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Hello, my name is Kelly and I welcome you to the Bookend Diaries book blog. I created this blog to share my own reviews of existing and new books, to discuss with other readers what we’re currently reading, update you on my book club picks, and of course, to ultimately support the work of the authors we all enjoy. I am addicted to reading and I thought this would be a great way to reach out to other readers who are as obsessed with books as I am.

Friday, July 2, 2010

The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry by: Kathleen Flinn



***Purchased through Barnes and Noble

Synopsis

When the author, an American journalist and software executive working in London, is sacked from her high-powered job, she enrolls as a student at the Cordon Bleu school in Paris. With limited cooking skills and grasp of the French language, she gamely attempts to master the school's challenging curriculum of traditional French cuisine. As if she didn't have enough on her plate eviscerating fish and knocking out pâtéà choux, she determines to write a book about her experience and gets married along the way. The result is a readable if sentimental chronicle of that year in Paris in which her love life is explored in great detail, dirty weekends and all, and cooking features as a metaphor for self-discovery. Some readers may feel disappointed that the narrator's encounters with French cookery remain largely confined to her lessons at the Cordon Bleu. On those rare occasions when she ventures into the food-obsessed city, the descriptions of meals are glancing at best. Although her struggles with the language and lack of knowledge about the culture lend comic elements to the story (once, trying to order a pizza over the phone, she said, "Je suis une pizza"-I am a pizza), they, too, constrain the author's culinary explorations

My Review Comments:

I was so interested in this book, especially after seeing the popular movie, “Julie and Julia”, to see a girl going after her dreams. There is such a rage in cooking right now, it makes you wonder what it really takes to become a professionally trained chef. This book really explains all the skills necessary for achieving and living out the passion of food with a beautiful backdrop of living in Paris. It was amazing to me all the history and information that you were given access to from the very private Le Cordon Bleu French cooking school. Besides, being in a foreign country barely being able to speak or understand the French language, Flinn still makes it through to graduate and she manages all this with her love life intact. The best part of this book is it really is a true story with a happy ending, which serves as her true beginning.

16 comments:

  1. This looks fun. I'm not a good cook myself so I think I like to live vicariously through others that can, so I love these type of travel/cooking books.
    Thanks for pointing it out - I don't think I've heard of this one before.

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  2. is Letter to Juliet a book too?

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  3. Oh, lovely, nice review! Thanks for sharing! It sounds ever so interesting.

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  4. I loved this book. I read it when it first came out and I would only let myself walk on the treadmill while I was reading it so I did a lot of walking:)

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  5. This sounds like a good one! I really enjoy memoirs - I will have to add this to the list!

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  6. Thanks for your review, this sounds like a book right up my alley. If you haven't read Julia Child's book, My Life in France, you're in for a treat!

    Have a great week, Bonnie

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  7. This sounds like a good book. I will have to add it to my 'good reads' book list.

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  8. I just discovered your blog! I'm following you - how could I not, when I run a bookshop called Book End?! :-)

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  9. Sounds like a great read that i need to pick up. Thanks for the heads up!
    Have a great weekend!

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  10. This sounds like a great feel-good book. Thanks for the suggestion!

    Enjoy the weekend!

    By the way, I'm now a follower and I've added your blog to my blog roll. :)

    Carole
    The Romance Reviews

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  11. Thanks for stopping by my blog! This book looks good. I will keep looking for your updates

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  12. Thanks for hopping by! You know, I've looked at this book in B&N a bunch of times but now I might pick it up. A positive reader review is always a good push. I especially love food memoirs. :)

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  13. I liked this one, but not as much as J&J. And I absolutely hated the sequel. I felt sad for her husband.

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  14. I am just starting this one, and so far like it a lot. I'll come back and read your review more closely once I finish the book so I don't spoil it! :)

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  15. Okay, I'm back, and I loved the book too. :) Great review.

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