#459 Taste- Roald Dahl

#459 Taste- Roald Dahl

This is a fun story. Once a year, Mike Schofield hosts a dinner party attended by the famous gourmet, Richard Pratt. He prides himself on his taste and is proud of having such an honored guest. The last few years, they have had a little wager. They bet a case of wine on whether Pratt could name the vintage of the wine served in a blind tasting. So far, Pratt has won each time.

This year, Schofield has scoured the wineries looking for a selection so remote and rare that there is little chance Pratt would being able to match his previous feats of taste. At the dinner, Pratt seems nonchalant and a his non-interest in the meal irks his host. So, when the yearly wager is broached, there is a tension in the air that causes Schofield to be duped into upping the bet to ridiculous stakes. He will put his daughters hand in marriage on the table against Pitt’s two country homes.

Pratt’s wine tasting process and the outcome of the wager is built up and crafted wonderfully. This is short story writing in a very pure sense. I loved it.

Rating: 8-9-10-9 Total= 36

#445 Eating Fish Alone- Lydia Davis

#445 Eating Fish Alone- Lydia Davis

A woman eats fish, but not that often and only when she eats alone. She has a list of fish that is acceptable to consume socially, healthily, and environmentally. She puts a lot of thought into the fish she eats, and is very delicate in the manner in which she goes about her meals.

Usually, when she eats out the wait staff and the kitchen staff is too busy to give full answers to her questions about the fish. She does her best to manage anyway. One particular night, a restaurant was serving marlin. She didn’t remember how marlin tasted, and although it wasn’t on her list, she decided to try to anyway. The waitress asked on behalf of the chef if she enjoyed her meal. Even though she thought it a bit chewy she gave a pleasant if vague reply.

“I thought of the waste, and the care with which the chef prepared, over and over again, the vegetables that no one ate. At least I had eaten his vegetables, and he would know that I had liked them. But I was sorry I had not eaten all of his marlin. I could have done that.”

Rating: 7-6-7-6 Total= 26

#205 Year of the Spaghetti- Haruki Murakami

#205 Year of the Spaghetti- Haruki Murakami

You could name this one 'Zen and the Art of Cooking Spaghetti'. “Thinking about spaghetti that boils eternally but is never done is a sad, sad thing.”

Or you could name it 'Apocalypse Pasta' or something like that. “Spring, summer, and, fall, I cooked away, as if cooking spaghetti were an act of revenge. Like a lonely, jilted girl throwing old love letters into the fireplace, I tossed one handful of spaghetti after another into the pot.”

This man has two things going on in his world: he’s going crazy, and he loves spaghetti, although I don’t think one thing necessarily led to the other. He sits in his room on the floor where the sun warms the floor, and thinks people are outside his door, people like William Holden and himself from a few years ago.

“Not one of these people, though, actually ventured into my apartment. They hovered just outside the door, without knocking, like figments of memory, and then slipped away.”

He can no longer handle the everyday responsibilities of life, so he cooks spaghetti, alone, in a pot big enough to hold a German shepherd.

Rating: 7-7-6-7 Total= 27

#100 Sorry Fugu- T. Coraghessan Boyle

#100 Sorry Fugu- T. Coraghessan Boyle

T.C. Boyle is a spectacular writer, one of my favorites. Until now, I haven’t read much of his short fiction. A few months ago I heard him give a reading for his most recent novel, The Harder They Come. During the Q&A that followed he talked about short story collections. He said no matter what you do, most people will love half the stories and hate half the stories, and never the same half. It was his way of saying that he didn’t care about reviews. But for me, somebody reading a bunch of short story collections this year, it’s a good cautionary tale; not to judge an author by just one story.

For now, all I can judge is this one story, and: so far so good. Albert is a restaurateur, a chef and a food lover. Having been open only a short time he has yet to be reviewed by the big local paper. The paper has two reviewers who alternate weeks. One reviewer always loves the places she eats and like a mother fawning over her children will find fault with naught.

“But this was Willa Frank’s week. And Willa Frank never liked anything.”

He wanted Willa Frank, wanted her to taste his food, love his food, rave about his food. But there are obstacles in his way, and the day-to-day pitfalls of the kitchen. He sets out to overcome these challenges and woo Willa Frank with everything he’s got.

Boyle has a unique cadence to his story telling that hits my ear just perfect, so the writing itself is great. In his novels, part of the fun is following the idiosyncrasies of his characters, the wackiness of people and the odd things they do giving time and proper circumstance. The replacement dish-washer for example would be someone in a longer form work that would potentially be the funniest one to watch. I miss that a little in only 20 pages. But that said, each form has its limits.

Notable Passage: “…to like something, to really like it and come out and say so, is taking a terrible risk. I mean, what if I’m wrong? What if it’s really no good?”

Rating: 9-7-7-8 Total= 31