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Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books
An Irresistible Literary Feast
Stories and recipes inspired by the world's great books
As a young bookworm reading in her grandfather's butcher shop, Cara Nicoletti saw how books and food bring people to life. Now a butcher, cook, and talented writer, she serves up stories and recipes inspired by beloved books and the food that gives their characters depth and personality.
From the breakfast sausage in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods to chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream from Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, these books and the tasty treats in them put her on the road to happiness.
Cooking through the books that changed her life, Nicoletti shares fifty recipes, including:
* The perfect soft-boiled egg in Jane Austen's Emma
* Grilled peaches with homemade ricotta in tribute to Joan Didion's "Goodbye to All That"
* New England clam chowder inspired by Herman Melville's Moby-Dick
* Fava bean and chicken liver mousse crostini (with a nice Chianti) after Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs
* Brown butter crêpes from Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl
Beautifully illustrated, clever, and full of heart, Voracious will satisfy anyone who loves a fantastic meal with family and friends-or curling up with a great novel for dessert.
Stories and recipes inspired by the world's great books
As a young bookworm reading in her grandfather's butcher shop, Cara Nicoletti saw how books and food bring people to life. Now a butcher, cook, and talented writer, she serves up stories and recipes inspired by beloved books and the food that gives their characters depth and personality.
From the breakfast sausage in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods to chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream from Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, these books and the tasty treats in them put her on the road to happiness.
Cooking through the books that changed her life, Nicoletti shares fifty recipes, including:
* The perfect soft-boiled egg in Jane Austen's Emma
* Grilled peaches with homemade ricotta in tribute to Joan Didion's "Goodbye to All That"
* New England clam chowder inspired by Herman Melville's Moby-Dick
* Fava bean and chicken liver mousse crostini (with a nice Chianti) after Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs
* Brown butter crêpes from Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl
Beautifully illustrated, clever, and full of heart, Voracious will satisfy anyone who loves a fantastic meal with family and friends-or curling up with a great novel for dessert.
267 pages, Hardcover
First published August 18, 2015
90 people are currently reading
5424 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 481 reviews
August 16, 2018
the ratio of text-to-recipes in this book skews strongly towards the recipe side of things - about 2-3 pages of writing per recipe - which is a shame because like Jenny Lawson and Samantha Ellis and Sarah Hepola, i love this woman's voice and enthusiasm, and she is someone i would love to hang out with, please!
she loves books and she loves food, and her trajectory from smalltown new england booknerd to NYU and big city/big apple dweller is like a younger and much more successful version of me.
this book is the author's love letter to books through cooking. in How To Be a Heroine, ellis revisited all her childhood favorites, reassessing the heroines contained therein to see what she could learn from them as an adult. in this book, the author, a lifelong foodie who is now in the biz herself, goes back to her childhood favorites with a focus on all the food the characters ate and replicates them in her own kitchen, for better or worse.
it is a delightful journey through fifty different texts. FIFTY!! and many of them are books not even necessarily known for their food-bits. i mean, who remembers the food in Gone Girl?? or In the Woods?? or The Secret History?? cara nicoletti, that's who! she remembers the brown butter crepes, the chocolate-covered digestive biscuits, the wine-braised leg of lamb with wild mushrooms.
unlike heroine, i've actually read most of the books she covers - a whopping 31/50! (i promise i will read Anna Karenina someday, i promise. but not because of the oysters and cucumber mignonette)
i absolutely do remember the chowder scene from Moby-Dick; or, The Whale - it's probably the best part of that overrated book. and with books like Down and Out in Paris and London and The Silence of the Lambs, food is integral to the story itself. and although she sometimes changes certain components of the dish (for example, she wusses out and uses chicken livers instead of human ones in her The Silence of the Lambs-inspired crostini with fava beans and chicken liver mousses), they remain true to the spirit of the food in the book.
and while i liked Middlesex more then i would (probably) like the olive oil yogurt cake she rhapsodizes over, i know i would like her whole roasted trout more than i liked The Dog Stars.
the book is divided into the segments of "childhood", "adolescence and college years", and "adulthood," as she chronicles her reading past with personal anecdotes about the book's importance to her life at the time, and the nostalgia the creation of these recipes instilled in her.
she makes some great points and realizations along the way. she relates a comical misunderstanding anecdote about being on a first date with a boy she fancied, and running right out afterwards to buy the book he claimed was "full of adventure and friendship and humor" and "changed [his] entire view of what it means to be a man." the book?? The Road. and the book horrified her by page fifty and she had to abandon it, only to visit his apartment a few days later to see a STACK of MULTIPLE EDITIONS of On the Road, complete with the handwritten notes and underlines of an enamored reader.
And while I can chalk up forgetting the name of your favorite novel to first-date jitters, allowing Jack Kerouac to define for you what it means to be a man is, for me, an issue. That dinner was our last.
BOOM! drop that mic!
this made me want to pick up Where the Red Fern Grows again (for maybe my tenth reading), only this time - to read it while munching on skillet cornbread with honey butter.
and, while it's far too much work for a lazy like myself, i long for her to be my friend so she can make me a nancy drew-inspired double chocolate walnut sundae. 'cuz i'm not making ice cream AND candied walnuts AND chocolate fudge sauce for such a fleeting pleasure. and nota bene - if i make these brown butter chocolate chip cookies, i am NOT going to share it with a mouse. chris' review taught me what happens when you give a cookie to one of those freeloaders.
if you wince at her selection of pea and bacon soup for Charlotte's Web, know that she winced, too. but as an animal-loving butcher from a family of butchers, she comes to terms with the seeming contradiction, with help from the writings of fellow farmer and animal-lover E.B. White himself.
it's a wonderful book for food- and book-lovers alike, and my only wish is that there had been more of her stories alongside the (delicious-sounding) recipes.
come to my blog!
she loves books and she loves food, and her trajectory from smalltown new england booknerd to NYU and big city/big apple dweller is like a younger and much more successful version of me.
this book is the author's love letter to books through cooking. in How To Be a Heroine, ellis revisited all her childhood favorites, reassessing the heroines contained therein to see what she could learn from them as an adult. in this book, the author, a lifelong foodie who is now in the biz herself, goes back to her childhood favorites with a focus on all the food the characters ate and replicates them in her own kitchen, for better or worse.
