Thursday, April 7, 2011

Presenting the Next Three Cook the Books Picks


Deb, Jo and I have put our heads together to pick the next three CTB foodie book picks for our book club and wanted to announce them so that you can all scour your local bookstores, libraries, friend’s bookshelves and the Internet to get copies ahead of our club deadlines.
The very next round of Cook the Books will be hosted by Jo and she has picked Elizabeth Bard’s “Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes”. The deadline for this round is May 27, 2011. 
After that, we will have the following three books to read:
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen.  Round hosted by Rachel, The Crispy Cook. Entries due July 25, 2011.
CTB regular Girlichef suggested that we consider any of Allen’s novels (you can always leave a book recommendation as a comment on one of our posts), and so I got her first book, Garden Spells, to read and consider for CTB.  I was entranced by this debut novel about a caterer and gardener who has been handed down special powers from her family. When her estranged sister comes back home with a daughter in tow, this sets off a series of entwined events that change the little town of Bascomb, North Carolina in unexpected ways.  Looking forward to cooking up some things from the garden and featuring herbs during this round.
Next up will be: A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table, by Molly Wizenberg. Round hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. Entries due Sept. 26.
Deb says: “After her father’s death from cancer, getting back to her studies and life in Seattle didn’t feel right for grad student Molly Wizenburg. Instead she headed headed for Paris, ostensibly to do research on her dissertation, but there she found herself following her heart and and stomach and turning to a life of food and food writing. Starting the wildly popular blog “Orangette” as a way to record her thoughts, recipes and impressions, her descriptive writing and delicious recipes brought her countless international readers, a monthly column in Bon Appétit, and even a passionate long-distance romance that turned into true love.
“A Homemade Life” is a collection of recipes and recollections, meals and memories, all illustrating the tremendous power of food as love–to get us through the hard times, help us remember the good times and bring us together in a way nothing else can.”
Then we will travel on to Greece to check out:
Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece, by Patricia Volonakis Davis. Round hosted by our own Greek food expert Jo of Food Junkie, Not Junk Food. Entries due Nov. 29, 2011.
Jo describes the book as follows:
“Ever wondered what life in Greece might be like for a non-Greek (before the crisis of course), what Greek men are all about and how can one survive in a foreign country? Well you’ll definitely find answers in our book pick: Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece, by Patricia Volonakis Davis. It is the story of Patricia herself who falls in love with Greek Gregori, follows him to Greece and tries to make her marriage work. In the meantime however she gives us vivid descriptions of Greek life, culture food and more.
Patricia Davis (http://www.patriciavdavis.com/), is also the founder and editor-in-chief of the non-partisan Harlot’s Sauce Radio e-magazine and podcast, as well as the president of Harper’s Davis Publishing.
So there you have it: three more delicious reads to savor through the rest of the year.  Happy Reading and Cooking!

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