Books, books, and more books...

I have lots of  time to find books I want to read lately, but not enough time to actually read them. Maybe once the sub-zero nights and Nor'easter days of winter kick in I'll catch up...not that I'm looking forward to that kind of weather.

I just pre-ordered New York: The Novel on Amazon, after seeing an ad for it in the New York Times Book Review (somewhere a marketing person is giving a little cheer over that statement, believe me). Booklist calls Edward Rutherfurd's 7th novel a "lush, lavish tribute to the Big Apple" that spans four centuries of it's history (880 pages!) "New York's growing pains, tragedies and triumphs, are reflected in the experiences of a range of ordinary and extraordinary citizens from varying backgrounds, with a wide spectrum of ambitions and expectations. Although it is hard to do justice to a city with such a throbbing pulse, Rutherford’s homage is compulsively readable." To learn more you can visit the author's website here. I'm looking forward to reading this book all winter.

Maybe a light-hearted companion to New York: The Novel could be Robinson's New York Line By Line.  From the Amazon description: In the early ’60s, Robinson, a German illustrator, visited New York and documented his trip in his signature style, the self-described "X-ray view," in which he depicts important buildings simultaneously from within and without (instead of showing exactly what was already visible in photographs). Today, with such programs available as Freehand and Illustrator, Robinson is considered a graphics pioneer. From a Greenwich Village restaurant to Chinatown’s Mott Street; from a Museum of Modern Art exhibit to takeoffs and landings at Kennedy Airport; and from the Rockefeller Center ice rink to Times Square, New Yorkers and tourists alike will savor Robinson’s beautiful and meticulous re-creations. The book also includes updated urban facts.

It can sit on my coffee table next to This is New York, a copy of which J gave to me as a gift this past summer. Originally published in 1960 Miroslav Sasek's bright and graphic illustrated picture book of Manhattan is a joy to leaf through for kids and adults alike.

Another new book arrival, completley unrelated to New York (gasp!) is Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. This is the hot-off-the-presses follow-up to the wildly popular Artisan Bread in five Minutes a Day, which I was contemplating purchasing until I began reading comments on Amazon.com and noticed lots of complaints about the book's lack of whole grain recipes. That won't do, I thought, even if their technique takes only 5 seconds a day. A little more searching and I discovered this new book with 100 recipes featuring whole grains, fruit, vegetables, and even gluten-free ingredients. I need a few basic tools before donning my baker's hat (a baking stone and oven thermometer, most importantly) but I'll let you know how their technique works out for an impatient I'd-rather-be-blogging baking novice like myself. Has anyone out there tried it?

Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart recently appeared on my desk at work for a gardening book photo shoot, and I didn't hesitate to take it home with me afterwards (that's the danger of leaving nice books within my reach, and a perk of working for a publisher). This little hardcover would make a wonderful gift for the plant/history/folklore/science lover. Of course the more pages I turn the more paranoid I am about going outside. I thought poison ivy was all I needed to worry about, when in reality my gardens and woods are full of ghoulishly poisonous greenery. 

Last but not least, a couple of weeks ago I went online and felt inexplicably compelled to buy used copies of Kerouac: The Definitve Biography, Visions of Cody (which I somehow never read), and The Subterraneans (my copy disappeared years ago), only realizing a few days later that I'd bought them on October 21 — the 40 year anniversary of Kerouac's death. I love coincidence.

Now I just need more time to read. Maybe while I'm waiting for my bread dough to rest.