A friend recently suggested that FD is reading a lot of mysteries and not much else. So, yesterday FD went to the great public library in our fair city and checked out the two Julie Powell memoirs, Julie and Julia and Cleaving. The first was pretty universally lauded, the second was generally lambasted. FD expects to enjoy them both.
Other food memoirs FD has read and enjoyed: anything by MFK Fisher, including the material that’s not much good! Fisher was a working writer, who needed to keep writing, even when she didn’t have as much to say. FD can appreciate that. Much less well known (perhaps almost completely unknown to most foodies?) is poet Martha Ronk’s Displeasures of the Table, published by Green Integer Press. This collection of short pieces is mysteries, funny, and moving by turns.
Another FD favorite is Richard Klein’s Eat Fat, published back in 1996. Klein’s book is really fun, as was his earlier Cigarettes are Sublime. Klein has also written a meditation in the form of a novel about jewelry, called Jewelry Talks. FD hasn’t read that one yet, but plans to. Klein works at Cornell University as a Professor of French, but his interests are wide and his books are well worth your time.