97 Orchard promises to be a little different from the other books we’ve read. It has been described as forensic gastronomy. The book tells the story of five immigrant families of various ethnicities living in a New York tenement a the turn of the 20th century. We’ll get to know them through their shopping, cooking, and eating habits, and their recipes.
The Edible Books selection for March is Chocolat by Joanne Harris
During our recent Q&A with Erica Bauermeister (author of our February book selection The School of Essential Ingredients) she listed Chocolat among her favorite food books, so in a way this book was her nomination.
And as one of our book club members noted, Chocolat is the “perfect Lenten read”. Starting on Shrove Tuesday and ending with Easter Monday, we’ll follow the Lenten journey of the citizens of the village of Lansquenet, after chocolatier Vianne Rocher opens her shop and turns their quiet little town on its ear.
The book description promises that “every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere.”
Chocolat should spark some interesting discussion about temptation, indulgence, and the value of austerity.
It’s time to vote for our March book selection. We had fewer nominations this time around, but what they lacked in quantity, they certainly made up in quality. It will be tough to choose which one to vote for!
Now it’s your turn: you can vote at the bottom of this post. Polls are open until Monday February 25th, then we’ll announce the winner! Reading/discussion will start on March 1st.
Look over the list, and then take a moment to vote so we can continue our conversation about books on Twitter at the #ediblebooks hashtag.
Here are the book choices for March:
Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton: Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life. Blood, Bones & Butter follows an unconventional journey through the many kitchens Hamilton has inhabited through the years: the rural kitchen of her childhood, where her adored mother stood over the six-burner with an oily wooden spoon in hand; the kitchens of France, Greece, and Turkey, where she was often fed by complete strangers and learned the essence of hospitality; Hamilton’s own kitchen at Prune, with its many unexpected challenges; and the kitchen of her Italian mother-in-law, who serves as the link between Hamilton’s idyllic past and her own future family—the result of a prickly marriage that nonetheless yields lasting dividends. By turns epic and intimate, Gabrielle Hamilton’s story is told with uncommon honesty, grit, humor, and passion. (available in paperback, hardback, Kindle edition and audio in the US and the UK)
Chocolat by Joanne Harris: In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne’s uncanny perception of its buyer’s private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival. Chocolat‘s every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. It’s a must for anyone who craves an escapist read, and is a bewitching gift for any holiday. (available in hardback, paperback, Kindle edition and audio in the US, Kindle and paperback in the UK)
How To Pick A Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table by Russ Parsons: In How to Pick a Peach, Parsons takes on one of the hottest food topics today. Good cooking starts with the right ingredients, and nowhere is that more true than with produce. Should we refrigerate that peach? How do we cook that artichoke? And what are those different varieties of pears? Most of us aren’t sure. Parsons helps the cook sort through the produce in the market by illuminating the issues surrounding it, revealing intriguing facts about vegetables and fruits in individual profiles about them, and providing instructions on how to choose, store, and prepare these items. Whether explaining why basil, citrus, tomatoes, and potatoes should never be refrigerated, describing how Dutch farmers revolutionized the tomato business in America, exploring organic farming and its effect on flavor, or giving tips on how to recognize a ripe melon, How to Pick a Peach is Parsons at his peak. (available in paperback, hardback, and Kindle edition in the US, hardback and paperback only in the UK)
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New to Edible Books? Welcome to the club! If you need more information about how Edible Books works, please read the participation guidelines here.
The end of My Life in France was certainly poignant. It was bittersweet to read about Julia and Paul’s declining years, and the winding up of their affairs. I suppose a little sadness when it comes time to say good-bye is the price one pays for most good things in life, and I often experience a little sigh of homesickness at the end of a really good book. So I’m going to try to take a page out of Julia’s book, and look forward, not back: “I’ve always felt that when I’m done with something I just walk away from it—fin!”
But before we walk away, here are some of the highlights from January:
The Twitter conversation ranged all over the place this month, from the expected discussion on the characters, setting, and writing style to reindeer jerky and thoughts about housecats. As always, I enjoyed the tangents.
