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.
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.
It’s time to vote for our January book selection! We have an interesting range of choices this time around: Books set in Paris, the French countryside, Rwanda–and in the case of Calvin Trillen, all over the map. No matter which one we choose, we will enjoy some armchair travel in January.
Now it’s your turn: you can vote at the bottom of this post. Polls are open until Wednesday December 26th, then we’ll announce the winner! Reading/discussion will start on January 1st.
Maybe your New Year’s resolutions will include more quiet time for reading! In the midst of the holidays, don’t forget to 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 January:
Alice, Let’s Eat: Further Adventures of a Happy Eater by Calvin Trillin: “Calvin Trillin, guided by an insatiable appetite, embarks on a hilarious odyssey in search of “something decent to eat.” Across time zones and cultures, and often with his wife, Alice, at his side, Trillin shares his triumphs in the art of culinary discovery, including Dungeness crabs in California, barbecued mutton in Kentucky, potato latkes in London, blaff d’oursins in Martinique, and a $33 picnic on a no-frills flight to Miami.” (Available in paperback and hardcover in the US and UK, Kindle edition in the US)
Peaches for Monsiur Le Cure (US title Peaches for Father Francis) by Joanne Harris: When Vianne Rocher receives a letter from beyond the grave, she has no choice but to follow the wind that blows her back to Lansquenet, the beautiful French village in which eight years ago she opened a chocolate shop and first learned the meaning of home. But returning to one’s past can be a dangerous pursuit. Vianne, with her daughters, Anouk and Rosette, finds Lansquenet changed in unexpected ways…” (Available in hardcover and Kindle in the US and UK, paperback edition in the UK)
Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parker: “In Kigali, Angel runs a bustling business: baking cakes for all occasions—cakes filled with vibrant color, buttery richness, and, most of all, a sense of hope only Angel can deliver.…A CIA agent’s wife seeks the perfect holiday cake but walks away with something far sweeter…a former boy-soldier orders an engagement cake, then, between sips of tea, shares an enthralling story…weary human rights workers…lovesick limo drivers. Amid this cacophony of native tongues, love affairs, and confessions, Angel’s kitchen is an oasis where people tell their secrets, where hope abounds and help awaits.” (Available in hardcover in the US, paperback and Kindle edition in the US and UK)
My Life in France by Julia Child: “Julia Child single handedly awakened America to the pleasures of good cooking with her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her television show The French Chef, but as she reveals in this bestselling memoir, she didn’t know the first thing about cooking when she landed in France. Indeed, when she first arrived in 1948 with her husband, Paul, she spoke no French and knew nothing about the country itself. But as she dove into French culture, buying food at local markets and taking classes at the Cordon Bleu, her life changed forever.” (Available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle edition in the US and UK)
New to Edible Books? Welcome to the club! If you need more information about how Edible Books works, please read the participation guidelines here.
Natalie and I are both deep in the midst of our current Edible Books selection, Toast by Nigel Slater. But I always have at least two or three books going at any given time, switching back and forth amongst them based on my current mood. So I thought I’d share what else we’re both reading right now:
In keeping with the Christmas theme, I am reading (re-reading, actually) Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher. I find myself drawn to this lovely book every year at about this time. Another re-read: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, in anticipation of the new movie.
And my other book club is currently reading Boy Kings of Texas by Domingo Martinez.
Books are such satisfying and constant companions; I think I’d feel a bit lonely without several in progress.
What about you? Do you read one book at a time or more? What’s on your bed-side table right now?
~Christina
New to Edible Books? Welcome to the club! If you need more information about how Edible Books works, please read the participation guidelines here.
Time flies during the holidays, doesn’t it? We’re still reading and discussing Toast by Nigel Slater, and we’re counting down the days to Christmas.
It’s time time to place your nominations for our January book selection. Please take a moment in the midst of your shopping, baking, and merry-making to 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 Wednesday December 19th at midnight. We’ll announce the short list and start voting on Friday the 21st, and the polls will stay open until Wednesday, December 26th. We’ll announce the book, then the reading/discussion will start on January 1st.
The cold, dark evenings of January are the perfect time to curl up on the couch with a book. Looking forward to more warm conversation 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.
We’re just finishing our second week of discussion on White Truffles in Winter by N.M. Kelby. The plot begins to thicken, and we are getting to know the characters better. Sabine, the cook in the Escoffier household, is clearly a favorite. The relationships are complex, but the food is simply mouthwatering.
The Twitter conversation has included references to James Bond villians and Silence of the Lambs, some interesting historical tidbits, and a few humorous gross-outs (liver ice cream, anyone?). A real community is forming, and it’s exciting to be a part of it.
The Edible Books selection for April is 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman.
