms of the stage, its language, and the larger-than-life personalities who inhabited it. She also happened to find herself in the right place at the right time. This was The Restoration — not just the restoration of the monarchy, but the restoration of all things fun after the dour austerity of Oliver…
How The One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House Cherie Jones The title refers to the cautionary tale told to 13 year old Lala, by her grandmother, about what happens to little girls who are disobedient. At 18, Lala finds herself pregnant and living in a beachfront shack and in a volatile relationship with grifter husband, Aidan. On the night Lala gives birth, a white English tourist dies during a robbery and worlds collide. This is a harrowing story of endless contrasts. Strong women faced with the fragile egos of the men in their lives. Affluent tourism juxtaposed with the poverty of…
Years And Years A near-future drama that follows the Lyons family of Manchester as their lives unfold against a backdrop of accelerating political, technological, and social change. Beginning in 2019 it covers roughly 15 years, tracking how each member adapts—or fails to adapt—to an increasingly unfamiliar world. Muriel, grandmother and great-grandmother becomes the moral centre of the story. As life becomes more unstable she grows stronger and more clear eyed, consistently understanding what matter most when the ground is shifting. Edith, a humanitarian worker and activist, can always be found at the heart of the current global crisis. Rosie, a…
A kitchen staple does not get more basic — or, in my household, more essential — than this sriracha mayo. I say this with complete sincerity because there is never a moment in time when a jar of this deliciousness is not lurking somewhere in my fridge. Culinary infrastructure, that’s what it is. Yes, you can buy sriracha mayo at the store, but why would you when homemade tastes infinitely better and takes mere minutes? This mayo improves absolutely everything it touches. Dunk fries into it. Smear it onto sandwiches. Dollop it over rice bowls, roasted vegetables, tacos, eggs, or…
The Time Machine H.G.Wells It feels only right to begin a time travel book list with this granddaddy of time travel novels, published in 1895 – the book that was ahead of its time and was subsequently used as inspiration for many that followed. The Time Traveller (he is never named) recounts his astonishing story of the machine he has built and his journey to the future to a roomful of curious listeners over dinner. The book’s narrator is one of those people present. The Traveller has journeyed to the year 802,701 where he discovers that the human race has…
I adore ugly green. A gorgeously colourful Welsh home. Iceland has their Christmas book flood, apparently Norway has an Easter version specifically with crime novels. Wild. The fifty most underappreciated movies of the 21st Century. The story behind needlepoint’s modern day renaissance. Just (re)watched: The English Patient. This 1997 Best Picture winner remains an utterly breathtaking piece of cinema, less watched than drifted through like a dream. It begins in the vast emptiness of the Sahara Desert with a plane gliding silently over the dunes before being shot down by German forces. And this too, is where it ends. In…
Miss Fishers Modern Murder Mysteries This is a spin-off of the beloved Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, which reinvents the formula with a bright, playful 1960s twist. Peregrine Fisher, the previously unknown niece of the glamorous and legendary Phryne Fisher, unexpectedly finds herself stepping into her aunt’s world of mystery, murder, and high society — and, much to her own surprise, discovers that she has quite the knack for detective work herself. Most of what made the original series so charming remains intact: feisty independent heroine, slow-burn detective romance, the gentle tackling of social issues beneath the glamour, but perhaps most…
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Mark Haddon Fifteen year old Christopher Boone, who hates to be touched and despises the color yellow, is a self- proclaimed mathematician with a prosaic take on the world. When he wakes one morning to find his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, dead on the lawn, impaled with a pitch fork, he is initially blamed and arrested. A teacher encourages him to write about the incident which inspires him to solve the mystery by emulating one of his favorite people, Sherlock Holmes. But in the process of doing so, he stumbles upon another…
British flapjacks are nothing like American flapjacks. Think granola bar, not pancake. They’re a little bit chewy, a little bit crunchy and nerdily uncool in their humble, oaty goodness. Unlike, say, the macaron, there’s no delicate piping, no pastel boxes, no Parisian drama. The flapjack is the sturdy raincoat of the baking world: humble, dependable, and shyly excellent. The macaron might pose elegantly in the window of a chic pâtisserie, but the flapjack’s in the kitchen making a proper cup of tea and getting on with things. Flapjacks are rich in buttery, caramel-ly goodness and have a surprising depth of…