The Story of the Great British Bake Off by Anita Singh

 

I love The Great British Bake Off. It's a total comfort show and there's nothing mean-spirited about it, which is what puts me off a lot of reality TV. Some people enjoy shows about people being egotistical jerks, and more power to them, but my favorites have always been the good-natured competitive crafty shows. THE STORY OF THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF is an unofficial "guide" to the show that provides profiles on all the bakers from all the seasons, collections of the best bakes, and even the inside scoop on "Bingate" (which surprisingly was way more innocent than it seemed). I should note that there are NO RECIPES in this book (lest you think it should contain some) and while it's beautifully designed with fun illustrations and a few photos, it's not really a pictorial book either. I feel like this is almost like an encyclopedia-cum-oral history, so, like a Buzzfeed listicle padded out to full length. You could probably find out a lot of the behind-the-scenes trivia in this book from browsing the web but it's nice to have it all in one place and I think the author did a great job capturing the wholesome tone of the show. But this is definitely a book that is ONLY for people who watch the show and are already big fans.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars