This was given to me to sell at my garden party. I have already read and enjoyed it. If it is caught and journalled, I will give 50p to Action Aid.

My NSSVS partner hasn't read this book so my Nana thought she might like it.

We thought that this could be the 'S' on your challenge list

Delighted to have received this in my NSSVS parcel this morning. I've often wondered whether I should read this and have several times said to myself that if I ever saw it at a bookcrossing meet I would take it: now I have that chance. Thank you -and yes, it will make the perfect S for my A to Z challenge because I've never read anything by Nigel Slater before - not even a newspaper column!

Every Sunday morning my husband and I have coffee and 'toast' at a lovely cafe, before we go off across Wimbledon Common, and the people who run the cafe are very bookcrossing-friendly, so I have the perfect place to release the book afterwards too.

RELEASE NOTES:

I didn't read this cover to cover but enjoyed browsing it over tea and toast. Now put into Starflash's Literary Shoebox.

In the Literary Shoebox.

I have my own copy of this. Brilliant book, I will offer it as a ray soon. One of the funniest, most sensual books I have read. If Mr Slater wrote novels, they would be bodice rippers! I'm not sure that his parents would have had a copy of Portnoys Complaint on the bookshelf though........

Sent out as a ray....shiping by surface mail internationally is fine!

wandersingstar8-(UK) International
smilingheron (US)-International
sunfi (US)-International
judygreeneyes(US)-International??
Wandering-B (Hong Hong)-International

RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to Wanderingstar8

Received in a (very short) bookray - I'm looking forward to reading it!

Just received today in Oregon USA from wanderingstar8 as part of a ray. Thank you starflash for starting the ray and including me in it! It was your journal entry on this book that made me want to read it...I'll be digging into it soon...

I loved Slater's mini chapters, most of which were food ("Green Beans" "Cold Lamb and Gravy Skin" "Grilled Grapefruit"), some of which were not ("Happy Families" The Two of Us" "Bed"). He skillfully wove together descriptions of food tied with memories of growing up. This is one of my favorite and most evocative passages...

"Boiled Ham and Parsley Sauce

"There are smells that define a home. Ours smelled of boiled gammon, parsley sauce and what J, in a futile attempt to be middle class, called 'creamed' potatoes.

"A smell which, encountered at another time, another place, would bring back every swirl of sitting-room carpet, every piece of knotty-pine kitchen unit, each and every melamine cup and saucer; the creak of the green Parker-Knoll rocking chair and the click of Joan's knitting needles; the scent of Dad's red and salmon begonias in the greenhouse; the smell of my Matey bubblebath, her Camay soap and his Signal toothpaste. It would bring back Fluff Freeman and his Top Twenty countdown the stuttering telex printing out the football scores on the Grandstand, Jumpin'Jack Flash' and the Epilogue.

"That smell would also bring back the long silences when J and I were alone in a room; the long long summer holidays with no one to play with; doing my homework in the freezing dining room just so I could listen to Sgt. Pepper, but most clearly, of the wet-eyed glare my father would shoot at me when I said anything that could be taken, even remotely, as a slight against J."

I've PM'd sunfi and will send it on its way as soon as I get the address. Thank you starflash for making this a ray!

I just received this in the mail, I am partially through a book club book and an ARC with a review due. I'll get to this in the next couple of weeks, it seems like it will be a pretty quick read. Thanks for including me in this ray.

Just finished this one, I'm mailing this off to the next member today. I found this to be an intriguing little book, I really wanted to try some of the different candy and biscuits that were mentioned in this book, unfortunately I don't think many of them (if they are still made) are available in my country (USA).

"Toast" arrived safely today in beautiful San Diego. I'm in the middle of "The Edible Woman" by Margaret Atwood, also on book ray/ring, but as soon as I finish I'll dig into this one. Thanks!!

I am surprised to say that I totally enjoyed this book and found it difficult to put down. His writing is very compelling, funny, sensual, I know I'm going to remember bits and pieces of it for a very long time (and usually once I put a book down, it's totally gone from my head!). I even read passages aloud to my sister on the phone and to my husband. Very funny, very sad in places. So glad I had the chance to read it! My favorite sections were the ones in which his dad made spaghetti and in which he had to drink milk at school.

I'm PM-ing Wandering-B.

Off by mail to Wandering-B!

Received yesterday when I arrived here in Ohio. Thanks to dolph1n and starflash for sending this out. Will read it as quickly as possible.

Interesting little book, but not one of my all-time favorites. Sending along to a fellow bookcrosser. Enjoy!

Received safe and sound. Thank you so much!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It brought back a multitude of my own food-related memories, and made me feel quite nostalgic (and very hungry) at times. Slater's writing is clear, honest, unsentimental, and bursting with fresh metaphors. The story of his childhood is so sad, but he tells it in such a positive way. A lovely read.

Now, I'm off to the kitchen to butter myself some toast...

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Enjoy!