Good airplane reading material?
I will be taking 4 1/2 hour flight next week and need to get a new book to read. I am looking for something good but a relatively easy read ( I have a hard time really concentrating on a plane which is why it's usually the only time I read Cosmo and other "trashy" magazines!). I enjoyed Heat by Bill Buford and have considered getting Kitchen Confidential. I also considered another cookbook since I can read one like a novel...read The Bread Baker's Apprentice start to finish in two sittings, but they are a bit bulky for a plane. Thanks for any recommendations!
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17 Comments:
If you haven't yet read Kitchen Confidential, you really must--it's laugh out loud funny AND interesting. Once you read Bourdain, you'll never go back! :-)
Other food-related reading that's perfect for travel:
Eating My Words by Mimi Sheraton
Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten
The United States of Arugula by David Kamp (both informative and funny)
Setting the Table by Danny Meyer (not as 'light' as the aforementioned)
Curlz at 10:03PM on 12/28/07
I was going to suggest the audiobook of Heat, but you've already read it. We had a 4 1/2 hour drive each way for Christmas so we listened to it. My partner is a reluctant foodie at best but he LOVED it.
Otherwise I second all of Anthony Bourdain's books, including the fiction. As well as the Ruth Reichl and the Steingarten.
If you are looking outside the food realm I could suggest a million books, but in terms of light reads I was actually surprised to find that the Nanny Diaries was pretty good.
lexophile at 10:37PM on 12/28/07
I would recommend Phoebe Damrosch's book "Service Included". It's another behind-the-scenes book (about Thomas Keller's Per Se in NY) but I think it would be perfect for you. It's a little juicy so it'll keep your interest, but it's intelligently written - and not bulky at all.
Littlebluesiren at 10:57PM on 12/28/07
The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break- it's an awesome fictional book. I read half of it on my flight to Pennsylvania from Minneapolis, and the rest on the way back.
Also - Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour - I guess anything by Anthony Bourdain. I've read those two, they're really good! and easy to read.
Chau at 1:09AM on 12/29/07
I love to re-read Heartburn by Nora Ephron. It is a riot.
JerzeeTomato at 6:37AM on 12/29/07
Goodness, I can't believe no one has suggested MFK Fisher. If you can find the large compendium "The Art of Eating", it will keep you through a world of delays. Easy to pick pieces here and there, too, if that's your style. Mrs. Fisher was...oh, gosh...a goddess.
lemons at 10:23AM on 12/29/07
I have to second and third anything by Ruth Reichel. Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples are both hilarious and witty and touching and such a joy to read. Tony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour is fascinating, as is Robb Walsh's Are You Really Going to Eat That?
Last but not least, I got this for Christmas and I'm happily working my way through it really quickly: American Food Writing, An Anthology edited by Molly O'Neill.
Happy reading!
sheeats at 10:37AM on 12/29/07
ruth reichl's books are wonderful!! i can't tell you how many copies i've given away of tender at the bone.
here are some other suggestions: anything by the new england food writer john thorne -- his latest, mouth wide open, is particularly thought provoking and entertaining; toast, by nigel slater; cooking for mr latte, by amanda hesser, animal, vegetable, miracle, by barbara kingsolver; feeding a yen, american fried, or alice, let's eat, by calvin trillin; and julie and julia, by julie powell.
cybercita at 11:12AM on 12/29/07
Ruth Reichl's books are great for plane trips. Also most anything by Michael Ruhlman, including The Making of a Chef. Also, On Rue Tatin, by Susan Herrmann Loomis.
KDBlue at 11:28AM on 12/29/07
I agree with the Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain recommendations.
On my last flights I read a couple books with short stories about cooking, How I Learned to Cook Culinary Educations from the World's Greatest Chefs, and Don't Try This At Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs. Both put together by Kimberly Witherspoon and full of great stories from spectacular chefs. I loved the variety and ability to put it down whenever I needed a rest.
I also enjoyed Service Included. As well as The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn.
And for my non-food related suggestion Stephen Colbert's I am America and So Can You will have you laughing out loud in your seat! Have a good, safe trip!
bobcatsteph3 at 12:33PM on 12/29/07
KITCHEN -Banana Yoshimoto
First choice. Short, stunning, gripping novel. Amazing feat for a writer of her youth. Beautifully written and humane. Food's ties to identity, family and usefulness when we are in need.
