By Melissa Fox, Grand Rapids Public Library
With soup season in full swing and family and friends snug in their beds, it seems the perfect time to cozy up with some delicious reading. Here are the books and authors that I return to when I want to be satiated with words.
Gastronomical Me by M. F. K. Fisher follows newly married Fisher and husband Al as they make a life for themselves in prewar France. We learn how Fisher came to taste and savor food and the immediate impact France and French cooking had on her life. This book is filled with Fisher’s signature prose that is as luscious and poignant as it is deftly humorous.
My life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud’Homme is the story of how Julia Child became Julia Child. It tells how she fell in love with France, learned how to cook, and wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Not only is this book filled with lovely images of France and food, it is also an intimate, romantic portrait of Julia and Paul Child’s early years of marriage.
Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me with Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl are a series of memoirs from the last editor of Gourmet magazine. This series covers much of Reichl’s life, from her childhood with her mother’s fantastic parties complete with spoiled food, to her job as New York Times food critic. Reichl’s descriptions of food and life are as unique and hilarious as are they are tender and revealing.
