It’s been a while.  Sorry about that.  I’ve been kind of MIA.  Kim very kindly gave me a breather so I could finish up some work and relax over Thanksgiving break–except I wasn’t relaxing because my deadline was today.  But I’m ba-ack.

I figured this would be a good time to toss out some odds and ends, kind of clear the decks before the major explosion that is the winter holidays.   That are the winter holidays?

First of all, run don’t walk to “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”   Oddly enough, it’s based on what I believe is the only Roald Dahl book that no one in my family has ever read.  Maybe that was good: we brought nothing to the movie except a cautious love for Wes Anderson (cautious because we didn’t make it through that last train movie).  FMF is wonderful–possibly the best movie I’ve seen this year.  It’s lively but not frenetic, whimsical without being cloying, oddly relatable and absolutely gorgeous.  As a side note, I have to tell you that after we moved into our current home, a neighbor informed us that Roald Dahl had lived here with his wife, actress Patricia Neal, when she was recovering from her strike.   We’ve changed the house completely, but I still feel like it’s been touched by genius. And so, for that matter, has Wes Anderson.

Moving on.   That vampire movie sequel has broken all sorts of records.  I haven’t seen it or the previous one because I couldn’t get through the first book in the series.  I’m not a difficult reader.  I’m the person who reads junky fantasy novels by the boatload.  I LOVE an excuse to read something that’s fun and stupid–in fact, every vacation we go on, I look for one of those “lending bookshelves” where people leave the books they read on vacation for others to read, and if I find one, I take the junkiest thing I can find, preferably one with “passion,” “fiery,” or “wicked” in the title.  So I’m not haughty and I’m not hard to please.  I just hated the writing in Twilight. I tried to read it twice and didn’t make it more than a few chapters either time.  I realize I’m in the minority here and that millions of readers say I’m just WRONG.  To each his own, right?

The only reason I mention this is because this past month I read the first two books of a YA trilogy that’s so kick-ass brilliant and wonderful, it leaves Twilight in the dust.  We’ve already written about the books here–or, rather, Kim’s daughter has–but I just have to say that Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games and Catching Fire are two of the best books I’ve ever read.  Ever.  Read.   Three other members of my family share the sentiment.  If you haven’t read them, I don’t care how old you are, rush out and get them now.  Go on.  Go.  I’ll wait for you.

Hi.  You get them?  Good.  You’re in for some happy reading time.

Disclaimer: I make no profit from either “Fantastic Mr. Fox” or the Hunger Games trilogy.  Wish I had a hand in both or either, but I’m just a happy customer.

Moving on again.  I cooked a lot on Thanksgiving.  I cooked pretty much the entire meal for 18 people.  Despite the huge amounts of food produced, all anyone could say was “Where are the mashed potatoes?”   I didn’t make mashed potatoes.  I thought sweet potatoes would suffice.  Sue me.   My point is: I’m still worn out from all that cooking so I figured I’d make the holiday preparations easy on all of us and give you guys the link to the Village Books website where owner Katie O’Laughlin has kindly and painstakingly produced several very useful “best of” lists to send you happily on your way to being the best gifter in your family.  Kim and I are still going to search out weirdly specific lists of books by specialists over the next few weeks, but Katie does such a good job of breaking down the best fiction, non-fiction, coffee table books and so on, that I figured I’d let all that hard work of hers save us some of our own.  I cooked and cleaned a LOT over Thanksgiving break–have I mentioned that?

Speaking of Village Books, I walked in there the other day ,and Mia, who works there, looked up and said, “Oh, hi, Claire.  Tell Annie the new Peter and the Starcatchers book is out.”  Now that’s what I call a neighborhood bookstore.  (And, yes, I had to bring Annie back later that day to get the book because she couldn’t wait to read it.  Mia knew.)

I guess I should go eat some leftovers now.  At what point are we allowed to wave the white flag, by the way, and just make it all into turkey broth?

Cheers.

The foundation of the book is Winthrop’s A Model of Christian Charity speech in which he invokes “a city upon a hill” from the Book of Matthew in the New Testament.  More than one President took up the phrase from Winthrop.  Sarah explains, “The most important reason I am concentrating on Winthrop and his shipmates in the 1630s is that the country I live in is haunted by the Puritan’s vision of themselves as God’s chosen people, as a beacon of righteousness that all others are to admire.”  She points out that the seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony includes an Indian with the words “Come over and help us” coming out of his mouth.  Sarah noted that ever since we have been helping people to death.

