Karen Palmer (Author of Spellbound)

Karen rated a bookit was amazing Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oof. Wow. Vonnegut writes about how Jesus gets nailed to a cross and people react with: oh no, now they're going to get it. He's the son of God, after all. He's the most powerful of connections. But framing this this way begs the question: so who is ...more
Sep 24, 2024 07:31PM ·1 like·like ·see review
Karen rated a bookreally liked it Dodger by Terry Pratchett	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A retelling of Oliver Twist's Artful Dodger, shortened here to only Dodger, King of the Toshers, who scavenge London's sewer system in search of valuables that have ended up down the drain. After he rescues a young girl in a nighttime deluge, his for ...more
Sep 23, 2024 08:24AM ·1 like·like ·see review
Karen is currently reading Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 23, 2024 08:24AM ·like
Karen rated a bookreally liked it Dodger by Terry Pratchett	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A retelling of Oliver Twist's Artful Dodger, shortened here to only Dodger, King of the Toshers, who scavenge London's sewer system in search of valuables that have ended up down the drain. After he rescues a young girl in a nighttime deluge, his for ...more
Sep 23, 2024 08:20AM ·1 like·like ·see review
Karen rated a bookreally liked it Wild Houses by Colin Barrett	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Wild Houses is a raw novel about a go-nowhere kid who gets kidnapped by a bunch of drug smuggler's henchmen, his girlfriend, orphaned and feeling utterly alone in a town where nothing ever happens, his brother, who's gotten him into this mess, and th ...more
Sep 18, 2024 05:14AM ·1 like·like ·see review
Karen rated a bookit was amazing Abigail by Magda Szabó	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Sep 15, 2024 08:37PM ·like ·see review
Karen started reading Wild Houses by Colin Barrett	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Karen rated a bookit was amazing Abigail by Magda Szabó	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Sep 15, 2024 08:22PM ·like ·see review
Karen rated a bookliked it Provence, 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste by Luke Barr(Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This was a book club pick from one of the foodies of the group, who just happens to be a cookbook collector and a baker of great skill. I'd never heard of the book - or, I'm a bit ashamed to say - some of the people in this book, including Ms. Fisher ...more
Sep 11, 2024 12:50PM ·like ·see review
Karen rated a bookit was amazing Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon(Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
There were times, reading this book, where I thought the plot was implausible. Surely the French resistance movement wouldn't just submit to an upstart Australian who felt red lipstick was her armour. It seemed like a writer's bit of fancy, that. Ima ...more
Sep 08, 2024 08:57AM ·like ·see review

Karen rated a bookit was amazing

Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

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Oof. Wow.

Vonnegut writes about how Jesus gets nailed to a cross and people react with: oh no, now they're going to get it. He's the son of God, after all. He's the most powerful of connections. But framing this this way begs the question: so who is Oof. Wow.

Vonnegut writes about how Jesus gets nailed to a cross and people react with: oh no, now they're going to get it. He's the son of God, after all. He's the most powerful of connections. But framing this this way begs the question: so who is it okay to nail to a cross? And the answer is, people without connections. Without powers.

And to read this while Gaza is obliterated and the bombing begins in Lebanon...

And I don't think I've read a more devastatingly accurate summary of America's view on wealth and poverty.

"America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.

Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves. "

An incredible book. It's gutting to think of Vonnegut as a 23-year-old, trapped in a slaughterhouse in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, exposed to the deadliest attack on innocents. To have carried that for decades. And then to bring this into the world.

Brilliant. ...more

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Dodger
by Terry Pratchett

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A retelling of Oliver Twist's Artful Dodger, shortened here to only Dodger, King of the Toshers, who scavenge London's sewer system in search of valuables that have ended up down the drain. After he rescues a young girl in a nighttime deluge, his for ...more

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Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

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Karen rated a bookreally liked it

Dodger
by Terry Pratchett

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A retelling of Oliver Twist's Artful Dodger, shortened here to only Dodger, King of the Toshers, who scavenge London's sewer system in search of valuables that have ended up down the drain. After he rescues a young girl in a nighttime deluge, his for ...more

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Wild Houses
by Colin Barrett

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Wild Houses is a raw novel about a go-nowhere kid who gets kidnapped by a bunch of drug smuggler's henchmen, his girlfriend, orphaned and feeling utterly alone in a town where nothing ever happens, his brother, who's gotten him into this mess, and th ...more

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Abigail
by Magda Szabó

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Wild Houses
by Colin Barrett

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Abigail
by Magda Szabó

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Provence, 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste
by Luke Barr(Goodreads Author)

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This was a book club pick from one of the foodies of the group, who just happens to be a cookbook collector and a baker of great skill. I'd never heard of the book - or, I'm a bit ashamed to say - some of the people in this book, including Ms. Fisher This was a book club pick from one of the foodies of the group, who just happens to be a cookbook collector and a baker of great skill. I'd never heard of the book - or, I'm a bit ashamed to say - some of the people in this book, including Ms. Fisher and Richard Onley.

It's a very quiet story, adjacent to a revolution in the American food scene, that just happens to coincide, sort of, with the American Food Establishment's break from looking outside for the gold standard of cuisine and supporting more of the Alice Waters-style innovation.

To be honest, I didn't feel this hung together as a book, and I think that's a criticism of a lot of non-fiction. It's hard to stretch something to book length (my own book has many reviews saying it would have been sufficient as a magazine article). The opening few chapters are quite repetitive, going around and around explaining the links between the 'characters' and reminding us of their pedigree and how / why they'll all be in France at the holidays. We learn that M.F.K. Fisher travelled often to France, wrote about food in a way that stressed its sensuality and pleasure, and was key to the gang of food writers who brought criticism of cuisine to American readers. She was great friends with James Beard, whose body was suffering for his indulgences, and Julia and Paul Child, who were frayed by a restrictive, sometimes superior relationship with Child's co-writer (who, in fairness, seems to have faded from view). Richard Onley was new to the group, haughty and aloof, pursuing a kind of tech-bro fanaticism for 'pure' cooking. Child's co-writer, Simca Beck, was seeking an identity of her own, one that remained true to the 'right way' of cooking. And their editor was Judith Jones, who valiantly shepherded all of them towards deadlines, and helping them see the 'through line' of their recipes and perspectives.

If not for book club, I'm not sure I would have stuck with the book. There is a lot of snobbery, a lot of cattiness and pettiness. A lot of bougie problems - the restaurant is closed, they're out of oysters! But there is also a lot of very good writing about food and its preparation within these pages. There's a lot of sniping - not by the author, but by the Food Establishment itself - and M.F.K. grows weary of it, probably a little more slowly than the reader. By the time she breaks free and spends some time writing and reflecting on her own, I think we're more than ready to leave the cloistered and claustrophobic bubble of the self-satisfied Establishment.

Luke Barr bases the book on a slim green journal found in his aunt's belongings, detailing her awakening and ultimate break from worshipping with rose-coloured glasses her memories of French cuisine and culture. She wakes, somewhat slowly, to the fustiness of the Food Establishment, and realizes that she's been glorifying what has been without really tuning in to what is. She seems to have a political awakening, one that places her more firmly in the world around her. And 1970 was a year of *great* change and political turmoil. So a great time to tune in.

But it's hard to say that this reckoning suddenly changed the American food scene. Or that Julia Child's similar turn away from Francophilia suddenly changed the American food scene. The book rightfully acknowledges the influence these writers and teachers had on people like Alice Waters, who went on to actually put into practice some of the things they were writing about or noticing, a kind of bonhomie that mirrored some of what made French food so beloved: a commitment to fresh produce tasting of the local terroir, and an inventive, make-do mindset that liberated the chefs and cooks to try to highlight flavour through interesting technique. ...more

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Code Name Hélène
by Ariel Lawhon(Goodreads Author)

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There were times, reading this book, where I thought the plot was implausible. Surely the French resistance movement wouldn't just submit to an upstart Australian who felt red lipstick was her armour. It seemed like a writer's bit of fancy, that. Ima ...more

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