![A Cook's Book: The Essential Nigel Slater [A Cookbook] By Nigel Slater Cover Image](https://images.booksense.com/images/books/696/861/FC9781984861696.JPG)
Rachel's Pick
I was so excited to see a new book by Nigel Slater. The thing I love most about his recipes is the simplicity. Every recipe is simple and efficient, like a tightly run ship, yet there is so much complexity and depth in the flavors. Sometimes unique combinations, sometimes obvious, but always wonderful and delicious!
Rachel's Pick
Small Fires is the book I've been waiting for. If Rebecca Solnit, Maggie Nelson and Nigella Lawson combined their efforts, you'd have this beautiful debut from Rebecca May Johnson. Part feminist, part resistance, all parts love for our bodies, food and life!
Rachel's Pick
This book has been recommended to me several times and I am so glad I finally read it. A true bildungsroman set in a poor neighborhood in 1950s Italy. Two friends' journey growing up together tells the tale of post-was Italy, povety and friendship. It you haven't read it, it is a must! Fans of historical fiction will love the setting and generational set of characters.
Rachel's Pick
This newly reissued first in the series might be the absolute best book I've ever read with my child. Full of mystery and adventure set in a rickety mansion. It checks all the just-spooky-enough boxes. Three children move to a crumbling family estate to find many surprises including secret rooms and mysterious creatures. My child honestly shouts "Woo-hoo" every night we read the Spiderwick Chronicles.
Rachel Pick
Set in a sanitarium on a picturesque seaside cliff, this novella explores what it means to write. The life of a novel versus the life of the author. Humor and darkness written with levity and charm. Dazai was a masterful writer! Most well known for No Longer Human. This book checked so many of my literary boxes, the social commentary of Yukio Mishima and the wit and charm of Italo Calvino. A must-read!
Rachel's Pick
Strange and unnerving short stories all centered around home and memory. Schweblin is an award winning Latin American author most known for Fever Dream. There is a nightmarish quality in her writing a bit like a trainwreck. So unnerving you just have to keep reading. Think Kelly Link mixed with Isabel Allende. Magical realism with straight up bizarre fantasy.
Rachel's Pick
An epic bildungsroman set in the 1990s chronicling the life-long friendship of video gamers Sam and Sadie. All of life's hardships, disappointments, loves and losses play out. Page-turning and full of heartfelt drama. How can a book make you want to play a video game?! Fans of Sally Rooney will eat this up!
Rachel's Pick
The kind of book you immediately want to reread as soon as you are finished. This memoir chronicles Ernaux's mother's life. Her strength as well as her flaws. The time in which she was raised and how she was shaped by the world. Ernaux won the Nobel for Literature in 2022 and it is easy to see why. The atmosphere she creates is thoughtful and tender. Her prose is stunning. She deserves every award!
Rachel's Pick
I loved every second of this emotionally charged Indigenous thriller! The story follows rough and tumble Kari as she unearths her family's past through visions of her dead mother and some super scary folklore monsters. Mysterious and chilling. Page-turning and up-all-night. For fans of Mexican Gothic, The Shining, and The Only Good Indians.
Rachel's Pick
One of the best books I've ever read, hands down! As fast and violent as a gunshot. Drugs, sex, poverty, colonialism, family, vacation homes, Mexico. Author of the highly acclaimed novel Hurricane Season, Melchor writes in a style like none other. Furious and powerful! Like Roberto Bolano's 2666 crammed into 114 pages.
Rachel's Pick
A dark, humorous, haunting take on the complexities of family. Ghosts, demons, mothers, mental illness and sacrifices! This book is emotionally complex and equally horrific while maintaining a lightheartedness that keeps the pages turning. Motherthing would make a KILLER psychedelic horror movie, right up there with Rosemary's Baby and Carrie.
Rachel's Pick
1st question: Who doesn't love a food pouch?! 2nd question: Have you looked inside this book?! Over 50 recipes of all sorts of Polish food pouches. From traditional Pierogi's to UFO dumplings to chocolate and cream dessert pierogis. So fun and so delicious!
Rachel's Pick
Nothing else does what poetry can do. Alive at the End of the World does it! Honest, thoughtful and intense. Poetry for our time. That's Not Snow, its Ash is pure perfection.
Rachel's Pick
This book couldn't be more timely. The choice of motherhood. Fans of Maggie Nelson and Eula Biss will find solace in this historical look into motherhood AND birth control. Many artist and author's lives are chronicled in each chapter, giving the reader insite into what it means to be creative and to create a life.
Rachel's Pick
My favorite book the year! A rich multigenerational tale wrapped up with the flora, fauna and folklore of the Pyrenees Mountains. Each chapter is written from the perspective of a different person, animal, plant, etc. This is perfect experimental translated fiction!
Rachel's PIck
Think Kelly Link mixed with Ottessa Moshfegh and a pinch of surrealism. You'll find unexpected surprises in each story. Murata's Voice is unique and so much fun to read (as long as you don't mind dark humor and disturbing themes)! 100% weird and absolutely delightful!
Rachel's Pick
In Vuong's deeply intimate second collection of poetry, grief is deep and the desire to survive is persistent. Vuong is a miracle worker with words and these are no exception. If poems are a journey, hold on tight...Time is a Mother is quite a ride!
Rachel's Pick
History, memoir and fiction are seemlessly melded to create an inquisitive, metaphorical examination of each "lost" object. From an extinct tiger to an Italian villa in ruin to a long forgotten religion, this book buzzes with the beauty and impermanence of life. The entire book (from the text to the font) is a perfectly conceptualized work of art and it is absolutely stunning!
Rachel's Pick
I love a quick novella, especially when it has the power to alter everyday experiences. This tale of a preoccupation gradually begins to blur the lines of reality and peronal identity. In the tradition of Ingmar Bermans' 1966 film Persona, this Japanese feminist tale of obsession is a HIT!
Rachel's Pick
Mushroom fans and skeptics alike will resonate with this book. Merlin Sheldrake's writing is full of knowledge, skill and passion. His writing magically weaves us into nature and leaves us enthusiastically heading outdoors. Check out the YouTube video of Sheldrake growing mushrooms out of a copy of this very book, sauteeing them, and eating them. Fascinating!!
Rachel's Pick
Ever stumble upon a book and think "if only I had read this as a kid, my life would have been completely different'? This is it for me. The power of a good book is life changing! Smart, clever, inclusive characters. Challenging social situations AND magic. You can't go wrong. The main characters Selimene, Carlotta and Effie feel like home.
Is there anything more satisfying than an amazing meal cooked in just one pot? That is exactly what you'll find her. Melissa Clark is a master! All of her recipes are tried and true, ending with delicious success! I want to eat everything in this book and cook it too.