Staff Picks Audience: Adults

Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood [Book]

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This is the start of a series that was originally published in Australia that are now being republished here. Phryne (rhymes with brine-y) Fisher is an independent 1920s female sleuth, who solves a jewel theft while bored in England, and then moves to Melbourne to investigate the mysterious illness of the daughter of a family friend. Meet the interesting cast of characters that you will come to know and love in subsequent books. Phryne is feisty, wealthy, and enjoys fine clothing, fine food, and fine men.

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon [Book]

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The first in the series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti. Brunetti is called in when a famous conductor dies of poisoning during an intermission at La Fenice. The city of Venice is the backdrop to an abundance of suspects, as Brunetti, with little help from his superior or the other policemen assigned to him, deftly investigates.

Candyfreak by Steve Almond [Book]

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The aptly named Almond has a jones for almost any kind of candy, especially if it’s made by the smaller and quirkier manufacturers. Part rant, part social history, part confession, this funny and bittersweet book will not only tell you a lot you didn’t know about candy itself but reveal show you the role it plays in all our lives as a source of pleasure and an escape from pain.

Mangoes & curry leaves : culinary travels through the great subcontinent by Jeffrey Aldford & Naomi Duguid [Book]

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The “Great Subcontinent” is the land mass that embraces Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and, most obviously, India. This handsomely produced volume, full of stunning photographs, personal, crisply descriptive text, and authentic, often simple recipes, takes the reader on a serendipitous voyage of discovery. As in their other inviting books on Asian themes, the authors, a husband-and-wife team, wander through outdoor markets, sample street food, and chat to all manner of cooks, inviting the reader to come explore with them a world of pungent spice and stunning flavor.

Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini by Elizabeth Schneider [Book]

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This extraordinary reference work (350 entries, 275 full-color photographs, 500 recipes) provides nearly everything you might want to know about an unusual vegetable (she doesn’t deal with the familiar ones)—where it comes from and where in the world it is especially treasured (not always the same place), what other names it has, what it tastes like, what to look for when you buy it, and how it can be cooked. Schneider approached chefs, cooking teachers, and native cooks for exemplary recipes, but she also gives clear basic cooking techniques so that you can just bring your find home, prepare it, and serve it with supper.

In Defense of Food : An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan [Book]

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Cites the reasons why people have become so confused about their dietary choices and discusses the importance of enjoyable moderate eating of mostly traditional plant foods.

Delights and Prejudices by James Beard. Drawings by Earl Thollander [Book]

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This American culinary icon began life on the Oregon coast, where his mother ran a high-class boarding house renowned for the quality of its food. Beard’s was not a happy childhood, but it was a feast for all the senses, since the raw ingredients were incomparable and the dishes were international in flavor and epicurean in quality. Beard would learn to transform these experiences into the basis of a long and successful career writing cookbooks, teaching at his own cooking school and, later, on his own television shows, and helping establish notable New York restaurants.

The man who ate everything by Jeffrey Steingarten [Book]

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Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann [Book]

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This entertaining mystery, in which a flock of Irish sheep search for their shepherd’s killer, delivers more than it promises. As you’d expect, it’s funny, charming, and imaginative… but it’s not just a lighthearted cozy. The sheep are real, fascinating characters with as much tragedy as comedy in their lives, and the author never forgets that they aren’t simply humans in woolly coats.

By turns hilarious, mysterious, and lyrical, this fine debut novel transcends its genre and should appeal to a broad range of fiction readers.

Beautifully translated from the German by Anthea Bell.

Lulu’s Provencal table by Richard Olney [Book]

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No one writes about French cooking in English as well as Richard Olney, and this collaboration with Lulu Peyraud offers a rare delight—quality time spent in the kitchen in the company of an extraordinary Provençal cook. She chatters as she cooks, Olney listens and observes, and the result is perhaps the best description ever given of a cook who works not from recipes but from instinct, years of practice, and hands-on familiarity.

Home cooking by Laurie Colwin [Book]

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Although Laurie Colwin is best known for her novels, she was also a gifted food writer, perhaps because her novelist’s sensibility provided a lively and unusual perspective on the trials and joys of “ordinary” home cooking. To name just three of the essays—Stuffed Breast of Veal: A Bad Idea; Repulsive Dinners: A Memoir; Easy Cooking for Exhausted People—is to show that here is a writer staking out her own delightfully opinionated territory. And the recipes are as rewarding to make as the prose is to read.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett [Book]

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This bestselling debut novel has become one of my favorites. Skeeter, a new college graduate of Ole Miss, returns home in 1962 dreaming of becoming a writer. She takes a columnist position giving household cleaning advice to housewives. Knowing little on the subject, she asks advice of her friend’s black maid, Aibileen. Each week, Skeeter learns more about Aibileen’s life and her stories as a maid. She then meets Aibileen’s friend, Minny, a sassy and outspoken maid with equally interesting stories. Together the three women come together on a risky project that will bring change and awareness to their community.