A final housekeeping note before we move on: A few people tweeted that they were “behind” on their reading during January. Please remember that this isn’t college, and the reading schedule is mostly intended to prevent spoilers–but certainly not meant to induce guilt or Twitter silence! If you’re behind the schedule, Tweet away about wherever you are at in the book and jump into the conversation. We know life gets busy, and we still enjoy hearing your thoughts!
Our Next Book
February’s book selection is The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. We’re transitioning from memoir to fiction, and looking forward to diving into this novel about the students at a cooking class.
February 1st-7th: Discuss Chapters Prologue-Claire
We’re once again building a Spotify playlist to go with this month’s book selection. Check out our The School of Essential Ingredients playlist, and please share any suggestions you have for songs that belong on the playlist.
Find us on Twitter @ediblebookclub and don’t forget to use the #ediblebooks hashtag.
If you need more information about Edible Books, please read the participation guidelines here.
The scenario: Eight students gather once a month in a restaurant for a cooking class. A simple set up that promises to deliver all of the complex interactions that occur when a group of strangers comes together. And some delicious meals. I (Christina) am especially excited about this book because the author is a fellow Seattleite. But beyond the geographical connection, we hope that this will be a book that causes all of us slow down a bit, really get to know the characters, and savor the sights, sounds, and flavors of the cooking school right along with them.
It’s been a busy week for Edible Books, between the Twitter conversation about the book, and a surprising number of excellent book nominations for next month.
In chapters five and six of My Life in France, Julia starts to see some real success, between sales of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her TV show, The French Chef.
What I kept coming back to over and over again this week as I read was Julia’s character. Maybe to some extent she was a representative of her times—they were called The Greatest Generation, after all. She rolled up her sleeves and worked tirelessly, with focus and determination. She was clear-eyed but compassionate about her own limitations and those of her friends. She was grateful for what she had and truly enjoyed life. When things went wrong she didn’t waste time lamenting (or apologizing for a bad meal!), but said ‘eh bien,tant pis’, laughed, and soldiered on.
My admiration for Julia Child keeps growing as I read, and I find that she is a real role model.
Bonne Lecture!~Christina
January 22nd-31st: This week we will read Chapter 7-Epilogue, wrapping up My Life in France.
It’s time to vote for our February book selection. We had so many great nominations that it was challenging to narrow the list down. We’re really hoping that some of the books that didn’t make this month’s short list will be nominated again so we’ll have another chance at reading them (particularly Backstage with Julia, by Nancy Verde Barr!). As always, we focused on variety, availability, and discuss-ability when making our choices.
Now it’s your turn: you can vote at the bottom of this post. Polls are open until Saturday January 26th, then we’ll announce the winner! Reading/discussion will start on February 1st.
Look over the list, and then take a moment to vote so we can continue our conversation about books on Twitter at the #ediblebooks hashtag.
Here are the book choices for February:
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister: Once a month, eight students gather in Lillian’s restaurant for a cooking class. Among them is Claire, a young woman coming to terms with her new identity as a mother; Tom, a lawyer whose life has been overturned by loss; Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer adapting to life in America; and Carl and Helen, a long-married couple whose union contains surprises the rest of the class would never suspect…The students have come to learn the art behind Lillian’s soulful dishes, but it soon becomes clear that each seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. And soon they are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create. (available in the UK in paperback and audio, in the US in paperback, Kindle edition, and audio)
Fat of the Land-Adventures of a 21st Century Forager by Langdon Cook: Foraging is not just a throwback to our hunter-gatherer past; it’s a way to reconnect with the landscape. And Langdon Cook is not just your typical grocery cart-toting dad. For him, gourmet delicacies abound, free for the taking if we just open our eyes. As a result, he finds himself free-diving in icy Puget Sound in hopes of spearing a snaggletooth lingcod, armed with nothing more than a “Hawaiian sling.” He bushwhacks through rugged mountain forests in search of edible mushrooms. He strings up a fly rod to chase after sea-run trout. He even pulls on the gardening gloves to collect stinging nettles. In wry, detailed prose, he traces his journey from wrangler of pre-packaged calories to connoisseur of coveted wild edibles. Structured around the seasons of the year, each chapter focuses on a specific food type and concludes with a recipe featuring the author’s hard-won bounty, a savory stop to each adventure-filled morsel. (available in paperback and Kindle editions in both the UK and the US)
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky: In his fifth work of nonfiction, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Salt is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece. (available in the UK and US in hardcover, paperback and Kindle edition, also available in audio in the US)
New to Edible Books? Welcome to the club! If you need more information about how Edible Books works, please read the participation guidelines here.