it is a delightful journey through fifty different texts. FIFTY!! and many of them are books not even necessarily known for their food-bits. i mean, who remembers the food in Gone Girl?? or In the Woods?? or The Secret History?? cara nicoletti, that's who! she remembers the brown butter crepes, the chocolate-covered digestive biscuits, the wine-braised leg of lamb with wild mushrooms.
unlike heroine, i've actually read most of the books she covers - a whopping 31/50! (i promise i will read Anna Karenina someday, i promise. but not because of the oysters and cucumber mignonette)
i absolutely do remember the chowder scene from Moby-Dick; or, The Whale - it's probably the best part of that overrated book. and with books like Down and Out in Paris and London and The Silence of the Lambs, food is integral to the story itself. and although she sometimes changes certain components of the dish (for example, she wusses out and uses chicken livers instead of human ones in her The Silence of the Lambs-inspired crostini with fava beans and chicken liver mousses), they remain true to the spirit of the food in the book.
and while i liked Middlesex more then i would (probably) like the olive oil yogurt cake she rhapsodizes over, i know i would like her whole roasted trout more than i liked The Dog Stars.
the book is divided into the segments of "childhood", "adolescence and college years", and "adulthood," as she chronicles her reading past with personal anecdotes about the book's importance to her life at the time, and the nostalgia the creation of these recipes instilled in her.
she makes some great points and realizations along the way. she relates a comical misunderstanding anecdote about being on a first date with a boy she fancied, and running right out afterwards to buy the book he claimed was "full of adventure and friendship and humor" and "changed [his] entire view of what it means to be a man." the book?? The Road. and the book horrified her by page fifty and she had to abandon it, only to visit his apartment a few days later to see a STACK of MULTIPLE EDITIONS of On the Road, complete with the handwritten notes and underlines of an enamored reader.
And while I can chalk up forgetting the name of your favorite novel to first-date jitters, allowing Jack Kerouac to define for you what it means to be a man is, for me, an issue. That dinner was our last.
BOOM! drop that mic!
this made me want to pick up Where the Red Fern Grows again (for maybe my tenth reading), only this time - to read it while munching on skillet cornbread with honey butter.
and, while it's far too much work for a lazy like myself, i long for her to be my friend so she can make me a nancy drew-inspired double chocolate walnut sundae. 'cuz i'm not making ice cream AND candied walnuts AND chocolate fudge sauce for such a fleeting pleasure. and nota bene - if i make these brown butter chocolate chip cookies, i am NOT going to share it with a mouse. chris' review taught me what happens when you give a cookie to one of those freeloaders.
if you wince at her selection of pea and bacon soup for Charlotte's Web, know that she winced, too. but as an animal-loving butcher from a family of butchers, she comes to terms with the seeming contradiction, with help from the writings of fellow farmer and animal-lover E.B. White himself.
it's a wonderful book for food- and book-lovers alike, and my only wish is that there had been more of her stories alongside the (delicious-sounding) recipes.
come to my blog!
October 16, 2016
Voracious is so much fun. It is a foodie's honest and open-hearted memoir in which she weaves literary themed recipes each chapter and gives a brief summary of the novel that included it. Pair this with Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist and you've got the makings of a bookworm's dream feast!
The chapters from Cara's childhood were some of my favorites because they were so relatable. "I cooked and read my way through awkward middle school years, first love, devastating heartbreaks, loss, and change. As I grew older, though, reading and cooking became the forces that broke me out of my shell, allowing me to form strong relationships and connect to the world around me." pg 5, ebook.
Or this part, when she and her friends find Grimm's Fairy Tales in the attic: "We were heavily into mysteries and ghost stories at the time, and when we found the book we were certain that we had discovered some dark secret that my parents had tried to keep under lock and key." pg 13, ebook. I know that feeling- when I was ten or eleven, I found a copy of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine that Grandma had loaned to my mother and I had read half of it before Mom discovered me, contently turning pages in the summer sun. She took it away saying, "This is too old for you." Some humbug mothers, hmph. I learned to hide when I was reading anything that I thought she wouldn't want me to. Can't keep a bookworm down.
In this passage, Cara talks about the culinary conundrum of gingerbread houses: "You toil and sweat, smelling good smells and touching sticky dough and mixing sweet icing for hours and your only reward is visual. It seems so wrong." pg 15, ebook. I've always thought that too!
If I try any of the recipes in here, it's going to be: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (pg 34, ebook) or To Kill a Mockingbird: Biscuits with Molasses Butter (pg 93, book). I think that some of the huge list of offerings in this book are only for "brave" kitchen people. Cara includes recipes for homemade doughnuts, ice cream, chocolate eclairs... things that I don't think I'll ever gear myself up to attempt. But, she makes me want to try and I suppose that is half of the battle.
Highly recommended for anybody who likes to eat, read, or do both at the same time. I would guess that's pretty much everybody on Goodreads.
The chapters from Cara's childhood were some of my favorites because they were so relatable. "I cooked and read my way through awkward middle school years, first love, devastating heartbreaks, loss, and change. As I grew older, though, reading and cooking became the forces that broke me out of my shell, allowing me to form strong relationships and connect to the world around me." pg 5, ebook.
Or this part, when she and her friends find Grimm's Fairy Tales in the attic: "We were heavily into mysteries and ghost stories at the time, and when we found the book we were certain that we had discovered some dark secret that my parents had tried to keep under lock and key." pg 13, ebook. I know that feeling- when I was ten or eleven, I found a copy of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine that Grandma had loaned to my mother and I had read half of it before Mom discovered me, contently turning pages in the summer sun. She took it away saying, "This is too old for you." Some humbug mothers, hmph. I learned to hide when I was reading anything that I thought she wouldn't want me to. Can't keep a bookworm down.
In this passage, Cara talks about the culinary conundrum of gingerbread houses: "You toil and sweat, smelling good smells and touching sticky dough and mixing sweet icing for hours and your only reward is visual. It seems so wrong." pg 15, ebook. I've always thought that too!
