A well written, interesting read from one of the 'Two Fat Ladies' of TV cook fame.

15.2.10
Offering as a ray-it-forward: when you have read this, pass it along and keep it moving by ring/ray/RABCK etc! Surface mail is fine

First on the list
ChrissyHam-Netherlands
bookguide-Netherlands
Kobie03-Newfoundland, USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

this ray/ring/RABCK it forward is off to ChrissyHam tomorrow afternoon.

If there are any more on the list of participants when each person is done, please send it on to the next temporary home. Last person on the list moves it on to a bookcrosser when they can!

Enjoy!

I received this in the post this morning - many thanks! Aslo thanks for the pretty bookmarks. I'm looking forward to reading this, as I always used to enjoy watching the two fat ladies cookery shows. I'm midway through a 1000 page Norweigen trilogy bookray at the moment so it might take me a little while to get to though.

An enjoyable read abotu the interesting life of Clarissa. Most intriguing during the first 3/4 of the book when talking about her alcoholism and subsequent sobreity and rise to fame as a TV chef. I found the later countryside stuff less diverting.

On the way now to bookguide. Happy reading.

Arrived the following day in sunny Wijchen. Thank you Starflash for making a ring of it, and for ChrissyHam for sending it on, and I loved the Escher card with Metamorphose III, which I hadn't seen before. I'm afraid I won't be as efficient as ChrissyHam about reading this book, as I believe it is currently the fifth ringbook to arrive in the past week. I shall do my best to read it within four weeks, though, and you can check my progress on my profile, which I keep updated.

Somehow I never managed to watch a complete episode of the 'Two Fat Ladies' series, but Clarissa Dickson Wright is enough of a celebrity to have made an impression on me, possibly because she reminds me of my great aunt, who was a chef cast in a similar mould. I had always imagined they might have known each other, but was shocked to realise that Clarissa is much younger than I had assumed. This autobiography explains why she looks so well-worn, and given the behaviour of her father, it is amazing that she has survived so well. Not only was he indiscriminately violent, but also mentally cruel. One of Clarissa's anecdotes describes how she managed to trick her father into paying for her 21st birthday party, and she was lucky that she was intelligent enough to be able to outsmart him.

I found the whole book fascinating. Clarissa Dickson Wright must be a wonderful speaker, and I suspect that she is a wonderful friend. She has some interesting anecdotes about her ancestors, certain celebrities, and many wise words about the problems of addiction and its treatment. She is obviously very opinionated, so maybe she wouldn't be the easiest person to get on with at times, but on the whole I think I'd love to meet her. She comments that "when they told me I was good at something I dismissed it out of hand, which to his mind meant I was calling them people-pleasers and liars. I was completely taken aback. I had never seen it like that but it is true. If you dismiss positive remarks from those you care for and trust that's exactly what you are doing, and how are you ever going to learn about aspects of yourself that matter to other people?"

After being sidetracked by the Amsterdam Convention and school holidays, it's time to send Clarissa off to Kobie03 in Newfoundland. I hope you enjoy the book.

This book has been released as part of the following BookCrossing challenges:
- The Ultimate Challenge - read and release books, with extra points for a monthly theme
- Reduce Mount TBR (To Be Read) - read and release books on the TBR list since before Jan. 2010. My reading goal is 75 books.
- Pages Read Challenge - read a self-set target number of pages in 2010. My goal is 24,000.
- Set It Yourself Challenge

Edit June 8th: My release notes were made somewhat prematurely. The book was not posted until June 8th. Sorry for the delay.

This very interesting looking book arrived today with a beautiful postcard. Thanks so much. I'll read it soon and keep it moving.

What an amazing story. It's surprising she survived, all that abuse and drinking.then when she choose sobriety she went on to fame as a Tv cook. Her shows must have been fun to watch. thanks for sharing this very interesting book.

off to trex3.