Booklover

Peta Matthias is a broadcaster, writer and cook whose new TV series Peta Unplugged In Marrakech  started on PRIME on July 27.

The book I love most is… The Joy of Cooking by the Rombauers. I first bought it when I moved to Canada in 1974 and it taught me to cook. In my flat in Vancouver, I would make fabulous meals just for myself, and if they turned out OK I called my always hungry friends around.

The book I’m reading right now is… A General Theory of Love by Lewis, Amini & Lannon. This beautiful book, connecting love with biology, was written 10 years ago and it is still selling. It’s very insightful and original and beautifully written.

The book I’d like to read next is… Anything by Lional Shriver. I thought We Need to Talk About Kevin was breath-taking. When asked what her writing rituals are she said, none - I just do the damn job. I feel the same way about writing - it’s easy - you just sit at the laptop till your finger’s bleed.

The book that changed me is… Dostoevsky’s Crime & Punishment because I realised you can write really gossipy, complicated text and have it be intellectual and moralistic at the same time. I was in school when I read it and thought - wow, this is what writing is really about - axe- murders, sleaziness, betrayal, virtue and retribution.

The book I wish I’d never read is…
The Kama Sutra. My girlfriends and I read it aloud together on my bed in my flat across the road from the nurse’s home and screamed so much we almost bled. I wish I’d never read it because sex with New Zealand boys was slightly under-whelming after that.

This column was published in the Herald on Sunday, July 25, 2010.

Footnote:
Peta's latest title, just published by Penguin Books is Culinary Adventures in Marrakech. The Bookman is currently reading it and will be reviewing on the blog shortly.