Companionship

I had meant to finish Zola's 'Money' and write about it this weekend but things got in the way. Yesterday we girded our loins and all that sort of thing to braved Ikea (it was predictably hellish, I panicked and got lost for a bit, I had visions of going round in circles until I could find a member of staff to rescue us but D calmed me down and found the way out so it was okay. I do not like Ikea much.) The purpose of the visit was to get temporary frames for a couple of sizable pictures bought back from Shetland and that at least was a successful mission. Since then I've spent a serious chunk of time first trying to get the pictures into the frames straight and then trying to get the frames closed whilst still keeping the pictures straight. I had to borrow a screwdriver from an obliging neighbour (tiny screws into the side of the frame are fiddly) and predictably sliced my finger on a sharp metal hinge which seems to have been included purely for that purpose, happily I managed not to bleed on the art. What took even longer, and I'm not half finished yet, is hanging everything. Picture hanging is complicated (but enjoyable) it'll be weeks before I'm happy with the results.

Meanwhile I've also been enjoying 'The Oxford Companion to Food' it's officially released later this month but I got very lucky when Shiny New Books offered me a chance to review it for them (very lucky, that's a big thank you to Oxford University Press and Shiny New Books because I'm beyond delighted to have a copy of this). I have a lot of time for the Oxford Companions to things, the Companion to Wine is the industry standard if you sell wine (which I do) and has seen me through all my exams, it is very useful indeed. I'm hoping work will spring for the Beer companion at some point - we really need that too. 'The Oxford Companion to English Literature' was a birthday present last year, it was a long coveted item which more than lived up to expectation.

I have a friend who's almost fanatical about reference books, she loves them with a passion, collects them with a passion, and actually quivered with delight when she saw the Companion to Food on my kitchen table. I'm not quite as enthusiastic about reference books as she is but convenient as it is to google a thing there's so much information out there that I'm increasingly attracted back to actual books. This is partly about branding and reputation - if OUP has put their name on something I trust it. It's also partly about convenience - maybe it's a sign of age but certainly for wine related queries the book is often the quicker option, but finally it's partly down to personality. The tone Jancis Robinson brings to 'The Oxford Companion to Wine' is scholarly and authoritative (just what I want for work) but in 'The Oxford Companion to Food' I'm detecting a certain dry humour as well which makes it very enjoyable to read. It's a winning combination.