Curl Up With a Good Book This February

Blood, Bones and Butter:  The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton (2011)

The memoir by chef and writer Gabrielle Hamilton is full of twists and turns but always includes a love of food underneath it all.  From the outside, her life seems very complicated, but the reader doesn’t get the sense that she feels that way.  Perhaps that’s because she writes with unflinching honesty and a bit of dry humor.  Her descriptions of her childhood in rural New Jersey/Pennsylvania are lovely and the stories of her parents are compelling. When that life fell apart upon the divorce of her parents, Hamilton spent the next 20 years or so trying to find her place in the world. She lived a wild life in her teens and twenties but eventually, in her thirties, found herself in Ann Arbor where she earned an MFA from the University of Michigan. She went on to open Prune, her restaurant in the East Village, where she chefs every day. Even though the descriptions of ingredients, cooking methods and restaurant life are interesting, this book is not just for foodies.  ~ Recommended by Sheila

Aftermath: A Hennessy and Yellich Mystery by Peter Turnbull  (2010)

The English estate of Bromyards was the place to work for the villagers of Milking Nook until the owner passed away and an English couple, known to each other since their school days, maliciously use the kitchen garden of the manor house in a most murderous manner. Solicitor John Seers, sent to inventory the contents of the house, discovers five mostly skeletal human bodies laid side-by-side.  The police team of Hennessy and Yellich are frustrated at every turn until a bizarre connection among the victims turns up.  This gripping entry in British author Turnbull’s long-running series featuring George Hennessy and Somerled Yellich is his twentieth suspense novel.   ~ Recommended by Kathy

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (2011)

Enter the world of Hadley Richardson, first wife of Ernest Hemingway. Moving from Chicago to France during the Jazz Age of the 1920s, they were poor newlyweds filled with passion for each other and excitement for the Paris literary scene. As Hemingway became more and more involved with his writing, Hadley turned to her own creative pursuits to fill her time in an attempt to squelch her jealousy and become more independent. This fictional biography, which is hard to put down, thoroughly details the rise and fall of their marriage.  ~ Recommended by Rebekah

Saturday by Ian McEwan (2005)

This Saturday Dr. Henry Perowne, a brilliant London neurosurgeon, is looking forward to filling his day off with a visit to his invalid mother, a game of squash and preparing a welcome dinner for his daughter visiting from Paris, when his life and family are threatened by three gangsters. The suspense builds as Dr. Perowne is faced with conflicting emotions and choices between helping those he loves and the intruder, Baxter, who is in need of his professional expertise.   ~ Recommended by Regina