Best of Books – August 2015

My life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’ Homme
Here is a captivating story in her own words by Julia Child’s years in France, where she fell in love with French food and found her true calling. My Life In France is an autobiography of Julia Child which covered her initial years of cooking career and a heart-touching love connection she shared with her husband. This book is filled with the beautiful black and white photographs that Paul loved to take of her and their daily chores.

Mistress of spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakurani
The Mistress of Spices is a tale of joy and sorrow and one special woman’s magical powers. Tilo born in another time in a faraway place is trained in the ancient art of spices, and ordained as mistress charged with special powers. The now immortal Tilo in an artistic body of an old woman travels through time to Oakland, California where she opens a shop as a curator of spices. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she is forced to choose the supernatural life of an immortal and the vicissitudes of modern life buy a handsome stranger whom she falls in love with.

Eat Pray love by Elizabeth Gilbert
In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert has everything – a perfect husband , country home and a successful career, and is still not happy with her life. This book is all about how she left everything, following a divorce and depression, and set out to examine three aspects of her nature against the three different cultures – pleasures in Italy , devotion in India and a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence on Indonesian island of Bali.

 Bread Alone by Judi Hendricks
31-year old Wynter Morrison is lost when her husband leaves her for another woman. Looking for change, she moves to Seattle where she spends lot of time at a local bakery sipping coffee. Her endless hours at the bakery brings back memories of the time she spent at French boulangerie which persuaded her to leave college and become a baker. When offered a job in bake shop, she accepts it and realises that baking possesses an unexpected and wondrous healing power.

When in doubt, Add butter by Beth Harbison
As far as Gemma is concerned, she’s all over the age of dating. At her mid-thirties, she has her own business as a chef. And there’s Lex, the fussy but fabulous department store owner who needs to lose weight under doctor’s orders but still cannot stay without butter, which seems to make everything better for him.  Van Houghtens, whose matriarch is “allergic to everything” whom she calls Mr. Tuesday, is someone she actually has never met. Gemma’s life is pretty predictable but she takes an unexpected turn on a road which she thought was straight, faces some unexpected things which she never imagined. Because in life all you need are hope, courage and butter.