Since we were both hopelessly addicted to MasterChef Australia earlier this year, we are awaiting tonight’s Celebrity MasterChef Australia with great anticipation.

We’re keen to see how the chosen celebrities survive the stresses of the MasterChef kitchen Will their soufflés fall? Will their cookies crumble? Will someone accidently set an oven mitt on fire? The potential for disasters is almost limitless and we wait with baited breath for some entertaining viewing in the coming weeks.

To celebrate the first episode of Celebrity MasterChef Australia tonight, we thought we would run a cookbook giveaway. On offer we have Keep the Table Laughing – A Cookbook with a Twist. This is our very own cookbook, written in 2005 and filled with our favourite family recipes as well as anecdotes and a lot of chatter and fun.

We came up with the concept of Keep the Table Laughing when we were discussing the huge number of celebrity chef cookbooks on the market. So, in honour of those inspiring celebrity chefs and the Australian celebrities aspiring to be chefs, we want you to share with us the name of your favourite celebrity chef cookbook.

I’m a cookbook junkie, but since I have been trying to cull my cookbook collection to those that I use regularly, I must confess that the number of celebrity chef cookbooks has dwindled considerably. My current favourite would have to be Janelle Bloom’s Fast, Fresh and Fabulous, although I made a fantastic chocolate mousse last weekend from a recipe in an Iain Hewitson cookbook. Yes, that’s the same Huey who wrote the foreword for Keep the Table Laughing.

Whether you are a fan of likeable lad Jamie Oliver, domestic goddess Nigella Lawson, bad boy Gordon Ramsey, Aussie favourites Neil Perry and Stephanie Alexander or ever popular Australian food stylist Donna Hay, we want to know. We don’t mind whether it’s an international celebrity or a local culinary star, we want to hear which celebrity chef cookbook you love.

We have two copies of Keep the Table Laughing to give away. To enter just leave us a comment below with the name your favourite celebrity chef cookbook. Tweeting the competition will result in a bonus entry.  Competition is only open to Australian residents and will be drawn the day of the Masterchef finale.

Make sure you include your email address when you leave a comment and include our twitter name, @thinkthinkers, in your tweet so that we don’t miss your extra entry.

I was very excited to receive a box full of Vintage imprint books this week, a prize I won through an online Random House competition I entered recently.

Here they are:

For those who don’t want to squint to read the titles, this is a list of all the books included in the prize:

• Beloved – Toni Morrison
• Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
• Enduring Love – Ian McEwan
• The Easter Parade – Richard Yates
• Fly Away Peter – David Malouf
• Disgrace – J M Coetzee
• The Scarlet Letter – Nathanial Hawthorne
• The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
• Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
• Bleak House – Charles Dickens
• Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami
• Amsterdam – Ian McEwan
• To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
• The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
• Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
• All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
• Atonement – Ian McEwan
• The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
• Revolutionary Road – Richard Yates
• Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
• The Wind-up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
• The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton

The only problem now is finding time to read through this fantastic selection of titles.   There are quite a few books on this list that I have wanted to read for some time, so I am keen to get started.

Do you have any favourites listed above? Any suggestions about where I should start?

Related Links:

* Jane Austen, I Love You So

Finally a reading challenge that should help me to reduce, not increase, the size of my TBR. Hosted by Swapna at S. Krishna’s Books, the aim is to ensure that a set percentage of the books read in October and November are either personal books or review books that have been waiting for 6 months or more for attention.

I need to clear both a backlog of reviews and personal reading, so I’m aiming for 20% of books in October and November coming from my mountainous TBR. I will start a tracking post on the 1st October where I will list the titles as I review them.

You can sign up for the Clear your Shelves Reading Challenge and find detailed instructions at S. Krishna’s Books. If you decide to take this challenge on, please leave a comment below so that I can visit your blog and cheer you on.

Title: Why She Loves Him
Author: Wendy James
Publisher: UWA Publishing, 2009 (240 pages)
ISBN: 9781921401190
Genre: Short stories, Women’s fiction

Synopsis (from publisher website)

These are tales of fugitive lives: dazzling portraits of women and men on the run; from their present, their past, their future – from themselves…

Here, finally, is the complete collection of short fiction from award-winning author Wendy James. Holding a discerning mirror to seemingly ordinary lives, James captures recurring themes of love, betrayal, passion and guilt to show just how vulnerable and intricate the human heart really is.

