"As Always, Julia" and other food-related books/gifts recommended by critic Corby Kummer

[greygarious]

The book is a collection of Julia's letters from the period when she was trying to get MtAoFC published. He discussed this and his other favorites on WGBH Boston radio's Emily Rooney show today, and was particularly enthused about home-made caramels (recipe will be in Atlantic Monthly and on WGBH's site), Joanne Chang's baking cookbook, and Simha knives. http://www.wgbh.org/programs/The-Emil...

[Withnail42]

I saw it in the bookshop and naturally put it on my list.

Thanks for the link.

[Kagemusha]

A collateral title is Judith Jones "Tenth Muse." Always felt this book never got the attention it deserved. She was Child's editor at Knopf and the force behind guiding Mastering the Art into print--along with getting Anne Frank's diary published.

[Withnail42]

Obviously I knew about Mastering The Art of French Cooking. I didn’t know about The Diary of Anne Frank. That is certainly quite a pedigree. I had the pleasure of meeting her (Judith Jones) once. I found her to be a very nice modest person.

[Caitlin McGrath]

After WWII, Jones was working for an American press in Paris. The Diary of Anne rank was being published in Europe, but hadn't been bought by American publishers, and Jones essentially plucked it from the reject pile and made a case for it. The Tenth Muse is definitely a good read. Jones had an interesting life, and the book also discusses her relationships with other notable authors, cookbook and fiction (she edited Madhur Jaffrey, Marcella Hazan, Claudia Roden, John Updike, John Hersey, et al.) and Alfred and Blanche Knopf.

I look forward to reading As Always, Julia, based on the pre-MTAOFC letters to/from Avis DeVoto included in My Life in France (Child's memoir).

[buttertart]

You are 100% right, that is a very interesting book (the Jones). I liked reading about the OTHER luminaries she edited. As well as JC of course.