summer reading | The Little Room of Rachell

Part memoir of a specific period in Ella’s life, mostly recipe book. What makes this an ideal book to dip in and out of is the lovely way that she writes about food in the introduction to each recipe. And the recipes sound good too!

Very sad endnote, but I’m glad she’s sounding happier and all is ok on the other side of everything now.

I’m definitely going to make the Midnight Chicken and a few other recipes too.

Kiss Myself Goodbye by Ferdinand Mount

‘Aunt Munca never told the truth about anything. Calling herself after the mouse in a Beatrix Potter story, she was already a figure of mystery during the childhood of her nephew Ferdinand Mount. Half a century later, a series of startling revelations sets him off on a tortuous quest to find out who this extraordinary millionairess really was. What he discovers is shocking and irretrievably sad, involving multiple deceptions, false identities and abandonments. The story leads us from the back streets of Sheffield at the end of the Victorian age to the highest echelons of English society between the wars.’ From GoodReads

This is a rollercoaster of discoveries, and it never stops! I read it while away last weekend by the sea and found it distracted me from paddling, ice cream and rock throwing games. It’s a goodie.

An Island Wedding by Jenny Colgan

A welcome return to the Scottish fictional island of Mure and lots of familiar characters. I enjoyed catching up with Flora, her family and friends. It was a welcome escape from the news and everything going on in the world. (I read an advance copy in March.)

I feel Jenny Colgan is at her best writing this series; it’s not sickly sweet like some of the others and it’s not repeating the same basic premise over and over like the recent Bookshop series. (Girl moves to new area due to unhappy previous situation, has to find a job, ends up selling books, meets a cast of quirky characters, including one or two possible boyfriends. Chooses one, lives happily ever after.) There’s some attempt at reality, grit, hardship and exploration of how characters really feel in the Mure books. These aspects take you on rather an emotional journey and you find you care about them.
The story has really moved on throughout the series, sometimes in unexpected ways, and there is definitely space for more; as this latest book ended with plenty of ends dangling. I’m glad.

(It is odd how from book 1 to book 4 Jan’s maiden name and both her father’s first and last names have been changed. I couldn’t work out why I didn’t recognise Malcy Doherty, head of the local council. Well, that’s because he was Fraser Mathieson in the first book!)

Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen

For Maeve and her friends daily life holds not just the common feelings experienced by all teens: anxiety waiting for exam results, the mad swings of love and lust, boredom with where they grew up, and worry about earning enough money to save for what comes next. Their days are also full of frustration and fear as the threat of violence flares up around them on a daily basis as there’s continual tension between the Catholics and Protestants and resignation about the troubled political situation in the country. Mixed into this mix there is heaps of black humour. It’s hilarious from the beginning and the humour doesn’t let up. This is a story where well-drawn characters are living in dangerous and strained circumstances over the border from the Free State, under British control in Northern Ireland, but it’s not nearly as grim as it sounds.

‘But it’s all these good intentions that’s killing me,’ Maeve said. ‘Everyone’s always asking us to paint pictures or write poems. Ye’ve artists sculpting doves. Teachers sucking the fucken lifeblood outtay us by asking us tae sing “Imagine” – like, no harm, but is that not showing a total lack of imagination?’ ‘Aye,’ Fidelma said. ‘Nobody’s tackling the hard stuff.’

Maeve and her friends then outline how they believe life could be different without segregation, starting the process of integration from the earliest years. The insider knowledge and lived experience of the author shines out, this is not clearly not researched, but drawn from the author’s own life growing up in County Tyrone.

It has to be said (and I know I won’t be the first to say this and certainly not the last) but it is a good companion if you’re watching Derry Girls. Some of what is sketched out in Derry Girls will make much more sense after reading Factory Girls.

Factory Girls is laugh out loud funny, irreverent and touching. I loved it. I know this because I read it slowly and properly, always a good sign as I did not want it to end.

How long until until there is a film or television series? I’m positive the rights will be snapped up. At the end I felt there was also a lot of scope for a follow up book about what Maeve (and friend) do next ….

The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves

Detective Vera Stanhope’s first appearance, this was published in 1999.

Three very different women are living together in an isolated cottage, while undertaking an environmental survey. An apparent suicide, then another death and Vera Stanhope appears to try to piece together what has happened…

The first ever I read in the series was a proof of the tenth book, lucky lucky me. That’s coming out in the autumn. I have to say that’s a fabulous read, if you’re a fan then you’re in for a treat! Then because I enjoyed that so much, I decided to read all of the books in order.

