Rhoda Baxter's Blog, page 77

Goodreads Book Review: The Man Who Ate Everything

This is my favourite foodie book. I bought it on the strength of a chapter headed 'Salad the Silent Killer'. I read the whole thing from start to finish (and ate a lot whilst doing so). In the years that followed I've dipped into it often. It's going tatty and dog eared with love. If I meet anyone who is really into food, I always recommend it to them.

The Man Who Ate Everything is a collection of articles by a man who loves food. What's more, he has the sort of mind that makes him experiment with things to shake out how they work. The chapter about his efforts to recreate the taste of Evian were hilarious. His voice is light, entertaining and informative. And the enthusiasm for food shines through. Perfect.

This is an essential foodie book. Just don't read it when you're on a diet.

Tagged: Food

Goodreads Book review: UnTied Kingdom by Kate Johnson

Untied Kingdom by Kate Johnson

I bought this book because I loved the title.  I was expecting a light read. I was wrong.

Eve Carpenter falls through a hole in the world and ends up in London in a parallel universe where England is a war torn, third world country. No one knows what a mobile phone is. Shakespeare never existed and computers are a bit of a mystery.

Will Harker is a major in the British Army. He's a tough, battle scarred military man who is devoted to his country. He thinks Eve is a spy, or mad, or both.

The story follows Eve, Harker and the rest of the group on their mission. The romance between Eve and Harker unfolds slowly as they make their way into enemy territory. The story is unmistakably a romance, but the background is a brutal war. The story takes in battles, bullet wounds, amputations, blood (lots of blood), torture, treachery and singing. The dialogue is good and the characters are fabulously rude to each other.

I really enjoyed this book. It's action packed, vivid and funny. I was so gripped by the story that I ended up doing silly things like trying to read whilst cooking and staying up far too late into the night. You might call this book chick lit, but you definitely can't accuse it of being light or frothy.

Tagged: parallel universe

In praise of librarians

Information overload. (Photo by Brenda Starr)

Another day, another article about how librarians are becoming extinct. I wonder if that's really true. Libraries, yes.  But librarians? Really?

I used to know a trainee librarian. We used to joke that she had to spend an hour a day practising saying "Shhh" and glaring at people over her glasses.  I suspect that's what a lot of people think librarians do. Not true. They do a lot more than that.

Information has value and librarians are good with information. If you want to know anything about anything, your first port of call (after wikipedia), should be a librarian. They won't know the answer immediately (well, they might, I suppose, depending on the question), but they will know where to find the information. If it's something particularly tricky to find – they will at least know who has the tools to dig it up.

When I needed to know which worming pills were used in the 1960s (my life is so glamourous), I phoned up the science desk at the British Library  and spoke to a librarian who found me the right journals to look in. There are librarians who specialise in local history, those who specialise in medicine, those who specialise in chemistry, in engineering, politics, digital archiving, patents, you name it. They can search databases, rummage through archives, find contacts for experts, source copies of rare documents. If that weren't enough, they can recommend an author that writes like that author you already like.

I suggest that librarians are not going to go extinct. In an age where there is more and more (and more) information available, we need people with the skills to sift the nuggets from the noise. Librarians will probably need to rebrand themselves. They will be managers of information, searchers for fact. I've put some time into coming up with more fun names and my favourite so far is Information Ninja. Discrete, silent and (mostly) dead on target.

Book Review: Build a Man by Talli Roland

Goodreads review: Build a Man by Talli Roland

Rhoda Baxter's review
Jan 28, 12  ·  edit

[image error]
Read in January, 2012

Build a Man by Talli Roland

Serenity works as a receptionist at a cosmetic surgery clinic, whilst dreaming of becoming a tabloid journalist. When Jeremy stumbles through the door, wanting 'everything done', she finds the perfect pitch and the 'Build a Man' column is born. Unfortunately, being an undercover journalist means parking her integrity and lying to several people around her – her boyfriend, her parents and her 'subject' Jeremy. Inevitably, things go wrong and her secret comes out.

