REVIEW: The School of Essential Ingredients by E. Bauermeister

Title:  The School of Essential Ingredients
Author:  E. Bauermeister
Genre / Pages:  Fiction,  Food / 258
Publication: Berkley Trade, 2010
Rating:  2nd shelf  
Source:  My lovely Aunt Terri
lj's plot in one pot:  Various cooking students work through life's gifts and challenges through Lillian, the head chef / cooking instructor / unknowingly 'life coach'.

This book was given to me during a really rough time in my young life and so I hope I can be objective and not too lovey-dovey with this text.  It is a sweet collection of glimpses into different peoples' lives, artfully woven together through their interactions in a cooking class.  Bauermeister attaches each student / character an ingredient that is fitting to their struggles in life.  The most fitting, in my opinion, is the section about Isabelle, an elderly lady who is battling Alzheimer's Disease; she is paired with sage.  

The text is pretty and savoury - I wanted to both see the places the author invites the reader to, and I wanted to eat (or at least smell) the food the students prepare together.  I would recommend this book to foodies, as well as anyone who has fought for (or against) something in their life - I guess that would probably mean everyone!  The reason I didn't give this text a higher rating was that it just isn't my genre of choice.  There was little plot, a lot of details are (intentionally) left out, some details were overbearing in their presence.  In short, I can appreciate this text, I can safely offer it up to many people, I enjoyed it to some extent, but whether I would seek out this author again is still up in the air.  

"Sometimes, nina, our greatest gifts grow from what we are not given." p.30

Interested in more info?  Check out the author's website here. 

Review: Life, Sex and Ideas - The Good Life Without God by A.C. Grayling

Title:  Life, Sex and Ideas - The Good Life Without God
Author:  A.C. Grayling
Genre / Pages:  Philosophy / 236
Publication: Oxford University Press, 2003
Rating:  3rd shelf
Source:  Chapters Indigo
lj's plot in one pot:  Through short essays, Grayling, a professor of philosophy, invites discussion as to what human life should be.

I hope my rating doesn't push any of you away...I loved this book.  But I loved it even more the first time I read it, when it was called The Meaning of Things.  Being a follower of Grayling's, I've read many of his previous titles ( see here).  I was disappointed in this text, as it feels to repeat the same ideas as many of Grayling's work.  This book is a collection of essays that seem to condense ancient and recent philosopher's (including Grayling's) ideas on different aspects of life; for example, moral education, luxury, safety, etc.  It is divided into seven categories (Moral Matters, Public Culture, Community and Society, Anger and War, Grief and Remembrance, Nature and Naturalness, and Reading and Thinking).  It is clear from the beginning (read the title) that Grayling does not subscribe to traditional religious beliefs.  I appreciate, however that he limits his ire to the religious institutions and the arbitrary rules they have set up.  Grayling uses simple, elegant prose to deliver his message, which usually boils down to "live life thoughtfully, and non-judgmentally".  The book is definitely thought-provoking - my partner hates when I read books like this in bed, because I keep waking him up to discuss something.  It's definitely a good read, but perhaps skip this one if you have already read some of Grayling's other work.

"Marriage as a mutuality of true minds and tender hearts, so long as it lasts, is the happiest of states, whatever the number and gender of the parties to it..." p.44