Whether narrating from the living room of a contemporary marriage, from the wheel of a desperate getaway car, or while composing an elaborate diversion in 18th century Salzburg, James has the rare ability to wryly comment on humankind with unnerving clarity and precision.

James has a strong reputation in sales as well as critical acclaim and awards, and has occupied a somewhat more mainstream position than the standard literary writer in Australia.

Comments
I found this amazing collection of short stories by Australian author Wendy James quite challenging. The characterisation and writing is very well crafted and I enjoyed the quality of the writing, but the 21 scenarios highlighting the many ways that individuals use and abuse the tender emotions of those around them left me feeling vaguely distressed.

I guess it is a testament to James’ skill that she was able to create characters that I identified with so quickly. I was often left wanting more at the end of the stories and I wanted the characters to find happiness, although this very rarely happened.

I read and enjoyed James’ second novel, The Steele Diaries, last year. On reflection I probably shouldn’t be surprised that she has opted to portray the complexity of human relationships in her short stories, as The Steele Diaries captured the contradictory emotional demands that many women face in their role as mothers with a similar confronting honesty.

Despite the short story format, Why She Loves Him is not a light-hearted or relaxing read but rather a very interesting exploration of the emotions that linger behind everyday relationships and situations.

This is review is part of my contribution to the Literary Road Trip hosted by GalleySmith. I am highlighting authors from New South Wales, Australia.

Related links:
Suite101 review of Why She Loves Him

Books have long been great source material for filmmakers. I tend to find that as an avid reader, the movies they inspire rarely live up to my expectations. Don’t get me wrong – I love movies. But the more I love a book, the more trepidation I feel when the film version is announced.  Thrillers and kids books seem to fare better, especially with all the technology available these days. Dramas – not so much.  The fact that the coming movie version of The Lovely Bones has Peter Jackson at the helm bodes well, but time will tell.

That said – here (in no particular order) are 10 film adaptations of my favourite books that have satisfied my exacting standards.

High Fidelity (Nick Hornby)– Even moving the setting from London to Chicago (usually a big no-no) couldn’t ruin this movie.  Having John Cusack talk directly to camera was great.  Add scorching Lisa Bonet, a scene-stealing Jack Black and my girlfriend Catherine Zeta-Jones, then it really couldn’t lose.

To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) – Wonderful book. Wonderful movie. Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch was voted the AFI’s number one film hero for good reason.

Silence of the Lambs (Thomas Harris)– And the number one villain was Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter.  I read the book a few years before the film was made, and I don’t know if it was better or worse that I knew what was coming.

Jurassic Park (Michael Crighton)– If the movie had not been as well-made, this might have been a fizzer. But the effects were so good, that I nearly crawled under my seat to hide from the velociraptors.

The Lord of the Rings(J.R.R Tolkein) – I started the book three times as a kid, getting stuck at The Council of Elrond every single time. All that darn history. That Peter Jackson managed to cover it all, and still make such fast-moving and visually exciting movies is testimony to his genius. I guess it helped that each movie was a million hours long.

Trainspotting (Irvine Welsh) – I actually found myself reading the book out loud to understand the phonetic spelling of the Scottish accents.  Both book and movie were equally harrowing and yet entertaining.  But the movie had Ewan McGregor, so it wins.

Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) – Publicists seem to throw “epic” onto any old thing these days, particularly, for some reason, if it’s set in Russia. I suggest they read and then watch Gone with the Wind to see what scope an ‘epic’ should have.  Vivian Leigh was made to play Scarlett O’Hara, one of the most likeable bitches ever written.

The Godfather (Mario Puzo)-  I have a cat called Pacino, so there’s no way this wasn’t going to make the list. So immensely quotable with outstanding performances from the entire cast.

Bridget Jones’ Diary (Helen Fielding)– Delightful movie made oh so clever by casting the BBC’s Mr Darcy as the modern day Mark Darcy, giving us another opportunity to swoon over Colin Firth being deliciously uptight.

Picnic at Hanging Rock (Joan Lindsay) – Oh so very eerie. Particularly the soundtrack with the sounds of the Australian bush and those pan flutes  (later to be ruined for me forever by a Nescafe ad. Isn’t that always the way?).  And Mrs Appleyard’s hair. Now that’s eerie.

What are your favourite book-to-movie adaptations?

