My Books Game

Here is a list (in no particular order) of ten books I would recommend. Not necessarily the most important ten books of my life; more like the best ten of the ones I've read recently. Ten books that I would honestly recommend right now.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome

The Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne

Collected Poems 1908-1965, Siegfried Sassoon (Faber and Faber, 1961)

Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff

Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray

The Mabinogion (I'd recommend Sioned Davies' new translation)


If you've read any of them, let me know what you think.

I'd love to know what ten books other people would recommend. Post a comment if you have time - the first ten (or five!) books you'd recommend if somebody asked you what to read next.

Speedy Bread

Here's how I make bread. I think I originally got the recipe from the side of a packet of Sainsbury's strong white bread flour. It's really quick and easy. I usually put half of the dough in a large loaf tin and divide the other half between two small ones. You can also make rolls or a bread mountain (handy if you only have a baking tray).

You will need...

750g strong white bread flour
25g butter
2 teaspoons salt
1 x 7g sachet of fast action dried yeast
450ml water
a bit of olive oil

First, put the flour in a large bowl. Rub the butter in (you can use margarine if you prefer), then stir in the salt and the yeast (salt necessary to make the yeast do its stuff).

Then mix the water in and pull it all together into a big lump of dough.

Knead the dough for at least ten minutes. You can knead it on a floured surface, but I actually find it makes nicer bread if you don't add any extra flour at all. It will stick to the surface a bit at first, but it just pulls off again. I find the bread is nicer if you make sure you knead it for a good long time too.

Divide the dough up into loaves or rolls or whatever you want. Cover each lump of dough in oil (I use olive oil) and put in the tin/on the tray. Cover with a tea towel and leave somewhere warm to rise. I usually leave it for about 50 minutes.

As the dough finishes rising, preheat the oven to gas mark 8, which is 230°C or 450°F.

Bake for about 15 minutes if rolls, a bit longer for loaves (20-30 minutes, depending on how done you like it). Supposedly it's ready if it sounds hollow when you knock it (although I heard that refuted somewhere or other).

Then just let it cool. I'm trying freezing some of the rolls from my latest batch, so I'll let you know how that goes. But really it's best served warm (with butter and honey... mmmm!)