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| The Radio Book Club |
Occasionally I get the opportunity to be a guest on the radio and usually I get to talk books. Heaven right?
The Radio Book Club has this lovely format were one has to select books based around the following subjects:
· A Travel book,
· A Kitchen book
· A Children’s book
· A book to read whilst travelling
· A book to read whilst commuting between the office and home.
· A podcast
Word of the Week
There is also a word of the week where the hosts of the show are tasked with using the previous week’s word in conversation and the guest gets to judge which host used the word best. This means that usually Stef Bergon and Mark Lloyd battle it out. They are fiercely competitive. Well Stef is. Consequently I am always a little nervous about who will use the word best. This week I had a reprieve as Stef was gadding around Switzerland checking out comedy festivals and Christmas markets. As you do in the middle of a work week. This week “The Champion Word User Battle” was between Mark and the lovely Shruthi Rajendran.
You can listen to the podcast linked
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HERE to find out who won and what the word was. Did you agree with my choice of winner?
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HERE to find out who won and what the word was. Did you agree with my choice of winner?
This Weeks Word - Because I know you all want to have a go:
‘Brouhaha’ pronounced ‘broo-hah-hah’. A not uncommon word which I could not resist as it is just the most fun to say out loud. And the meaning? Well here you go:
excited public interest, discussion, or the like, as the clamour attending some sensational event; hullabaloo:
The brouhaha followed disclosures of graft at City Hall.
an episode involving excitement, confusion, turmoil, etc., especially a broil over a minor or ridiculous cause:
A brouhaha by the baseball players resulted in three black eyes.
The list of books I chose.
Which in turn, I am recommending to you. These are based on either my knowledge of the book or my excitement at the idea of getting the book into my sticky paws for a read. Most of the books are on some list or other as “The best of books of 2017” from such publications as the Financial Times, The Guardian, and the Washington Post. Solid recommendations right? You may ask why I chose books from lists? Well it is the time of year when all these lists get prepared by newspapers for the express purpose of torturing us with books we will not read but want to. Deep heavy sigh. This is my perpetual state of being. I can’t resist a single list and each and every one makes me excited and miserable in equal measure. Why, why, why are there so many great books out there? Why? Picture my pain before we move on.
TA DA! Here is the list.
Travel Book:
I have a thing about books set in the icy northern or southern climes and for the ships that travel there. I should watch those reality TV shows with names like “Deadliest Catch “and “Bering Sea Gold” but I fear I would get sucked into the shows and spend all my time trolling the internet for more. So instead I got all excited about this book.
The 6th of December marked the centenary of Finland’s declaration of independence from the Russian Republic in 1917. So it is a timely book to read.
I have cribbed reviews:-
There is a bit of history in the early chapters “touching on some of the major events in Finland’s 100-year life as a nation: Mannerheim’s declaration of independence from Russia in 1917 and the subsequent civil war; The dramatic Winter War of 1939-1940, in which the Finns amazed the world by holding the might of the Red Army at bay; Finland’s “tactical neutrality” during the Cold War; its transformation into one of Europe’s most egalitarian and forward-looking democracies (it was the first European country to give women the vote); and its emergence as a tech giant when Nokia became a global leader in mobile phone technology – at least for a while.”
“The Gulf of Bothnia is a place where nothing happens; in another sense, it is a key fault line between two enormous geopolitical plates.”
Tempting right? Then I read this and I was hooked on wanting to read the book:
“Recalling the vertiginous experience of leaving the ship and walking out onto the ice on a sunny day, the author writes of how “light poured down and up at once.” “While standing on a mountain top grants you the vista of a scoop of space, from valley bottom to cloud level and beyond, standing on the sea under clear air erases depth and height. The sky begins in the snow under your boots. You are simultaneously huge and as tiny as a fleck.”
How could you not want to read this book?
Kitchen
When my fellow book buyers at The Old Library picked out this book to buy my heart sank. I have ranted on a bit as, in my opinion (not shared), we have way too many cookery books so adding another to the mix was doing my head in. I am so glad I capitulated. This is a fantastic book. In the tradition of ‘The Joy of Cooking’ and ‘How to Cook Everything' comes ‘SALT FAT ACID HEAT.’
Samin Nosrat’s revolutionary, yet simple, philosophy is to Master the use of just four elements:
· Salt, which enhances flavor;
· Fat, which delivers flavor and generates texture;
· Acid, which balances flavor; and
· Heat, which ultimately determines the texture of food—
and anything you cook will be delicious. By explaining the how and whys of good cooking, ’SALT FAT ACID HEAT’ will teach and inspire a new generation of cooks how to confidently make better decisions in the kitchen and cook delicious meals with any ingredients.
Voila!
