Books on the Nightstand discussion

I am currently reading My Life in France and ran across a really weird factoid. Did you know that Judith Jones, the editor for Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was the person responsible for getting Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl published in the States, as she was working for Doubleday in Paris in the early 1950s.

Yes! She rescued it from the slush pile, basically, and lobbied heavily for Doubleday in the US to publish it.

Judith just retired from Knopf a few months ago. The two dinners that I had with her were some of the most special moments of my career.

Judith's own book, The Tenth Muse, is a wonderful read. Even her "cookbook," The Pleasures of Cooking for One, has a great narrative that makes you feel like you're spending time in the kitchen with Judith.

Ann wrote: "Yes! She rescued it from the slush pile, basically, and lobbied heavily for Doubleday in the US to publish it.

Judith just retired from Knopf a few months ago. The two dinners that I had with her..."

Wow! I love learning things like that.It ties many worlds together no matter how long ago or far away.

Oh, I loved The Tenth Muse as well. Will check out her "cookbook" as well.

I probably shouldn't have put cookbook in quotes. There are definitely recipes -- it's just that it feels like so much more to me. Calling it a cookbook seems ... wrong.

Those are my favorite kinds of cookbooks. And I love those foodie memoirs a la Ruth Reichl. You all did a show on those before, didn't you?

Yes, we did. Though there are always more coming out all the time, so it's hard to keep up.

BTW, Ann, did the book arrive yet?

Not yet, and I"m leaving today to go out of town for a few weeks. Husband will be home to intercept pkg, though.

Ann wrote: "I probably shouldn't have put cookbook in quotes. There are definitely recipes -- it's just that it feels like so much more to me. Calling it a cookbook seems ... wrong."
I know what you mean about cook books. I'm not to keen on the recipes from Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food but I love her stories.