21 September 2009

"Gastroanomalies" by James Lileks

Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery by James Lileks

Genre: Nonfiction, food, humor
On my TBR list?: Yes

Read for the Spice of Life Challenge


When I picked this up, I expected a bit of snarkiness but I also expected actual recipes. I was looking forward to trying to recreate a few of these crazy dishes myself and passing my own judgment on them. What I actually got was pictures from vintage cookbooks with captions that were supposed to be funny. In fact, it can be funny in small doses -- say, as individual entries on a blog. Take said blog and compile all the entries in a book, and the humor becomes annoying.

I'm counting this in the Nonfiction category for the Spice of Life Challenge. Reading this has also helped me eliminate three other books from my TBR list which were also by Lileks. I'm not saying that this book is bad. I actually like sites like Cake Wrecks and Go Fug Yourself, which have a similar type of humor, but I enjoy them more when I only read one or two posts a day. Reading the whole book of this brand of snarkiness in one sitting bored me.

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1 comment:

Rebecca Reid said...

oh it sounds like it was so disappointing! I hope whatever else you pick next, instead of one by Lileks, is one that you love!