Library Corner

I read this book ‘in-between’ other books since it is a short book and one which I finished in a couple of days.  I picked it up with some reservations, having been told that it was about a young man who reconnects with his dead mother. Having lost my own mother, it felt a little ‘too close to home’.  The story is told though Chick who is given ‘one more day’ with his mother who died some years previous.  It is written in very simple language and is therefore extremely easy to follow.  The way in which Chick gets his ‘one more day’ is not as complex as one might first think and the book openly draws the reader to think about what it would be like to be given that ‘one more day’.  The regrets of words said, or perhaps more importantly, the things that were never said all come together in this moving tale.  After reading it, it didn’t leave me feeling as sad as I had expected.  If anything, it gave me a sense of peace that I don’t have many regrets and whilst we all yearn for that ‘one more day’ just to be held close, to smell that warm smell that is a mother, it reminded me that those we lose are never very far away.  A good short read.

This is light, though not an easy read.  It is literally the history of the world through the six beverages, beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and coca cola.  Like the other members of our book club, I found the concept of charting history through these drinks unique and plausible.  I did find it difficult to read in the beginning and must confess, if not for the book club, I would have given up half way through the first chapter on beer.  I persevered, and was glad I did as it did ‘pick up’ although not greatly.  I found the stories of great thinkers such as Plato coming together in Symposiums, which developed all around the world as a result of new beverages, very interesting.  For me, the chapter on Tea was the most captivating.  This is probably because, 1) I am a devoted tea drinker 2) The beginning of Twinnings Tea to fulfil the gap in providing women ‘access’ to the equivalent of coffee houses, was just remarakable.  The different civilisations, the ‘great powers’, the (British) East India Trading Company as well as the Opium Wars, were interesting to read about through this different approach to history.  It is a book that made me feel pleased that I had read it, once I had finished it.

I thought this was a very different and therefore interesting approach, telling the story of one man and his immense sense of smell.  The book includes the lives of some interesting people, the perfumer for example. The whole concept of one man having such an incredible sense of smell made the book pretty intriguing and while it started off pretty well, I did find that things became stale as it developed.  I therefore found it difficult at times to carry on reading.  The details of Paris and the descriptions of the smells was interesting because before reading this book, I had never thought of describing places and scenes through smell.  The chilling elements in the book caught me by surprise and towards the middle/end I began to get bored.  The end is far-fetched but all in all, I do admire the author’s originality.