Because you own this vintage cookbook set, I invite you and the 38 other owners of this cookbook to a group talk in COOKBOOKERS, on META GIVEN'S MODERN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COOKING. I'm curious about how you came to own this cookbook and what is your favorite part about the set. Thank you! See http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.ph...

posted by sungene at 9:09 pm (EST) on Aug 21, 2008

Only just come across your review of Allende's Daughter of Fortune and heartily agree with your criticisms. It was the first time I'd read one of her novels and found it very disappointing especially the second half which smacked overmuch of the social history books she must have clued up on.

posted by hazelk at 11:08 am (EST) on May 7, 2008

Just finished re-reading Susan Sontag's ILLNESS AS METAPHOR. I originally read it in '78, when it was first published (and I was 24), and the essay absolutely blew me away -- re-arranged a lot of my thinking both about the uses of metaphor in general and about health and body image. As I re-read ILLNESS, I thought, "How wonderful that her essay seems dated now. Sontag really did have some influence with this piece."
Then I found your review! Times have changed dramatically for the better. You demonstrate that so clearly when you find Sontag's diatribe (and I agree it is a polemic) baffling and frustrating. In a similar way, young women today find the old-fashioned feminism of Boomers baffling and frustrating. Thanks for a timely review.

posted by maryoverton at 7:12 pm (EST) on Feb 9, 2008

I love your review of Blink. Very close to the mark for my experience of it too, don't change your life around it but a good read. It did explain for me how I can make instant decisions in areas I have alot of experience in, but for more on that you better read my review!

posted by caz4562000 at 5:27 am (EST) on Nov 1, 2007

I enjoyed reading your review of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy." I must say that I enjoyed the book more than you did, but I have to agree with your commentary on the structure and writing. It's funny, sometimes, why a person likes a certain book. In this case, I had seen the outstanding BBC television series starring some of the best British actors of the generation of the 60's -- 80's, lead by Alec Guiness as Smiley. Some of the structural problems you identified were actually, to a certain extent, remedied by the film treatment. So the book gave me the chance to flesh out details to scenes and performances that I had treasured. I'm inclined to be one of those who think Le Carre lost his vocation with the demise of the cold war. But your review implies that you've admired some of his later work. Is that the case? If so, what titles would you recommend?

posted by jburlinson at 7:21 pm (EST) on Oct 27, 2007