A Model of Christian Charity sets out a road map for how the Puritans are to live in community:  the rich are to help the poor, all are to mourn together, rejoice together, take on each others “conditions.”  Sarah calls it a declaration of dependence.  She then sets out to look at how Winthrop and his Puritans lived up to the ideal.  They failed miserably.  Enter stage left, Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, on scene to prove that Winthrop’s community is a model of charity as long as everyone agrees with him and the leadership he established. 

Sarah chronicles the founding years of the Massachusetts Bay Colony inhabited by bookish people.  A subject matter that could turn deadly dull in an instant, Sarah describes with humor and a knack for showing the continuing relevance of the events.  Sarah finds Winthrop, with all of his flaws and inconsistencies, laudable and lovable, but hard to like.  Williams and Hutchinson, two people who have come down through history as outcasts for standing up for religious freedom retain their reputation, but are also fanatics.  Quite frankly, I would have been happy to see them go myself.

At her reading at Book Soup earlier this month, Sarah explained that she decided to write the book after hearing the “the city on a hill” image used during Ronald Reagen’s funeral.  The irony that the term was used by Winthrop to describe a city where the poor were helped and everyone contributed to the betterment of the community when Reagen aggressively slashed programs for the poor was not lost on her.  Winthrop declared that the the world would be watching the Massachusetts Bay Colony to see if it failed to provide mercy and love.  Sarah found the entire meaning twisted by the 20th century.  At the end of the book, Sarah describes Pres. Kennedy use of the phrase a city on the hill that everyone is watching in a speech a few days prior his Inauguration.  She notes that of course the world is watching us, we have stock pile of gigantic bombs that we could use to end the world as we know it.

I loved the book and I enjoy Sarah’s voice, although the degree to which her opinions are secular can be strong for me at times.  As a fan of history, my  hope is that people who don’t usually read it will find Sarah’s writing so fun that the knowledge will sneak in with the enjoyment.  Asked who her favorite historian is, Sarah responded that she doesn’t think of herself as a historian, she wants to write better than that.  Thankfully, her emphasis is more on the writing than the history, making the entire reading experience better for all of us.

We’ll be taking the rest of the week off to enjoy the holiday with our families.  Happy Thanksgiving!

MY 15 FAVORITE MODERN TRAVEL BOOKS BY 15 DIFFERENT AUTHORS
(A Totally Idiosyncratic List)

Barry, Dave - Dave Barry Does Japan
Bryson, Bill - Notes from a Small Island
Byron, Robert – The Road to Oxiana
Chatwin, Bruce – In Patagonia
Dalrymple, William - In Xanadu
Fermor, Patrick Leigh – A Time of Gifts
Fleming, Peter – News from Tartary
Greenwald, Jeff - The Size of the World: Once Around Without Leaving the Ground
Iyer, Pico – Video Night in Kathmandu
Kerouac, Jack – On the Road
Naipaul, V. S. – An Area of Darkness
Newby, Eric – Slowly Down the Ganges
Stark, Freya – Alexander’s Path
Steinbeck, John – Travels with Charley
Theroux, Paul - The Great Railway Bazaar

Don’t forget to enter our Holiday Helper giveaway, buy any two books at an independent bookstore before December 31st, send us the receipt(s) and we’ll enter you in a drawing for an ABA Gift Card.

2009 National Book Award Winners

The National Book Foundation announced this year’s winner last Wednesday night.  I’ve always been interested in the award winners, but the announcement grew ever more suspenseful watching it on Twitter.  Waiting to pick up my daughter from a New Moon screening, I read each announcement from people attending the event, and then the reaction from the book community.  Prior to the fiction announcement several tweets hoped McCann would win (even people who admitted they hadn’t read the book), and then a cyberspace celebration began.   This years winners:

• Fiction: Let the Great World Spinby Colum McCann
• Nonfiction: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles
• Young people’s literature: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justiceby Phillip Hoose
• Poetry: Transcendental Studies: A Trilogyby Keith Waldrop

The Foundation honored Gore Vidal with the Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and Dave Eggers with the 2009 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.  Several of the recipients were previously published in The New Yorker magazine.

Over 10,000 people voted in the Best of National Book Awards Fiction and The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor won.  I was surprised, I thought Ralph Ellison would win, though I voted for John Cheever.  Flannery O’Connor certainly deserves the award, especially after she lost the year she published A Good Man is Hard to Find.

