Favorite Living Authors

In addition to the writers I have already posted about (e.g., Penelope Lively, Colm Toibin, William Trevor, Anne Tyler), the following living (as far as I know) authors are among my favorites:
Writers of fiction: Margaret Atwood, Margaret Drabble, Anne Enright, Mavis Gallant, Jane Gardam, Gail Godwin, Mary Gordon, Barbara Gowdy, Tessa Hadley, Ha Jin, Jhumpa Lahiri, Margo Livesey, Ian McEwan, Alice Munro, Antonya Nelson, Ann Patchett, Richard Russo, Jean Thompson, Tobias Wolff.
Memoirists: Diana Athill, Mary Gordon, Patricia Hampl, Alice Kaplan, Madhur Jaffrey.

I also enjoy and learn from the magazines I regularly read. Favorites include The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Ms., The Nation, The Progressive, The Women's Review of Books, The New York Times Review of Books, The Threepenny Review, New York, San Francisco Magazine, and Vanity Fair.

Food and Restaurant Literature

I enjoy going to good restaurants here in San Francisco and in other cities where I travel. I also savor books about restaurants and food, especially memoirs. Below are some examples that I have read and highly recommend. Enjoy! And please let me know of your "food lit" favorites as well.

1. Anthony Bourdain. Kitchen Confidential.
This chef's behind the scenes restaurant kitchen revelations are fascinating, funny, and a little scary!
2. Frank Bruni. Born Round: The Secret history of a Full-Time Eater.
In this memoir by the longtime New York Times restaurant critic, he writes about his life in food, including his struggles with dieting, as well as about his life as the most powerful food critic in the U.S. (He stepped down from that job last year when he published this memoir.)
3. Phoebe Damrosch. Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter.
Damrosch was a server at a top New York restaurant, Thomas Keller's Per Se.
4. Andrew Friedman. Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Cuinary Glory at the Legendary Bocuse d/Or Competition.
A blow-by-blow account of the preparation of the United States' candidate for this premier French award competition in 2009. He came in 6th place.
5. Betty Fussell. My Kitchen Wars: A Memoir.
A delightful and sometimes mordant memoir from the years when gourmet cooking first became popularized.
6. Judith Jones. The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food.
Jones, a literary editor for almost 50 years, edited many of the greatest cookbooks and other food-related books by such eminences as Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, and Madhur Jaffrey.
7. David Kamp. The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution.
Kamp chronicles the rise of the foodie movement in the U.S.; a very informative and sometimes very funny book.
8. Thomas McNamee. Alice Waters and Chez Panisse. The story of the woman at the culinary forefront of the movement toward local, seasonal, organic, ingredient-driven food, and of the iconic Berkeley restaurant she still runs today (along with spreading the word on school gardens, and - reputedly - advising President and Mrs. Obama on food-related issues.)
9. Ruth Reichl. Tender at the Bone: Growing up at the Table.
A beautifully written memoir of the food critic's childhood initiation into the world of truly flavorful, fresh, properly-prepared, and delicious food, and of her early years in a life of restaurants and food. (This memoir was succeeded by two others: Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table; and Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise. Both are of interest, and enjoyable to read, but the first book - Tender at the Bone - remains the best.)
10. "The Waiter." Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip -- Confessions of a Cynical Waiter.
This longtime waiter and blogger shares inside information and opinions about restaurants. The author pulls no punches, sometimes praising but often skewering restaurant owners, workers, and patrons alike.

A Novel for Grown-ups: "Noah's Compass"

I enjoy novels about characters of all ages, but I sometimes particularly appreciate reading about characters in their fifties, sixties, and older, and their experiences and perspectives. I just finished reading one such novel, "Noah's Compass" (Knopf, 2009), by Anne Tyler (who is 68 years old herself). The main character, Liam Pennywell, is 60 years old, recently retired, and at loose ends. He is, like many of Tyler's characters, seemingly quite ordinary, stolid, and somewhat passive. He is neither unhappy nor particularly happy. He says at one point, "I just...don't seem to have the hang of things, somehow. It's as if I've never been entirely present in my own life" (p. 263). It is a heartbreaking realization. Such a tamped-down character is unlikely to immediately intrigue readers, who may be tempted to bail out of what seems that it will be a rather depressing story, but somehow Tyler's portrayal of how Liam ponders and responds to the events and everyday moments of his life draws us in, and we begin to admire his essential modesty and goodness, and his determination to be satisfied with what he has in life. I realize that this description of "Noah's Compass" probably won't send you running to the bookstore or library, but I urge you to give the novel a chance to win you over, as it did me.

