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Lives of Notorious Cooks
by
Brendan Connell (Goodreads Author)
When he reached the age of 767, Peng Zu was sought after by the benevolent Emperor Yao, who wished to receive advice on ruling the nation. Peng Zu made a thick soup for the emperor out of pheasant, Job’s tear seeds and plums, well salted. Eating the dish, the emperor felt as if he were sitting on air. He was filled with a deep cosmic joy in which he saw everything clearly....more
Paperback, 180 pages
Published
December 5th 2012
by Chomu Press
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Originally published at Risingshadow.
Brendan Connell definitely can't be blamed for lack of imagination and wittiness, because who else could've come up with the idea of writing a historical book about cooks. This fully fictional account of the lives of historical people is a damn good book - it's historical fantasy at its best.
As you may have already guessed by the previous sentence, I categorize this book as historical fantasy (it's also possible to categorize this book as historical speculati...more
Brendan Connell definitely can't be blamed for lack of imagination and wittiness, because who else could've come up with the idea of writing a historical book about cooks. This fully fictional account of the lives of historical people is a damn good book - it's historical fantasy at its best.
As you may have already guessed by the previous sentence, I categorize this book as historical fantasy (it's also possible to categorize this book as historical speculati...more
Lives of Notorious Cooks was a weird book. It wasn’t bad weird or good weird. It was just weird. These fictional biographies tell the stories of a number of famous chefs throughout history. I know you’re thinking they can’t possibly be biographical if they’re fictional, but they are. I assume the author did research and then applied his own creative license to each piece.
I’m usually pretty good as suspending reality when I’m reading a book. I’ve read enough stories and written enough stories th...more
I’m usually pretty good as suspending reality when I’m reading a book. I’ve read enough stories and written enough stories th...more
The book is mosaic in nature, telling the unconnected stories of several notorious cooks. It has a large geographic reach, spanning from England to China and all points in between. In addition, it covers a great chunk of time. The stories include both mundane and fantastic elements. Therefor, this book could have been written for me.
The idea is a good one. Many of the stories are simultaneously; funny,touching and eccentric. However, after several of them, they begin to merge and the reader’s at...more
The idea is a good one. Many of the stories are simultaneously; funny,touching and eccentric. However, after several of them, they begin to merge and the reader’s at...more
Great capsule biographies of masters of cookery throughout history. Connell's varied tones evoke a variety of moods and feelings, like the flavors of the dishes in a perfectly tuned meal. These pages made me hungry at times, but sometimes did the opposite, as though I'd eaten by myself a feast intended for one hundred. There is a loose connective tissue through the biographies, in the form of the cooks' imperturbable natures, certain shared ingredients, and possibly in a recurring demon/cooking...more
This is an utterly entrancing assemblage of biographies historical and fabulous from the antipodes of cuisine.
In the tradition of Ihara Saikaku, this book presents a wide range of obsessions as they manifest through the lens of single-minded devotion to manipulating food.
This wonderful and strangely disturbing book casts a continuing spell.
In the tradition of Ihara Saikaku, this book presents a wide range of obsessions as they manifest through the lens of single-minded devotion to manipulating food.
This wonderful and strangely disturbing book casts a continuing spell.
Feb 05, 2013
Liviu
marked it as started_finish_later
read some 10 of the biographies so far and they are invariably entertaining and strange
Apr 21, 2013
Axolotl
marked it as to-read
Feb 21, 2013
Crystal
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Feb 12, 2013
Tony Maddox
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Feb 08, 2013
Barry
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Feb 07, 2013
Maryann Cole
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Feb 07, 2013
Meredith
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Dec 24, 2012
Ian
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Dec 24, 2012
Greg
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Dec 14, 2012
Courtney
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Dec 13, 2012
Jason Rolfe
marked it as to-read
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Dec 05, 2012
Winkhorst
marked it as to-read
Dec 04, 2012
Kimy Hoefs
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Brendan Connell was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1970. He has had fiction published in numerous places, including McSweeney’s, Adbusters, Fast Ships, Black Sails (Nightshade Books, 2008), and the World Fantasy Award winning anthologies Leviathan 3 (The Ministry of Whimsy, 2002), and Strange Tales (Tartarus Press, 2003). His published books are: The Translation of Father Torturo (Prime Books, 2...more
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