It’s hard to believe that it is mid January already and we are half way through our first book of 2013.
I find that my mood and possibly the time of year dictates what I actually read (and if indeed I actually finish it). In the past few weeks I have started and abandoned The Hobbit by Tolkien, Cleaving by Julie Powell and Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan. One I enjoyed but got side tracked by something else resulting in it being left for another day, another exasperated me to the point of despair and the other I just didn’t gel with.
But there have been other books that I have picked up and devoured. Casino Royal by Ian Fleming for one – I loved its fast pace and its style difference from many of the other books I normally read and My Secret Garden by Alan Titchmarsh – the photography in it is just beautiful. There is another book that I received for Christmas, read half of, then stopped, put it down and placed it back on the shelf. It is not because I didn’t like it or got distracted by something else. No, it is because I was enjoying it so much that I want to nominate it for February in the hope that we may read it as a group. I am not going to tell you what it is, nor give you an inkling of what it is about. You will have to wait until nominations for that.
What else have you been reading? we would love to know! – Natalie.
It is such a delight to read and discuss My Life in France that it will be hard to say good bye to Julia Child at the end of January and move on to another book.
It’s time to place your nominations for our February book selection. Please take a moment to consider a book or two with food themes running through them that you’d like to read, then leave your nominations in comments here on the website, after this post. Nominate as many books as you want to, then lobby as hard as you like, here or on twitter (don’t forget to use the #ediblebooks hashtag!).
Nominations are open from now until Saturday January 19th at midnight. We’ll announce the short list and start voting on Monday the 21st, and the polls will stay open until Saturday January 26th. We’ll announce the book, then the reading/discussion will start on February 1st.
Even though we’ll miss Julia Child (and Paul!), there are so many great books out there that I know we’ll have a good time in February. Looking forward to diving into another wonderful book with all of you on Twitter!
New to Edible Books? Welcome to the club! If you need more information about how Edible Books works, please read the participation guidelines here.
Just before I round up our week I would like to touch on a point from chapter two. In 1949 when Julia Child arrived at the École du Cordon Bleu in Paris the cost of the course was $450, almost $4500 (£2800) in today’s money which would have been a significant financial commitment but it was one that she discussed with Paul who agreed that it would be “essential to her well-being” for her to continue. It is just another in a long line of demonstrations of Paul’s love for Julia that he would be prepared to spend so much money to make her happy. And, at that point they had no idea what path this course would take Julia on.
But, by 1952, just four years after Julia arrived in France with barely the ability to boil and egg she opened her cookery school with her future Mastering The Art of French Cooking collaborators Simone Beck Fischbacher and Louisette Bertholle. Julia’s path was well and truly on its way to being laid.
These latest chapters have shown us more of Julia’s determination, Paul’s talents and his declining health, introduced us to Simone (SImca) and Louisette and tantalised our taste buds with yet more descriptions of delicious French cuisine but it is these few short sentences that have stood out from anything else for me this week.
“For Simca and Jean [Fischbacher], the subject of food was a precious and meaningful thing. During the war, they had faced terrible deprivations: Jean has been captured by the Nazis, and Simca sent him messages sewn inside prunes that were delivered to the prison camp…he [Jean] had nicknamed his wife Simca after the little Renault model she drove. He thought it funny that such a big woman could fit in such a tiny car”
These words give the impression of people who are so grateful for the good fortune that they now have the wonderful life they do and the expression of love in prune encased letters is beautiful while the origin of her nickname is both hilarious and yet such a tender example of another couple so in love.
This week January 15th-21st we will continue reading Chapter 5-Chapter 6.
The Edible Books selection for April is 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman.
