Book Reviews

By King Arthur Baking Company
10/22/24
464 pages
$45
Simon Element

‘The King Arthur Baking Company Big Book of Bread: 125+ Recipes for Every Baker’

I love a challenge, so it’s not surprising that I joined with the many thousands who have tried to master bread baking over the last few years. It turns out, it’s both more complicated and blissfully simple than I ever could have guessed. Baking the perfect loaf has not become an obsession, and I can’t get enough.

Enter the makers of the best flour commercially available for at-home bakers. Already the authors of vital kitchen texts for cookies and cakes, here they tackle a mountain of bread-baking skills into a gorgeous, easy-to-follow book filled with recipes both common and unusual. With their characteristic style and simplicity, this book is a fantastic resource for bread bakers at every skill level. Everything from sourdoughs, to gluten-free options and dessert breads is covered in this massive book, and I have yet to find something I didn’t want to try.

I’ve made several recipes so far, and I can’t wait to try them all. I think this will be an indispensable guide for many years to come. Make some room on your shelf and dive into the best bread book out there.  — Review by Julie Goodrich

By King Arthur Baking Company
10/22/24
464 pages
$45
Simon Element

‘Death of the Author’

Meta-stories, or books written as a story within a story, often drop the ball on one or the other tale, and, by the end, I often feel cheated, as if I’m missing something. This book, however, takes that trope to a transcendent place, weaving the two stories so deftly I can’t imagine one without the other. This kind of skill is breathtaking. I can’t wait to read it over and over.

The frame story focuses on Zelu, a Nigerian-American author currently at a low point after losing her job and being unable to sell her novel. Then, inspiration strikes, and suddenly she has a bestselling science fiction book and she has to navigate a new existence in the public eye and within her family. Nestled into Zelu’s “real life” story is the actual book she wrote, “Rusted Robots.” The interplay between the two stories is pitch-perfect. They contrast and collide so well, I can’t imagine one without the other. 

If this book gets the attention it deserves, everyone will be reading and talking about it. Nnedi Okorafor is so extraordinary, I wouldn’t be surprised to find her work as required reading someday soon. Treat yourself and pick it up this winter.  — Review by Julie Goodrich