And if that is not enough the illustrations! Oh my, the beautiful work of Wendy MacNaughton. Just have a look:
There are about 100 recipes and around 150 illustrations and info-graphics. This book is destined to be a classic.
Children’s Book ( YA readers)
I found this on a list compiled by The Guardian and was drawn to the fact that it deals with space. I loved that it was referred to as “The Martian for Teens”. Reading the promo blurb it sounds a bit like it could also be the Neal Stephenson’s ‘Seveneves’ for teens, another favourite of mine set in space.
It is described as “An epic space story with gripping adventure, real science and a deep emotional heart.” What more could you want?
“Another notable component of the novel is the writing style. The entire book is written in a sort of text speak, using “c” for “see” and “&” for “and” and so on. The author has done this as a way of exploring the evolution of language over the next fifty years (as the book takes place in the future)”I am drawn to the idea as I so enjoy books with unusual writing style. “Trainspotting” and “Lincoln in the Bardo” spring to mind.
It is worth noting that Nick Lake has won the Printz Award for his novel In Darkness, and has been twice-shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal
Book to read while travelling:
Alex Bellos writes an excellent column in the Guardian with weekly maths puzzles, and has now turned his hand to this anthology, and history, of puzzles. It immediately struck me that this would be a great book to take on a family holiday when you need something to keep everyone engaged. When you are stuck waiting in an airport or on a long car trip or simply trying to have a holiday that does not involve each member of the family poring over their phone or tablet in isolation.
This book was very favourably reviewed by Simon Singh who brought us gems like the “Maths of the Simpsons” and “Thermats Last Theorem.” So I am confident it would be a hit.
One reviewer mother said : “Where it shines isn't just in the collection of puzzles but in the explaining. You can tell the author really does enjoy puzzles and teaching. He makes a book on math fun to read. It's solutions are easy to understand. This book is perfect gift to hand over to my budding mathematician. It kept my kid busy for hours and in this video game world that says a lot.” Indeed it does!
Here is one of the puzzles you will find. A oldie but a goodie,
PUZZLE
A man arrives at a riverboat with a wolf, a goat and a bunch of cabbages. He needs to cross the river, but the one boat available can carry only him and a single item at the same time. He cannot leave the wolf alone with the goat or the goat alone with the cabbages, since in both cases the former will eat the latter. How does he cross the river in the shortest number of crossings?
The first step must be to take the goat across the river, as any other will result in the goat or the cabbage being eaten. When the man returns to the original side, he has the choice of taking either the fox or the cabbage across next. If he takes the fox across, he would have to return to get the cabbage, resulting in the wolf eating the goat. If he takes the cabbage across second, he will need to return to get the , wolf resulting in the cabbage being eaten by the goat. The dilemma is solved by taking the wolf (or the cabbage) over and bringing the goat back. Now he can take the cabbage (or the wolf) over, and finally return to fetch the goat.
His actions in the solution are summarised in the following steps:
1. Take the goat over
2. Return
3. Take the cabbage over
4. Return with the goat
5. Take the wolf over
6. Return
7. Take goat over
Thus there are seven crossings, four forward and three back.
Book to read while travelling home from work:
For this I have chosen the Audio book version because it is read by Trevor Noah himself and because not everyone takes the metro so this way you can “read” and drive at the same time.
“Bill Gates reviewed the book and says Trevor uses his outside perspective to his advantage. “He’s good at making fun of himself, America, and the rest of the world. His comedy is so universal that it has the power to transcend borders.”
The philanthropic billionaire goes on to say how reading Trevor’s memoir ‘Born a Crime’ has shown him that Trevor has been honing his outside perspective over a lifetime of never fitting in.”
Podcast:
I did agonize a bit about choosing this podcast because it is not bright and cheerful…. at all…. not even a bit. But it is brilliant. And not just because I say so. Various lists tell me that this is one of the best podcasts of the year.
Are you familiar with This American Life and Serial? Well S-Town is an investigative journalism podcast created by the producers of Serial and This American Life. If you know these podcasts I don’t need to say anything else. If you do not well people, really, get it on. Listen in to all of them. Dip in and out of American life. Set aside time to get sucked into Serial and top if off with S-Town. You have a busy time ahead. Cancel all your plans.
All seven chapters were released on March 28, 2017. The podcast was downloaded a record-breaking 10 million times in four days.
I feel as if the teams behind these programmes have created a new genre of journalism. Voyeuristic and complicated.
I don’t want to say too much as you really should discover this in your own way with an open mind uncluttered with opinions and spoiler alerts.
Book News
During the show in Book News Shruthi spoke about the The Hyderabad based businessman Sheik Sadiq Ali who operates a mobile library and distributes books to children in remote villages. Here is his story.
Happy Reading and listening everyone!
Girl in the Hammock, Winslow Homer, 1873
