Grand unified books thread

[Malthus]

I finished Elizabeth David's "Italian Food;" which is as much a snapshot of Britain in 1954 (it was published just six months after the end of rationing) as it is a cookbook.  It was a time when the only "Italian" foods most British were familiar with was veal scaloppini and spaghetti with meat sauce; when ice, in any sufficient quantity, could only be gotten from a fishmonger; when ice cream was thought of as an ideal digestif; and when the French were thought to use heavy sauces because their produce was inferior.  (Early versions of "The Joy of Cooking" are similarly a wonderful portrait of Depression era America.)

You would really enjoy "The Art of Cooking" but what we called "The Crisco Cookbook". This was a cookbook my grandmother kept up at the cabin in Northern Quebec. It was published by the Crisco company some time in the 1930s, and it featured everything one could cook with shortening (which was literally everything - it was amazing how much one could use the stuff).

Best part of the book was that it was really two books - one dealt with the art of serving food if one had a servant; the other, how to serve food if one was so unfortunate as to not have a servant.

The part on having a servant went into details, like how to dress one's servant, how to maintain the housewife - servant relationship, etc. All the sort of real, practical knowledge you would expect to get from a company that sells shortening. 

Edit: this cookbook gets a mention in my Aunt's book *Moral Disorder*.

[Josquius]

My girlfriend has gotten a new job and as part of it has to do a training which involves reading a bunch of entire books on second language learning.

In the course of a week, on her phone, she has read through 3 300 page books. It takes me months to get through just one.

She says the way she does it is just reading chapter intros and conclusions and then only reading the stuff that isn't old news to her.

This seems like cheating, and who knows what different slants someone may have on known stuff?

So. I ask ye. Is her behaviour normal? Do you use any other tricks to read more?

[Jacob]

Yes, there's a different technique for reading high volumes of stuff in fields you're familiar with as opposed to doing intense reading of a novel you're fascinated by, or in-depth reading of a complex text you're doing detailed analysis of.

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, when you are reading over things you are already very familiar with you can take in much larger chunks at a time.  Just reading introductions and conclusions is more risky - she is assuming rather than actually looking over the material. 

[Sheilbh]

Wolfson Prize shortlist announced:
https://www.wolfsonhistoryprize.org.uk/

Probably going to end up getting almost all of these I normally find this prize has really interesting shortlists. It's a UK prize so it's for a history book written by a UK resident, but one of the criteria is that it's accessible to a lay person like me. So the list is normally full of books I feel I can read

[Habbaku]

Definitely going to pick up a couple of those, Devil-Land and the Ottomans. Thanks!

[Syt]

Well that's 4 more books added to my wishlist.

[Malthus]

Wolfson Prize shortlist announced:
https://www.wolfsonhistoryprize.org.uk/

Probably going to end up getting almost all of these I normally find this prize has really interesting shortlists. It's a UK prize so it's for a history book written by a UK resident, but one of the criteria is that it's accessible to a lay person like me. So the list is normally full of books I feel I can read

Looks interesting - particularly the Ottomans and the one about Witchcraft in the New World.

I have a distant ancestor that was hanged as a witch in New England - and survived!

Mary Webster, or "half-hanged Mary", though the details are pretty murky, is supposedly an ancestor:

https://theworld.org/stories/2017-05-13/17th-century-alleged-witch-inspired-margaret-atwoods-handmaids-tale

[Sheilbh]

Well that's 4 more books added to my wishlist.

Yeah I ended up adding most of them to mine. That's the other reason I quite like the prize is there's no history of x or similar criteria. So the shortlist is normally pretty wide-ranging.

[Agelastus]

Wolfson Prize shortlist announced:
https://www.wolfsonhistoryprize.org.uk/

Probably going to end up getting almost all of these I normally find this prize has really interesting shortlists. It's a UK prize so it's for a history book written by a UK resident, but one of the criteria is that it's accessible to a lay person like me. So the list is normally full of books I feel I can read

I like the typo.

Gaskill book cover - "The Ruin of all Witches: Life and Death in the New World."

Gaskill text - "The Ruin of all Witches: Life and Death of the New World."

Changes the whole meaning of the title.

[The Minsky Moment]

Surprised to see that Nichols Orme is still writing.  Probably will audiobook that one.

[Syt]

Some bundles for those interested.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/european-sci-fi-and-fantasy-comics-from-cinebook-books

We've partnered with Cinebook, a British publisher that specializes in translating and distributing some of the most acclaimed, craziest, and most gorgeous comics made in all of Europe. This bundle features the renowned science-fantasy epic Valerian and Laureline and other genre-defining works like Orbital, Aldebaran, and its sequel, Bételgeuse, giving you all the mind-bending sci-fi goodness you didn't even know you needed. See how they tell stories from your favorite genre in what's known in Europe as "the 9th art."

All comics in this bundle must be redeemed and downloaded through the izneo app, a digital comic, manga, and webtoon publishing and reading service.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/tales-space-marine-chapters-2022-black-library-books

Discover the fearless exploits of the Adeptus Astartes—the elite Space Marines of the Warhammer 40,000 universe—in this collection of novels & fiction from Black Library! This galaxy-spanning bundle gathers war stories of Chapters and squads from across the Imperium, charged with defending humanity against the relentless forces of Chaos. Explore the grim darkness of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and support EveryLibrary with your purchase!

[mongers]

I'm reading Simon Jenkins 'A Short History of Europe', in part motivated because it'll annoy Shelf. 

[Sheilbh]

Reading A Small Town in Germany by Le Carre. I'm about two thirds of the way through and it's so good.

The first few chapters in particular are, I think some of the best I've read by Le Carre. It's set in Bonn during the 60s protests and with the UK trying to enter the Common Market. A junior diplomat goes missing with a load of sensitive documents, so London sends someone to investigates him. After the initial set up there's a series of chapters which is just him talking with one other character in the embassy to re-create this potential spy's life. It's incredibly well done - building up character from all of the different perspectives, with the tonal shifts and subtext of, for example, what starts as a conversation and ends as an interrgation.

I'd read the Karla trilogy, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and some recent Le Carre but this is really inspiring to properly go through the Cold War era novels. But I really recommend this if anyone's not read it.

[Jacob]

Reading Lesser Beasts by Mark Essig - it's a breezy pop history of the pig. Occasionally a bit too breezy, but mostly full of interesting framings, facts, and factoids.