On Tea in Literature

Tea is a treasured part of my life: tea itself, teacups, tea trays, tea parties, afternoon tea, hotel teas, tearooms, long talks over tea. Some of my favorite novels - by Jane Austen, Henry James, Barbara Pym, Angela Thirkell, Dorothy Sayers - have scenes featuring tea. So I was struck by the regular meetings for tea - what was called "sacred tea" - in the novel "The Elegance of the Hedgehog," by Muriel Barbery (which I wrote about in yesterday's post). Here is a passage about tea from the book:

"The tea ritual: such a precise repetition of the same gestures and the same tastes; accession to simple, authentic and refined sensations, a license given to all, at little cost, to become aristocrats of taste, because tea is the beverage of the wealthy and of the poor; the tea ritual, therefore, has the extraordinary virtue of introducing into the absurdity of our lives an aperture of serene harmony. Yes, the world may aspire to vacuousness, lost souls mourn beauty, insignificance surrounds us. Then let us drink a cup of tea. Silence descends, one hears the wind outside, autumn leaves rustle and take flight, the cat sleeps in a warm pool of light. And, with each swallow, time is sublimed" (p. 91).

"The Elegance of the Hedgehog"

I initially resisted reading the bestselling French novel, "The Elegance of the Hedgehog," by Muriel Barbery (English version: Europa, 2008, paperback), not finding the description appealing. Then it was chosen for my reading group, so I plunged in. The first several chapters were, to be blunt, somewhat tedious. Big chunks of those chapters were treatises on philosophical topics...perhaps interesting in the abstract, but not what you expect to find in a novel. The early emphasis on the precocious, unhappy 12-year-old Paloma was also not appealing to me. But once the character of Renee, the concierge in her fifties, an autodidact who hid her extensive knowledge of literature, art, opera, and philosophy from almost everyone, was introduced, the story began to draw me in. Both Paloma and Renee were - like hedgehogs - prickly on the outside but vulnerable within. When a new tenant, the wealthy and courtly Mr. Ozu, entered the picture, and when the three main characters discovered each other and their common interests, the interplay of the characters was both touching and intriguing.

Throughout, the writing is intricate and often beautiful, even transcendent. There are entrancing passages about Japan, art, tea, language, grammar, social class, life, death, and much more. Here is a small excerpt from Renee's thoughts after Mr. Ozu has introduced her to a wider world: "A few bars of music..., a touch of perfection in the flow of human dealings -- I lean my head slowly to one side, reflect on the camellia on the moss of the temple, reflect on a cup of tea, while outside the wind is rustling the foliage, the forward rush of life is crystallized in a brilliant jewel of a moment that knows neither projects nor future, human destiny is rescued from the pale succession of days, glows with light at last and, surpassing time, warms my tranquil heart" (page 106).

I recommend this novel; don't get discouraged by the first few chapters, but persist, and I think you will be as captivated as I was.

How the Blog Works

If some of you, like me, are not completely comfortable with the tech aspects of blogs, I summarize below how you can participate, as I understand it.

1. The easiest way, if you don't want to be able to comment on blog entries, is simply to bookmark this site, or jot down the web address, and read it daily or weekly or occasionally, as you prefer.

2. If you want to be able to comment, you can do one of the actions below:

a. Sign up for a Google account (this does NOT mean signing up for gmail); this is easy and free.

b. Sign up to "follow" this blog, either "publicly" (a little icon will show up under "followers") or "privately" (no icon will show). In either case, you do not have to post a photo or give your full name. This is also easy and free.

Thanks very much for your interest in my blog! And thanks, Mary V., for your suggestion that I do the blog!

In Praise of Public Libraries

Public libraries are a great institution, for which I am very thankful. They are (generally) accessible, free, and community-oriented. Walk into your local library and notice all the people browsing, reading, and studying. Peek into the children's section and see the little ones' delight at being read to by their parents or by librarians. And while we are praising the library, let's praise too the librarians who share their love of books and their expertise with us.

Sometimes, of course, I buy books (and I will write about bookstores in a future post), but sometimes I can't or don't want to purchase a certain book (I may not be sure I will like it, I may not have room for it on my shelves, or I may not want to spend the money), but I do want to read it or at least look through it; that's when I go to the library. I am also grateful for electronic access to the library's catalog, and to my library records. I often read a review of a book that sounds intriguing, then log into my library account from my home computer and request the book; soon after, I receive an email telling me the library is holding the book for me. The next time I visit the library, the book is waiting on a holdshelf with my name on it. What a great system!

I am especially fortunate to have a local library that is physically beautiful. It is constructed of lovely wood and has soaring windows looking out onto the redwood grove in which it is nestled, a sort of cathedral for books. The indoors and outdoors blend seamlessly, and we library patrons are surrounded by beauty, reinforcing the pleasure of being surrounded by books.
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On a different note: R.I.P. three great writers who have just died: Louis Auchincloss, J. D. Salinger, and Howard Zinn.