What I've been reading

The Death of the Heart
by Elizabeth Bowen

narrated by Katherine Kellgren

"Portia is sixteen and orphaned and sent to live with her half-brother and sister-in-law in 1930s London. There she encounters the attractive, carefree cad Eddie. Portia is maligned, mocked and used by her sister-in-law and her young lover."

This is a tragic and cruel book, which twisted my emotional response to the agony of a naive young girl whose wants and needs are disregarded and betrayed by the only relations and friends that she possesses. Everyone who is in a position of responsibility or guardianship entirely fails her at every stage. There was absolutely no redemption, right up to the abrupt conclusion of the book, and nothing was resolved, not a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. Painful and horrible.




Cooking in a Bedsitter
by Katharine Whitehorn

"Practical, light-hearted and full of bright ideas, this classic cookbook for the inexperienced cook with limited space will lure you away from the frying pan and tin-opener towards a healthier, more varied range of delicious dishes."

It occurred to me that this might be a useful adjunct to having no kitchen, so I fished it out of retirement and read it again. It was a delight to come across recipes that I first tried 30 years ago when a student and novice cook with just two gas rings to cook on. But the blurb's claim that it will 'lure you away from the frying pan' is a little specious as it felt as though half the recipes are entirely based on frying: bacon, onion, vegetables, cutlets, whatever.

The Commodore
by C. S. Forester

"Horatio Hornblower, recently knighted and settled in as squire of the village of Smallbridge, has been designated commodore of his own squadron of ships, led by the two-decker 'Nonsuch' and bound for the Baltic."

Heroic Horatio triumphs throughout this one, although it ends very surprisingly with him swooning from fever that we are supposed to infer is plague. I assume he doesn't die because there are more books in the series. So that's all right then.