{"id":1816,"date":"2022-01-09T17:29:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-09T17:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/setyourownscene.com\/?p=1816"},"modified":"2022-01-09T17:29:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T17:29:11","slug":"2021-my-year-in-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setyourownscene.com\/?p=1816","title":{"rendered":"2021; My Year in Books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This time last year, I rounded off 2020 by summing up my year through the books that I had read<\/a>.  The pandemic may have put many of the things in our lives on hold but one of the few positives for me was that I rediscovered reading.  For those of who you found that article especially riveting; good news \u2013 here\u2019s the 2021 edition\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I read 25 books in 2021; two less than in 2020<\/a> but not bad considering that even though the year started in Puglia with an effective lockdown (or \u201czona rossa\u201d<\/em>), towards the end of the year there was a lot more travelling and much more socialising (and the occasional late night).  There was also the additional challenge I set myself at the start of the year to improve my Italian and I\u2019m currently trying my best to get my head around four hours of intensive conversational lessons a week, plus the accompanying homework (this will also be a continuing objective for 2022 and probably many years beyond that<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of this post isn\u2019t to boast about the books I\u2019ve read.\u00a0\u00a0By nature, I\u2019m not actually naturally bookish and to really absorb what I\u2019m reading, I need to concentrate and<\/em> put my phone out of sight.\u00a0\u00a0However, I wanted to put a spotlight on the authors and some of topics and themes they\u2019ve covered.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full 2021 reading list is included at the end of this piece but here are five of my highlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201932 Yolks\u2019 <\/em><\/strong>\u2013 \u00c9ric Ripert<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c9ric Ripert is a Michelin-starred chef whose flagship seafood restaurant, New York\u2019s Le Bernardin<\/a> holds three Michelin stars and is regularly included on lists of the world\u2019s best restaurants.\u00a0\u00a0He was also a close friend of the late Tony Bourdain and unusually for the chef world, is\u00a0deeply spiritual and follows the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism<\/a>, studying several times with the Dalai Lama himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\u00a0\u201932 Yolks\u2019<\/em>, Ripert\u2019s autobiography, he charts his journey from a turbulent childhood in France to rising to the top of the culinary world, after spending many years learning and working under world-renowned chefs such as Jo\u00ebl Robuchon and Gilbert Le Coze.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0In a particularly vivid section of the book, Ripert describes how he was first introduced to the kitchen after his fashion boutique owner mother\u2019s move to Andorra led to him making friends with the owner of\u00a0rustic local restaurant\u00a0Chez Jacques<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0This was the moment that he discovered cooking could become a career and set him on his path to chefdom.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n