DONA FLOR AND HER TWO HUSBANDS--José Amado
There was a time that Latin American novels were all the rage and now I rarely hear anyone talk about them. This wonderful book is the reason I was so disappointed with *Like Water for Chocolate* which in comparison was as colorless as water. Amado is chocolate. Sexy ghost story whose protagonist is a gifted cook; recipes included.
THE HUMMINGBIRD'S DAUGHTER---Luis Alberto Urrea
Last truly wonderful novel I've read. Mexican-American writer whose prose is also masterful. Fiction based on true story of one of his ancestors. Tells of Mexican history (which was news to me), but it's the cast of engaging characters that caught me up. Lots and lots of food, including best passage on coffee ever. You can tell the author is a poet, but his flare for language is balanced by a journalist's sensibilities. (I.e., exquisite, not mushy.)
* * *
As for recommendations above, I agree that KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL is perfect for travel. Ruth Reichl's first two autobiographical books also are fantastic. Start w the first. *Garlic and Sapphires* is fun and breezy, but not of the same high caliber.
Eliz. at 2:08PM on 12/29/07
all the food magazines from the newsstand you don't have a subscription to at home.
kitchengeeking at 11:13AM on 12/30/07
Another vote here for anything written by Anthony Bourdain. "Kitchen Confidential" kept me up for two days because I couldn't put it down, and his fiction is just as good. I'm currently reading "The Elements of Cooking" by Michael Ruhlman and having the same reaction, so I'd say that's a great choice as well.
kfarrel3 at 2:19PM on 12/30/07
To me, the airport is an excuse to buy a glossy food mag. Kitchen Confidential is on my reading list for 2008, and after reading these comments I'm really looking forward to it. A slim book that is easy to pick up in short sittings is Laurie Colwin's "Home Cooking." It's beatifully written essays about various aspects of learning to cook and spending time in the kitchen. I loved Garlic and Sapphires, too.
bylime at 2:47PM on 12/30/07
As much as reading any book is an excellent and pleasing thing it surely is every bit as useful, educational, and chock full of fun to go to a bookstore to choose it by picking up the books and looking inside to see if you want to know it, if you want to spend time with the author (or, even better if you are not sure what you want to read and do not want to spend money) a library - those places which Jorge Luis Borges muses upon in the same sentence as heaven when saying "I have always imagined that Paradise is a kind of library".
In either place (but more likely the library) you will find books not written only by authors currently enjoying the popularity of mass-media coverage but books that have lived a long time and been enjoyed by many regardless of whether they are currently being promoted or whether they currently fit into the vogue or not.
What you will enjoy will also depend on the category of writing about food that you enjoy. There are a number of categories mentioned in the above posts. There is the:
Restaurant Culture "From the Inside" Book (sort of like stories from prison, you know, except that spatulas and male egos replace shivs and well . . . the male ego)
Food in Current Culture Book
Personal Essay
Food Politics
I Give Homage to an Author by Copying Everything She Did Book
I Want To Be a Chef Book
Fiction with Food as Subliminal Character Book
Then of course there's regular cookbooks too.
And I'm sure I've missed listing several other categories.
Often one has an emotional preference for one category or the other.
..................................
All the books listed above sound good but I personally would not carry O'Neills anthology "American Food Writing" along with me on a plane simply because of the size of it.
DONA FLOR AND HER TWO HUSBANDS--José Amado
There was a time that Latin American novels were all the rage and now I rarely hear anyone talk about them. This wonderful book is the reason I was so disappointed with *Like Water for Chocolate* which in comparison was as colorless as water. Amado is chocolate. Sexy ghost story whose protagonist is a gifted cook; recipes included.
Thank you for putting into words something I've been feeling for some time, Eliz.
Karen Resta at 11:06AM on 12/31/07
Definitely the Amateur Gourmet's "How to Chop, Shop and Table Hop Like a Pro (Almost)"!
I love that book and it's not a hard read at all!
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 5:44PM on 01/04/08
I'm reading My Life In France -- it would make an excellent airplane read!
LoCo at 6:04PM on 01/04/08