Reading Copy

I have spent the past week or so reading Heat by Bill Buford - a former editor from The New Yorker who worked in the kitchen of a major New York restaurant for the hell of it. It’s a good book. Just like Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, it reveals the high pressure environment of a professional kitchen. Buford becomes obssessive about the origins of Italian food but the best sections of the book are when he’s analyzing the characters he meets in the kitchen and later in an Italian butcher’s shop. His own struggles to master the various roles within the kitchen becomes secondary to the mini-dramas going on around him. I’ve been meaning to read this book for two and a half years, and I glad I did. The passages about Marco Pierre White are priceless.

Popularity: 26% [?]

On the back of a BBC2 feature titled Lobo: The Wolf that Changed America, Ernest Thompson Seton’s 110-year-old classic Wild Animals I Have Known shot to No.1 on AbeBooks.co.uk’s bestseller list last week.

Seton was one of the key pioneers of the Boy Scout movement, which incidentally is celebrating its centennial this year. You can read about it on our Boy Scouts feature.

Also on the top 10 is W.M.W. Fowler’s Countryman’s Cooking. The book was first sold 40 years ago by Willie Fowler in his local pub and was forgotten until recently when it was rediscovered in a charity shop and republished. Featuring traditional English countryside recipes the book is a gift from the heavens for slow foodies.

Top 10 bestsellers for AbeBooks.co.uk for the week of March 31-April 6

1. Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton
2. Countryman’s Cooking by W.M.W. Fowler
3. The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh
4. Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner’s Guide by Sandra Ingerman
5. The New Strategic Selling by Stephen E. Heiman
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill
8. Cancer Vixen: A True Story by Marisa Acocella Marchetto
9. Paul for Everyone: Romans by Tom Wright
10. Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman

Popularity: 27% [?]

Giles Foden - author of Ladysmith and The Last King of Scotland - bemoans the lack of pubs and restaurants where writers can meet and shoot the breeze at a Guardian blog.

Popularity: 21% [?]

In the old days, there were just cookbooks. Now there are more books about food and eating than you can shake a truffle at. So says a lady in the Eugene Register-Guard in Oregon. She’s quite right - last night I started reading just such a book…. Heat by Bill Buford. I love these kind of books but overload isn’t far away.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Yesterday, I was the supermarket across the road from the office when I saw man buying Spam, but it wasn’t just any tin of Spam - it was a 70th anniversary tin. The customer and the checkout assistant began discussing the cultural impact of Spam on the world and I felt like I had stepped into an alternative universe.

Of course, there are books about Spam….

Spam: A Biography

Spam: The Cookbook

It appears the actual anniversary was last year so how long had those tins been there?

Popularity: 21% [?]

More drinks inspired by literature from The Guardian

Popularity: 19% [?]

The Guardian posted a set of cocktails inspired by Dickens. That should help spread the Christmas cheer out until the New Year.

Popularity: 20% [?]

The New York Times takes a look at notable cookbooks from the last year - and thankfully nary a celebrity chef to be seen - how refreshing. The author views these books as

an argument against the frequently heard claim that cookbooks are being dumbed down.

I’ve heard this too in various interviews with publishers and editors, so we can be thankful when books of value do come along to help keep the standard.

Popularity: 16% [?]

While we are on the subject, here is today’s recommendation for Christmas…..A Year of Eating Dangerously: A Global Search For Culinary Extremes by Tom Parker-Bowles. This book is a year old but still worth considering even though the author has two last names and is the son of Camilla.

Parker-Bowles is a food journalist in the UK. He travels the world and eats weird stuff - you know the formula. Actually, you’d probably also want to consider anything written by Anthony Bourdain, who is a seriously good writer. Here’s our interview with him from last year.

And if you want something really weird about food - here’s our list of the world’s weirdest cookbooks. How can anyone ignore Cooking On Your Car Engine?

Popularity: 20% [?]

The New York Times reports the death of Peg Bracken - she is hardly a household name today but 47 years ago she made waves by publishing The I Hate to Cook Book.

Ms. Bracken’s cookbook, with illustrations by Hilary Knight, quickly became a staple of suburban homes. Published in various editions over the years, it sold more than three million copies. Every baby boomer’s mother, or so it seemed, had one on the kitchen shelf, its pages stained with the makings of Stayabed Stew, Sole Survivor and Spinach Surprise

Popularity: 19% [?]

The holiday season is upon us weather you are ready or not and I don’t just mean the “C” word, there’s Halloween and Thanksgiving for our American readers. To help you get ready for all of the parties and hordes of guests we’ve put together a special section of craft and cooking books to help inspire you.

And in the spirit of holiday giving we have a contest to win four fabulous crafting books. Remember it’s free to enter =).

Popularity: 30% [?]

Fall is in the air. It’s getting colder, leaves are turning, this weekend is Thanksgiving for us Canucks (Nov.22 for our southern neighbors), and Halloween is just around the corner.

What’s all this mean? PUMPKINS!

Other then the obvious jack-o-lanterns and pie, there is a lot you can do with a pumpkin. We’ve selected the ten best pumpkin cookbooks for your gastronomical enjoyment.

Popularity: 20% [?]

The other day I stopped by a local store before heading home. Lo and behold what caught my eye? A copy of Are You Hungry Tonight? Elvis’ Favourite Recipes! My Hound Dog senses must have sniffed it out. At $2.50, and being an Elvis fan, I just had to buy it. (Now Don’t Be Cruel - Let me clarify, I’m NOT the velvet-print Elvis variety of fan and I do believe he died 30 years ago.And even if I did think he were still alive, I believe he’d be smart enough to have ditched the jewelled jumpsuits long ago!) The book is the perfect kitschy sort of thing you pick up “just because”. Besides, it gives directions on how to make those infamous fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. 

And surprise, surprise.  Upon further investigation, Are You Hungry Tonight? isn’t the only Elvis themed cookbook.  Check out these rockin’ recipe repositories:

Fit for a King: The Elvis Presley Cookbook

The Presley Family and Friends Cookbook

The Presley Family Cookbook (by Vester Presley)

All Cooked Up (by Donna Presley Early)

The I Love Elvis Cookbook

For me, I think the one cookbook is enough. However, I said that about having one cat and I now have two, and  if I do see one of the others at a good price, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t Help Falling in Love and would make my way to the checkout, book in hand.

Popularity: 19% [?]

The Oxford English Dictionary has expanded once again to include new words that have been brought into common vernacular. This year’s additions include Jaffa Cake (”a sponge biscuit with an orange-flavoured jelly filling and chocolate topping”, known and loved by all with British blood).

Also included this year Wags, yummy mummies, heaviosity and garburator.

Popularity: 12% [?]

….I can firmly say that there has been absolutely no interest in this diet book among the visitors to AbeBooks.com - never mind what newspapers are reporting.

Popularity: 10% [?]