guest blogger claire's holiday reading list...

Novellas are the new black for me - I am a stay at home mother so they are often the only books I can finish without having to drag out the plot forever. 

Fortunately I am a member of a Book Club and our collective spurs me on to read more than I would if left to my own devices.
Here are my thoughts and suggestions for holiday reading. 

Some I have read/some I am yet to read...this is of course in a perfect world where one has time to lounge on the couch, rather than dashing madly around the shops buying landfill for people you hate. 

Oops! did I write that out loud?

The Novella

This absolutely has to be the The Outsider by Albert Camus.
I read this recently and was floored by this 68 page pearler. 

I returned The Outsider to the friend I borrowed if off and then asked for it back two days later to read again. 

I am not one for books with a philosophical bent (purely because I find many of them so darn cheesy), so it was incredibly refreshing to read a book with a philosophical theme that was elegantly written. 

A rare book indeed.

The Cookbook

Karen Martini's Cooking at Home is an excellent, practical collection of recipes for the discerning home cook. 

The recipes I have cooked are:
puff pastry tart with sardines and green olive tapenade
pasta with confit of zucchini, peas, garlic & spinach
orecchiette with cauliflower, anchovies, chilli and garlic
hard-boiled egg curry with spinach, tomato, ginger and yogurt
braised honey, soy and ginger spare ribs
syrian chicken with ginger, lemon & saffron
baked custard tart
All turned out exactly like the picture with no amount of tweaking required. 

They have been devoured by my friends and family with exclamations of delight and huge amounts of praise.

The Non-Fiction

The Henson Case is journalist and writer David Marr's book on the Bill Henson child pornograhy episode. 

I, personally, was appalled at the treatment that the artist recieved and ashamed as I watched police enter a gallery removing artwork.
As a parent I was enraged to have children's naked photographic images viewed as pornography just because, I believe, the age of the subject.
This was clearly not a case of child exploitation and I can't wait to read this factual account of events.

Dud of the Year

This goes to The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flannagan