Weekend Cooking: Table of Contents
Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp, creators of BookClubCookbook.com, have always been fascinated with books and food and the way the two are connected. When they see food used as a plot device in a book, they want all of the details, so they went straight to the source – the authors. Lucky for us, they’ve shared what they learned in their wonderful new book, Table of Contents. This book is a treasure for anyone who loves books and food. Gelman and Krupp have included interviews and recipes from 50 different authors, most of whom you’ll know. Included are well established authors like Adriana Trigiani and Joshilyn Jackson as well as up and coming authors like Dolen Perkins-Valdez and Heidi Durrow. There is a short interview (typically a page to a page and a half) of each author and then a recipe or two from the author that represents something from one of their books.
I enjoyed every single interview in this book, even when the author wasn’t familiar to me, and I just loved the recipes. Not only did the authors share their recipes, they explained why they chose it and what it means to them. Believe me when I say those explanations are as good as the recipes. While I haven’t tried any of the recipes yet, there are many I want to try, like Singapore Sling from Janice Y. K. Lee and Israeli Salad from Anita Diamant. Interviews and recipes are arranged alphabetically by author’s last name and there’s a great index in the back that includes book and recipe pairings.
I don’t often read cookbooks from cover to cover, but I did with Table of Contents because it’s so much more than a cookbook! This book made me smile and even shed a few tears. I think anyone who enjoys books and food will love it.
Challenges: Foodies Reading Challenge
Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.
Author’s recipes, I like that
I can’t wait to dive into this one. I love cookbooks that are fascinating to read as well as cook from.
I definitely want to read this – so many authors whose books I’ve read. Sounds great!
Another book to investigate! Wow!
Two of my favorite things in life – food and books. This book sounds absolutely perfect
Oooh, this sounds like a really good one! One of my daughters loves reading cookbooks. I’ll have to send her this title. Thanks for sharing! Happy eating, cooking and reading.
I just saw this book somewhere–I’m going to have to backtrack my steps and go get it (we live in a small town–NO bookstore per se, but places that sell books). I think I would love this book too!
We’re lucky that the authors shared their recipes. I’ve got
an amazing carrot cake recipe from a dear departed friend of my
partner, and it took literally years to convince my partner that we
should share it! Finally the ‘gag rule’ is off and I’m sharing the
recipe with everyone — giving copies to my neighbors, posting it
on my blog, you name it!
Well I have a gift certificate from Chapters and this is what I’m buying. Thanks for your review.
Love this concept for a book. Glad to see that you liked the implementation!
I’m so glad you liked this one since my copy just showed up! Now I’m inspired to pull it out now and go through it!
I kind of love a cook book you can read from cover to cover! I was supposed to have this one coming to me but haven’t seen it yet–I might need to check with the publicist to make sure I didn’t give them the wrong address!
Glad you’re enjoying it–I look forward to testing this one out as well.
Nice review. The book sounds great. Perfect for the book loving cook.
This looks like a delightful book! I may actually need to get my hands on this.
This book sounds clever from title to contents! I’d probably enjoy it a lot as well. Terrific review!
This is such an unusual book, but it sounds so interesting, and I am intrigued that you read it cover to cover. There are a lot of books out there with recipes out there, and it would be nice to see the inspiration behind them and have them all in one place. I am so thrilled with this book! I have to get a copy! Thanks for sharing this, Kathy!
Great review! I loved this one too!
This looks like a truly awesome book!
This one sounds like a winner for sure
I like the idea of reading the story behind the recipe. I think it would be interesting even if I didn’t know the person, too.
I raved about this book in my review as well. I love reading little tidbits about authors and their personal recipes were bonuses! This is a book I can refer to again and again and I think I may find myself new books through the authors featured in this one.
I definitely want to read this one…sounds GREAT!
This one sounded so good based on the synopsis. I’m glad to see it lives up to its potential. I’ll have to pick it up sometimes.
Gotta love that title … and it sounds like a fun and interesting idea of a book.
This one sounds really interesting, I might just see if my library has it.
This book was in my mailbox just as I was leaving to visit my mother. I’m traveling only with my Kindle and ipod so I’ll have to wait. I’m really anxious to get to it now after your review.
This is another one that my sister, who is a personal chef, will love!
Oh man, now I wish I said YES when the publisher offered to send me a copy of this book! It looked like an interesting read for a food lover, but just had too many books on my nightstand to consider it.
What an interesting idea and what fun it would be for book clubs to read the books by these authors and tie in their recipes.
Is the idea to cook a particular recipe at a bookclub meeting? Sounds delicious
What a terrific concept for a book. I am still drooling over the cupcakes in the recent Janet Evanovich book that I listened to.
I’ve just started to peek at the first few authors and thought I was going to like it – now I am even more convinced!
This sounds fantastic.