AbeBooks' Reading Copy

The memoir is a tricky beast of a book to write, not only do you have to be a great wordsmith (a requirement for any good book) but you also have to be rather interesting, or at least had a series somewhat extraordinary things happen to you, otherwise what’s the point?  Last year I read [...]

While I absolutely love chicken, and would enjoy learning new methods to prepare it, and this might even be a legitimately good cookbook, I think it is safe to say that 50 Shades of Grey has now officially jumped the shark. Yes, there is a parody cookbook called Fifty Shades of Chicken by F.L. Fowler [...]

I recently took a trip to Atlanta, and was lucky enough to stumble across word of Gladys Knight’s Chicken and Waffles restaurant. We went, we ate (fried chicken! waffles! macaroni and cheese! collard greens! etc.) and it was glorious. One of my true disappointments in life thus far is that we were too full to [...]

Collectors of unusual cookbooks may wish to note that as of the writing of this post… We do not have any copies of Cooking with Poo: But we have several copies of Cooking with Pooh: That is all. Carry on.

This ir our first “Ask AbeBooks” video, in which we recommend unusual cookbooks to Marjorie, who wrote to us from Wichita asking for gift suggestions. Enjoy. And if you’d like, you can read about even more weird cookbooks.

I liked this post about various authors and the way they like to eat. Papa Ernest Hemingway’s description of pan-frying a trout the right way made my stomach rumble: “The proper way is to cook over coals. Have several cans of Crisco or Cotosuet or one of the vegetable shortenings along that are as good [...]

Take the greatest food writing from the past 400 years and apply some modern design magic. Penguin’s Great Food Series is simply sumptuous and a true feast for the eyes. True to form, Penguin has taken already-wonderful books and upped their appeal enormously with a series of fantastic covers that would make any shelf proud. [...]

An illuminated manuscript is any manuscript whose text is accompanied by decoration. It originally referred only to silver or gilt adornments, but came to be acceptable terminology for any manuscript with drawings, paintings or decorations such as ornate initials, borders, floral accoutrements and the like. Often the illuminations would depict a historical or rural/pastoral scene. [...]

One of my favourite, televised guilty pleasures is the BBC’s The Supersizers Go…, which was rebroadcast on The Food Network in Canada. The show combines my love of cooking, history, and humour into several episodes of gastronomical adventure and hilarity. In the spirit of Morgan Spurlock’s ‘Supersize Me’, the two hosts immerse themselves in the spirit [...]

A week ago the NY Times ran an article about cookbook ghostwriters and movie star/cookbook author Gwyneth Paltrow has reacted with anger after the writer, claimed her book, My Father’s Daughter, was ghosted by Julia Turshen.