As I mentioned in Nonfiction November, one of my favorite reading categories -- food history and foodoirs -- has been one of my least-read genres this year, and I ended up abandoning most of the titles I picked up. Nevertheless, I did read a few good ones, especially looking at American cuisine. Let's discuss! The... Continue Reading →
Three New Foodoirs
I only finished two of these, but I'm going to tell you about all three anyway. First up is a new release that's a read-in-one-sitting deal, in case you want a quick but fairly intense and even gritty read: Phyllis Grant's Everything is Under Control. Grant was a dancer training at Julliard, living in New... Continue Reading →
Pre-2019 Favorites
If new nonfiction this year was a little lackluster, I did feel more enthusiastic about the backlist titles I read throughout the year. It was one of these that was my absolute favorite and the best book I read this year: Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, by Kapka Kassabova - Kassabova returned... Continue Reading →
14 New Nonfiction Releases Coming in 2020
2019 hasn't shown itself out quite yet but I'm already looking forward to what new nonfiction 2020 has in store. Here are some upcoming new releases from the new decade that I have my eye on. F*ck Your Diet: And Other Things My Thighs Tell Me, by Chloé Hilliard (January 7) --Hilliard was cursed with... Continue Reading →
Ruth Reichl On Her Gourmet Days
Book review: Save Me the Plums, by Ruth Reichl (Amazon / Book Depository) Chef and restaurant critic Ruth Reichl was surprised to find herself being offered the position of editor-in-chief at the storied Gourmet magazine, tastemakers in the foodie world. She felt like an unlikely candidate for a number of reasons, including that as a... Continue Reading →
Two Looks at Italian-American Food and Families Around NYC
Crazy in the Kitchen: Food, Feuds, and Forgiveness in an Italian American Family, by Louise DeSalvo In our house, no one ever went with the flow. There was no flow. There were only dangerous rapids, huge whirlpools, gigantic waterfalls. In our house, you had to be wary, vigilant. To stop paying attention, even for a... Continue Reading →
Nonfiction November Week 5: New to My TBR
This is it: already the final week of Nonfiction November! Did you find lots of new recommendations for your reading list? Tell me about them! Week 5: (Nov. 25 to 30) – New to My TBR - Rennie (that's me!) @ What’s Nonfiction (that's here!): It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones... Continue Reading →
Nonfiction November Week 4: Nonfiction Favorites
Week 4: (Nov. 18 to 22) –Nonfiction Favorites (Leann @ ThereThereReadThis): We’ve talked about how you pick nonfiction books in previous years, but this week I’m excited to talk about what makes a book you’ve read one of your favorites. Is the topic pretty much all that matters? Are there particular ways a story can... Continue Reading →
Two New Foodoirs: A Restaurant Critic’s Tales of the Trade and Writers On Their Comfort Foods
The Book of Eating, by Adam Platt Eat Joy: Stories of Comfort Food from 31 Celebrated Writers, edited by Natalie Eve Garrett I don't know what it is about this time of year, maybe just because it's when we tend to spend more time at home cooking or ordering comfort-food takeout, but there are always so... Continue Reading →
Nonfiction November Week 1: Year in Nonfiction
Nonfiction November, that time of year to celebrate stories filled with facts and footnotes, truth being stranger than fiction, and very, very long subtitles begins today! This week, a look at your year in nonfiction: Week 1: (Oct. 28 to Nov. 1) – Your Year in Nonfiction (Julie @ Julz Reads): Take a look back at your year of... Continue Reading →
A Chef and Historian Traces His Roots In African American Culinary History
Book review: The Cooking Gene, by Michael W. Twitty (Amazon / Book Depository) The Old South is a place where people use food to tell themselves who they are, to tell others who they are, and to tell stories about where they've been. Chef, historian, and Afroculinaria blogger Michael W. Twitty has another fascinating day job:... Continue Reading →
Ruth Reichl’s Beginnings in the Kitchen
Book review: Tender at the Bone, by Ruth Reichl (Amazon / Book Depository) Food writer, magazine editor, and restaurant critic Ruth Reichl's first memoir, Tender at the Bone, is a significant one in the "foodoir" genre, blending recipes into stories and scenes from a life. It covers the connections she made in her early life... Continue Reading →