My final thoughts on Toast by Nigel Slater? The conclusion I’m left with as we finish this book is that memoir is a very tricky business.
There’s the issue of truthfulness–a memoir is meant to be a true account of a part of the writer’s life, but truth is a very subjective matter and an author writing his or her own story necessarily has a biased point of view.
Then there’s the matter of kindness. Decisions about what to write, what to leave out, how to portray family members–these are all choices that have to be made, and they can destroy relationships.
And finally, I’ve been musing over what it means to be the narrator and protagonist of one’s own story.
Toast was ultimately a very sad book, at times infuriating, occasionally sweet and funny–but I guess real life is like that–we can tweak the details here and there in our own retelling of events, but none of us gets to be the hero of every scene of our own story.
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January’s book choice is My Life in France. Start the New Year with Julia Child and Edible Books!
January 1st-7th: Discuss Intro-Chapter 2
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As we’ve continued discussing Toast by Nigel Slater this week, we’ve gone from reading about various kinds of sweets to darker subjects including child abuse and the death of young Nigel’s mother. I find myself going back and forth between moments of delight at descriptions of food and frustration with the characters in this sad memoir.
I’ll be honest–I’m not enjoying every moment of this book. But I’ve learned over the years that the best book club discussions are often about a book that not everyone liked. I’m forced to think more about what’s working for me, what isn’t, and why. That leads to a much richer debate.
So I’m hanging in there with Toast, and looking forward to more stimulating conversation with all of you about the ups, the downs, or whatever pops into your head as you continue reading.
~Christina
December 15th-21st: Discuss Chapters Smoked Haddock-Coffee and Walnut Cake (pp. 110-159)
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Nigel Slater is well-known for several cookbooks filled with stories and sumptuous photos, his BBC series Simple Cooking, and his food column in The Observer. And Toast is now a BBC movie starring Helena Bonham Carter.
Before Slater was a famous author and broadcaster he was a young boy who dealt with the loss of his mother, a new housekeeper, and his father’s uncertain temper.
Toast is a memoir of Slater’s childhood and growing culinary talents, told through food. Get ready to learn more about the boy who became the famous man.
Happy Reading! ~ Christina & Natalie
Below is the December discussion schedule:
This month’s reading schedule requires some explanation: We have divided the book into four roughly equal weekly sections as usual. Toast is written in 118 very short chapters—some less than a page long—that are titled but not numbered. The page numbers listed below are accurate for the Kindle Edition but vary slightly for the paper editions and are therefore intended only as a guide.
December 1st-7th: Discuss Chapters Toast 1-Jelly 1 (approx pp. 1-57)
December 8th-14th: Discuss Chapters Jelly 2-Fray Bentos Steak & Kidney Pie (approx pp. 58-109)
December 15th-21st: Discuss Chapters Smoked Haddock-Coffee and Walnut Cake (approx pp. 110-159)
December 22nd-31st: Discuss Chapters Candyfloss-Toast 3 (approx pp. 160-247)
It’s time to vote for our December book selection. The Edible Books community has really come through with some great nominations this time around and it was challenging to decide on the short list. Availability was a big factor in our decision-making this month, but ultimately we were able to narrow the nominations down to a handful of books that are readily available (including outside the US!) and still have a real variety.
Now it’s up to you: you can vote at the bottom of this post. Polls are open until Sunday, November 25th, then we’ll announce the winner! Reading/discussion will start on December 1st.
The holidays are busy, but don’t forget to make a little time to relax, read, and continue our conversation about books on Twitter at the #ediblebooks hashtag. Being part of a community will keep you young!
Here are the book choices for December:
Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger by Nigel Slater: “Toast is the truly extraordinary story of a childhood remembered through food. In each chapter, as Nigel Slater takes us on a tour of the contents of his family’s pantry—rice pudding, tinned ham, cream soda, mince pies, lemon drops, bourbon biscuits—we are transported…
His mother is a chops-and-peas sort of cook, exasperated by the highs and lows of a temperamental stove, a finicky little son, and the asthma that would prove fatal. His father is a honey-and-crumpets man with an unpredictable temper. When he is widowed, Nigel’s father takes on a housekeeper with social aspirations and a talent in the kitchen and the following years become a heartbreaking cooking contest for his affections. As he slowly loses, Nigel finds a new outlet for his culinary gifts and we witness the birth of a lifelong passion for food. Nigel’s likes and dislikes, aversions and sweet-toothed weaknesses, form a fascinating backdrop to this exceptionally moving memoir of childhood, adolescence, and sexual awakening.” (Available in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audio editions)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life Barbara Kingsolver: “Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life—vowing that, for one year, they’d only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat.” (Available in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audio editions)
The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber: “Diana Abu-Jaber’s vibrant, humorous memoir weaves together stories of being raised by a food-obsessed Jordanian father with tales of Lake Ontario shish kabob cookouts and goat stew feasts under Bedouin tents in the desert. These sensuously evoked repasts, complete with recipes, in turn illuminate the two cultures of Diana’s childhood–American and Jordanian–while helping to paint a loving and complex portrait of her impractical, displaced immigrant father who, like many an immigrant before him, cooked to remember the place he came from and to pass that connection on to his children. The Language of Baklava irresistably invites us to sit down at the table with Diana’s family, sharing unforgettable meals that turn out to be as much about “grace, difference, faith, love” as they are about food.”(Available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle editions)
The Reach of a Chef: Professional Cooks in the Age of Celebrity by Michael Ruhlman: “For his previous explorations into the restaurant kitchen and the men and women who call it home, Michael Ruhlman has been described by Anthony Bourdain as the greatest living writer on the subject of chefs and on the business of preparing food. In The Reach of a Chef, Ruhlman examines the profound shift in American culture that has raised restaurant cooking to the level of performance art and the status of the chef to celebrity CEO. Bibliophiles and foodies alike will savor this intimate meeting with some of the most famous chefs in the kitchens of the hottest restaurants in the world.”(Available in hardcover, paperback, and on US Kindles)
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