The Book Club Cookbook (Paperback)

by Judy Gelman (Author), Vicki Levy Krupp (Author) "EDITH WHARTON became the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize when, in 1921, she received the award for The Age of Innocence, her novel..." (more)
Key Phrases: skin from the oil, thematic food, one thousand white women, New York, World War, Cane River (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
"Whether you’re looking to start a book club, choose your book club’s next reading selection, find a recipe to match with a book or gather fresh food ideas, this volume can help," declare authors Gelman and Krupp, a PR consultant and an educator, respectively. To gather all that material, they contacted members of dozens of book clubs throughout the country—from clubs of Jewish moms in Atlanta to psychotherapists in Connecticut—and quickly discovered that these chatty groups are diverse, passionate and boast an impressive camaraderie. It’s logical, then, that this collaborative project offers all sorts of anecdotes and food ideas from club members and profiles of various clubs, in addition to recipes drawn from favorite books. (Short plot summaries of each suggested title are also included.) The choices range from Anna Karenina’s Wild Mushrooms on Toast and Life of Pi’s Tandoori Shrimp to The Hours’s Crab Casserole and Nickel and Dimed’s Mozzarella Sticks. Part cookbook, part celebration of the written word, the volume illustrates how books and ideas can bring people together. And considering that there’s an estimated seven million people in America involved in book clubs these days, this should prove to be a popular volume.
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Product Description
Add a delicious ingredient to your book club gatherings!

Whether it’s mojitos with Love in the Time of Cholera or honey cake with The Secret Life of Bees, nothing spices up a book club meeting like great eats.

Featuring recipes and discussion ideas for one hundred popular book club selections, The Book Club Cookbook will guide you in selecting and preparing culinary masterpieces that blend perfectly with the literary masterpieces your club is reading. With contributions from many of the authors of these favorite books themselves, as well as profiles of book clubs all across the country that are creatively integrating food into their meetings, this singular cookbook includes such scrumptious pairings as:

Tandoori Shrimp with Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Mint Juleps with The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Her Majesty's Spinach Borek (Pastry) and Her Majesty's Mujadara (Lentils and Rice) with Cucumber Yogurt with Leap of Faith by Queen Noor

Great Grandma Olivia’s Sweet Potato Pie with Sugar by Bernice McFadden

Spicy Pork with Orange Hoisin Sauce in Wonton Cups with Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Death by Chocolate with The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Ambrosia with To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Joan and Lalita’s Peach Cobbler with Cane River by Lalita Tademy

Griet’s Vegetable Soup with Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Britta’s Crab Casserole with The Hours by Michael Cunningham

and many more! The first cookbook designed specifically for book clubs, The Book Club Cookbook will add some real flavor to your book club meetings.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher (May 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158542322X
• ISBN-13: 978-1585423224
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #160,239 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great reading, great recipes., June 22, 2004

By	Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

While many of us enjoy "reading" cookbooks, checking through recipes and making notes of new discoveries, this cookbook provides a totally different type of reading experience. Authors Gelman and Krupp, both members of several book clubs, decided that instead of organizing a cookbook around the foods and recipes mentioned in particular novels, memoirs, or non-fiction (which has been done before), that they would start instead by choosing the one hundred favorite books of book clubs from around the country. The list they developed includes the classics, such as Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence; current affairs, such as Reading Lolita in Tehran; contemporary fiction, such as Empire Falls; historical fiction, such as Ahab's Wife; history, such as No Ordinary Time; and memoirs, such as Wild Swans.

Having chosen the one hundred books first, the authors then checked to see if foods were featured in the book, and if so, they looked for the best recipes they could find for each of these foods. If food did not play an important role in the book, they contacted the book clubs to see what they might have served in conjunction with their discussions of these books, sometimes tapping into favorite family recipes of club members and sometimes seeking recipes from specialty restaurants. On occasion, they even contacted the authors of the books themselves. In every case, they found recipes, some from well known sources, that compliment the books and their discussions.

Each of the one hundred books is summarized at the beginning of the section and accompanied not only by one or more recipes but also with a profile of a participating book club, noting the activities each club sponsored in conjunction with the book, and describing what makes each club unique. The recipes are as varied as the countries of origin of the books and fall into categories ranging from appetizers to desserts and beverages. Featured recipes include Artichoke-Jalapeno Spread on Baguettes with Tomato Bruschetta Topping, Shrimp Flautas, Biryani, Spiced Plum Kolaches, Hmong Eggrolls, and a to-die-for dessert called Death by Chocolate. The only weakness I have found is with the index, which contains the standard breakdown into appetizers, desserts, etc., but simply lists the page numbers where a reader can find examples of these categories, and does not list the names of the recipes themselves, an omission that is time-consuming for the cook who wants to use this as a regular cookbook. Mary Whipple

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Culinary Companion to Book Clubs, July 24, 2004

By	John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Have you ever wondered how to serve a suitable meal for a book discussion at your local book club? Whether you can serve a meal which is thematically related to the book being discussed? If the answers to both are yes, then the perfect solution is acquiring a copy of Judy Gelman's and Vicki Levy Krupp's "The Book Club Cook Book". The authors contacted members from over one hundred book clubs within the United States, soliciting comments not only the books themselves, but also on the meals served at these discussions (For the record, I am an outgoing coordinator of a book club, and am quoted in several entries.).

Each book listed is accompanied by a brief summary, including comments from book club members, and a recipe for an appropriate dish (For example, for Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes", is a recipe for Irish Soda Bread.). There is also an in-depth profile of a book club. So if you are wondering what to serve for a discussion of Yann Martel's novel "Life of Pi", then a suitable dish might be the Tandoori Shrimp featured for this entry.

This is a fun, highly informative book which will interest long-time book club members and those who are just joining. To their credit, the authors also provide some excellent tips on how to organize your own book club. Without question, "The Book Club Cook Book" may become the essential reference guide to serving meals at book club meetings.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book, July 11, 2004

By	ed wolowicz (Lincoln, Nebraska) - See all my reviews

I totally enjoyed reading this book. Although a lot of my friends consider me a "foodie", I really enjoyed reading the entries about the books and about what book clubs are doing across the country. My wife belongs to a book club, and we have been fighting over who gets the book each night. The recipes and the book summaries are great. I particularly enjoyed the mojitos and the honey cake, but so many of the recipes have been useful and intriguing. Great book.