If I try any of the recipes in here, it's going to be: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (pg 34, ebook) or To Kill a Mockingbird: Biscuits with Molasses Butter (pg 93, book). I think that some of the huge list of offerings in this book are only for "brave" kitchen people. Cara includes recipes for homemade doughnuts, ice cream, chocolate eclairs... things that I don't think I'll ever gear myself up to attempt. But, she makes me want to try and I suppose that is half of the battle.
Highly recommended for anybody who likes to eat, read, or do both at the same time. I would guess that's pretty much everybody on Goodreads.
March 13, 2016
Rather disappointing. Great concept, but neither her anecdotes, her reading choices, or her recipes were very interesting to me. Also, the culinary selections often seemed minimally connected to the books, and the whole thing felt as if it were forced for the sake of a blog concept.
Maybe I'm just spoiled by knowing people like karen and Kinga who do this sort of thing better.
Maybe I'm just spoiled by knowing people like karen and Kinga who do this sort of thing better.
June 28, 2020
This was a fun and quick read. It’s part memoir, partly about books, and part cookbook. The author, Cara Nicoletti, loves to read, and she loves to cook. She spent much of her childhood in her grandfather’s butcher shop. She is a former pastry chef, a butcher, and food blogger.
The book is divided into three sections – books that have influenced her during either childhood, adolescence, or adulthood. Each chapter focuses on a different book and includes a recipe that she associates with the story.
I was intrigued by the fact that she had paid such close attention to various food scenes and descriptions in books. I thought that I was obsessed with food, and I most definitely am. I often feel hard pressed to find anyone who loves food as much as I do, but with all that said, I have seldom paid attention to food descriptions when I’m reading. I’m sure that from here on out I’ll be noticing all that more than before!
I wasn’t too keen on some of Nicoletti’s stories. Some of them seemed slightly contrived, almost as if she was trying too hard. I’m nit-picking here, but I do roll my eyes slightly at memoirs that are written by anyone younger than 40. This author was 28 when this was published, a bit too young for my liking, but that’s fine. I enjoyed it regardless.
I also didn’t appreciate the fact that the chapters included spoilers. Spoilers, whether in reviews or in a book such as this, are my pet peeve. Once I realized that she was giving the endings away, I skipped those sections. This was only for the books that I have not yet read but plan on doing so eventually. If you do plan on reading this book, you may wish to skip the chapters of books that you plan to read in the future!
The watercolor illustrations are simply delightful!
My rule when reviewing cookbooks is to try out some of the recipes, because in all fairness, how can I review a cookbook otherwise? Some of the recipes are a bit daunting for the casual cook. There are a few that require ingredients that I cannot find. I tried out five of the recipes. Four out of the five were absolute hits and one wasn’t that great – that was the Rib Eye Steak (from “Down and Out in Paris and London”). It was just okay. I was going to give this book 3 stars, but because most of the recipes that I tried were so good and unique, I’ve chosen to give it 4 stars.
The Perfect Soft-Boiled Egg (from “Emma”) was delicious. I doubt, however, that I will make that one very often. Pricking each egg with thumbtack or needle is a bit too much work for me.
The White Garlic Soup (from “Pride and Prejudice”) was wonderful and most of the family loved it.
Everyone loved the Black Pepper Parmesan Pasta (from “Strega Nona”).
Another one that everyone loved was the scrumptious Honey Poppy Seed Cake (from “The Aeneid”). Oh, my goodness, I’ll be making that one again for sure!
The book is divided into three sections – books that have influenced her during either childhood, adolescence, or adulthood. Each chapter focuses on a different book and includes a recipe that she associates with the story.
I was intrigued by the fact that she had paid such close attention to various food scenes and descriptions in books. I thought that I was obsessed with food, and I most definitely am. I often feel hard pressed to find anyone who loves food as much as I do, but with all that said, I have seldom paid attention to food descriptions when I’m reading. I’m sure that from here on out I’ll be noticing all that more than before!
I wasn’t too keen on some of Nicoletti’s stories. Some of them seemed slightly contrived, almost as if she was trying too hard. I’m nit-picking here, but I do roll my eyes slightly at memoirs that are written by anyone younger than 40. This author was 28 when this was published, a bit too young for my liking, but that’s fine. I enjoyed it regardless.
I also didn’t appreciate the fact that the chapters included spoilers. Spoilers, whether in reviews or in a book such as this, are my pet peeve. Once I realized that she was giving the endings away, I skipped those sections. This was only for the books that I have not yet read but plan on doing so eventually. If you do plan on reading this book, you may wish to skip the chapters of books that you plan to read in the future!
The watercolor illustrations are simply delightful!
My rule when reviewing cookbooks is to try out some of the recipes, because in all fairness, how can I review a cookbook otherwise? Some of the recipes are a bit daunting for the casual cook. There are a few that require ingredients that I cannot find. I tried out five of the recipes. Four out of the five were absolute hits and one wasn’t that great – that was the Rib Eye Steak (from “Down and Out in Paris and London”). It was just okay. I was going to give this book 3 stars, but because most of the recipes that I tried were so good and unique, I’ve chosen to give it 4 stars.
The Perfect Soft-Boiled Egg (from “Emma”) was delicious. I doubt, however, that I will make that one very often. Pricking each egg with thumbtack or needle is a bit too much work for me.
The White Garlic Soup (from “Pride and Prejudice”) was wonderful and most of the family loved it.
Everyone loved the Black Pepper Parmesan Pasta (from “Strega Nona”).
Another one that everyone loved was the scrumptious Honey Poppy Seed Cake (from “The Aeneid”). Oh, my goodness, I’ll be making that one again for sure!
January 12, 2016
I should probably start off by saying I do not cook. Ever. I was drawn to get this book not because it contains recipes, but because of its huge literary element. Cara Nicoletti, a butcher and this book's author, writes an essay for each book. Then there's the recipe portion, which I of course skipped. This book is sort of like a bunch of Goodreads reviews packed together. Nicoletti writes about her relationship towards each book she makes a recipe for and it's quite relatable. It's divided into three parts - each one representing a stage in her life. Before getting this, I didn't know just how intimate and much like a memoir it would be. My mom loves memoirs. Conversely, I cannot stand them. Somehow I was able to bear this one out and even enjoy it.