And Now to the Heart:  New Moon

Through a school charity event, I was able to purchase a ticket for my daughter to see a screening of New Moon last Wednesday.  The deal we made:  she could go to the teen screening as long as she agreed to see the movie with me this weekend.  A girlfriend e-mailed me last night asking to tag along, we both need Kelsey to provide cover for our attendance.

I picked up four girls from the screening and listened to surprisingly well reasoned arguments for Team Jacob and Team Edward.  My daughter won a Team Jacob t-shirt, her new favorite item of clothing.  I thought about telling them who won the National Book Awards (that I just learned on Twitter), but realized that would mortify my daughter.

The Washington Post article nailed the attraction of the Twilight  series for adult women, it isn’t about the writing or the story, but about being a teenager:

It’s a time capsule to the breathless period when the world could literally end depending on whether your lab partner touched your hand, when every conversation was so agonizing and so thrilling (and the border between the two emotions was so thin), and your heart was bigger and more delicate than it is now, and everything was just so much more.

It’s fun to watch my daughter experience that time of life and to re-visit it, just for a couple of hours, myself.

Picasso's portrait of Gertrude Stein. When told that it didn't look like her, he replied "it will."

Have you ever read Gertrude Stein?  It isn’t a question you have to ponder, possibly my greatest complement to her writing style is that you won’t forget it.  I just finished The Autobiography of Alicd B. Toklas for a literary lunch and discussion sponsored by Literary Affairs and led by Dr. Lynn Baton, UCLA literature professor extraordinaire.  I am fascinated by Gertrude Stein.  I’ve always imagined her Saturday evening salons which gathered the greats of modern art and literature to be the height of interesting conversation.  How did Gertrude know which art, artist, or writer to friend?  That was her true genius–finding other geniuses. 

Modern Art Up Close and Personal

Gertrude Stein name drops continuously and fills The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas with stories of artists and writers.  I loved it.  In Gertrude’s book, Matisse and Picasso recognize the talent in the other, but are very competitive.  Gertrude describes them as friends and enemies:

They exchanged pictures as was the habit in those days.  Each painter chose the one of the other one that presumably interested him the most.  Matisse and Picasso chose each one of the other one the picture that was undoubtedly the least interesting either of them had done.  Later each one used it as an example, the picture he had chosen, of the weaknesses of the other one.  Very evidently in the two pictures chosen the strong qualities of each painter were not much in evidence.

The walls of her apartment (which she shared with Alice and at times her brother Leo) were covered with the work of Cezanne, Renoir, Picasso, Matisse, Gris.   It was the numerous requests to visit the artwork that prompted the Saturday evening salons, it became the set time to view the pictures.  One of my favorite scenes in the book is a lunch that Gertrude hosted for artists, she seated each one across from his art.  She knew that they only wanted to look at their own creation.  Matisse is the first to notice the arrangement and he doesn’t see it until he is leaving.

The reader follows Gertrude (supposedly through the eyes of Alice) from studio to gallery to homes.  The description of Picasso’s early studio in Montmartre is hilarious, there were not any available chairs so guests stood the entire time.  But when I read the later-to-be-famous paintings Picasso was working on when Gertrude visited, names she just mentions in passing, I really felt like I was watching art history come alive.

Gertrude provides insight into two famous dealers.  The all important Vollard who nurtured so many modern artists and from whom Gertrude and Leo Stein bought their initial pictures.  The first forary into his gallery is hilarious as Gertrude and Leo try to describe to Vollard the Cezanne landscape they want to buy and he keeps going to a back room and returning with the wrong type of painting.  Kahnweiler, the dealer who helped many of the struggling cubists, was forced to return to Germany during WWI and see his entire gallery sold at auction.  At the time it looked like it might be the end of the movement.   Gertrude describes the efforts by artists to prevent the fire sale prices and how the sale emotionally gutted Juan Gris. 

Gertrude’s insights add a human dimension to the art history textbook descriptions of these men.

Writing Style

After reading the first 15 pages, I sent out a twitter that “Gertrude Stein is comma phobic.”  Truly, there are pages and pages of texts without a single comma.  This isn’t an original observation, one publisher pleaded to have commas added, but “Gertrude Stein said commas were unnecessary, the sense should be intrinsic and not have to be explained by commas and otherwise commas were only a sign that one should pause and take breath but one should know of onself when one wanted to pause and take breath.” I found I had to consciously stop myself from mentally inserting commas into each sentence.  Apparently, the intent is to mimic Alice’s (or Gertrude’s) voice and conversational style.  People who knew them say the book sounds just like them.  If I were in a conversation with either of them, I wonder if a part of my brain might be thinking “pause and take a breath.”

