Bespoke and Bespelled
I read this courtesy of NetGalley. It’s out now.
Marnie is:
- a New Zealander,
- living in LA, because she is
- working as a costume supervisor, and
- a stitch-witch: fabric loves her and wants to make her happy.
She is also: - 41,
- ‘generously proportioned’,
- currently single, and
- bi (or pan? unclear).
As the story opens, the show she’s working on has finished, and Marnie is hoping for a position not just as a costume supervisor, but as a designer. And so when a position comes up back home, adapting one of her favourite fantasy series for the big screen, she agrees.
Note: the little nods to what LOTR did for NZ are a delight.
Basically the story is about Marnie on the film set, dealing with a) her attracting to the leading man, and b) weird occurrences that have plagued the filming since it started in NZ, and which begin to seem like they’re not random or natural.
Coming to Healey off the back of the Olympus Inc books, this is exactly what I was hoping for. Cosy, comfortable, fast-paced: I read it in one evening and I have no regrets.
Deliciously Ella: Healthy made Simple
I was sent this book by the publisher, Hachette, at no cost. It’s out now; $34.99.
I had heard of Deliciously Ella, but have never seen the original book nor made use of the website. This is my first encounter with Ella Mills. And the first thing I should note here is that this book is not designed for me. I don’t need convincing that eating vegetable is a good idea, and I loathe the word “wholefoods”. While I know that all cookbooks are in some way aspirational, and advocating some sort of lifestyle (yes, yes, thinking about Nigella…), the sort of lifestyle being shown here is definitely not for me. There’s a lot of beige, a lot of jewellery while saving up food… and I rather object to using your kids as props in your book.
So, yes, I was rather suspicious going in, I’ll admit. However, the premise of the recipes themselves is one I can get behind: 30 minutes or fewer for every dish, no more than 10 ingredients, and no more than 5 steps for each dish. There’s absolutely a place for that sort of cooking, and if you can show me some clever combinations of ingredients, then I am 100% here for it.
The good:
- avocado and butter lettuce salad with a crunchy protein topping: Ok, I object to the ‘protein’ in the name, but I’ve now made this several times and I’m keeping it. Basically, avo and soft lettuce, with oil and Dijon dressing, and then toasted chickpeas, sunflower seeds, and pepitas on top. Genuinely delicious.
- 15-minute black dahl: some lentils, tomato paste, coconut cream and curry powder blitzed together, and then cook that with more lentils and onion and spinach. I was pleasantly surprised.
- creamy paneer-inspired tofu: look, I just made this with paneer. Spices and tomato and spinach and paneer. It was fine.
… there are a few other recipes in here I could imagine making, but the reality is that for me, there was really nothing new. If you were just starting out on the idea that you might want to cook for yourself, and wanted to make things that were fast and easy and you were pretty sure were healthy, then this would be a really great book. Also, lunches where you’re pickling onion?? Where the prep time is 15 minutes?? And the TIP is that you can make it a ‘packed lunch’? I know lots of people are working from home still, but surely that’s unrealistic.
I will note that I object to the inclusion of breakfasts in a book like this. Yes they’re “prep ahead” but that just means that you’re adding yet another thing to your to-do list for the night before, when this book is selling time-saving as one of its advantages. Suggesting that breakfast must include something you’ve made, rather than cereal or what have you, is a bit frustrating. Still, at least it does include a few treats, like biscuits, so it’s not completely on the ‘no fun food’ train.
Power to Yield and other stories
Bogi Takács (link to eir review site) sent me a copy of eir book, and I’m totally stoked I got my (electronic) hands on it. (This is eir personal site.)
Takács writes in a variety of styles across these stories. Some are fantastical, some more science-y, and many refuse classification. There are a few themes that recur: the question of identity – how we think about our own, what it informs it, how it changes the way the world approaches us – was what stood out the most, to me. There’s also a lot of questioning of authority and power, in terms of who has it, how it’s used, how it can or should be controlled/mitigated/ challenged. All of which is show that Takács doesn’t shy away from being provocative – but it’s never about just being provocative: there’s a purpose to it, because at heart it feels to me (an educator) that e is an educator – educating people about how the world and people do, could, and perhaps should function, through eir fiction. Which is not to say that the stories feel in the least bit didactic, or preachy, or anything like that! It’s more the vibe I took away from the collection as a whole.
A few favourites, not exhaustive:
“A Technical Term, Like Privilege” – not the sort of story I expect to be grabbed by, because it does have body horror as a fairly integral idea (this is me avoiding phrases like “I was absorbed by this story” because… well, story-reasons). However, the way Takács uses the issues of class and other privilege as part of the discussion is totally up my alley, and works brilliantly.
“Power to Yield” – I haven’t read any of Takács’ other Eren stories (except those collected here), so there were a few moments where I felt a bit adrift; nonetheless, it didn’t actually take away from my appreciation of the story and the characters. As with “A Technical Term,” this has more violence/ bodily harm than I would generally expect a story that I was moved by to include. But it does, and I was moved; this is a story that will stay with me a for a long time. How to build a new society, how to deal with what’s left from the old society, how to balance the needs/the good of the few and the whole… Takács doesn’t offer any easy answers to such questions, but it’s brilliant to see them confronted.
“Folded into Tendril and Leaf” – another one that includes bodily harm and warfare, and now I’m seeing an unexpected pattern! Anyway: magic, love, identity, dual perspectives; this is brilliant.
I read this collection quite slowly, because many of the stories require thinking and reflection and I didn’t want to short-change them, or myself, by simply powering through. Some of them are quite heavy in terms of the issues discussed (violence, various types of discrimination), and some are on the denser side in style (in a good way!), so ditto on the short-changing.
Randomly Yours, Alex 