Nicola's Starling memory

I feel it’s a strange string of coincidence, or a bizarre strain of irony, that the novel I’m reading is set among the famous monuments in Florence, and features characters eating strange things they’ve never tried before. On the face of it, this may not be so, but if I explain….

I picked up a novel at Melbourne airport, wanting to have some disposable English reading with me. I wasn’t sure if I’d read the book before, (I read voraciously, but forget frequently, making this a chronic problem of mine) so I opened it at random to sample a few pages. Nope, that sounds unfamiliar.

I settle in for some reading, and most UNFORTUNATELY, the bells of my memory start chiming. Hmmm…it is after all a sequel, perhaps that explains the familiarity? A few more pages and nope, I have DEFINITELY read it already. But, in that happy chain of coincidences, my sieve-like memory has retained only the starch of the story. The details once again appall and shock me.

And I ‘discover’ what I’d forgotten: the book is in part a caper about Florence and the protagonist eats the finer things in life such as sweetbreads, truffles, and has a particular penchant for liver.



But I really do need to work on my memory- I mean, who forgets that they’ve read Hannibal? And forgets enough of the plotline to enjoy reading it again???

*And for the record, tripe is delicious
** Clarice Starling is the lead female character