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I'm still reading Roddy Doyle's A Star Called Henry. At first I thought that it sounded very similar to Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, also by Doyle. Both books are coming of age stories about boys who are growing up poor in Ireland, and I was actually feeling a little bit disappointed in Doyle for writing two books that were so similar. But I was totally wrong, and the two books couldn't be more different! Paddy Clarke was beautiful and gentle, lyrical and elegiac. It dealt in subtle shifts of tone and careful use of language. Henry on the other hand is broad, brash, and brawling. Its tone is loud and raucous and perfectly suited to its crazy hero. I have to confess that Paddy Clarke is more in line with my usual style, but I've been enjoying A Star Called Henry so far, and I'm interested to see where it's going...

Oh, and I did a lot of cooking over the weekend! On Saturday I made a really basic lamb stew. A real hearty meat and potatoes kind of meal-perfect for the freezing weather we've been having. Sunday I tried an excellent eggplant parmigiana recipe from Cooking Light, the world's greatest magazine. On Monday I made Indian curried meatballs, which sounds weird, but was actually really good. It was by far my most successful attempt at Indian food. Those are the most exciting of my recent dishes...