Books, bread and boredom

 To classify Tana French as a writer of crime fiction does her a huge injustice. Yes, her novels are centered on solving a crime but her writing is so much better than simple police procedure. French lives in Ireland and her stories take place there. Her writing is atmospheric, dark, sometimes comedic, always spiraling down a rabbit hole of evidence and quirky characters. 

Her second novel is "The Likeness" (which I just finished) and while the premise is rather preposterous the story works because French can take the odd bit and make it believable. A female detective is involved in a murder investigation where the victim looks exactly like her.  Instead of publicizing the murder, the police decide to have this detective go undercover and pretend to be the dead girl in order to find out who is the murderer.  Unbelievable, yes, but as a novel it works.  Psychologically twisted in whodunit sort of way, it's a compelling read and is the perfect antidote to the reality we are all facing right now with fires, covid, politics, pollution and impending doom.

I have read a couple of Tana French's other novels and can recommend them as well. They are not quick reads, she is a dense writer, but they are all entertaining and engrossing.  

Bread: 30 + years ago I had a bread recipe that I loved. It was a honey-oatmeal yeast bread and is incredibly delicious. For some odd reason it dropped out of my bread-making recipe roster. Two weeks ago it popped into my mind and I had to question why I had put it on the back shelf. I dug it out of my file, made it and was blown away once again about how good it is. Great texture, delicious oaty taste and one can use either honey or molasses. Each gives it a different taste, of course, both very, very good.  The recipe makes two loaves so I gave it to random friends and it now has a very strong, loyal following and I am loving making it again.

Finally: boredom. That's all I am going to say on that subject. With people fleeing for their lives, seeing their homes destroyed by fire, others in hospitals fighting for their lives, with the overwhelming anxiety we are facing with the election in two months, with so many people world-wide out of work and facing eviction, starvation and worse, complaining that I am bored is nothing but a glaring example of white privilege.  So I am shutting up about that.

Please remember to be kind to each other. Tempers are short right now, we all feel like there are bees buzzing in our bodies, no one is sleeping right, everyone is anxious.  We need to calm down, we need to cut everyone some slack and simply be kind.