Pure, unadulterated laziness

"Be sure then to read no mean books. Shun the spawn of the press on the gossip of the hour. Do not read what you shall learn, without asking, in the street and the train" --Ralph Waldo Emerson

I took a little break from blogging, and this time I don't have an excuse other than I desperately needed to not do anything for a nice long period of time. Instead of working all day, every day, and all night, every night, I read books. FOR ENJOYMENT!! This is the first time in six years that I can read books I actually want to read and not feel the pangs of guilt that I'm not reading materials for my dissertation or for grad seminars.

To begin my relaxing journey into post-grad school tranquility, I re-read one of my favorite collections of travel/food writing:



This is an absolutely divine read for any lover food and travel lover, and if you're a fan of the harsh, gritty Bourdain, you won't be disappointed. Full of those clever turns of phrase his TV show is known for, acidic yet slightly sentimental reflections on what it means to travel and literally consume a culture, A Cook's Tour is like a love letter to the realistic armchair traveler.

Next up, I turned to MFK Fisher, the prolific and talented champion of food writing:

In Here Let Us Feast, Fisher paints portraits of well-known literary and other figures in the color of food. Tobias Smollett serves goose with a robust sauce, Lewis Carroll of course serves tea, and various other historical figures from Jesus to Charles Lamb make appearances. 'Swonderful and 'smarvelous.

After being in the sensuous, decadent world of MFK Fisher, I decided it was time for another travel writer with excellent taste in food:

The chapter on pasta? Perfection.