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Samin Nosrat says the key to good food is to trust your instincts | ||
The Thread's Must-Read | ||
| “Mothers and Other Strangers” by Gina Sorell “Arcadia” by Lauren Groff Buy these books I inadvertently kicked off my summer reading list with two novels about creepy cults and now I'm in a lazy, hazy, chill state of mind. Lauren Groff's “Arcadia” has been lurking on my Kindle ever since I devoured her hit novel, “Fates & Furies,” last year, but I was waiting for one of those moments when time stretches out and reading feels unhurried and luxurious. I found that moment on a recent hiking trip in the U.K., and the experience of immersing myself in Groff's rural New York commune is now inextricably linked in my memory with the wild Welsh hills and valleys I was explored on that adventure. Groff's story unfolds amid the magical forests and bountiful fields of a 1965 hippie community where possessions are shared, free love abounds, the cult leader is a traveling troubador and “it takes a village to raise a child." As with Groff's “Fates,” the writing is sublime and sensual. She creates a secretive and shimmering paradise that is inevitably tainted by the real world. But Gina Sorell's cult in “Mothers and Other Strangers” is a darker more ominous one. The Seekers are led by a charismatic Frenchman with an eye for rich women — and their daughters. We meet Elspeth, who has been estranged from her mother since she was a teen. When she gets word that her mother has died alone and impoverished, Elsie unravels the mystery of her mother's youth in South Africa, her travels with The Seekers and her passionate alliance with Phillippe, the cult leader. This debut novel also has one of the best opening sentences I've read in a long time: “My father proposed to my mother at gunpoint when she was nineteen and knowing she was already pregnant with a dead man's child, she accepted.” -K.M. | ||
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| This Week on The Thread | ||
| Denis Johnson, author who wrote of the "painfully beautiful," dies at 67 The National Book Award-winning novelist was perhaps best known for "Jesus' Son," a book of interwoven stories focused on the lives of addicts. More | ||
| Indie bookstores hold steady in tough retail market In recent years, independent stores have been helped by a variety of factors, from the fall of Borders and the struggles of Barnes & Noble to the leveling off of e-book sales. More | ||
| A spin on Tolkien's real life love story "The Tale of Beren and Lúthien" by J.R.R. Tolkien Buy this book J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christopher proves an able guide through "Beren and Luthien," his father's haunting tale of a mortal man who falls in love with the daughter of a disapproving Elven King. More | ||
| Remembering the great poet Gwendolyn Brooks at 100 A new biography celebrates the life and legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who wrote about ordinary black life using extraordinary language. More | ||
| Love, money and betrayal make for great storytelling "The Heirs" by Susan Rieger Buy this book Susan Rieger's new book follows an upper-crust Upper West Side family whose certainties are thrown into doubt after their father dies and an unknown Other Woman sues his estate for child support. More | ||
| Sen. Al Franken embraces "the funny" again in new book "Al Franken: Giant of the Senate" by Al Franken Buy this book The Minnesota Democrat recounts his journey from "Saturday Night Live" to the Senate — and explains why comedy works in confirmation hearings: "Comedians kind of get to the point in an effective way." More | ||
| Rejecting young black male stereotypes "Dandy Lion: The Black Dandy and Street Style" Buy this book "The Dandy Lion Project" focused on black men in cities around the world with an aesthetic that incorporates European and African influences. That project is now a book. More | ||
| An illustrated guide to master the elements of cooking — without recipes "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" by Samin Nosrat Buy this book In her new cookbook, Samin Nosrat says the key to good food is learning to balance those elements when cooking — and to trust your instincts. More | ||
| A brilliant novel told through ten conversations "Outline" by Rachel Cusk Buy this book "I think it's so disarming because it's so simple, and yet I kept re-reading 'Outline.' I kept going back to it and being spellbound by how brilliant it is," said bookseller Richard DeWyngaert. More | ||
| David Sedaris on the life-altering and mundane pages of his old diaries "Theft by Finding" by David Sedaris Buy this book David Sedaris' new book is a collection of excerpts from his diaries. In it, he revisits major turning points, like how he met his longtime boyfriend and his decision to stop drinking. More | ||
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