Don't Try This at Home
Edited by Kimberly Witherspoon

In this raucous collection, over forty of the world's greatest chefs relate outrageous true tales from their kitchens. From hiring a blind line cook to flooding the room with meringue to being terrorized by a French owl, these behind-the-scenes accounts are as wildly entertaining as they are revealing. A delicious reminder that even the chefs we most admire aren't always perfect.

Consuming Passions:
A Food-Obsessed Life
Michael Lee West

Don't be surprised if you drool on the pages as you're reading this one. This Southern Tale covers both the new and old South and offers up foods that you probably aren't so familiar with here in the T-dot (Which is why you might find yourself scouring online markets at midnight for ingredients to make Lemon Chess Pie and hush puppies).  This accessible read covers home cooking, whether it's a dish to take to a potluck or feeding friends and family at home, in a completely charming fashion.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time:
My Adventures in Love and Food
Moira Hodgson

This restaurant critic (formerly of the New York Times, currently of the New York Observer) weaves professional, insider secrets of reviewing restaurants for a living with memoir moments that make for a rich, evocative read.  You'll certainly read about many famous chefs and personalities, but it's perhaps Hodgson's life that you will remember most fondly.  Thankfully, recipes are included.

Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Culinary Glory at the Legendary Bocuse d'Or Competition
Andrew Friedman

Competitions are what much of food television is about these days.  So I think it's fitting to include a title like this, where everything is on the line and you can't help but get caught up in 24 culinary teams competing at the most prestigious cooking competition.  Can you imagine having to cook for five and a half hours straight, only to be judged by the world's best chefs?

Gulp.

The story of this competition is intriguing in of itself, but it's the play-by-play detail that will have you flipping pages long after the rest of the family has gone to bed.

The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship
Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel

It's called a "novel cookbook" so it seemed like a good choice for the club - a little bit of fiction and then off into the kitchen to recreate some of the recipes.  Sounds like fun to me.  Lilly and Val are lifelong friends, revealing the novel's details through their letters that also contain recipes.  It's hard to remember that it's a novel at times, because it's written by 2 real-life friends and the dialogue throughout rings true. There are more than 80 recipes here so I bet we'll be cooking as much as reading.

My Kitchen Wars
Betty Fussell

Betty has written at least 12 books, but this title might just be her most compelling.  What's nice is that this cookbook author has gone outside the usual autobiography template and uses acerbic humour to share her stories.  A nice note to end on, don't you think?

Don't Try This at Home
Edited by Kimberly Witherspoon

In this raucous collection, over forty of the world's greatest chefs relate outrageous true tales from their kitchens. From hiring a blind line cook to flooding the room with meringue to being terrorized by a French owl, these behind-the-scenes accounts are as wildly entertaining as they are revealing. A delicious reminder that even the chefs we most admire aren't always perfect.

Consuming Passions:
A Food-Obsessed Life
Michael Lee West

Don't be surprised if you drool on the pages as you're reading this one. This Southern Tale covers both the new and old South and offers up foods that you probably aren't so familiar with here in the T-dot (Which is why you might find yourself scouring online markets at midnight for ingredients to make Lemon Chess Pie and hush puppies).  This accessible read covers home cooking, whether it's a dish to take to a potluck or feeding friends and family at home, in a completely charming fashion.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time:
My Adventures in Love and Food
Moira Hodgson

This restaurant critic (formerly of the New York Times, currently of the New York Observer) weaves professional, insider secrets of reviewing restaurants for a living with memoir moments that make for a rich, evocative read.  You'll certainly read about many famous chefs and personalities, but it's perhaps Hodgson's life that you will remember most fondly.  Thankfully, recipes are included.

Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Culinary Glory at the Legendary Bocuse d'Or Competition
Andrew Friedman

Competitions are what much of food television is about these days.  So I think it's fitting to include a title like this, where everything is on the line and you can't help but get caught up in 24 culinary teams competing at the most prestigious cooking competition.  Can you imagine having to cook for five and a half hours straight, only to be judged by the world's best chefs?

Gulp.

The story of this competition is intriguing in of itself, but it's the play-by-play detail that will have you flipping pages long after the rest of the family has gone to bed.

The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship
Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel

It's called a "novel cookbook" so it seemed like a good choice for the club - a little bit of fiction and then off into the kitchen to recreate some of the recipes.  Sounds like fun to me.  Lilly and Val are lifelong friends, revealing the novel's details through their letters that also contain recipes.  It's hard to remember that it's a novel at times, because it's written by 2 real-life friends and the dialogue throughout rings true. There are more than 80 recipes here so I bet we'll be cooking as much as reading.

My Kitchen Wars
Betty Fussell

Betty has written at least 12 books, but this title might just be her most compelling.  What's nice is that this cookbook author has gone outside the usual autobiography template and uses acerbic humour to share her stories.  A nice note to end on, don't you think?