Comments on: What book am I thinking of? It has recipes and adventures in wartime Europe, but no pirates I don't think...

Question: What book am I thinking of? It has recipes and adventures in wartime Europe, but no pirates I don't think...

evariste — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:40:00 -0800

ID-That-Book-Filter: I read this novel in the mid-90s, and my recollection of it is very vague, but I'd love to find and read it again. I read it in the school library so it was probably written well before then; I'd guess maybe in the 80s. It was

set in Europe during World War II, or possibly I, but probably II. The protagonist gets up to all sorts of hair-raising adventures in wartime Europe, and the novel ends a little bit after the War itself does. There's a "junk dealer" involved: either the guy is or becomes a junk dealer at the end, or the junk dealer is a major part of the plot. I remember in part of the book the guy is hiding in some barn. Also, there are a lot of very fancy recipes in the novel. I think the novel ends with the protagonist in Belgium or Germany, something like that.

I've seen you guys work miracles with even vaguer descriptions than this, so I hope this works!

By: evariste

evariste — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 18:00:43 -0800

Junkyard. The word I was looking for was junkyard.

By: teleskiving

teleskiving — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:49:36 -0800

Seems like you're not the only person looking for this book - see this Google answers thread, which reveals that the answer is "It can't always be caviar/The Monte Cristo Cover-Up (alternate titles)" and provides some more information as well.

By: evariste

evariste — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 02:03:48 -0800

I love you, teleskiving.

By: evariste

evariste — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 02:05:38 -0800

I am so amazed. I had totally lost hope that anyone knew what I was talking about.

By: evariste

evariste — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 02:07:47 -0800

Wow, it was published in 1965. I guess it was even older than I thought.

By: teleskiving

teleskiving — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:13:16 -0800

Happy to be of help! Good luck finding a copy.

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 05:35:54 -0800

Not so hard to find on ABEBOOKS.com.

I may buy one for myself.

By: evariste

evariste — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 10:43:47 -0800

IndigoJones-yeah, that's where I picked up my copy last night. $2 + $5 for the fastest shipping that particular seller offered.

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 18:35:57 -0800

Excellent! I was going to email to make sure you picked up on this. The money I've passed to that website over the years....

By: evariste

evariste — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 18:53:12 -0800

IndigoJones-yeah, I know all about ABE cos I used to work in a used bookstore :-)

By: evariste

evariste — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 16:31:44 -0800

Got the book, read it, it was the right one, it was just as perfect as I remembered it being. Thanks again!