Cookbooks and food writing from the past year

Explore dumpling styles from around the world, cook everyday meals rich with Afghan history, get a dose of inspiration from Chinese bakeries, add some Filipino dishes to the next few weeks (and probably forever), or learn how to cook Hawaiian dishes — we have confidence that you can do it all, with the right guide. Here are five cookbooks our staff loved from the past year. These are cooks you’ll want to follow on Instagram, too.

Let’s Make Dumplings by Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan: If the title alone didn’t lure you in, listen to this: It’s a comic book cookbook, two favorite things for many of us for sure, AND THEN THERE ARE DUMPLINGS! It’s a delight. The illustrations are charming as well as super helpful for folding styles. This duo also created Let’s Make Ramen (2019). Keep up with both of them on Instagram: @hughamano and @sarahbecan.

Finish your #BookBingoNW2021 card with some Peak Picks

Need to fill a couple of spots on your Book Bingo card, and looking to get a book quickly? The Peak Picks display at your Library may have just what you need to get at least one bingo line or, perhaps, an entire blackout. Although we think all Peak Picks should be on a reading list, for the sake of time (and finishing as much as you can for Book Bingo), we’re featuring titles that are either relatively short, or readily available now. It’s down to Book Bingo business for these next eight days…

Romance: Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron:  “A fake engagement sparks real romance on the set of a cooking contest in this delightful rom-com. Reena Manji, an aspiring baker, is initially charmed by the flirtatious smile and ‘brown Captain America’ good looks of her new neighbor, Nadim Remtulla—until she discovers that their meeting was not serendipitous but the result of a business deal between their fathers. Reena immediately rejects the idea of an arranged marriage with Nadim, but when an opportunity arises to appear on a Toronto cooking show for couples, she turns to him for help. Equally sweet and spicy, this is sure to leave readers smiling.” – Publishers Weekly.
Also: One Last Stop.

Upcoming Author Events

Andre Acimen, David Treuer, Clifford Thompson, Julie Pham, cartoonist T Edward Bak, and a love fest for romance readers are among the featured author events coming your way.

The free programs listed below are held at a variety of locations in November (Central Library, Montlake Branch Library, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute); please check our online Author and Books Events calendar for complete details on these featured November events and more.

André Aciman with Dave Wheeler
Find Me
Monday, November 4, 7 p.m.
Central Library, Microsoft Auditorium
Join us to hear novelist André Aciman, the author of the worldwide bestseller Call Me by Your Name, discuss his new book, which revisits the complex and beguiling characters from Call Me by Your Name decades after their first meeting. He will appear in conversation with Dave Wheeler of Shelf Awareness.

The A. Scott Bullitt Lecture in American History presents David Treuer
“The Past Isn’t Past: Native History as American History”
Thursday, November 7, at 7 p.m.
Central Library
Anthropologist David Treuer, author of The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present (finalist for the 2019 National Book Award), struggled with popular depictions of Native American history (including the bestselling Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee), many of which seemed to conclude that his culture was a relic of the past. Treuer has spent his career dissecting narratives around Native American life and will talk about what he’s learned. Josh Reid, professor at the University of Washington, will join Treuer on stage.

Book picks from the author of ‘Growing Up Gorilla’

Clare Hodgson Meeker’s new nonfiction picture book, Growing Up Gorilla: How a Zoo Baby Brought Her Family Together, is a  heartwarming true story about a baby gorilla at the Woodland Park Zoo. When a mother gorilla walks away from her newborn, the staff at the zoo finds innovative ways for mother and baby (Yola) to build a relationship. It’s a charmer of a book, with fun facts and solid research behind it. We asked Clare, a Washington author, to share some books starring animals — and, delightfully, some of her selections are for adults, and some for kids. Here are Clare’s recommendations:

Nightstand Reads with author Sara Donati

Where the Light Enters is the latest from Sara Donati, a bestselling author known for her riveting and well-researched historical novels. We asked her to share her own reading list with us:

I read a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction out of personal interest and professional necessity. My novels are deeply researched, so I spend a lot of time reading medical texts and government reports written before 1890.  But I also read contemporary and historical fiction of all stripes, from noir crime to romance to short story collections. Ancient Rome, modern-day Detroit, Victorian England, WWII China are all welcome.

If I continue thinking about a book long after I’ve finished it, I consider it time well spent. Here are some of my recent discoveries.

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger
by Rebecca Traister
There is a lot to be angry about. Traister’s book came out just after Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified, and it reminded me that women’s anger, once focused, is hugely powerful. It has launched movements and revolutions that have changed the world for the better.