Artistry and first-rate writing intersect in books by Alice Waters and other Bay Area writers.
Artistry and first-rate writing intersect in these new releases, all by Bay Area authors. From a memoir by Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters to Matthew Zapruder’s thoughtful study of poetry — and Robin Sloan’s novel about a sourdough starter with a life of its own — originality is of the essence. New works by Daniel Patterson and Mandy Aftel, Thad Vogler and Elizabeth Rosner complete the list.
“COMING TO MY SENSES: THE MAKING OF A COUNTERCULTURE COOK” BY ALICE WATERS (CLARKSON POTTER, $27, 304 PAGES) »
Alice Waters has led a charmed life. In this lovely memoir, the founder and owner of Berkeley’s famed Chez Panisse Restaurant and Café tells her story, tracing her rise from childhood in lower middleclass New Jersey to her long reign as celebrity chef and leader in the sustainable food movement. She spares no detail, from her studies in France and her early days teaching in a Montessori school, to her days in the burgeoning Bay Area counterculture movement. It’s her life in Berkeley that defines her: Waters founded Chez Panisse in 1971, and the “chaos” of the restaurant’s early days gave way to the best kind of celebrity chef status. Over the years, her approach to food attracted a starry list of fans that included artists, musicians, filmmakers and presidents. “Coming to My Senses” is as sweet and savory as a meal at her table.
“THE ART OF FLAVOR: PRACTICES AND PRINCIPLES FOR CREATING DELICIOUS FOOD” BY DANIEL PATTERSON AND MANDY AFTEL (RIVERHEAD, $28,
256 PAGES) » Oakland chef Daniel Patterson, the founder of Bay Area restaurants Coi and Alta, and Berkeley fragrance artiste Mandy Aftel, whose perfumerie around the corner from Chez Panisse attracts clients from around the world, team up for this guide for making everything we eat both fragrant and flavorful. Ever wonder why chefs smell food as often as they taste it? Simple, say Patterson and Aftel — “Good food isn’t just a matter of taste; apart from the visual component, the presentation on the plate, it’s also a matter of the nose.” The authors offer more than 75 recipes, along with lots of information about herbs, spices, flavors and cooking methods — all with the promise of mouth-watering results.
“BY THE SMOKE AND THE SMELL: MY SEARCH FOR THE RARE & SUBLIME ON THE SPIRITS TRAIL” BY THAD VOGLER (TEN SPEED PRESS, $27, 304 PAGES) »
Restaurateur Vogler, who owns the San Francisco establishments Trou Normand and Bar Agricole, is an expert on responsibly sourced and grower produced spirits, and with this memoir, he makes an impressive debut as an author. As he records his travels — visiting French cognac producers and Cuban rum distilleries, tasting whiskeys in Scotland and Ireland, sampling mezcal in Mexico — Vogler muses on food, drink, music, culture and the ever-changing landscape of how we imbibe.
“WHY POETRY” BY MATTHEW ZAPRUDER (ECCO, $24.99, 256 PAGES) »
Spend some time with poetry in this wonderful and often touching new volume by Matthew Zapruder. A poet (“Sun Bear”) and professor of English at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Zapruder explores the significance of poetry in the modern age, using examples from Robert Hass, W.S. Merwin, Audre Lorde, Walt Whitman and other poets of note. Expect a wide-ranging conversation when Zapruder chats with Oscar Villalon at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco.
“SOURDOUGH” BY ROBIN SLOAN (MCD, $26, 272 PAGES)
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Lois, the central character of Robin Sloan’s novel, spends her days as a coder at a Silicon Valley robotics firm. (One of her assignments is teaching a robot how to crack an egg.) Her only joy is a daily meal from a Clement Street soup kitchen, which has the yummiest sourdough bread in town. When visa issues force its owners out of the country, they entrust their sourdough starter to her. Thus begins a tale of intrigue; the sourdough literally has a life of its own. San Francisco-based Sloan set the bar high with his previous novel, “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore.” With “Sourdough,” he delivers another trippy techno-adventure. Meet the author Oct. 12 at Mrs. Dalloway’s in Berkeley, and Oct. 24 at Kepler’s in Menlo Park.
“SURVIVOR CAFÉ: THE LEGACY OF TRAUMA AND THE LABYRINTH OF MEMORY” BY ELIZABETH ROSNER (COUNTERPOINT, $26, 304 PAGES) »
Berkeley’s Elizabeth Rosner is the author of three novels and a poetry collection, but in this powerful nonfiction work, she considers the intergenerational effects of trauma. Writing about 20th-century events such as the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, the Rwandan genocide and the U.S. internment of Japanese Americans, Rosner — herself the daughter of Holocaust survivors — explores the mechanisms of memory, the implications of the word “survivor” and the ways that atrocities affect successive generations. Rosner will join Nicole Krauss in conversation Monday at Kepler’s in Menlo Park. She’ll also discuss the book Oct. 12 at Why There Are Words in Sausalito.