A lot of the recipes are a bit odd and there's way, way too much seafood for my liking. My liking is none.
On the other hand, a lot of the recipes looked pretty cool. I have read (or been read to) nearly all of the books mentioned. To be fair, it's pretty mainstream, but if you don't want spoilers for any of the books, avoid the essay section until afterwards.
All in all, I think this is a pretty cool book. It makes a good gift for anyone who loves eating and reading, two pleasures that combine admirably. Some of these are so good, I may consider stepping away from my screen and making them. Maybe.
A lot of the recipes are a bit odd and there's way, way too much seafood for my liking. My liking is none.
On the other hand, a lot of the recipes looked pretty cool. I have read (or been read to) nearly all of the books mentioned. To be fair, it's pretty mainstream, but if you don't want spoilers for any of the books, avoid the essay section until afterwards.
All in all, I think this is a pretty cool book. It makes a good gift for anyone who loves eating and reading, two pleasures that combine admirably. Some of these are so good, I may consider stepping away from my screen and making them. Maybe.
December 6, 2016
I decided to take a weekend to read this book in its entirety, and I loved every minute of it. Nicoletti revisits treasured books from throughout her life and cooks the meals described in them, sharing both her reading experiences and the recipes with the reader. As other reviewers have pointed out, some of the stories she tells and recipes she provides are only tangentially connected to the books they’re ostensibly about, but for me this actually worked better than a more slavish devotion to the books themselves. Nicoletti mines clever themes and ties everything together very successfully. This may be her first book, but it’s a very writerly one, and I mean that in the best way possible: She really knows what she’s doing, and the book has a cohesive feel that’s often missing from blogs-turned-books. The writing is skillful and engaging, the tone is very warm and welcoming, and her love of both books and food is obviously genuine. Plus the illustrations are absolutely beautiful. As unlikely as it may seem, this is one of the books I remember most vividly from 2016, and definitely one of the books I enjoyed the most.
Read
April 28, 2015I really enjoyed reading these very short essays about favorite books from different periods of the author’s life combined with recipes inspired by those books. It not only made me want to go back and read all of my old favorites, but also prompted me to add several to my TBR (and several items to my cooking list). I know what I’ll be giving as holiday gifts for friends this year! -- Wallace Yovetich
from Buy, Borrow, Bypass: http://bookriot.com/2015/04/27/buy-bo...
from Buy, Borrow, Bypass: http://bookriot.com/2015/04/27/buy-bo...
September 8, 2015
A fun book for readers under 30 - alas, neither the literary choices nor the recipes appealed to me. Recipes were , on several occasions, only vaguely connected rather than historical or regional re-creations. I did like reading about her restaurant and butchery work.
September 9, 2015
This book hit the mark for me on a lot of different levels. I love books about books, collect them in fact. And I love cookbooks and books about food. So give me a book about books that includes recipes of foods mentioned in the books she talks about, and we've got a winner. Add to that the fact that she is a butcher in New York City who knows what she's talking about, and a darn good writer who knows how to say it. By the last essay, I felt like an old friend. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I will. I definitely will.
February 10, 2020
3.5 stars
Two of my favorite things in the entire world are books and food so when I spotted Voracious at Dollar Tree last year, it went in my cart without even so much as a skim.
Author Cara Nicoletti is a reader, butcher, and blogger and she combines these skills admirably with Voracious. The contents are divided into three sections: Childhood, Adolescence and College Years, and Adulthood.
Each essay is titled after a novel/essay/story that left a lasting impression on her, discusses the titled work and how she was introduced to it, and concludes with a recipe somehow related to the title or memory.
The recipes cover breakfast, lunch, dinner, plus dessert and go from super simple (hot cheese sandwich: melt some cheddar on a hamburger bun, top with mustard and relish) to complex (porchetta di testa: you'll need a pig's head, including the ears and tongue)
I enjoyed Nicoletti's fond nostalgia and the appreciation she has for both books and cooking. This is a quick read for readers who enjoy decadent food descriptions and books about books.
My favorite recipes were:
Anne of Green Gables / Salted Chocolate Caramels
To Kill a Mockingbird / Biscuits with Molasses Butter
"Goodbye to All That" / Grilled Peaches with Homemade Ricotta
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
Two of my favorite things in the entire world are books and food so when I spotted Voracious at Dollar Tree last year, it went in my cart without even so much as a skim.
Author Cara Nicoletti is a reader, butcher, and blogger and she combines these skills admirably with Voracious. The contents are divided into three sections: Childhood, Adolescence and College Years, and Adulthood.
Each essay is titled after a novel/essay/story that left a lasting impression on her, discusses the titled work and how she was introduced to it, and concludes with a recipe somehow related to the title or memory.
The recipes cover breakfast, lunch, dinner, plus dessert and go from super simple (hot cheese sandwich: melt some cheddar on a hamburger bun, top with mustard and relish) to complex (porchetta di testa: you'll need a pig's head, including the ears and tongue)
I enjoyed Nicoletti's fond nostalgia and the appreciation she has for both books and cooking. This is a quick read for readers who enjoy decadent food descriptions and books about books.
My favorite recipes were:
Anne of Green Gables / Salted Chocolate Caramels
To Kill a Mockingbird / Biscuits with Molasses Butter
"Goodbye to All That" / Grilled Peaches with Homemade Ricotta
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
August 23, 2015
3.5 review to follow.
June 18, 2017
Es passiert nicht oft, dass mich ein Buch persönlich so berührt, dass ich es nur in mal mehr mal weniger großen Happen lesen kann. "Yummi Books" ist so ein Buch.
Man darf nicht den Fehler machen und ein reines Kochbuch erwarten, denn dann wird man höchstwahrscheinlich enttäuscht werden. Vielmehr schreibt hier Cara Nicoletti über ihre zwei großen Leidenschaften: das Lesen und das Kochen. Sie unterteilt ihr Buch in drei Abschnitte, ihre Kindheit, Jugend und das Erwachsensein, und beschreibt anhand vieler Bücher und Geschichten ihren Weg zwischen Bücherregalen und Kochtöpfen. Wahrscheinlich ist die Autorin auch deshalb so dem Lesen verbunden, weil sie in ihren Eltern immer Förderer dieser Leidenschaft hatte, die sie in fast allen Lebenslagen mit dem passenden Buch versorgten.
