Rebecca Ore: Alien Bootlegger

This is a weird book. The concept of an alien (from outer space, not just a foreigner) meddling in the affairs of redneck moonshiners seems, well, kind of alien. It is to some degree science fiction, which at first you don't really notice; only that people find the idea of an alien in their neighborhood remarkable, perhaps suprising, but not really hair-raising, gives you a hint that the world of this book is not quite the current one as we know it. But it is very close, and as in "Becoming Alien", the humans are very human indeed, excellent characters. And as with that other book, I do not quite know what to make of this one, but had fun reading it.

Anthony Bourdain: Geständnisse eines Küchenchefs ("Kitchen Confidential")

I read this in german translation. Another example of a bad one, where the translator obviously had no idea what a pissing contest is or a human resources department. And as if it hadn't been enough to demonstrate a lack of understanding of English, the German wasn't too well either. Quite annoying.

Apart from that, I liked this book. Bourdain's writing is fast-paced and captivating; he goes for the "brutally honest" approach, which in this case results in bragging a bit too much, in my opinion, about his (former, allegedly) drug career, the outrageous people he has worked with or for, and all the horrible things going on in restaurant kitchens, but it is entertaining reading after all. I liked best, though, the parts where he talks about cooking and food in general.