Since I'm a reader and all...

It's been requested of me to start writing about good books. Me and books go together like peanut butter and jelly, hence my career in publishing. I am always in the middle of at least two, possibly more (generally, a hardcover for home and a paperback for the train). I also am always giving suggestions, but I think because I just give so darn many, people forget. And let's face it, it often goes in one ear and out the other unless it's in writing.

So, now begins a new feature where I will discuss good books. I'll start with one I just finished, because it's been far too long since I finished a really good one. I'll go back and discuss some of my old favorites as well, but right now I'd like to discuss Heat by Bill Buford.

I was lucky enough to snag a copy of this book at the New Yorker Magazine's Spring Books Party at Housing Works here in Manhattan. I therefore got the book for half-price, and the proceeds went to a good cause (Housing Works).

Heat was the book I was excited to crack on my beyond-wonderful vacation in Northern Michigan, because I remembered reading a profile in the New Yorker Mag, years ago, about Mario Batali, and found it fascinating. The best part of this profile was that the writer, Buford (the former fiction editor at the mag) had apprenticed in Batali's famous kitchen at Babbo (his famous restaurant) and it just stuck in my head.

I was thrilled to find Buford had written a book about his extensive time interning (or externing in culinary lingo) in Batali's kitchen (hitting every station, from lowly prep to pasta and grill). But not only was I rewarded with an interesting behind-the-scenes narrative of what goes on in a three-star kitchen, but also the insight into Batali, such a fascinating guy with an interesting background, and a culinary master and innovator.

Buford also went to Italy (a country I adore and would kill to spend any extensive amount of time in) to learn the ancient art of pasta making, and butchery from a Dante-quoting infamous butcher in Tuscany.

If you are an avid Food Network watcher as I am, or just enjoy reading about food because you can learn so damn much, you should pick up this book. I learned a lot, and felt myself lusting after Buford's ability to spend so much time in Italy over the course of this book, but also for deconstructing the myth of a mythic man and his kitchen.

The next food book on my plate is The Ominvore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, but I need a little palate cleanse, excuse the pun. I'm going to read The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards first, which is shaping up to be this year's Kite Runner or The Secret Life of Bees.

Enjoy!