Short Take |
Friends & Family: Some Recent Books I’d Like Even If I Didn’t Know The People
By
Published: Nov 28, 2015
Eating Delancey: A Celebration of Jewish Food
In the introduction, Joan Rivers writes, “Jewish food makes Italian food seem like Lean Cuisine.” Potato pancakes! Jackie Mason jokes! Bagel and a schmear! Ratner’s! Real knishes from Yonah Schimmel!Lox, eggs and onions! Brisket with prunes and raisins! And stories — such stories! My youth comes back to me, my parents’ youth comes back to me, and, come to think of it, my grandparents’ youth comes back to me in this encyclopedia of book, rich in calories, recipes and lore. I worked with Jordan Schaps, the co-author, at New York Magazine, where he was the photography editor. He did great work there. He did even better here. [To buy the book from Amazon, click here.] 1576877221
Roberta Kaplan and Lisa Dickey: ‘Then Comes Marriage: United States V. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA’
When her wife died, the IRS required Edie Windsor to pay $360,000 in estate taxes. As Windsor has said, if her spouse had been named “Theo” rather than “Thea” she would not have had to pay a nickel. Why was she billed? Because the marriage was legal in Canada but not in New York, where they lived. And why was that? Because the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) — signed into law by Bill Clinton — prohibited the federal government from recognizing any same-sex marriages. And why is DOMA gone? Because Roberta Kaplan, Edie Windsor’s genius lawyer, sued on narrow grounds. My friend Lisa Dickey co-authored Kaplan’s book, which will be catnip for lawyers and anyone who loves justice.
To buy the book from Amazon, click here.
For the Kindle edition, click here.
Elizabeth Benedict: ‘Me, My Hair, and I: Twenty-seven Women Untangle an Obsession’
Short hair, long story. Long hair, ditto. And there are also revealing stories here about Hindu Bengali hair, Hasidic hair, gray hair, pubic hair. And Elizabeth Benedict’s hair: “The older I get, the more attention I pay to my hair, and faced with a scalp full of gray roots, the last thing I intend to do is let nature take her course.” Elizabeth Benedict, author of five novels and “The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers,” has been a Guest Butler. I can attest: Women will find humor, insight and poignancy here.
To buy the book from Amazon, click here.
For the Kindle edition, click here.
Ernest Beyl: ‘Sketches From A North Beach Journal’
Ernest Beyl, a former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, has spent decades among the city’s more exotic citizens. Now he’s profiled its whores, poets, kooks, journalists, strippers, musicians, artists and beatniks in a book that will enrich any visit to San Francisco. Among the profiles: Carol Doda, who danced topless, sporting massive silicone breasts. Says Beyl: “It’s invigorating to live in a city where one of the most prominent citizens was a topless dancer.”
To buy the book from Amazon, click here.
Cara Nicoletti: ‘Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books’
Cara Nicolletti “comes from a long line of butchers.” (Her illustrator is the aptly named Marion Bolognesi). She’s also a reader. Combining her interests, she digs into favorite books, extracts their meals — like the garlic soup from “Pride and Prejudice” and the cherry pie from “In Cold Blood” — and produces recipes that recreate them. I can’t help saying it: a delicious book.
To buy the book from Amazon, click here.
For the Kindle edition, click here.
Susan Cheever: ‘Drinking in America: Our Secret History’
We are a nation of drinkers — maybe of drunks. The Mayflower was awash in beer, then ran short, forcing a landing in Massachusetts. The colonists, Cheever estimates, spent 25% of their income on liquor. By 1820, Americans drank three times as much as they do today. Cheever: “The interesting truth, untaught in most schools and unacknowledged in most written history, is that a glass of beer, a bottle of rum, a keg of hard cider, a flask of whiskey, or even a dry martini was often the silent, powerful third party to many decisions that shaped the American story from the 17th century to the present.”
To buy the book from Amazon, click here.
For the Kindle edition, click here.
