This book is part of the fairly new phenomenon of Bloggers Writing Books. I’ve long been an advocate of Blogs By Book Writers (meaning they wrote the books first) I’m not sure how I feel about this new clashing of media. I read Gluten-Free Girl by Shauna James-Ahern because I liked her blog, particularly, this story. The book I found good, but not transcendent. A very foodie book, which is probably transcendent for those who suffer from Celiac Disease, but despite my interest in food, I am not interested in the differences between Amaranth flour and Rice flour, nor will I go into debt over a bottle of olive oil. THAT BEING SAID, I did finish Gluten-Free Girl in less than a day – very engaging, well-written, and interesting – even to a non-foodie, non-gluten-free girl 🙂
Anyway. The point I’m trying to make is, I picked up Gluten-Free Girl because of Shauna’s blog.
But I picked up A Homemade Life because it was chilling on the table at Barnes and Noble, and I brought it home later from the library because I’d heard many-a-good word about it. Only after I read a few chapters, got sucked in, and hid it from myself until vacation did I notice the ornate red text running under the author’s name:
“The creator of Orangette”
I’d never read Orangette before this book, but I have definitely added it to my blog reading list (which recently warranted the creation a Foodie category, btw). This book is a treat. It’s a great example of how blogging can beget good writing – it’s full of personal essays that lead the reader toward a recipe, a recipe that played a role in the author’s life. The recipes aren’t fancy – nothing so strange that you’d need a picture to ease you into eating it. Riffs on home-cooking, mostly. Banana-bread with chocolate chips and candied ginger. Her late father’s potato salad. But really, the recipes were second billing to the stories. Scoops of the author’s life, some amusing, some tragic, some romantic, some fanciful, some heart-wrenchingly sad. It’s a book about food for people who like life more than they like food, really.
Loved every page of it, and handed it directly to my mother. It’s just that kind of book.
Kind of makes me wish every one of my favorite bloggers had a book like this to show off with.