The construct of the novel feels odd, Gertrude is writing Alice’s autobiography which mostly talks about Gertrude.  So, when Alice in the books says that she has met three geniuses in her life and names Gertrude Stein as the first, remember who is writing.  At the Literary Luncheon, we talked about how the novel as both an outsider’s view of Gertrude (Alice observing) and an inside view of her (Gertrude’s thoughts about herself and her life).  It can be both jarring and fun. 

Gertrude’s book of poems, Tender Buttons, is described as a cubist work of literature.  I read a poem; I have no idea what it said.  Prof. Baton pointed out that the same sense of literary cubism is here:  the vignettes are told repeatedly but with different writing techniques, once as an aside, then as narrative, then as part of a conversation.  The cubist style is evident and fascinating and adds  to the modern art theme of much of the book.

While not the easiest book to read, the subject matter is so fascinating (including the sections on surviving WWI in Europe), it’s worth struggling a bit with the writing style.

And so it goes with raising kids. I am even loathe to use the newly minted verb “parenting”. It just smacks of smugness, don’t you think?

However, as a parenting instructor and consultant by trade (I’ve learned to live with the hypocrisy while I come up with a better career title) I read my share of “How To” books on raising children. And although most of them (the books, not the children) never make it to the shelf in my classroom (except as material for the arts and crafts Creation Station that my co-teacher sets up for the kids), there are a few shining beacons.

1. The Blessing of A Skinned Knee, by Wendy Mogul.
Ms. Mogul is a psychologist and an observant Jew, and she builds her
parenting philosophies on the foundational blocks of her Jewish beliefs.
The sub-title of the book is, “Raising Self-Reliant Children In An Indulgent
World”. She had me at “self-reliant”. I gave this book to my Mormon
co-worker after I read it because I wanted to make sure I didn’t love it just
because I am Jewish.
She immediately went out and bought seven copies, one for each of her
children.

2. Zen Buddhism For Mothers,  by Sarah Napthali
My friend Andrea gave me this book because it was recommended to her by
her therapist and she (Andrea) was hoping I would just read it for her and
give her the summary.
The therapist was right. This book offers the revolutionary idea that
maternal serenity is found when we do not make our goal to change our
child’s feelings. When we surrender to the inevitability that they are going
to feel anger, frustration, impatience, and all the emotions we feel, we
can stop working so hard to try and make them feel something they don’t
feel (happy, for example, that you said no to a cookie).
Great. Now I want a cookie.

3. The Good Enough Parent, by Dr. Bruno Bettleheim
I am a Bettleheim fan. I kinda have a crush on him, imagining him
to be a corduroy-jacketed, soup-making, Einstein-haired gentle lover
who rides a Harley. And this book – the title alone – is a bowl of matzo ball soup on a snowy day. He writes about finding purpose in our lives, and how a purpose-less life breeds unhappy children.
That said, I am caught in a complex web of emotions when it comes to Dr. B. Can I love a man who subscribed to and became a prominent proponent of the “refrigerator mother” theory of autism — the theory that autistic behaviors stem from the emotional frigidity of the children’s mothers? And,
as a result of his theory, many mothers of children on the autistic spectrum suffered from feelings of blame, guilt, and self-doubt from the 1950s throughout the 1970s and beyond: under the widespread assumption of the correctness of the prevailing medical belief that autism resulted from inadequate parenting.”?
I’ve made my decision. I can’t continue to have a crush on him unless he agrees to go to couples counseling with me and he disavows his earlier theories. Otherwise, we are over.

4. Anything by Alfie Kohn.

5. Perfect Madness, by Judith Warner.
Ms. Warner offers an intriguing provocation that perhaps my generation
(the fifty-somethings) did your generation (the thirty-and-forty-
somethings) a disservice by telling you that you can have it all. Because
trying to have it all is exhausting. My feeling is that you can have it all;
you just can’t have it all at once.

6. The Hurried Child – by Dr. David Elkind
7. The Ties That Stress – Dr. David Elkind

Some days, when I’ve seen dozens of parents and answered dozens of
questions and nodded dozens of times, I just want to hand these two books
to them and say, “read these, they’ll answer all your questions. I’ll be on
the couch, napping.”