I’m starting to think that there must be some kind of time warp in my home, a portal somewhere that jumps me forward in time whenever I walk past. If I had to pinpoint an exact location, I would be inclined to pick my desk. That seems to be the place where time goes AWOL most often.

I began August with grand plans for a comprehensive self-improvement project that included getting up to date with my overdue book reviews and generally getting myself and my home organised.

And how did that work out for me? Well, has your RSS feed been inundated with updates from my blog? No? Well, that probably answers that question then.

Rather than continue to waste time dwelling on all the things I didn’t achieve over the past 6 weeks, I am pressing a metaphorical reset button and attempting to regain the enthusiasm I had in early August to get my butt into gear and get myself organised.

Hopefully by the end of September I will have caught up on many of the reviews that remain half written thanks to the months I have wasted this year on an illness that my doctor likes to describe as “one of those things that just happens sometimes then goes away”. Hmm, yes. Thanks for that.

I’m hoping that the coming weeks will feature a spring cleaning of sorts resulting in lots of book reviews and book discussions and a greatly reduced sense of guilt. I may even get organised enough to post a To Do list for the coming six weeks in an attempt to keep myself accountable.

Watch this space.

Title: Six Suspects
Author: Vikas Swarup
Publisher: Black Swan, 2009 (original Doubleday, 2008) (558 pages)
ISBN: 978-0-552-77251-8
Genre: Mystery/Crime

Summary

Vicky Rai, the son of a high-profile Minister, has been shot dead by one of the guests at his own party. They are a glitzy bunch, but among them the police find six strange, displaced characters with a gun in their possession. each of them steaming with a secret motive.

India’s wiliest investigative journalist, Arun Advani, makes it his mission to nail the murderer. In doing so, the amazing, tender and touching, techni-colour lives of six eccentric personalities unravel before our eyes. But can we trust Advani? Or does he have another agenda in mind…?

Comments
I started this book with great anticipation, my interest stirred by the unusual format and a current fascination with fiction set in India. The fact that Swarup’s debut novel was Q&A, the basis for the award winning film Slumdog Millionaire, added to the attraction.

I did enjoy most of Six Suspects, but at time my attention wandered and I found the subplot involving the naïve Texan Larry Page with his never ceasing colloquialisms quite annoying. I was left guessing the identity of the murderer until the final pages, so from a mystery point of view the story worked well.

I think Six Suspects was simply a little over ambitious. Swarup offers readers a glimpse at the many faces of modern India – family and cultural rituals, petty theft, a country of great beauty and resources as well as incredible poverty and corruption, Bollywood, call centres, religious traditions – but the sheer number of subplots and secondary characters minimises the suspense and slows the pace of the story.

I did enjoy this novel and I am still quite keen to read Q&A. Six Suspects was at times quite insightful and there were some wonderful characters whose stories I followed with interest.

Related links
Review of Six Suspects at Suite101.com
Vikas Swarup author website

Title: 1001 Best Things to See and Do in New Zealand
Author: Peter Janssen
Publisher: Hodder NZ, 2009 (456 pages)
ISBN: 978-1-86971-160-3
Topic: Travel Guide – New Zealand

I’ve always wanted to visit New Zealand, but the opportunity to travel “across the ditch” has unfortunately never come up. Despite the fact that it is closer (and cheaper) to travel to New Zealand than to the west coast of Australia from where I live, I’ve never managed to do so.

After browsing through Peter Janssen’s New Zealand travel guide 1001 Best Things to See and Do in New Zealand, my desire to see this amazing country has been fired up once again.

Despite my often expressed disdain for all things outdoors, I think that it is the natural beauty of New Zealand that appeals to me most. As Janssen shares, there are just so many beautiful locations to visit and I imagine that it would be impossible to visit New Zealand without bringing home a collection of spectacular photos no matter how inept the photographer.

This book is not intended as a stand alone travel guide and lists only activities, venues, events and locations. There is no accommodation or food information and only the most basic maps. What this book does offer, however, is a comprehensive guide to places and events, significant and otherwise, that might appeal to visitors in New Zealand.

I like that entries are grouped into regions and the rating system indicating whether each listing is worth a specific trip, a detour if in the area or simply calling in if you are driving past. I also love the diversity of the entries.

There are only 50 photos included, so you would need to check out the websites provided or find information elsewhere if you wanted visuals of most of the listings.

