Uploaded October 2017 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
If you don't judge a book by its cover (in this case, an unfortunate shade of orange), the prolific Patricia Wells has done it again. Through no less than 14 earlier books, all based on her cooking schools in Paris and Provence (where she lives), she has honed her cooking skills to a fine art; but in her 15th, she is in full bloom. 450 pages of culinary wisdom pitched at the amateur cook in the clearest of terms (unlike so many others of that ilk), involving refreshingly basic ingredients and an improvisational approach that fully lives up to the subtitle "...with Dozens of Variations".
As to the cover, at least there's no jacket to tear, and it's cleanable. Would that many another cookbook followed suit!
thisoldhoarehouse.com
If you don't judge a book by its cover (in this case, an unfortunate shade of orange), the prolific Patricia Wells has done it again. Through no less than 14 earlier books, all based on her cooking schools in Paris and Provence (where she lives), she has honed her cooking skills to a fine art; but in her 15th, she is in full bloom. 450 pages of culinary wisdom pitched at the amateur cook in the clearest of terms (unlike so many others of that ilk), involving refreshingly basic ingredients and an improvisational approach that fully lives up to the subtitle "...with Dozens of Variations".
As to the cover, at least there's no jacket to tear, and it's cleanable. Would that many another cookbook followed suit!
thisoldhoarehouse.com
![The Twelve Days of Christmas [correspondence] by John Julius Norwich, illustrated by Quentin Blake](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_6zUu8b_-rc/mqdefault.jpg "The Twelve Days of Christmas [correspondence] by John Julius Norwich, illustrated by Quentin Blake
This delightful stocking-stuffer, of immense humour and charm, was originally published in 1998, and remains a Christmasy classic. Being thank you notes on the part of a well-bred lady to her invisible admirer, which increase in portent with each passing day (and delivery), these lead inevitably to a colourful showdown, involving an assortment of geese, maids-a-milking and questionable old men cavorting on the lawn.
Accompanied by Quentin Blakes peerless illustrations, a prime example of British humour at its seasonal best. Delectable!
https://www.thisoldHoarehouse.com")
