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ARTS&LEISURE
November14
How to Build a Girl
Caitlin Moran
Ebury Press | 343 pages
By the best-selling author of
How to Be
a Woman
(2011), who is also a popular
columnist for the
The Times
in London,
this laugh-out-loud novel was a good
choice for my book club – even the
more hard-core elements of which were
awestruck by its extreme rudeness, and
that’s saying something.
It’s about the adolescent coming of
age of 14-year-old Johanna Morrigan,
equally determined to rise above the
penurious existence of a dole-reliant
Midlands family in Thatcher’s England
and to shed her despised virginity.
Johanna’s way out involves escaping to
London and re-inventing herself: into the
feisty, cigarette-smoking, hard-drinking
Dolly Wilde, vitriolic critic for music
magazine
D&ME
.
Shojin Ryori
Danny Chu
Marshall Cavendish | 167 pages
Shojin
means vigour and
ryori
means
cuisine; together, the term
shojin ryori
refers to the cuisine that originated
from the Japanese Buddhist temples
in the sixth century. Today, it’s popular
throughout the world thanks to its
selection of healthful and well-balanced
meals prepared without fish, meat, eggs
or dairy products; in fact, the concept
derived from the Buddhist principle of
not taking life – and minimising any
wastage of ingredients – which makes
shojin ryori
a great option for vegetarians
and vegans. One key aspect of
shojin
ryori
is its great emphasis on preparation
and presentation, and drawing out the
natural flavour and colours of each
ingredient, to captivate all five senses.
Intrigued by this art of Japanese
Zen cooking, Chef Danny Chu left his
corporate career as a foreign currency
trader and followed his passion to Japan.
Having been a nineties teenage
music critic herself, the author’s
inside experience shines through in
a realistic evocation of the mood and
artists of the era. Full marks, too, for
Moran’s full fleshing-out of Johanna-
Dolly’s parents and gay brother – no
mere drunken, on-the-dole caricatures
here. As much as it’s about identity
and the painfulness of the adolescent
quest to “find oneself”, this is a novel
about class.
It’s also about sex – a lot of sex,
including the most graphic passages
on masturbation you may ever
have read and a wincingly hilarious
encounter with an unfeasibly large
penis.
Verne Maree
If you’re looking for a good
read this month, here are our
thoughts on a selection of
recent releases.
PAGE
With some hard work and determination,
he mastered the traditional Zen temple
cooking style and became the first
shojin ryori
chef in Singapore, running
Enso Kitchen for several years.
In his new book, Chef Chu shares
the history and explanations behind
shojin ryori
, and with clearly written,
step-by-step instructions, illustrates
how to transform simple ingredients
into creative, flavourful and nourishing
shojin ryori
meals. The book’s clean,
easy-to-follow format – complete with
over 50 recipes, a glossary of fresh
and dry ingredients, and a weight and
measures chart, plus insightful culinary
tips – means even cooking novices like
myself can make delicious dishes like
cabbage rolls, carrot croquettes and
daikon rolls without feeling intimidated.
Amy Greenburg