This is a wonderful book about pottery styles and uses. I am most interested in all the different pots and kitchen utensils that were and are made and used in France and Italy. Everything from dishpans, to milk separators, to frying pans, coffee pots. The best thing is that each kind has typical shapes such as lips and handles designed for specific reasons.
I did find some pottery of this kind in Italy, both high end and hardware store type. The only direct experience I had was the bowls they serve the ribboleta in, and I am told they actually make the soup in these basins.
See Dun in the Kitchen, under Sponza Frise for talk about a special type of pottery used today.
http://duninthekitchen.blogspot.com/
This is a motley collection of books read or browsed due to my currently over committed lbut very exciting life these days.
78 Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend - good as usual but not as good as the Weapons of Mass Destruction one
79 True Prep by Lisa Birnbach -- by the writer of The Preppie Handbook written 30 years ago, it's a description of the social rules of a section of US culture (or class of US society). One of my interests is in social anthorpology/class rules, so I enjoyed this. All fresh and current. There are few good books written about class. A few of the greats are Class by Jilly Cooper and Elegance by Genevieve Dariaux. Also, almost any book set in India or England has a motif of class.
80 Damage Control by David Eddie -- The Globe and Mail advice columnist. Disappointed. Far too cute a writer. Some good rules for people in general and some insight into male rationale. Don't buy it.
81 Oh No She Didn't by Clinton Kelly -- Good writing about fashion faux pas. Again, those social rules. Pretty much knew them all.
82 The Elements of Personal Style by Joe Zee and Maggie Bullock
83 The Fashion File by Jane Bryant -- the writer is the Costume Designer for Mad Men. Great book.
84 Old English and Its Closest Relatives by Orrin W. Robinson. Dipped into this extensively. Great book detailing all the Germanic Languages. One of my interests is language and its development.
85 The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. Dipped into this a few hours one evening. Enlightening look at the marketplace and how it's affected by online commerce.
86 Food That Really Shmecks by Edna Staebler That old Amish cookbook, really lovely writing. From Kim's mother bookshelf. Thanks.
87 Provence A-Z by Peter Mayle -- very tantalizing. Better than the previous books. As always, somewhat condescending to the French and in that way irritating.
This is a memoir of Jeannette Walls upbringing by two disfunctional parents. I was avoiding this book as I expected another dreadful Frank McCourt slog through misery. I was very pleasantly surprised.
Walls' parents did neglect their 4 kids, but there was a lot of fun and good memories too. I don't suggest that anything in their upbringing was justified anything but just meaning that the book is readable and stays with you, but doesn't deliver permanent scars to the reader's soul) . The parents were dreamers and the mother depressed or bipolor and the father was an alcoholic. They hung on percariously moving constantly on a whim or when the situation was untenable. Finally, as the children fled to make their own way in New York, the parents followed and became homeless willingly. The mother actually had property worth millions, but did not want to sell it.
This is a must read because it is unique in it's subject matter, treatment and readability. Wall's writing is amazing, in so many ways. It is a fast read, every word essential and interesting. The editing is rigorous and skillful. The style is unique and consistent. There is a consistency of design like Jane Austen or Frank Lloyd Wright. Walls describes the facts and some feelings, and through the action.
Other books about bad/odd parents:
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress ** by Rhoda Janzen
