TLS Anathem review

Tom Shippey reviews Neal Stephenson's Anathem in the TLS. All well and good. But it would inspire more confidence if he had read, and counted, the number of other books by Stephenson

Fats Waller

Imagine my horror to discover that the children (9, 6 and 3) don't pick up on the reference "your pedal extremeties are obnoxious". I tell you, providing a classical education is a nightmare these days. What do they teach them at school? One of the wonders of the internet is correcting such ignorance, by pointing here, say.

Neil Gaiman II: The Graveyard Book

What a pleasant story this is for children of any age over about seven, and any adults sensible enough to want to carry on reading very ingenious, very well-written stories. Murder, witchcraft, loss and difficult moral decisions. Things not being what they seem. Putting your trust in apparently dodgy figures. Discovering that respectable, well-behaved people are wicked.
Neil Gaiman is the Perrault, the Aesop, the Grimm Brothers, the Hans Christian Anderson de nos jours.

Hardeep Singh Kohli

I was at university with Hardeep, and liked him tremendously then. I haven't always liked what he's since done, but this is a masterpiece of car crash radio.

The link above has been taken down. Try this instead.

Back home

I've just returned from Italy. Two weeks with no newspapers, no internet, practically no television, but quite a lot of books, pictures, wine and nice food. It was wonderful. I want to go back.

solzhenitsyn dead

I'm sorry to say he is. Here is the account of the life.

He wanted to be Tolstoy. That was his genius, and his tragedy.

Spaghetti Bolognese

You may think you know how to make this. Perhaps you do. There are competing ideas, several of which are good, as there are with puttanesca or even pesto genovese.

This is one way. It is incredibly easy, but it needs one thing: time. Serves four, or six, or even eight, depending on appetites. It keeps well for a couple of days and also turns into good chilli con carne with the addition of kidney beans and more chilli.

Ingredients

Couple of onions, diced finely.
Couple of strips of celery, peeeled and finely diced.
Couple of carrots, peeled and finely diced.
Couple of cloves of garlic (Italan purists oppose this) finely chopped.
Pinch of chilli flakes or paprika
Couple of tablespoons olive oil
Knob of butter
Handful of oregano, tarragon and basil, very finely chopped
Half a glass of sherry/half a glass red wine
One and a half pounds lean steak mince, or a mix of veal, pork and steak mince
Four cans of tomatoes
Couple of tablespoons tomato puree
One tablespoon Heinz tomato ketchup


Dried Spaghetti
Basil
Parmesan
More olive oil


In a large pan, place the oil and the butter, the onions, the minced herbs and the carrots, celery, garlic and chilli. Soften over a low heat for 10 minutes. Add the wine and mince. After half an hour (adding a little water if required) put in the tomatoes, puree and very small squirt of ketchup (it provides the sugar and vinegar content).

If you have a few old vine tomatoes or cherry tomatoes knocking around (you probably do), chop 'em up and stick them in too. Season with sea salt and black pepper, and leave on the lowest possible heat for about six hours with a lid on.

If you can, check after a couple of hours, and add water if required, or even a splash of milk (sounds strange, but it is quite common in ragu).

When it's time for dinner, boil spaghetti for about 10-12 minutes, until sticky but still with bite. Drain. Toss with a little olive oil. Mix with sauce. Put lots of basil and grated parmesan on top. Serve.


The only bit of this recipe which cannot be adapted is the six hours bit. If your hob is unreliable, do it in the oven in a casserole dish.