zondag 27 oktober 2013

Sphinx - T.S. Learner

Spinx by T.S. Learner. Published by Sphere / Little Brown, 2010.
I'd never heard of T.S. Learner, but when I spotted her book Sphinx on sale at a bookstore, I decided to give it a go. The bookflap promises intrigue and a race against time in Egypt set in the seventies, as Oliver Warnock must protect a powerful ancient artefact excaved by his late wife, and it recommends this book to lovers of Dan Brown and Kate Mosse. Whilst I've never read a book by Kate Mosse, I do love a bit of Dan Brown (secretly, I'm always very excited when a new Robert Langdon book comes out). And after having read Sphinx, I will stick to Dan Brown rather than T.S. Learner.

zondag 20 oktober 2013

About Time

About Time. Written and directed by Richard Curtis. 2013.
About Time is the latest romantic comedy written and directed by Richard Curtis (whom we all know from Love Actually). The film tells the story of Tim (Domhnall Gleeson, Bill Weasly in the Harry Potter films), who finds out on his twentyfirst birthday that all the men in his family can timetravel. Not in a very spectacular way though; they can't go to the future, but they can go back in their own timeline. All they have to do is stand in a dark place (a cupboard, for example), clunch their fists and think of the moment they want to go to. Tim, who's a not-so-smooth ladies man, decides to use this power to find the love of his life. And this turns out to be an excellent premise for a warm and loving film.

zondag 13 oktober 2013

Cook with a Book: Jamie's Reizen (Jamie does... Spain, Italy, Sweden, Morocco, Greece, France)

Jamie's Reizen (Jamie Does... Spain, Italy, Sweden, Morocco, Greece, France) by Jamie Oliver. Published by Kosmos Uitgevers, 2011. Translation by Jaromir Schneider.
I love looking through cookbooks. Not only do they contain delicious recipes, they are always full of beautiful photographs. There's one name most people will have in their cookbook collection: Jamie Oliver. I recently picked up my first Jamie Oliver book, namely the Dutch version of Jamie Does.... Spain, Italy, Sweden, Morocco, Greece, France, named Jamie's Reizen (I find with cookbooks, it's best to stick to your own language). As the title already gives away, this book is filled with recipes from these six countries, and each chapter is introduced by a short text on Jamie's stays in these countries and his experiences with that country's cuisine. The beautiful photography (done by David Loftus) just makes you want to start cooking, and that's what I did.

maandag 7 oktober 2013

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories - Susanna Clarke

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke. Published by Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007.














Even though I bought Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke ages ago, I still haven't gotten around to reading it. Probably because it's quite a big book. Not that I mind that, I actually love it, but for some reason it always takes me a bit longer to start in a big book. So when I came across The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Clarke, I decided this would be an easier way to start reading Clarke's work, of which I've only heard positive things. And it most certainly did not disappoint.