Serenity is likeable. She's American, but apart from the odd comment about highways or homesickness for Maine, it's not that evident (or relevant) that she's a non-Brit. She's bright and inventive ('Wine Therapy' – what a fantastic idea!). She wants to be tabloid journalist so badly that she's willing to deceive several people who are important to her. She also puts up with the apalling Peter for far too long. It takes a few twists and turns of the plot for her to learn to'follow her bliss'.

Jeremy isa lovely hero. I have a thing for beta males, so I liked him from the minute he walked in. Talli uses Peter as great contrast to highlight the best things about Jeremy. Peter, by the way, is a fantastic character. I really hated the guy. That's good writing.

Build a Man explores the ethics of cosmetic surgery industry and on the issue of confidentiality. It's also a funny and well plotted romance. The bits with the 'botox bitches' in the clinic made me chuckle out loud (which got me a few funny looks when I was reading in the office at lunchtime). This is the first of Talli Roland's book that I've read. I will definitely read the others.

Book review: The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot

I count this book as one of the most influential books of my writing life. When I read it I had a 'lightbulb moment' type realization that emails were just another form of dialogue. And dialogue is something I'm good at. So, when my first NWS reviewer told me I should stop trying to write 'serious' fiction and write things I enjoy instead, I knew exactly what my style would be.

Anyway, I read the whole 'boy' series. The Boy Next Door is my favourite of the three. It's one of the few books that I've read over and over again. It still makes me laugh each time.

 

Rhoda Baxter's review
Jan 18, 12  ·  edit

[image error]
Read in November, 2006

I picked this book up at an airport. I wasn't expecting much from it, just a light read for the journey. I LOVED it. It's written entirely in emails, which meant that the characters' voices were very strong. It was almost like a radio play – all dialogue. I spend so much time 'chatting' to people via email, that the email conversations seemed entirely natural to me. (I know other people can find it irritating).The story has a really nice set up. The boy next door is pretending to be someone else. So, right from the moment they meet, you know that the big secret is going to come out at some point and Mel is going get hurt. There's a potential murder and a couple of sink holes thrown in for good measure.I like Mel too. It's nice to see a heroine who knows her shortcomings (she's short) and doesn't seem to care. John is a nice hero. The secondary characters are an absolute hoot.I recommend this book if you like funny characters and lots of dialogue. If emails in books annoy you, then don't touch it.

Suspending disbelief

Last night we sat down to watch Sherlock on iPlayer. This is what happens when a chemist and a former biochemist watch something set in a top secret MOD laboratory:

Biochemist: Why is Russel Tovey scared of dogs? He's a werewolf.

Chemist: He's someone else in this one. Duh.

Chemist: A top level visitor and they send a corporal? Seriously?

Biochemist: Shh.

Biochemist: Does 'Clean Room' mean nothing to you?! Suit up, you moron. You're ruining years of work…probably.

Chemist: Can they really make glow in the dark rabbits?

Biochemist: I'm pretty sure they've done it with mice.

Chemist: Oh. Okay.

Chemist: Why does he need a microscope to run chemical tests?

Biochemist: *shrugs*

Biochemist: Sulfuric acid and sugar. You'd get black stuff.

Chemist: *shrugs*

Biochemist: And why is he writing on the table? Messy. Tsch.

Ages after the program finished:

Chemist: Pressure triggered aerosols sounds like a lot of work for a totally non-controlled experiment.

Besides, where does he manufacture the stuff? And where does he get the equipment from?

Biochemist: I don't know. The supersecret MOD facility maybe?

Chemist: So why doesn't he just do the experiments there? They said the ethics are flexible.

Biochemist: Do you know what time it is? Shuddup and go to sleep.

