Review: Real Cooking, by George!

Real Cooking, by George! by George Jacobs is a goofy old book I found on Dollar Day at the San Francisco Library's used book sale at Ft. Mason.

It is mostly commentary on food, cooking, foreign living, and entertaining, with a few recipes in the back -- sort of like an MFK Fisher book, but without the caché. I do not know anything about the author, George Jacobs, or why he wrote a book about cooking. He was not a chef. I gather that he was some kind of bon vivant, artist, occasional ex-pat who enjoys food.

His musings are mildly interesting, but nothing memorable. Maybe I could write a book?

The Orange Prize

The Orange Prize for Fiction 2008 longlist came out last week. The Orange Prize is awarded each year for the best novel in English written by a woman. It bugs me. I think that setting up a separate prize for women is saying that women cannot compete with men and need their own remedial competition. Plenty of people disagree -- and they are free to put the Orange Prize winners on their TBR list. But a book won't make my list just for winning the Orange Prize or for being written by a woman.