The Man with the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming’s James Bond Letters
On August 16, 1952, Ian Fleming wrote to his wife, Ann, “My love, This is only a tiny letter to try out my new typewriter and to see if it will write golden words since it is made of gold.” He had bought the golden typewriter as a present to himself for finishing his first novel, Casino Royale. …
The author of the immortal Lolita and Pale Fire, born to an eminent Russian family, conjures the apotheosis of the high modernist artist: cultured, refined–as European as they come. But Vladimir Nabokov, who came to America fleeing the Nazis, came to think of his time here as the richest of his life. Indeed, Nabokov was not only happiest …
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single guinea pig in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.It is a truth personally acknowledged by Mrs. Bennet that all five of her furry daughters–Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia–are in need of husbands. To her mother’s grave disappointment, Elizabeth Bennet is headstrong and …
The Occupation Trilogy: La Place de l’Étoile – The Night Watch – Ring Roads
Born at the close of World War II, 2014 Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano was a young man in his twenties when he burst onto the Parisian literary scene with these three brilliant, angry novels about the wartime Occupation of Paris.The epigraph to his first novel, among the first to seriously question Nazi collaboration in France, reads: “In …
One of Vikas Khanna’s favorite places in the world growing up was the garden he and his grandmother planted at their home in Amritsar, India. He would rush home from school to tend to the aromatic basil and cardamom, tomatoes, peas, and squash. His intimate knowledge of spices and produce would guide him on his journey to become …
Winner of the 2015 Gourmand World Cookbook Award, Best Pastry CookbookFresh cherry cake, Plum bread, Baked Somerset Brie, Honey buns, Scottish oatcakes, Boxty pancakes . . . you don’t get better than a traditional British bake. Join Paul Hollywood for a personal tour around the regions of Britain and discover the charming history of their finest baked delights. …
Paul Hollywood’s new book is all about bread – how to make it and how to use it. Not only does Paul teach you exactly how to make a variety of breads, but for each one there is a spin-off recipe that shows you how to make a fantastic meal of it. The book has six chapters, each …
Tucked away in London’s edgy Soho district, Polpo is one of the most irrepressibly buzzing restaurants in town. Critics and food aficionados have been flocking to this understated bacaro where Russell Norman serves up small dishes-think tapas-from the back streets of Venice. A far cry from the tourist-trap eateries of the famous floating city, this kind of cooking …
Heirloom Harvest: Modern Daguerreotypes of Historic Garden Treasures
On two hundred acres in the Hudson Valley, Amy Goldman grows heirloom fruits and vegetables–an orchard full of apples, pears, and peaches; plots of squash, melons, cabbages, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, and beets. The president of the New York Botanical Garden has called her “perhaps the world’s premier vegetable gardener.” It’s her life’s work, and she’s not only focused …
Apples of Uncommon Character: Heirlooms, Modern Classics, and Little-Known Wonders
In his classic A Geography of Oysters, Rowan Jacobsen forever changed the way America talks about its best bivalve. Now he does the same for our favorite fruit, showing us that there is indeed life beyond Red Delicious―and even Honeycrisp. While supermarkets limit their offerings to a few waxy options, apple trees with lives spanning human generations are …