8. You Are Your Child’s First Teacher,  by Rahima Baldwin Darcy
I am a Waldorf parent. I was a Waldorf teacher for a while. I love this
groovy stuff, written by a Waldorf teacher. You don’t have to eschew all
plastic toys or spin your own wool or live in a hollowed-out tree to get a
lot out of this book.

and finally,

9. Operating Instructions, by Anne Lamott
Okay, it’s not a parenting book, but….wait, it IS a parenting book. Anne
Lamott will assure you that we all get through the first years. I still reach
for the book every few years, just to get a fix of Anne.

Ann Brown is a parenting consultant in Portland, Oregon. You can read her blog at: www.drstrangemom.com

Buy Books for the Holidays has already directed readers to several terrific literacy organizations.   Want to donate funds to organizations that promote reading?  Look at the post on Reading is Fundamental or the list of organizations that need your money or your books.  More charity profiles will be added in the future.  For most of our fans, reading is a passion that we can feed by buying or easily borrowing books, but for some it is a hard won privilege.  Take this opportunity to feed the hunger for reading in others.

The website also includes some fun book lists:  a children’s booklist that is further broken down into books for “Mommy and Me,”  “Daddy and me,”  and ones that celebrate the family; a vampire list; a list for teenage girls (some would argue that a vampire list and a teenage girl list is redundant); and, a list for “if you like that author, then try this one . . .”  More lists will be printed each week, so check out all of the options.

As I’ve said before, my mantra is “the best gift is a book.” We’ll be providing you with lists throughout the holiday buying season (look for our parenting book list on Monday) and Buy Books for the Holidays is another great resource.   Remember, once the gift giving season is over, you’ll have a chance to win a book gift certificate for yourself if you are a Holiday Helper and you buy two books at an independent bookstores.

Happy shopping!

• Paul Auster in conversation with Granta editor John Freeman at powerHouse Arena
• The New York Review Classics 10th Anniversary Party at Greenlight Books (see my guest post about Greenlight Books at Bookshop Blog).  Jhumpa Lahiri and several other authors will be attending this free event; I’d like to note that I paid $40 to hear Lahiri last year, so if you can go for free, do it.
• Every day during the week of celebrations, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks will be giving away free cookies, YUM!
• But the food doesn’t stop with cookies, on Sunday morning stop by Book Culture for a free Bagel Brunch.
• Unnameable Books will host a midnight release of Sarah Palin’s book and Vladimir Nabakov’s book at midnight Sunday night/Monday morning.  Which book would you chose?
• In honor of the paperback release of State by State, WORD is offering a “Neighborhood by Neighborhood” essay contest.  My kids still wear the t-shirts they received for winning an essay contest at our local bookstore and much to their embarrassment, I’m still bragging about it.
• The weeks festivities close with a reception at Book Culture where they will give out a 20% discount coupon.

And in the midst of all of it, the National Book Award winners will be announce on November 18th in New York City.  Visit the stores, buy some gifts, and then don’t forget to reward yourself by entering our ABA gift card giveaway to spend on books for yourself!

Designed by Susan Newman

GIVEAWAY OF AL GORE’S NEW BOOK AND FROM GREEN TO GOLD DESCRIBED IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH!

We’re joining Eco-Libris and 99 other book bloggers in reviewing 100 books that were published in an eco-friendly manner.  Eco-Libris organized this event (see our post about Eco-Libris and Kim’s interview on their blog) to highlight both the need for and availability of books printed on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper.  “Although there’s so much hype around e-books, books printed on paper dominate the book market, and we want them to be as environmentally sound as possible ,” explains Raz Godelnik, co-founder and CEO of Eco-Libris. “Very few books are currently printed responsibly and we hope this initiative will bring more exposure to “green” books. Through this campaign we want to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.”

We are so happy to join today’s blogging event.  Since I am trying to read more poetry, I decided to chose From Green to Gold by Harold Enrico as our review book.  This poetry collection is not only printed in a green manner, the poems themselves evoke an awareness of the beauty of nature and life.   I experienced a sense of melancholy and an awareness of the beauty of every moment as I read the poems.  

The theme of the time passing repeatedly occurs:  in the appropriately named “Time,” time is ”the mongrel bitch, limping along on three legs . . . She holds a bleeding forepaw tightly against her chest and whimpers from time to time.”   Even more poignant for me was “Marston-Bigot, Somerset” which describes the antics of WWII soldiers on New Years Eve at a temporary encampment juxtaposed with the animals (badger, mole) that will continually be present in an ongoing cycle of life.  

Several poems refer to aging, another aspect of time.  My favorite is ”Kontrapunkt” with the repeating lines “I crave another body.  This one will never do.”  References to autumn and winter as stand ins for aging abound in the new poems (some are selected from previous collections).  One of my favorites, “Midsummer Past,” felt like a description of a reprieve in the midst of life, while ”Winter” with “Love has lost its luster.  The rose will not bloom again this year” harkened to an end of life period.

