A Thank You Windfall -- BOOK HAUL

BOOK HAUL

A Thank You Windfall

A lawyer colleague sent me an Amazon gift card as a thank you for referring a client to him. That was very nice of him! I used it to buy this stack of books I’ve had my eye on. Apparently I was hungry when I ordered, since all but one of these is a food book. 

See any here that catch your eye?

• Greenfeast: Spring, Summer and Autumn, Winter by Nigel Slater. I've had in mind for a while to find a new vegetarian cookbook (or two). I only have two on my shelves, The Greens Cookbook from the famous vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco, and The Moosewood Cookbook from the famous vegetarian restaurant in Ithaca. Both are classics and I bought both at the restaurants, after eating in them. But I need some new ideas!

• Elizabeth David’s Christmas, edited by Jill Norman, with a Foreword by Alice Waters. David pulled together a collection of articles she wrote about Christmas cooking and traditions, along with related recipes, planning to publish it all as a book, but died before she completed the project. Her literary executor Jill Norman completed the book after David died in 1992. This edition is edited for American readers. I am currently reading and completely enjoying David’s essay collection, An Omelette and a Glass of Wine. It makes me want to read more of her work, although I plan to save this one until Christmastime. I added it to my stack of Christmas-themed books.

• The Ha-Ha by Jennifer Dawson (1961) is my only non-food book in this stack. Dawson won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for this autobiographical debut novel. I’m working my way through the list of winners. I haven't been able to find a used copy of this one.  

• Bedside Companion for Food Lovers: An Anthology of Food Delights for Every Night of the Year, edited by Jane McMoreland Hunter. I’m a sucker for a day-by-day anthology, especially one as pretty as this. Now I want to get the other two books in the series, Bedside Companion for Book Lovers and Bedside Companion for Gardeners (even though I don't garden!). 

I almost never buy new books, almost always used. How about you? A stack of spiffy new books is a real treat for me.

It’s my turn to host book club tonight. Which explains why my dining room table is all gussied up, with flowers and everything. The book is Lost for Words by Edward St. Aubyn, a very funny book by the author of the very serious Patrick Melrose books. Apparently St. Aubyn wrote Lost for Words, a comic satire about literary prizes, after he was passed over for a Booker Prize for one of his Patrick Melrose novels. Lost for Words deservedly won the P.G. Wodehouse Prize for best comic novel.