'Only a Mantelshelf for Books' In keeping with our era’s ...
Why Do Rich Companies Sponsor Lit Prizes In Which They Get Criticized?
Why do the rich and powerful pay for this to happen? Do they not know that they are sponsoring people who are critical of the very structures and processes that enable their own wealth and power? Why help artists, writers, filmmakers gain new audiences? Why give them prizes? –Scroll (India)
BuzzFeedNews: [Subjects include: food, travel, young adults, quarantine hobbies, pop culture, mysteries, the British monarchy and more] One selection as follows: “…Vegans and vegetarians, rejoice! Vegetable Kingdom, with over 100 recipes of plant-based goodness from the James Beard Award-winning chef Bryant Terry, is about to be their new food bible. And if you know someone who has Food Network playing 24/7, consider gifting them Ina Garten’s latest cookbook Modern Comfort Food with 85 indulgent recipes that are perfect for warming you up on a rainy day. For the person who always has 100 things on their to-do list, help them out with Skinnytaste Meal Prep, which is full of make-ahead and freezer meal ideas that will save them so much time and money. Fans of The Great British Bake-off will remember Nadiya Hussain, the joyful and lovable winner of the 2015 season, and in her new cookbook Time to Eat, she’s delivering easy-to-make but flavorful meal ideas for busy weeknights. Hooni Kim, the first-ever Michelin-starred chef in Korean cuisine, combines his experience in French and Japanese kitchens with his expertise in Korean cooking in My Korea: Traditional Flavors, Modern Recipesto create mouthwatering updates on classic Korean dishes like bibimbap, scallion pancakes, and stews. Here’s hoping whoever you give these cookbook to invites you over to try one of these dishes once they make them…”
'It Was Cronsidered a Most Amusing Spectacle'
George Orwell recalls an interesting anecdote in the “As I Please” column published on this date, December 1, in 1944:
“Say what you like, things do change. A few years ago I was walking across Hungerford Bridge with a lady aged about sixty or perhaps less. The tide was out, and as we looked down at the beds of filthy, almost liquid mud, she remarked: ‘When I was a little girl we used to throw pennies to the mudlarks down there.’”
Readers of Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor (1851) will be familiar with mudlarks: “The[y] collect whatever they happen to find, such as coals, bits of old-iron, rope, bones, and copper nails . . .” Orwell continues:
“I was intrigued and asked what mudlarks were. She explained that in those days professional beggars, known as mudlarks, used to sit under the bridge waiting for people to throw them pennies. The pennies would bury themselves deep in the mud, and the mudlarks would plunge in head first and recover them. It was considered a most amusing spectacle.”