Die grundsolide Art und ihre nicht gestellte Begeisterung für fast alles, worüber sie schreibt, hat mich total berührt. Ob es ihre Überforderung mit "Pippi Langstrumpf" war ("... ihr ganzes Leben war ein einziger Albtraum ohne jede Struktur, ein Zirkus!"), oder ihre Begeisterung für "Hexen Hexen", ihr Ärger über die neue "Nancy Drew" oder ihre Leidenschaft zu Jean Valjean aus "Die Elenden" - alles wird so authentisch und leidenschaftlich beschrieben, dass ich mich zu gerne mal mit Frau Nicoletti auf eine Streichwurstsemmel treffen würde.
Viele ihrer erwähnten Bücher habe ich gelesen und hatte so einen Bezug, aber auch bei den Büchern und ihren Rezepten, die mir nichts sag(t)en, hatte ich nie das Gefühl, den Anschluss zu verlieren, im Gegenteil. Die leisen Anekdoten, die die Autorin beschreibt, ohne sich in seitenlangem Blablabla zu verzetteln machen Lust darauf, sich diese Bücher zu holen und zu lesen.
Und die Rezepte? Die Schokocookies wurden bereits nachgebacken und genossen (auch hier musste ich mich danach zusammenrollen und ein Nickerechen machen); die anderen warten noch darauf nachgekocht zu werden.
Doch auch wie bei einem guten Buch geht es auch hier Happen nach Happen. So kann man beides genießen.
Lesen!!
Man darf nicht den Fehler machen und ein reines Kochbuch erwarten, denn dann wird man höchstwahrscheinlich enttäuscht werden. Vielmehr schreibt hier Cara Nicoletti über ihre zwei großen Leidenschaften: das Lesen und das Kochen. Sie unterteilt ihr Buch in drei Abschnitte, ihre Kindheit, Jugend und das Erwachsensein, und beschreibt anhand vieler Bücher und Geschichten ihren Weg zwischen Bücherregalen und Kochtöpfen. Wahrscheinlich ist die Autorin auch deshalb so dem Lesen verbunden, weil sie in ihren Eltern immer Förderer dieser Leidenschaft hatte, die sie in fast allen Lebenslagen mit dem passenden Buch versorgten.
Die grundsolide Art und ihre nicht gestellte Begeisterung für fast alles, worüber sie schreibt, hat mich total berührt. Ob es ihre Überforderung mit "Pippi Langstrumpf" war ("... ihr ganzes Leben war ein einziger Albtraum ohne jede Struktur, ein Zirkus!"), oder ihre Begeisterung für "Hexen Hexen", ihr Ärger über die neue "Nancy Drew" oder ihre Leidenschaft zu Jean Valjean aus "Die Elenden" - alles wird so authentisch und leidenschaftlich beschrieben, dass ich mich zu gerne mal mit Frau Nicoletti auf eine Streichwurstsemmel treffen würde.
Viele ihrer erwähnten Bücher habe ich gelesen und hatte so einen Bezug, aber auch bei den Büchern und ihren Rezepten, die mir nichts sag(t)en, hatte ich nie das Gefühl, den Anschluss zu verlieren, im Gegenteil. Die leisen Anekdoten, die die Autorin beschreibt, ohne sich in seitenlangem Blablabla zu verzetteln machen Lust darauf, sich diese Bücher zu holen und zu lesen.
Und die Rezepte? Die Schokocookies wurden bereits nachgebacken und genossen (auch hier musste ich mich danach zusammenrollen und ein Nickerechen machen); die anderen warten noch darauf nachgekocht zu werden.
Doch auch wie bei einem guten Buch geht es auch hier Happen nach Happen. So kann man beides genießen.
Lesen!!
August 16, 2018
A beautifully illustrated book-about-books with a scrumptious corresponding recipe for each book essay and interwoven with her personal history of time, place, and situation. Very well done!
April 18, 2017
Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books (from this point forward, referred to as only Voracious because that is a mouthful!) sets out to do something completely unique and interesting. Author Cara Nicoletti writes about her combined love of books and food, while also giving us bits of her life and how literary food scenes completely speak to her.
Voracious is divided into three parts based on where in Cara Nicoletti’s life the book was read and/or affected her. The sections are “Childhood,” “Adolescence and College Years,” and “Adulthood.” Immediately, this book resonated with me because we all have experiences of reading throughout our entire lives. As a child, it is much more simpler books, often picture books leading into shorter chapter books, usually offering some sort of lesson by the end. As we grow older, we read longer stories that often involve more complicated situations that we can sometimes relate to, even making it easier to understand ourselves at times. Throughout our ages, our experiences with books grows. So I can understand why Cara Nicoletti chose to go back through her old favorites focusing on the food scenes and replicating all sorts of her favorite characters’ foods in the kitchen.
This wasn’t a spur of the moment decision for her, though. It’s something Nicoletti always focused on in stories. Her old favorites often had recipes scribbled on back covers or within the pages. Sometimes when she was still a young girl, she’d ask her mom to make a food she had just read about, but never had before. Growing up, her grandfather ran a butcher shop, so food was never a foreign thing to a young Cara. She actually grew up in the food industry, eventually going on to do all sorts of jobs such as barista, baker, pastry-chef, and butcher. She currently works at a butcher shop. So if anything, this should tell you that the lady knows her stuff.
In this book, Nicoletti talks about at least fifty different books (sometimes she talks of a few books within a chapter) and includes fifty recipes that are inspired by the book named in the chapter title. Each chapter includes about 2-3 pages of text from our author and a recipe to finish it off. The text provided talks about a number of things from the author’s experience with the featured food or book to details of the history of the book or author. There are times we are given a look into Nicoletti’s life sharing stories of times spent with her sisters (Gemma and Ande), parents, teachers, and even old friends. There are moments the author shares with us that are so intimate, but absolutely relatable like that time in college when she went through an extremely hard breakup and turned to The Aeneid making a honey-poppy seed cake countless times to break herself from the stupor. There is a silly moment in the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie section where back in a not so great apartment she actually gave a mouse a cookie. A few other chapters stick out for a variety of reasons like the Anna Karenina one, or the Lord of the Flies chapter where she makes porchetta di testa inspired by that pig’s head in a stake.
