Our book club takes reading to a new level. When you read the book you are not only thinking about what points to discuss but also what local edible delights to make and share with your fellow book clubbers to nibble and nosh on during the meeting – whether the book is food related or not! A sampling of our Book Clubber Recipes are found to the right (just click on heading) at Thyme to Cook, Nosh, & Tell.

The first meetings were held at a local independent book store. As our group took shape, we started taking turns hosting the book club meeting at our homes with the host providing a snack and beverage, and attendees contributing only if they feel like it – no obligation. If you can't participate in a book club meeting, we hope that you are able to carve out a bit of time to enjoy some of the books below.

If you are interested in learning more about the book club, please send an e-mail to Viola Bogard at info@slowfoodwestmichigan.org.

A random selection of books we have read so far:

• Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes by Mark Bittman.
  

• Life, on the Line, by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas

• Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook

• On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town by Susan Hermann Loomis 

• Julia Child’s My Life in France followed by Julie & Julia. For the latter meeting we all brought a dish that we made from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

• The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett led to a suggestion to bring ale and horsebread for the peasants in our group and wine and meat for the nobility. The table that night was filled with grain bread, meat pies and stews – all different and all delicious!

• Blood, Bones, & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton

• The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais

• 97 Orchard: An Edible history of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman
  

• Serve the People: A Stir-fried Journey through China by Jen Lin-Liu

• Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter

• The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation by Elizabeth Berg

• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

• Spoon Fed by Kim Severson

• Hay Fever by Angela Miller

• Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler
  

• A Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine by Steven Rinella

• Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl

• The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

• Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India by Madhur Jaffrey

• American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America's Back Roads by Pascale Le Draoulec

• A Mountain of Crumbs by Elena Gookhova