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Common Table
In their first book, Common Ground, Janice Marriott and Virginia Pawsey wrote about their very different gardens and lives. In this, their eagerly awaited second book, their wonderful, wise, witty and utterly human letters trace a seasonal journey through their very different kitchens - one in a small inner-city cottage, the other a rambling country kitchen on a busy working hill country farm.
Their friendship provides sustenance on many levels, as their skilful and complementary cooking and writing styles encompass details of everyday life that are both engaging and illuminating. Effortlessly, readers are invited to see how Janice and Virginia's respective kitchens have become a refuge from life's troubles as well as a wonderful, sustaining obsession. And each has provided a means by which family and friends are nurtured and nourished by two very wise women, through a challenging year which sees each forced to make significant and life-changing decisions.
Their friendship provides sustenance on many levels, as their skilful and complementary cooking and writing styles encompass details of everyday life that are both engaging and illuminating. Effortlessly, readers are invited to see how Janice and Virginia's respective kitchens have become a refuge from life's troubles as well as a wonderful, sustaining obsession. And each has provided a means by which family and friends are nurtured and nourished by two very wise women, through a challenging year which sees each forced to make significant and life-changing decisions.
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 31, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 26, 2017
If you want a Kiwi Book - this is it.
Many of the references will not make any sense to non New Zealanders - but look them up -they are all true and real events.
This book was a trip around Kiwi culture, our way of thinking, our way of doing things.
The style of writing of Janice and Virginia was similar and this annoyed me for a while until I thought about it and realized they are from the same era, had similar education but had taken different paths. Other than that there is little to fault about this book.
Janice and Virginia share a love of food, gardening and life. More can often be shared in letters than face to face. The year that the readers get to share with these two women not that traumatic but many moments will make you stop and think about your own life, many moments will make you stop and think about our faceless bureaucrats running the system.
The food and recipes shared all work - I had to stop reading and try many of them.
You do not need to read their first book first, just jump onto this book and enjoy.
Many of the references will not make any sense to non New Zealanders - but look them up -they are all true and real events.
This book was a trip around Kiwi culture, our way of thinking, our way of doing things.
The style of writing of Janice and Virginia was similar and this annoyed me for a while until I thought about it and realized they are from the same era, had similar education but had taken different paths. Other than that there is little to fault about this book.
Janice and Virginia share a love of food, gardening and life. More can often be shared in letters than face to face. The year that the readers get to share with these two women not that traumatic but many moments will make you stop and think about your own life, many moments will make you stop and think about our faceless bureaucrats running the system.
The food and recipes shared all work - I had to stop reading and try many of them.
You do not need to read their first book first, just jump onto this book and enjoy.
June 29, 2013
I enjoyed following the correspondence between these two friends very much. Their focused and descriptive writing had me in their environments so much that I could hear the howling wind in Canterbury and the noise on Lambton Quay.
I also began to empathise with Janice's predicament of her job and the meaningless of the office bureaucracy. Whilst I don't work in an office as such (it's a high school workroom with 13 other teachers) the utter banality of the emails that flood my in box with their jargon drives me to distraction. As Janice says, it seems to hinder every attempt to get work done. I too am uninterested in 'setting goals", I'd rather do my job. I cheered when she handed in her resignation, would that I could afford to do that. I loved the stories and the recipes, a very lovely piece of writing.
I also began to empathise with Janice's predicament of her job and the meaningless of the office bureaucracy. Whilst I don't work in an office as such (it's a high school workroom with 13 other teachers) the utter banality of the emails that flood my in box with their jargon drives me to distraction. As Janice says, it seems to hinder every attempt to get work done. I too am uninterested in 'setting goals", I'd rather do my job. I cheered when she handed in her resignation, would that I could afford to do that. I loved the stories and the recipes, a very lovely piece of writing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews