Delicious by Ruth Reichl

I confess that I started the Peanut Blossom Book Club for Recovering Readers as a way to ensure that I make time for reading myself. Without our lovely group, it is quite possible I'd read less than 1 or 2 books in any given year. Last fall I got ambitious and tried to read an 'in-between' book pick. I got several chapters in and loved it but had to pause to get to the official monthly pick by our deadline. You can guess what happened next. . . that book is still sitting on my shelf unread.

Since I loved the first few chapters so much and want to see how it ends, I chose Delicious by Ruth Reichl as our November pick! This cute foodie-centric book feels like just the right choice as we head into some of the biggest foodie holidays of the whole year!

Check out the full book description for Delicious:

"Ruth Reichl is a born storyteller. Through her restaurant reviews, where she celebrated the pleasures of a well-made meal, and her bestselling memoirs that address our universal feelings of love and loss, Reichl has achieved a special place in the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers. Now, with this magical debut novel, she has created a sumptuous, wholly realized world that will enchant you.

Billie Breslin has traveled far from her home in California to take a job at Delicious!, New York’s most iconic food magazine. Away from her family, particularly her older sister, Genie, Billie feels like a fish out of water—until she is welcomed by the magazine’s colorful staff. She is also seduced by the vibrant downtown food scene, especially by Fontanari’s, the famous Italian food shop where she works on weekends. Then Delicious! is abruptly shut down, but Billie agrees to stay on in the empty office, maintaining the hotline for reader complaints in order to pay her bills.

To Billie’s surprise, the lonely job becomes the portal to a miraculous discovery. In a hidden room in the magazine’s library, Billie finds a cache of letters written during World War II by Lulu Swan, a plucky twelve-year-old, to the legendary chef James Beard. Lulu’s letters provide Billie with a richer understanding of history, and a feeling of deep connection to the young writer whose courage in the face of hardship inspires Billie to comes to terms with her fears, her big sister and her ability to open her heart to love."

And then go grab a copy of Delicious here so you can join us for our book club discussion on November 17. Be sure to RSVP here!