Just Finished Reading . . .

I just finished reading Steven Shaw's "Turning the Tables: Restaurants From the Inside Out". Shaw is an engaging writer who makes clear the mysteries of everything from how to get a reservation at a great restaurant, to the value of becoming "a regular," to how to interpret restaurant ratings, to big, thorny questions about sustainable agriculture and the future of dining out. A great book on "The Life." Shaw's book changed the way I will dine at restaurants. I will survive on his references to food and dining resources while he "works on the next one."

Prior to Shaw's "Turning the Tables", I read Maureen Corrigan's "Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books." As a fan of "books on books," I was enthralled with this memoir. Being an unabashed fan of the printed page, I was inspired to read of this life shaped by books--classical, contemporary and somewhere in between. I was equally delighted to find a fellow fan of Sarah Paretsky's V. I . Warshawski mysteries. Paretsky has been my favorite mystery author since I heard her speak at my husband's fifth year reunion at the University of Chicago. If you've grown up with your nose stuck in a book and still find that's a pleasurable state, don't miss Corrigan's book.