Book club

What We're Reading: Five Top Book Picks From Our Office

We asked Sarasota Magazine staffers what books they can't put down this summer.

By Hanna Powers August 5, 2019

Image: Shutterstock

Here at Sarasota Magazine, we love to read pretty much everything. Our team is obsessed with sniffing out an endless supply of the best of the written word, and so we asked our group to share their top picks. Add each of these to your to-read list:

The Gourmands' Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy

By Justin Spring

"Any book that my favorite food writer Ruth Reichl writes or recommends, I read. Chronicling six American food writers including Julia Child, M.F.K. Fisher, A.J. Liebling and Alice B. Toklas, The Gourmands’ Way is a much more fun and fascinating read than its title would have you believe. As Reichl wrote in her New York Times review: 'The major players of the postwar food world walk through this book and few are spared. James Beard is a "celebrity-driven businessman, one who had far more income-generating possibilities open to him than mere authorship." Michael Field is "an ambitious New York-based cooking instructor and author." Nora Ephron is "bitchy, gossipy and devious."' Dishing on the food writers I thought I knew, the book not only was entertaining but gave me the chance to be both an armchair traveler and an armchair gourmet." Kelley Lavin, Group Publisher

The Gourmands' Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy 

Redemption

Redemption

By David Baldacci

"The fifth book in the No. 1 New York Times bestselling Memory Man series, Baldacci’s Amos Decker continues to keep me guessing. Lots of action and suspense—the perfect book for your beach bag!" Julia Heslin, Director of Events and Marketing

The House of Broken Angels

By Luis Alberto Urrea

"This is the story of a large, extended Mexican-American family gathering to celebrate the life of its patriarch on the eve of his death. Sounds morbid, but the book is full of laughter and joy. It reminds me that, no matter where we come from, the bonds of love that tie families together are the same. I recently joined the PBS NewsHour/New York Times online book club; this was the July selection." Ilene Denton, Senior Editor

The House of Broken Angels 

Daily Painting: Paint Small and Often to Become a More Creative, Productive, and Successful Artist

By Carol Marine

"I refer to this book frequently and spent time with it this past weekend." Gigi Ortwein, Creative Director

Daily Painting: Paint Small and Often to Become a More Creative, Productive, and Successful Artist

Biscuit Head: New Southern Biscuits, Breakfasts, and Brunch

By Jason and Carolyn Roy

Love Southern cuisine? You need this cookbook, which documents the food at Biscuit Head, a restaurant chain that now claims three locations in Asheville, North Carolina, and a fourth in Greenville, South Carolina. The restaurant is famous for its enormous biscuit sandwiches, a jam and condiment bar the size of a basketball court and tasty vegetable sides, and it even offers such absurd indulgences as a flight of gravies. The main attraction of the cookbook is the core recipe for Biscuit Head's cathead biscuits, made with two types of flour, baking powder, salt, butter and buttermilk, mixed gently and baked in a cast-iron skillet. I've made it so many times I've got the proportions memorized. Cooper Levey-Baker, Associate Editor

Biscuit Head: New Southern Biscuits, Breakfasts, and Brunch  

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