The recipes are inspired by literary food scenes in a variety of books. They sound entirely appetizing and I am really looking forward to making some of these. Cara Nicoletti gives little notes here and there at the beginning of the recipe to suggest substitutions for vegetarians, let us know where to find the more rare to find ingredients, or to inform us how to store the food if not eating right away. The ingredients are listed, as well as clear instructions to make the food. There are 16 recipes in the “childhood” section including buttermilk pancakes from Pippi Longstocking, currant buns from The Secret Garden, pea and bacon soup from Charlotte’s Web, salted chocolate caramels from Anne of Green Gables, and so many others. There are 17 recipes in the “adolescence and college years.” Some include malted milk ice cream from The Catcher in the Rye, crab-stuffed avocados from The Bell Jar, white garlic soup from Pride & Prejudice, chocolate éclairs from Mrs. Dalloway, and even crostini with fava beans and chicken liver mousses inspired by Silence of the Lambs. The last section, “adulthood,” also has 17 recipes including whole roasted trout from The Dog Stars, a perfect soft-boiled egg from Emma, chocolate-covered digestive biscuits from In the Woods, wine-braised leg of lamb with wild mushrooms from The Secret History, and several others.
No review of Voracious would be complete without mentioning the absolutely beautiful illustrations both on the cover and at the beginning of each chapter and part. They were done by Marion Bolognesi. I think they added a nice feel to the book and were wonderful to look at.
I would absolutely recommend this book to lovers of books and food alike. It has inspired me to pick up a few books I haven’t yet read, as well as to try some foods I never even thought to try. It is a true treat if you have always loved literature, as well as always enjoyed a delicious meal.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review via edelweiss.
Voracious is divided into three parts based on where in Cara Nicoletti’s life the book was read and/or affected her. The sections are “Childhood,” “Adolescence and College Years,” and “Adulthood.” Immediately, this book resonated with me because we all have experiences of reading throughout our entire lives. As a child, it is much more simpler books, often picture books leading into shorter chapter books, usually offering some sort of lesson by the end. As we grow older, we read longer stories that often involve more complicated situations that we can sometimes relate to, even making it easier to understand ourselves at times. Throughout our ages, our experiences with books grows. So I can understand why Cara Nicoletti chose to go back through her old favorites focusing on the food scenes and replicating all sorts of her favorite characters’ foods in the kitchen.
This wasn’t a spur of the moment decision for her, though. It’s something Nicoletti always focused on in stories. Her old favorites often had recipes scribbled on back covers or within the pages. Sometimes when she was still a young girl, she’d ask her mom to make a food she had just read about, but never had before. Growing up, her grandfather ran a butcher shop, so food was never a foreign thing to a young Cara. She actually grew up in the food industry, eventually going on to do all sorts of jobs such as barista, baker, pastry-chef, and butcher. She currently works at a butcher shop. So if anything, this should tell you that the lady knows her stuff.
In this book, Nicoletti talks about at least fifty different books (sometimes she talks of a few books within a chapter) and includes fifty recipes that are inspired by the book named in the chapter title. Each chapter includes about 2-3 pages of text from our author and a recipe to finish it off. The text provided talks about a number of things from the author’s experience with the featured food or book to details of the history of the book or author. There are times we are given a look into Nicoletti’s life sharing stories of times spent with her sisters (Gemma and Ande), parents, teachers, and even old friends. There are moments the author shares with us that are so intimate, but absolutely relatable like that time in college when she went through an extremely hard breakup and turned to The Aeneid making a honey-poppy seed cake countless times to break herself from the stupor. There is a silly moment in the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie section where back in a not so great apartment she actually gave a mouse a cookie. A few other chapters stick out for a variety of reasons like the Anna Karenina one, or the Lord of the Flies chapter where she makes porchetta di testa inspired by that pig’s head in a stake.
The recipes are inspired by literary food scenes in a variety of books. They sound entirely appetizing and I am really looking forward to making some of these. Cara Nicoletti gives little notes here and there at the beginning of the recipe to suggest substitutions for vegetarians, let us know where to find the more rare to find ingredients, or to inform us how to store the food if not eating right away. The ingredients are listed, as well as clear instructions to make the food. There are 16 recipes in the “childhood” section including buttermilk pancakes from Pippi Longstocking, currant buns from The Secret Garden, pea and bacon soup from Charlotte’s Web, salted chocolate caramels from Anne of Green Gables, and so many others. There are 17 recipes in the “adolescence and college years.” Some include malted milk ice cream from The Catcher in the Rye, crab-stuffed avocados from The Bell Jar, white garlic soup from Pride & Prejudice, chocolate éclairs from Mrs. Dalloway, and even crostini with fava beans and chicken liver mousses inspired by Silence of the Lambs. The last section, “adulthood,” also has 17 recipes including whole roasted trout from The Dog Stars, a perfect soft-boiled egg from Emma, chocolate-covered digestive biscuits from In the Woods, wine-braised leg of lamb with wild mushrooms from The Secret History, and several others.
No review of Voracious would be complete without mentioning the absolutely beautiful illustrations both on the cover and at the beginning of each chapter and part. They were done by Marion Bolognesi. I think they added a nice feel to the book and were wonderful to look at.
I would absolutely recommend this book to lovers of books and food alike. It has inspired me to pick up a few books I haven’t yet read, as well as to try some foods I never even thought to try. It is a true treat if you have always loved literature, as well as always enjoyed a delicious meal.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review via edelweiss.