The bird images struck me.  I know certain types of birds have representative meanings, but I don’t know what they are and I don’t feel like I lost anything in the poem by my ignorance.  It seemed clear that that the hawk repeatedly represented death or an ending.  I especially enjoyed “Taymuusya, Rock Wren” which starts with a perky wren who sings all morning long “until I am sick of hearing it.  The same old tune and worn-out words.”  A hawk threatens, then a snake, and the perky bird notices.  The poet asks

What did you hear?
The dry sound of rattling on the rocks,
a sound beyond sound,
it chilled  me to the bones.

Then nothing.  No more sound,
not even beyond sound.
Beyond stillness.
Only the imperceptible hiss
of the rising wind
as the snake slivered off.

I loved this poem.  I enjoyed the wonderment of nature combined with the confession that the bird song we’re supposed to love can be annoying.  It intrigues me that I”m not sure if the poet wanted the bird to survive or not.

From Green to Goldis a collection of poems that prompted images of beauty and caused me to think about nature, art, war and aging.  It’s eco-friendly printing only lives out the underlying message of the collection, that our world and lives are wondrous.

In honor of the Green Books Campaign, we’re giving away a copy of From Green to Gold by Harold Enrico AND a copy of Our Choice by Al Gore, his latest thoughts on helping our environment.  To qualify to win either book, leave a comment with what you think is the easiest thing to do to lessen your carbon footprint.  We’ll decide both winners using random.org on Saturday, November 14th.

We’re hoping to help you with your holiday shopping.   We’re encouraging you to shop at an independent bookstore by rewarding one lucky shopper, our official Holiday Helper, with an ABA gift card.  Additionally, as we did last year, we’ve asked booksellers, experts, and opinionated people to recommend various genres of books (regardless of when they were published) as gifts for the holiday season.  This year we’re launching our Best Gifts for Readers lists with cookbooks.

Catherine Ettlinger started Unconfidential Cook, a unique food blog with scrumptious recipes contributed by her and her readers.   Catherine’s theory is that many of us are happy to share our cooking experience, hence the name ‘unconfidential cook’.  From the chatting on her blog, she’s right.  To complement her blog, Catherine hosts unconfidential cook dinners where the guests bring a dish and the recipe, then eat every thing in sight.   I’ve been to three of the dinners and they are a Los Angeles foodie treat.  The perfect pairing of great food and interesting conversation, each evening combines the necessary ingredients for a lovely meal.  I asked Catherine for her cookbook recommendations, and while she mentioned that much of the innovative recipes and culinary writing is online, these cookbooks were so terrific, every foodie should own one:

Lost Desserts by Gail Monaghan:  If you think one of your all-time favorite desserts has vanished forever with the demise of a restaurant or the retirement of a chef, don’t despair. Monaghan has gathered dozens of legendary recipes and assembled them with mouth-watering photos by Eric Bowman. You’ll never make a dessert again without first referencing this beautiful book.  (Kim’s comments:  I’ve seen this cookbook at Catherine’s house and it is a work of art.  More importantly, I’ve tasted a few of the desserts and they are more than calorie worthy.)

 The Art of Simple Foodby Alice Waters, Clarkson Potter:  There are more than 250 recipes in this book by the champion of  the phrase “eat locally and sustainably”, but it reads like a memoir and is as much a philosophy and way of life as a hard-and-fast cookbook.

 How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman: Touted as a one-stop cooking reference for the modern cook, this book is exactly that–a must-have in every kitchen.  (Kim’s comments:  This is on my list, maybe my son will break down and get me a gift if he benefits from it!)

 Simple and Delicious Japanese Cookingby Keiko Hayashi and Japanese Cooking by Emi Kazuko:  Both books are very helpful for anyone who isn’t Japanese and doesn’t read Japanese…but wants to learn Japanese home cooking, which hasn’t gotten its just due thanks to the popularity of sushi. It is the ultimate comfort food…delicious and super healthy to boot.

 Anything by Ina Garten because she’s not afraid of fat or sugar but doesn’t go overboard like Paula Dean: Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, Barefoot Contessa at Home, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, Barefoot Contessa Parties, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.

Thank you Catherine!  For a couple of other suggestions, check out the NYT article on cookbooks as edible adventures, a review of recent cookbooks geared to home cooking with a personal touch.