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Added to the list. For some reason I enjoy reading non-fiction journalistic and essay-type books about food. I've read Fast Food Nation and similar types. Currently reading It Must've Been Something I Ate by Jeffrey Steingarten and I like his descriptive style and dry humor. All sorts of escapades in search of or attempting to cook exotic and complicated dishes.
Found the book on the free shelf at my library and had never heard of this writer before, but see he's been a food writer/critic for Vogue and NYT for decades.
Thanks--I'll look for your Steingarten book!
Like you, I like reading about food/health/nutrition.
I love food & cooking--and also my health. Trying to combine these into a delicious way to eat is my ongoing challenge.
I just finished The Best Times: An Informal Memoir by the author John Dos Passos. It was recommended to me by someone who knew I was about to take a trip to Key West, because Dos Passos lived there for a time. This book was such a pleasure to read! It was published in 1966, and documents his experiences from a privileged childhood at the turn of the 20th century through the 1930s.
Oh boy, he really lived life! It seems he knew everyone and went everywhere. e.e. cummings was one of his best friends. He was close with Hemingway and his various wives for many years. He knew Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, and so many other writers and artists, and shares his observations and opinions about them. He interviewed Sacco and Vanzetti and believed them to be innocent. He had adventures hiking and traveling in Persia (Iran) and Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, all of the Stans, and many parts of Russia. He particularly loved and frequently returned to Paris and Spain. He documents his hopefulness about communism in the late teens, and disappointedly observed over time that Russian communism failed to actually help the serfs and instead led to oligarchy and the dictator Stalin.
The book ends rather abruptly in the mid 1930s. I'm sure he intended a second volume, but he died just a few years after publication of The Best Times.
Highly recommended! And if you've never read anything by him (the USA trilogy, and etc.) now's the time!
Added to the list. For some reason I enjoy reading non-fiction journalistic and essay-type books about food. I've read Fast Food Nation and similar types. Currently reading It Must've Been Something I Ate by Jeffrey Steingarten and I like his descriptive style and dry humor. All sorts of escapades in search of or attempting to cook exotic and complicated dishes.
Found the book on the free shelf at my library and had never heard of this writer before, but see he's been a food writer/critic for Vogue and NYT for decades.
I highly recommend- The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr. I read it last year and it was a great read. It was so interesting, explaining 7 11 and Trader Joe's and Aldi's and Whole Foods etc etc. https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-G.../dp/0553459392
I highly recommend- The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr. I read it last year and it was a great read. It was so interesting, explaining 7 11 and Trader Joe's and Aldi's and Whole Foods etc etc. https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-G.../dp/0553459392
I read this during the past week, it was pretty good. The author actually worked at a Whole Foods seafood counter for a while as part of his research for the book. I believe he stated in the intro that he spent 6 years doing research on everything. The story of Trader Joe's was interesting, I had no idea the store was started in the 1960s.
I'm not sure the title really matches the content of the book, it's a bit misleading. Nothing was particularly "dark" and nothing was really revealed that isn't already commonly known. Still worth a read.
Golda Meir: Israel’s Matriarch by Deborah E. Lipstadt
I just finished reading Golda Meir: Israel’s Matriarch by Deborah E. Lipstadt. I am the big fan of Deborah Libstadt's writing, and when faced with a choice of reading this book, of 250 or so pages compared to Gol'da Meirs own memoir, either approaching or over 1000 pages, the choice was obvious. It is refreshing to read a book about a much admired historical figure that is decidedly neutral and is hagiography. The subject was a flawed human being and the book is not perfect either.
First my quibbles. The book contained few of Golda Meir's noteworthy quotes. Her quotes and sayings were a large part of her legacy to the world. That is one of the reasons I give the book a 4 rather than a 5. That being said, this book contains much in the way of new information about the founding of Israel and the lead up to Israel's creation that I did not know. I read voraciously about Israel because I'm proud of my Jewish Heritage. I had previously read biographies of David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin, and the autobiography of Moshe Dayan. I was afraid there would not be very much new and I was surprised.
A word about this author. Professor Lipstad specializes in the study of Holocaust denial. She wrote a creditable and recommended work outside of her field of particular expertise.
A history of the (Catholic) Inquisition, in its varying incarnations, and how the author believes it continues in some modern spirit.
Book is pretty brief, and not very compelling (my opinion).
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Argo: How the CIA & Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History
