I'm not sure that one of my ideas for a theme next year will work: namely, finding authors I like and then reading pretty much everything they've written. I will finish the Mark Kurlansky I am a quarter through, but The Big Oyster - History on the Half Shell, didn't engage me as much as some others of his. I loved his Salt and Cod probably because the influence of these food stuffs were depicted on a world wide stage. While Kurlansky garnishes this entree with references to other oyster beds in the southern states, Maine and Europe, he is writing about the growth of NYC and the demise of its harbors and estuaries.
Sometimes the book seemed to be an amalgamation of citations he garnered from a Wiki search. Too many recipes for the same stew, too many Guiness-like records of the hundreds of oysters guzzled on the half shell. His description of oyster cellars and the birth of Delmonico's was interesting but his linking of the entire environmental movement from the pollution of Hudson breeding grounds is a bit of a leap. And I did find one tangent to pursue: his portrait of life in Five Points spurred me to reserve The Gangs of New York at the library.
As a side note also bolstering my disappointment in finding all books by an author to be memorable -- after all, there were a few Dickens I never liked -- I also read Before She Met Me, Love Etc. and Talking It Over by Julian Barnes, this year's Man Booker award winner. The latter two read more like theatrical monologues and were interesting if a bit lengthy, especially after plowing through LE, the sequel to TIO, which over chews the adulterous relationship between a man's wife and his best friend. BSMM is the work on an immature storyteller. Enough said.
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