A couple of weeks ago I grabbed Nicholson Baker’s Substitute: Going to School with a Thousand Kids off the new book shelf at the library, and gradually managed to slog my way through it in between dips into cookbooks and various other reading material. Yes, I said slog: Baker is, of course, a fantastic writer and many …
Don’t you just love Alton Brown? I mean, of course, in the sense that he makes you feel totally inadequate in the kitchen yet simultaneously awed and inspired… and in the sense that he seems both approachable and on another plane at the same time? If that all seemed wonderfully muddled, so is Alton Brown’s newest …
I grabbed The Runaway Midwife off the new books shelf at the library last week on a whim, and just noticed that it’s by a USA Today bestselling author (although I haven’t read any of her other books). In a nutshell: Clara Perry is a nurse-midwife in West Virginia whose own life has been gradually falling apart. …
There’s a certain irony in writing about Michael Moss’ Salt Sugar Fat on the very day I come home from the store with a shopping cart full of dairy, but here goes anyway…! In all honesty, this book took me weeks to finish. It’s a fascinating topic and Salt Sugar Fat is very well written, but there’s a lot …
Whether it’s the season or the news or the swell of negativity on Facebook, a couple of you have mentioned that you’re looking for easy reads and escapist literature lately. I’m right there with you, guys, and one of my favorite light escapist genres is cozy mystery. What’s a cozy? Well, there is always a murder involved …
Since I’ve started doing weekly book reviews here, a few of you have asked: Where do you find the time to read? This isn’t a new question — I heard it all the time when I worked as a librarian, and often hear from my friends that they can’t find the time to read any more. Here’s …