I was already a fan of the tv series, but I think you need to let some time go by to forget details if you watch first, then read. In the TV adaptations motives have often quite changed and it can be disorienting to remember who and why, then find a completely different murderer in the book. That was why I stopped at the first Shetland book; it was too soon after I’d watched that episode. I’ll go back to the books when I’ve finished Vera and have forgotten a lot of what I’ve seen. (By the way: do you know the last series of Shetland has begun to air? The first episode is available on the BBC iplayer now.)

Ann Cleeves writes so well. I love her clear style of writing. I’ve got to look out for the fourth book, I keep checking on Amazon and finding random Kindle deals on different books in the series. I’ve only paid full price for one so far. Huzzah!

The Corset by Laura Purcell

Melodramatic and tense gothic storytelling set in the Victorian era. I started out listening to the audiobook, but I was finding it so anxiety inducing and generally horrible that I decided to read at my own speed (faster! Get past the gory parts!) and power through the e-library book instead.

I underestimated this book. It was a 3 star read all the way. Then, I got to maybe 80% of the way through, maybe more, and realised that it was going to be quite a rollercoaster of an ending. Upgraded to 4/5 stars, don’t underestimate a talented author like Laura Purcell.

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What have you been reading lately? Anything you want to recommend to us all?

Recently I came across The Endless Beach by Jenny Colgan, the sequel to The Seaside Summer Kitchen. I first read the book above last year and remember really enjoying it as we travelled around the Highlands of Scotland. Likeable characters, a beautiful setting and heavenly descriptions of locally produced food. What’s not to like? I came across this copy in the library and thought it would be nice to refresh my memory about the characters, and what happened, before reading the next. I’m not saying it’s a complex read; it’s a lot like many of Jenny Colgan’s recent books in fact, but I like the warmth and gentle humour. This is a pretty perfect summer read.

On Tuesday when I read about Flora making oatcakes, I found I had flung down the book, run to the kitchen and turned on the oven before I really knew what I was doing.

“What are you up to?”

“I’VE GOT TO MAKE OATCAKES!”

At Christmas I’d come across the recipe in Nigella‘s Domestic Goddess cookbook, that I’ve owned since it was first published, I had idly wondered about making some, but hadn’t got round to it with the frenzy of seasonal shenanigans and wrapping up of piles of presents.

Now I don’t think I would ever really want to buy them again, they are incredibly easy to make and very tasty, without the somewhat cardboardy texture of shop bought versions. A little bicarbonate of soda (aka baking soda) gives them such a satisfying crunch.

I’ve now made four loaves of sourdough bread! Two white and two wholemeal. I’m hanging up my oven gloves for a week or two. Everything in the kitchen is covered in flour and quite frankly we need to eat only salad for a bit. My sourdough starter is lying dormant in the fridge for a little holiday now.

This was a loaf I made on Friday. It’s ~~far too~~ good toasted with honey!

After looking in many shops for crumpet rings I ordered Lakeland’s set of four. It’s good to support your local high street shops, but only if they are selling what you need.

This morning I used up all my discarded sourdough starter on a batch.

I’ve found pouring the starter into a plastic measuring cup is a very fuss-free fast method, rather than faffing about with scales, but it’s easy enough to convert the quantity to ounces or grams if you prefer.

Sourdough Crumpets

3 cups of starter

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp of bicarb

Whisk up the sugar and salt into the starter in a large bowl, then add the bicarb. The mixture will froth up and increase.

Heat an oiled non-stick pan on a low to medium heat. Add well oiled crumpet rings and barely half fill them with batter, it will rise so you need space for them to grow.

When they’re slightly shrinking back from the edges of the rings, with bubbles appearing and look drier on top, lift the rings off using tongs.

If the rings don’t slide off easily give the crumpets another minute or so to continue cooking. Flip them over briefly to colour the tops.

Cool on a rack and toast. Or eat hot right away! They’re better toasted I think, as you get crispy tops and bottoms which contrast nicely with the fluffy insides. Try a few and see which you prefer!

This quantity made about 16 crumpets.

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I played with the temperature of the pan as you get more bubbles with a slightly higher heat, but don’t want the bases to burn.

I’ve been reading some tips and it seems you need a runnier batter if you want more holey crumpets. You still start with a 100% hydration starter but play around with the crumpet batter. By the way, that slightly scary mathematical term simply means you’ve fed your starter with equal quantities of water and flour. It’s nothing more complicated. I discard about half of my starter (putting it into a bowl, or loosely covered container, in the fridge to save for making pancakes or crumpets) then feed the remaining with 100g flour and 100g water which is equivalent to 4fl oz on my measuring jug. 4fl oz is the easiest to read and so is fast in the mornings. I know it’s a mismatch of imperial and metric, but whatever works, works!

I’ll get back to you if I find an amazing fail-safe realllllly holey crumpet recipe. Mine came out light and fluffy with enough holes to identify them as crumpets I think. I liked them very much. Too much, if you know what I mean…

The evolution of crumpets