Don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed the episode and thought it was a great way to modernise a story that essentially revolves around a scary, glowing dog that runs around on the moor. It was nice and up to date and still retained the scary, glowing dog. I liked the landmine at the end too.

I'm a bit worried I may have a problem with suspension of disbelief.

In 2012, I will mainly be looking forward to…

It's' a new year, hooray. Things I'm looking forward to in 2012:

Another series of Sherlock – After watching the last series, I reread the books and had so much fun I forgot to think about Benedict Cumberbatch (he doesn't match my mental picture of Holmes anyway). Conan Doyle's writing feels surprising modern in tone and the pace is nice and snappy (apart from the  Utah bit in A study in Scarlet – which was not snappy. At all). I was going to add reading 'Sir Nigel' and 'The White Company' as another bullet point, but realised I can't find my copies of them any more. Bother.
The possibility of Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah-Fowler getting together – okay, a this is a little creepy to contemplate, but I want to know how they handle it.
Putting on a few pounds (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. They have chocolate.)
The Kindle Fire coming to the UK. If I'm going to succumb to techno-geekery, I want one that does EVERYTHING.
Patently In Love coming out in March (obviously)
And…  The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! – the movie. I read the book and loved it. There's pirates, scientists, Dodos, Bobo the ManPanzee and ham. I'm more excited about this than a grown woman should be.

Happy New Year everyone!

Book Review: Can You Keep A Secret (Sue Moorcroft)

Rhoda Baxter's review
Jan 01, 12  ·  edit

[image error]

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in December, 2011

I really liked this book. When Diane is summoned to hospital to see her husband who is injured in a helicopter crash, she finds that he has been lying to her for years. The mystery of what her husband has been hiding from her unravels slowly and ties in beautifully with the budding romance between Diane and James.

Diane is a strong and admirable character. It's nice to read about a heroine whose troubles and reactions are realistic.

James in a likeable hero. It's nice to read about a man who is has alpha male characteristics without being an annoying git.

The story moves along at a good pace and the extent of Gareth's deception (and Diane's responses to it) are dealt out evenly. The writing, as always, is superb.

Coming up with a pen name

The Guardian book blog yesterday posted an article about how an author chooses a pen name.


There's been a similar discussion on the online group of the RNA lately. How do you choose a pen name? WHY do you choose a pen name?

Me, I have a name that's difficult to spell and difficult to pronounce (those who claim otherwise almost invariably pronounce it wrong). So, it made sense to use a pen name.

But what name?

Middle name + mother's maiden name – yeah, okay. Plausible, but still difficult to spell.

My first pet + street I grew up in? Er, my brother named the dog 'Knight Rider'…

I love a silly name. So here are my top four ways of finding names, silly or otherwise:

1.Motorway road signs – when driving along, look at the turn offs and see if you can pair up place names. Bradley Stoke, Brent Knowle, Filton Thornbury… It's more entertaining than eye-spy. In fact, the lead singer of Triphoppers in Patently in Love was originally called Ashby Coalville (junction 22 off the M1) until my critique partner made me change it.

2. Common household names/trademarks – Sturmey Archer,Nat West, Pepsi Max, Cal Pol, Jeff Lemon … er… Cillit Bang.

Jasper Fforde is the king of silly names like this. Commander Braxton Hicks? Genius.

3. Two words picked at random. You might have to move them around a bit until it sounds right. Ruby Wellington, Fortune Armoire,  Hera Pungent. A dictionary is useful for this. The rude words are just a bonus.

4. Bacteria – Spiro Keats, Sal Monella, Steph Aureus, Sue Domonas, Liz Teria, Dick Tostelium (okay, not a bacterium, but too good to pass up).

So when I had to choose a pen name, the choice was fairly obvious. It needed to be short, easy to spell, somehow personal to me. So I named myself after my favourite pretty-coloured bacterium.

And, yes, I realise that I'm a very sad person just for HAVING a favourite bacterium.