Vitriol on Amazon

I had not realised that when you post a book review on Amazon that people reading it can comment on your review as well as saying whether the review was helpful to them or not. I have just found a comment on my 'Petite Anglaise' review asking me why I bothered to buy the book when I could have read the blog for free. I had said in my review that I hadn't read the blog. I started to type in a full answer but then thought - why should I? It's none of this person's business, so I just put I preferred to read a book rather than a blog - meaning I really don't want to read reams and reams on screen.

Then I looked a bit further and realised that this same person appeared to be commenting on all the positive reviews - including one comment on another review - 'This review is ridiculous.' Well no - in your opinion it might be but that's all it is your opinion, which you're perfectly entitled to express. I looked a bit further on my own reviews and found someone had left a sarcy comment on my Delia Smith review. I said I loved the wipe clean cover - why don't more cookery books have them? Obviously the person commenting thought it was stupid. What happened to tolerance?

Cordon Bleu cookery and blogs

I have finished reading Michael Booth's 'Sacre Cordon Bleu' and found it very good. The writing is fluent and amusing both about the cookery and about the people. He is honest about his own failings and prejudices and totally over the moon when he does well overall in the course. He must either have been brave or foolhardy to uproot his whole family and move to Paris to learn to cook from the masters. Especially as he only spoke rudimentary French. This is a great read and useful for picking up odd tips about cooking - and it contains some recipes and a helpful list at the end of what the French know about food that the rest of us seem to overlook. I loved the trials and tribulations with lobsters.

I have just about finished 'Petite Anglaise' by Catherine Sanderson. It seems the reviewers on Amazon did not expect an autobiography to be about the author's life. Maybe they misunderstood what it was about. I found it painfully honest with no attempt made to justify her own actions. She was bored with her life and her relationship with 'Mr Frog', with it all taking on a same old, same old quality. We've all been there.

Her blog about her day to day life got her out of the rut and introduced her to more people including potential lovers. She became involved with one - James - and any outsider could see it was doomed. But Catherine was in the middle of it and couldn't read the outcome. I found it a very honest book - warts and all. Was she shallow and selfish? Easy to say that of anyone who breaks up a long term relationship. If that's the case shallow and selfish probably applies to a good half of the population. To me it's a book about a human being with the bad bits left in. I enjoyed it. I am interested in the current phenomenon of blogs turning into books and try and make a point of reading any that come to my notice. I have belatedly looked for her blog on the Internet.

Nice weather for Easter - windy and snow forecast - though it's sunny here at the moment. I am not intending to venture out unless I have to until Tuesday when I'm back at work. Oh the luxury of having Tesco deliver!

When the bough breaks - part 2

Yes I've finished it and pretty harrowing reading it was too. I'm glad I did read it even though I am not at all maternal myself. I think she's a very courageous lady and cannot agree with India Knight in the Sunday Times that she was selfish in giving up her severely brain damaged baby. Julia Hollander knew she didn't have what it takes to give up her life 24/7 to a child, to the detriment of her other daughter and her then partner, now her husband. She had lots of misgivings about it and went through hell before everything was settled. The stupidity of our current set up for helping disabled people meant that Imogen's foster carer would always get more financial help and practical support than Julia would as the child's mother. Julia and her family always see Imogen every fortnight and will continue to do so and she seems to be very much part of the family. It seems to me that Imogen ended up in the best possible situation for her - with someone who has the abilities to look after her without resenting the sacrifice. Such a sacrifice has to be willingly made or not made at all in my opinion.

I have just spent all morning cleaning the car - it was disgusting! I even had to wash it twice before it looked ok - and I'm no perfectionist! What's more it's got some special coating on it that's supposed to make it easier to clean. It doesn't. I am very pleased that we didn't pay the dealer to put the coating on at £200! Instead we found out where to get the stuff to do it with and did it ourselves - following all the instructions. It's supposed to mean that you only need to polish your car once every three years - not true. I've polished it today because it needed it and it's only been on there 6 months!

I have just started reading Petite Anglaise by Catherine Sanderson - another book that arose out of a blog - looks like compulsive reading so far.