Duck's Cottage Newsletter

Between the Lines
Reading Recommendations from the Cottage Shelves

Lots of foodie books this month to talk about! I've almost finished Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential and I'm not sure how to describe it: Memoir? Food writing? Ranting? Raving? I don't know how he worked at so many places, but am sure his drug habits helped. I thought the book might give a better glimpse of the man behind the judge sitting at the Top Chef table but.. nah, it doesn't. (Although I did find out a home kitchen only needs one good knife!) Just out from Penguin is a smart little chunk of a book, How to Be A Better Foodie. There's a lot to digest here (no pun intended)- from Cooking Must Haves to essential dining out vocabulary; entertaining better, eating better, you get the picture. A great book for all the epicureans on your holiday list! I am currently enamored of Michael Bittman's latest culinary tome, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. I have his original (HTCE) and turn to it again and again when I have an ingredient that I need to base an entire recipe on. WIth HTCEV, it's okay to buy those crazy looking miniature squash or that exotic sounding grain because you know you'll find a use for it in HTCEV. If you haven't seen Conn Iggulden's The Dangerous Book for Boys, seek it out! A marvelous collection of trivia and knowledge that every boy (and man) should have. Included are Latin Phrases Every Boy Should Know, Coin tricks, extraordinary stories, making secret ink, paper airplanes, water bombs- this is a great rainy day or 'Mom, I'm bored' book. Perfect for Christmas gift giving! (And The Daring Book for Girls, just out, offers a feminine version!) While browsing in a chain bookstore in Williamsburg last weekend, I discovered a little nugget that had me laughing out LOUD. What Pets Do While You're At Work is from the same genre as the Bad Cat/Bad Dog books i.e. get a picture of your pets doing something funny, slap a snarky caption on it, put enough of these together and you've got a book. Okay, so they're formula, but they make me giggle, chuckle, har-de-har-har, I love 'em! And this one is pure genius. Valerie Plame Wilson's book, Fair Game came in last week. Caroline picked it up for a look- see and that's when we discovered that Wilson (and the publisher) chose to leave in all the material that had been blacked out by the CIA during its review. Makes for a somewhat disjointed, dissappointing read. Bill Clinton's book, Giving, has a wonderful message for everyone as we move into the holiday season. Every single person on earth can make a difference- either through their skills, time, money, things, or more. Through inspirational stories and practical ideas, Clinton shows us how we can really do something that can help change the world. Consider it this month's Must Read. Also on my pile is Kevin Sites new paperback, In The Hot Zone: One Man, One Year, Twenty Years. Sites was the first reporter for Yahoo and he spends 12 months traveling the globe documenting in words, pictures and video what is happening in the world's hot spots. Riveting stuff and includes the DVD, A World of Conflict. The Booker Prize, Britain's most prestigious literary award, went to The Gathering, by Anne Enright. Oft times, the Booker is given to a novel that hasn't really 'hit it' yet in the states and is therefore in short supply triggering a rushed return to press by the publisher. Ergo, I have just gotten the book in and while I haven't had time to read it yet, it sounds good and I have put it on my 'to read' pile. Just out in paperback, The Darwin Awards 4 by Wendy Northcutt. Northcutt's series features tales of evolution in action which typically highlight the tragic demises of idiots apparently born without any common sense or logical reasoning abilities. These books have a huge fan base- apparently peope like to read about other people stupider than them. Deanna gives Special Topics in Calamity Physics a big thumbs up. My father-in- law really liked Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician. Hitting the big screen are film adaptations of John Burnham Schwartz's Reservation Road, Atonement by Ian McEwan and No Country for Old Men (great interview with author Cormac McCarthy in Time this month). That's it for now... I need to get cracking on all the phenomenal lists of book gift-giving ideas for December's newsletter! Until then... pick something up and READ!

Get inspired at the Giving website