Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl

I recently read "Garlic and Sapphires" by Ruth Reichl and really enjoyed it. I LOVED "Julie and Julia" by Julie Powell.

The recipes aren't included in the book but I just love Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen

An Hour Before Daylight by Jimmy Carter: aside from his fascinating "O Brother Where Art Thou" boyhood, the book is stuffed (no pun intended) with real-life Depression era Southern cooking asides ( one of his chores was wacking the head off the chicken dinner) and also illustrates a time when people would have thought we were nuts for talking about something most people considered a chore that they wished they were rich enough to hire someone else to do for them... Funny how time marches on, eh?

I liked Tender to the Bone and all the MFK fisher titles. 'Climbing the Mango Trees' by Madhur Jaffrey is often overlooked, but a lovely read about her childhood in India. Just read the galley for 'The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry' by Kathleen Flinn about attending Cordon Bleu in Paris. Great, fast-paced read and the insider look at the school is fascinating. It reminded me of 'Julie & Julia' - its funny and has the whole find-yourself-through-cooking thing going on.

Trail of Crumbs.... a wonderful memoir by Kim Sunee. I loved that nearly each chapter ended with a recipe or two. Besides such a well traveled life, she certanily brings her love of food and cooking out. I was a little disappointed ni the last few chapters, Val came and went too fast for me. I think this one would do well on a visit to Oprah. I must go get M.F.K. Fisher now.

What about Like Water For Chocolate? Yummy.

Water for Chocolate is fiction, isn't it? Read "Sharper Your Knife" too - very fun, interesting read with recipes at the end of each chapter. Oprah would probably like that one, too. I liked Ruth Reichl's books but I must admit that that Comfort Me With Apples felt a bit too confessional for my own comfort. I preferred Tender to the Bone of her works. I've read all the titles you display with your story, but of them, the one I enjoyed most was Cooking for Mr. Latte. Food memoirs deserve to be cooked from, and I've made at least a half dozen recipes from that book. Unsurprisingly, Amanda did a good job of selecting and editing recipes.

C.P. Clement, I agree with you about Comfort Me with Apples... Reichl writes beautifully, so I kept reading, but I felt like a voyeur. Dan Radovich, you named the book I'll be writing about in a few weeks (I have to look up its release date). Just a joy to read. Andrea, now I have to go buy two new books... sigh... LOL. I do a lot of cooking from Madhur Jaffrey's recipes, which are always very very good ones. Kevin, leave it to you to come up with something I'd never read, never would have thought of -- I'll definitely have to take a look!

Bethanne, I believe that Trail of Crumbs has a January release.

Thanks, Dan... it's so good, I hate to have to wait that long... but it will comfort many a reader in deep midwinter.

I loved My Life in France by Julia Child...

Bookishblondish, that was one of my favorite reads this year, and my favorite part? The montage of the Valentine's Day cards that the Childs used to send out -- Julia and Paul in a bubble bath, oh la la...

I liked 'Tender to the Bone,' and 'An Embarassment of Mangoes.' Am looking forward to Judith Jones' memoir this autumn. Has anyone read a galley?

No, I've been trying to get a galley of that one myself.