The Elliott Bay Book Company

My new go-to cookbook (already spattered and crusty from time spent in the kitchen): Good Fish. Everything I have made so far has been delicious, and not just the fish, quinoa cakes and nettle gnocchi (yum). And the suggested wine pairings are wonderful (because they are not all white and not all wine)! The on-line video tutorials are pure manna for learning new techniques. It's all good!

What would you do if the closet door really did open to an enchanted land? Would your life be changed if you found out magic was real—would it be complete or would you still yearn for greener pastures? The Magicians is a simply brilliant metaphor for the human condition. Escape today. Be transported.

Vulgar! Vulgar! Vulgar! Also, hysterically funny. A blessedly atypical memoir of addiction which does not end all puppies and rainbows (oh, alright, there is a cat). Ab Fab. Really.

The companion to Savvy (set 9 years later) we meet a whole new branch of the Beaumont clan as thirteen year old Ledger Kale tries to handle his own new savvy during a family festivity. Of course, mayhem and adventure ensue. Scumble is pure delight (even if you’re not a kid) with language that just must be read aloud.

"What traitors books can be! You think they're backing you up, and they turn on you. Others can use, too, and there you are, lost in the middle of the moor, in a great welter of nouns and verbs and adjectives." -from the book.
This sumptuously illustrated edition won't betray you.

Much has been written in recent years about the economic effect of discount stores; but where did this perception come from? Atlantic correspondent Ellen Ruppel Shell chronicles our initial distrust of cheap to its current popularity. From food, to clothing and furniture this comprehensive volume analyzes the real price of cheap.

Mark Doty is a poet—you can tell by the tender care he takes with the words of his narrative. Dog Years is about loss and grief—the death of his partner, the death of his dog, and it is heartwrenching. You will cry but like me you will be so grateful that someone is able (and brave enough) to articulate the astonishing weight of love and loss.

You could devote a lifetime—nay—two to discovering the author of the timeless and brilliant plays. OR you could be greatly entertained and equally informed by Bill Bryson in his succinct biography. (Then you could tell all those Oxfordians that they are full of old air.)

Everything you wanted to know about traffic but were afraid to ask.... Are traffic circles effective? Do freeway on-ramp signals work? What is the most efficient way to find a parking spot? Is it better to merge early or late? Fascinating!

As a once devoted—nay—evangelical baseball fan (the strike of '94 really soured me greatly to "Professional Athletics") I loved David Halberstam's Summer of '49.
The author captures that sense of naïve devotion in the context of the magical season between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. But it is so much more than a baseball story as Halberstam examines the tempo and tone of post-war America. You will get chills at the prophetic words of Ellis Kinder as he predicts the day when pro-ballplayers will be payed millions. Truly magnificent.

If you enjoyed Alan Lightman's Einstein's Dreams, The Man Who Turned Into Himself is right up your alley. Think of it as string-theory in novel form.

 

I realize my interest in Julia Child dances close to obsession, but I want to live in her world! My Life in France chronicles, (in her own delightful, personable style) the years she and husband Paul lived in France. She talks with frankness about Paul's frustration working for the U.S. government, and with ernestness about her developing palate and interest in food. Without a doubt this is the best escape I have had in years.

After I finished Julie and Julia, Julie Powell's funny and daring account of her yearlong quest to cook everything for Mastering the Art of French Cooking I really wanted to know more about Julia Child. Appetite for Life introduced me to the fascinating life of this beloved figure. She worked in Asia for the OSS where she met the love of her life, husband Paul Child. It was Paul who introduced Julia to the world of food. At nearly forty, she entered Le Cordon Bleu and began the career path that would lead to the publication of her masterpiece cookbooks and the PBS series The French Chef. Her comfortable manner and passion for her topic made her a national treasure, and my personal hero.

Heat is such a terrific read whether you are a culinary professional or a dedicated home cook. Buford is wise (and wisecracking) and genuinely taken in by food. How else could he dedicate so many pages to making perfect polenta?

Sisters Dora and Claire Williamson, wealthy British heiresses, took a detour of their 1911 world tour to undergo treatment from Dr. Linda Hazzard—a "fasting speacialist". It was a catastophic starvation diet, which lead to Claire's death—not the first victim of this quack or her sinister legal manipulations. What Erik Larson did for Chicago in Devil in the White City, Gregg Olsen does for the tiny Pacific Northwest town of Olalla in this gruesome and fascinating true crime expose!

I'm not sure I'm a freak (the possibility exists) but I know Candyfreak made me laugh my candy*ss off! Read on page 33 "Mistakes Were Made" (and I happen to LOVE Peeps) for a tiny taste of the author's extraordinary humor--very highly recommended!!!

The way I see it everybody needs three copies of this book. One stays on your person so you always have the perfect little book to dip into while waiting at the bank or the dentist. #2 is prominently displayed in your home for guests to peruse and strike up a conversation. Then you magnanimously offer said guest YOUR copy (because you know you have a third.

The year is 1896, and Helga Estby, mother of eight, has decided to accept a $10,000 wager to walk from Spokane, Washington to New York City. To her, the prize will allow her and her family to keep her homestead in Eastern Washington. This is an absolutely engrossing account of a grand escape and a wonderful glimpse of history from a determined woman's eyes—excellent reading.

Last Breath is just great reading. (If you've got teen sons who sort of shrug at books, try this on 'em.) Entertaining and fascinating.