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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Books, Food, and Books About Food

I was running late for my doctor visit today, and so only had a moment to spare for choosing a book to bring. I wasn't really in the middle of anything, and just took along Hungry Monkey by Matthew Amster-Burton, since it's light (literally light, as in make my bag too heavy) and I was in between novels anyway. This sort of anecdotal reading lends itself to a setting where you are absolutely guaranteed to be required to put your book aside right at the crucial moment in the plot. Doctor's really don't appreciate being told to hold on just a second while you finish a paragraph. Shocking, no?

Possibly not the best pick, as this book is full of descriptions of food and tantalizing recipes of all kinds and I was stuck at a cancer center that offers jello cups, shortbread cookies, and those scary neon orange cracker and faux cheese sandwiches (tell me those aren't carcinogenic, I dare you.) Hardly a serious problem, I know, though it was kinda sad to read about all the great restaurants the author frequents on a weekly basis. Restaurants are officially prohibited until my white cell count is something like twice what it is now. It's gotten high enough twice in the past year and a half, and one of those times I was in the hospital. I prefer to pretend restaurants don't exist.

Anyway, the recipes were promising, but the format's not all that practical. I like my recipes in a reference kind of context, easy to refer back to, rather than scattered through memoir. Simply Recipes is good, for example. But it is fun to read about food, especially when the author adores it and has a lot of information to share. But best to reserve this reading for times when you have access to a kitchen.

Next on the Library Stack: Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

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