August 13, 2020
L'autrice americana Cara Nicoletti ci presenta la sua vita sotto forma di diario che è stata e continua ad essere piena delle sue due più grandi passioni: la cucina e la lettura. Il libro è diviso in tre parti: Infanzia, adolescenza ed età adulta, dove ci presenta, di capitolo in capitolo, quale lettura ha scaturito poi la ricetta che ci descrive successivamente (con tanto di ingredienti e preparazione). La scrittrice è una golosona (come me!) ed è chiaro che molte delle ricette che ci regala sono dolci che fanno venire l'acquolina in bocca. Ho scelto questo libro incuriosito dal titolo e perché il connubio lettura/cibo è pure una mia passione. Alla fine del libro troverai l'indice sia delle ricette che dei libri e degli autori citati.
June 11, 2018
I came across this book when I was searching for cookbooks one day and decided to give it a try. I honestly wasn't expecting much, but the premise sounded intriguing - a hungry eater cooks her way through great books? Sounds (sort of) right up my alley!
I was pleasantly surprised and ended up really enjoying this book. Each chapter is a mini-memoir of how the author was introduced to each book, a little bit about the story and history of the book, what she noticed about the culinary references in the book, and then a recipe inspired by the book. The way the author writes is entertaining and well thought out, and I laughed and (almost) cried my way through it.
(This book is also where I learned that the Nancy Drew novels were re-written starting in 1959 - who knew?)
As far as content objections, I think there were a few differences between my worldview and the author's, and possibly a curse word or two, but nothing stands out much in my mind. Most of the book was just focused on books and cooking.
I hadn't read most of the books she mentions, but she has a way of describing the books so you feel like you have, so you could enjoy this book even if you're not super well-read. She even reads some books that I would never pick up, but the way she describes the books and the food almost makes me want to.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and definitely recommend it to all my reading friends. 5 stars!
I was pleasantly surprised and ended up really enjoying this book. Each chapter is a mini-memoir of how the author was introduced to each book, a little bit about the story and history of the book, what she noticed about the culinary references in the book, and then a recipe inspired by the book. The way the author writes is entertaining and well thought out, and I laughed and (almost) cried my way through it.
(This book is also where I learned that the Nancy Drew novels were re-written starting in 1959 - who knew?)
As far as content objections, I think there were a few differences between my worldview and the author's, and possibly a curse word or two, but nothing stands out much in my mind. Most of the book was just focused on books and cooking.
I hadn't read most of the books she mentions, but she has a way of describing the books so you feel like you have, so you could enjoy this book even if you're not super well-read. She even reads some books that I would never pick up, but the way she describes the books and the food almost makes me want to.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and definitely recommend it to all my reading friends. 5 stars!
September 23, 2016
I needed a light, fun, foodie book after the serious ecological epic that was my last reading experience. Due to a reading challenge I had been spending a lot of time trying to find a "food memoir" that actually appealed. In as much as I love cooking and cookbooks, food writing falls into two camps for me - whiny, egotistic chef memoirs or trite love letters to wholesome lives spent making pie crusts or growing organic vegetables. So I was very happy to have this book recommended to me as it combines my two loves - food and books and in such a welcome and non pretentious way. It reads a little like having a great book club discussion complete with food inspired by the novels at hand.
Nicoletti (a butcher, pastry chef, Latin and English Literature graduate) selects out a good range of titles and discusses them with the insights you would expect from a lover of literature. There are surprising food choices and delightful personal anecdotes from The Aeneid , Moby Dick, Lord of the Flies and Charlotte's Web. From my own vantage point many of the recipes seemed best suited to an American readership - pumpkin pies, donuts, malted milk sundaes and cornbread as examples. However, as part of my review I did indeed bake the Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and was pleased with the outcome.
Highly recommended if you like books about books and especially if you are a literary food fanatic.
Nicoletti (a butcher, pastry chef, Latin and English Literature graduate) selects out a good range of titles and discusses them with the insights you would expect from a lover of literature. There are surprising food choices and delightful personal anecdotes from The Aeneid , Moby Dick, Lord of the Flies and Charlotte's Web. From my own vantage point many of the recipes seemed best suited to an American readership - pumpkin pies, donuts, malted milk sundaes and cornbread as examples. However, as part of my review I did indeed bake the Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and was pleased with the outcome.
Highly recommended if you like books about books and especially if you are a literary food fanatic.
November 17, 2015
Some of my favorite things in the world are 1. reading fiction/nonfiction books 2. reading cookbooks 3. eating 4. reading while eating. I found Cara Nicoletti and her book delightful. I want to be in a book club with her. Cara weaves personal stories with reviews of her favorite books and how both inspired a recipe. The final chapters went well with roasted pepper pimento cheese, sweet potato Triscuits and a red blend.
September 15, 2017
Sometimes five stars is for "this is a masterpiece and it should win every prize and everyone must read it" and sometimes it's for "I feel like the author wrote this specifically for me and I loved every page." This is the latter. I love books, cooking, and talking about books and cooking, so this was pretty much a perfect storm.
January 2, 2016
A must have for any book lover. One of my new favorite titles.
September 6, 2015
Very bloggy, best of the blog kind of book. I wish that there was more of a structure to seeing the author change and grow through her maturity and relationship to her books.
January 15, 2016
A recurring dream, shared by generations of immigrant parents and grandparents, is that they their offspring get an education, a good job and not have to earn a living doing manual labor. According to Cara Nicoletti her grandfather, “ . . . always said he wanted us to ‘sit at a desk and have clean hands.’ “ She and her female relatives all worked in the family butcher shop, and Cara attended New York University, earning a degree in English literature. However, the very job her grandfather would not have wished her to have was the one she loved. Coming from a long line of butchers going back to Cara’s great-grandfather on her mother’s side of the family, and having waited tables, worked as a general cook and pastry chef, she was well acquainted with the food business.
Down to earth about food, cooking and eating, she eschews food trends and focuses on substance, never shying away from being a carnivore while supplying others with meats carved up from her well-trained hands. Cara Nicoletti combines memoir, recipes and books as she thinks back to her early childhood experiences and reading explorations, and how they have merged and created who she is today. A book and food lover's tribute to the books and people who have, and still, make her a dedicated, enthusiastic butcher, cook, food lover, teacher, and blogger. While reminiscing about what originally piqued her interest in each book, she provides original and/or spin-off recipes.
