Look! No food!

...well, almost.

I've just finished reading a book, La Première Gorgée de Bière (et autres plaisirs minuscules) by Philippe Delerm. (I should probably point out at this juncture that the link is entirely for illustrative purposes and that Amazon are not paying me; given the book is in French and the blog in English, that would demonstrate a complete lack of commercial sense, now, wouldn't it?). The reason I wanted to talk about this book is its sheer loveliness, inside and out. The book itself is quite thin without being skinny- the phrase 'a slim volume' comes to mind, but somehow, I couldn't bring myself to write it. The cover is cream, in that ribbed cardboard that could almost be good-quality writing paper, the kind that's nigh-on impossible to cut with a craft knife because it's so hard to stop the blade following the grain. The paper inside the book is also heavy and creamy and strokeable (euhhh...yes, I stroke books, why do you ask?); each page has a large margin on all four sides, the kind that almost asks to be written on (but only in pencil, you must understand- anything else would be sacrilege).

Inside, the book is actually a series of short articles (for want of a better word) of two or three pages. Those who understandd the title should have twigged (heehee! twigged! I like that word) what the book is about. For those who don't, the title in English would be The First Sip of Beer, and Other Minuscule Pleasures. There is, as it happens, a chapter-article (chapticle?) entitled The First Sip of Beer, alongside others such as Sunday Morning Cream Cakes, Podding Peas, Banana Split and Sunday Evening. You should, by now, have understood why this post is only almost free of food. If you haven't, I suggest you reread the sentence with the almostword chapticle in it. Yes, that's the one.

H'anyway, the book constitutes a sort of hymn to the small pleasures in life and to loveliness in all its forms. For me, I think there would have to be mushrooms on toast and half a raw carrot, new exercise books and sharpening pencils, making chocolate leaves and the first greengage of the season. Yes, the majority are food-related. No matter how hard I try, it refuses to be surpressed.

Back to the cupboard, methinks, but only to find the tea leaves. Ze boy is outside digging a hole and requires liquid sustenance.