New Zealand is definitely on my holiday destination wish list, although it is unlikely that we will make it there for a family holiday in the near future. The next best thing is living vicariously through the experiences of others, so I’d love for you to post a comment with your favourite New Zealand holiday destination or experience. I promise to highlight the location in Janssen’s book to make sure I check it out myself when I finally get there.

Related links:
Suite101 review of 1001 Best Things to See and Do in New Zealand

A short and sweet question from the Booking Through Thursday meme this week:

What’s the most informative book you’ve read recently?

The most practical and informative book I have read recently would have to be Table Tucker, a cookbook by New Zealand-born Australian mum Penina Petersen. I have reviewed Table Tucker here at Reading Upside Down and at Suite101.

After years of knowing that I should have a meal plan but lacking the self-discipline to actually put one together, Petersen has saved me from myself by providing a 52 week family meal plan that not only takes care of the stress of having to decide what to cook for dinner each night and making sure that all the necessary groceries are available, she has also provided all the recipes.

Not only that, Table Tucker provides meals that can be pre-prepared, so that two meals are cooked on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday nights, making Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings far more relaxing as meals simply need to be reheated and served.

The book also contains annual, quarterly/seasonal and monthly shopping lists to further organise grocery shopping and reduce costs. There are household budgeting tips throughout the book as well.

I have been using this book for the past few weeks and it really does deliver on the promises it makes. So, not only is the book informative it is actually useful.

Other informative books I’ve read recently include:
Becoming Shakespeare by Jack Lynch – fascinating look at how William Shakespeare became the world’s most recognised playwright
Tying the Knot by Terri Psiakis – an entertaining collection of tips on how to plan a wedding without losing your mind or blowing your budget
Manthropology by Peter McAllister – an amusing and informative comparison of modern man to man throughout the ages
The Expanded Bible (New Testament) – a new expanded text translation of the New Testament

Reviews of these titles are on the way and will be linked above ASAP.

What informative books have you read recently? Delving into history, true crimes or an autobiography, something practical like gardening or craft or simply reading up on a favourite hobby or interest?

Title: Table Tucker
Author: Penina Petersen
Publisher: Hachette Australia, 2009 (328 pages)
ISBN: 978-0-7336-2444-5
Topic: Cookbook, Home Organisation

Despite my tendency to over-organise other areas of my life, I’m not really all that good at being organised with household tasks like cooking and cleaning.

I know that I can save money by preparing a menu plan and shopping list and sticking to it, but I just don’t seem to be able to get my head around actually doing it. I have often searched for menu plans online, only to be disappointed when these plans expect me to do all the hard work of organising recipes and filling in spreadsheets or templates with my meal choices.

Finally, a light is shining into the darkness of my kitchen chaos and I can only wonder how I haven’t come across Penina Petersen and her amazing Table Tucker concept sooner.

This handy little book takes all the decision making stress out of preparing family meals. It provides not only a 52 week seasonally adjusted meal plan suitable for Australian households, but it also includes a weekly shopping list. All I have to do is prepare the meals and even then Petersen has organised the menu plan so that two meals can be prepared on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, resulting in No Cook Monday, Unwind Wednesday and Freedom Friday.

That’s right, cook on three nights and on the alternate nights you simply need to reheat the pre-prepared meal. Too easy. Saturday night is left free for left-overs, eating out or an easy family favourite night.

The meals are generally quite simply to prepare and may not necessarily appeal to those with more gourmet tastes. Experienced cooks should have no difficulty adapting recipes to suit individual tastes and personally I like that the meals are given in a basic format that makes them suitable for everyone in the family.

Table Tucker includes weekly grocery lists, but also provides monthly, seasonal and annual grocery lists for those who would like to save money and packaging by buying in bulk. Additional recipes, an online forum and cooking and grocery budgeting tips can be found at the Table Tucker website. Registered users of the website can have their weekly grocery lists sent by email, so anyone with a compatible phone or other email-friendly mobile device can simply take their email shopping list with them (Yet another reason why I really need an iPhone).

Serving sizes vary with meals, so I would recommend that if you want to embrace the Table Tucker menu planner you try it out for a week or two so that you can get an idea of how the meal sizes work with your family before racing out and purchasing the monthly shopping list.

I have been using this book for the past couple of weeks and I love that I no longer have to face the What will we have for dinner? decision each night.

Related Links
Review of Table Tucker at Suite101