Her descriptions of what butchers do is not any more explicit than what Julia Child demonstrated many times on her original television programs, which can be found on YouTube as she debones fowl, fish, and hacks up all kinds of meats. For the squeamish some of the text may be a bit too much.
In the back there is an alphabetical list of the inspiring books, and the index references even more books that are mentioned in the narrative parts of each chapter. Marion Bolognesi's watercolor and gouache illustrations are a captivating match to the text.
Reviewed by Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Central Library
Down to earth about food, cooking and eating, she eschews food trends and focuses on substance, never shying away from being a carnivore while supplying others with meats carved up from her well-trained hands. Cara Nicoletti combines memoir, recipes and books as she thinks back to her early childhood experiences and reading explorations, and how they have merged and created who she is today. A book and food lover's tribute to the books and people who have, and still, make her a dedicated, enthusiastic butcher, cook, food lover, teacher, and blogger. While reminiscing about what originally piqued her interest in each book, she provides original and/or spin-off recipes.
Her descriptions of what butchers do is not any more explicit than what Julia Child demonstrated many times on her original television programs, which can be found on YouTube as she debones fowl, fish, and hacks up all kinds of meats. For the squeamish some of the text may be a bit too much.
In the back there is an alphabetical list of the inspiring books, and the index references even more books that are mentioned in the narrative parts of each chapter. Marion Bolognesi's watercolor and gouache illustrations are a captivating match to the text.
Reviewed by Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Central Library
October 3, 2015
Cara Nicoletti’s debut novel stems from her love of books. A former pastry chef and current butcher, she adds writer to her repertoire. Her literary food blog Yummy Books began when she started a book and supper club, which then became the impetus of this pretty book.
A coming-of-age memoir (sections separated into three periods: childhood, adolescence and college years, and adulthood), she shares her stories about how a particular book affected her during a time in her life, connecting deeply to the characters and foods while providing an outlet at times when she was overwhelmed or reminiscent.
Can you say Spoiler Alert?
These are short chapters. Nonetheless, beware she gives a good amount of plot of a novel that if you haven’t read, say Les Miserables, you will know more about the plot in the few pages she shares. I find it amazing how food has been “written in” as in the example of crepes in the novel Gone Girl.
I can’t say enough of how pretty the books is. I am smitten by the illustrations that are sprinkled throughout. And the recipes are always a treat – I am one to always appreciate the author sharing recipes.
Did I say this was a pretty book?
This book is a reference not only for the recipes, but for the short tales of the novels that I have read. {Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.}
This is a novel inspiration combining food and books. Takes the concept of food writing to a whole new level – this is for those with a passion for cooking and a great read!
A coming-of-age memoir (sections separated into three periods: childhood, adolescence and college years, and adulthood), she shares her stories about how a particular book affected her during a time in her life, connecting deeply to the characters and foods while providing an outlet at times when she was overwhelmed or reminiscent.
Can you say Spoiler Alert?
These are short chapters. Nonetheless, beware she gives a good amount of plot of a novel that if you haven’t read, say Les Miserables, you will know more about the plot in the few pages she shares. I find it amazing how food has been “written in” as in the example of crepes in the novel Gone Girl.
I can’t say enough of how pretty the books is. I am smitten by the illustrations that are sprinkled throughout. And the recipes are always a treat – I am one to always appreciate the author sharing recipes.
Did I say this was a pretty book?
This book is a reference not only for the recipes, but for the short tales of the novels that I have read. {Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.}
This is a novel inspiration combining food and books. Takes the concept of food writing to a whole new level – this is for those with a passion for cooking and a great read!
December 2, 2015
This book is brilliant. With books and food, you already have a good chance with me, but Nicoletti doesn't just let those carry her through. The brilliance is in her balance of composition. She writes about books that have meant something to her personally, people and moments through which these books reached her, and the food inspired by all of this reading, which brings it all home. Each recipe and section of prose is just a few pages long, which feels like just enough. That being said, I haven't actually tried any of Nicoletti's recipes yet, so I reserve the right to change my rating if they don't work out for me cooking-wise. I probably won't be making the White Garlic Soup, but lots of them sound delicious! Definitely going back to this for the Red Wine-Rosemary Bread!
August 21, 2016
Is there anything that goes better together than good books and delicious food? In this book, the author explores some of the dishes from her favorite books and provides recipes for readers to try on their own. The book covers many different genres from children's lit to some of the classics. The author gives the meaning for her behind some of the books. Some of the books have universal appeal but there are others which may not appeal to as many people.
The design of the book is gorgeous and really drew me in. I love a good, stylish cookbook and that is definitely what you get with this book. This is definitely a book for book lovers. It inspired me to look back at some of my favorite books to see whether or not I could create any recipes from them!
The design of the book is gorgeous and really drew me in. I love a good, stylish cookbook and that is definitely what you get with this book. This is definitely a book for book lovers. It inspired me to look back at some of my favorite books to see whether or not I could create any recipes from them!
May 26, 2018
I am a sucker for autobiographical cookbooks (tell a story, present a recipe) and taking a literary bent on that formula made this an irresistible read. Many of the recipies seem worth trying - not overly complicated in either ingredients or technique - and the stories told have reminded me of several reading aisles I have yet to turn down and mapped out several others I've never considered exploring.
October 1, 2015
I really wanted to like this book. Good books and food, right? What's not to like. Unfortunately when she referred to "Ma and Pa Wilder" in her review of the "Little House" book, I was turned off. Any lover of those books would have known that it was Ingalls, not Wilder, and a good editor would have caught it. Her choice of books were mostly mundane, and her food choices uninspiring.
April 4, 2016
An enjoyable, fast read. One mistake the author made, which I'm surprised got past the editor, is she kept referring to the parents of Laura Ingalls Wilder with the last name "Wilder" rather than Ingalls! Picky, I know, but it was annoying. I always like reading books about books and books about food, so this was a nice combination.
March 16, 2016
I devoured Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books. The author has taken lots of her favorite books and closely looked at the food described within. It makes for a fun collection of blog posts, especially if you, like me, are a big fan of books-about-books.
November 3, 2015
Interesting essays, although the recipes themselves seemed far too advanced for me to attempt any.
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