by Frank Bruni.
No, it wasn't on the list--it was an impulse read. I got so frustrated during last week's "vacation," that the second day I had to work I got on the library catalog and found a couple of books to read, just as a reward for being out on the road yet again.
Born Round was a New York Times Notable Book and it deserved to be. Mr. Bruni is the best kind of memoir writer--funny, kind to himself, and forgiving of others. Growing up in a big family of Italian cooks and Italian eaters; cursed with some mixture of genes and personality that made food his drug of choice, you'd think Mr. Bruni was doomed to become the 300-pound, 50-year-old heart attack victim in the Cadillac-sized coffin. And he probably thought so, too.
I devoured this book. All I could wish for was more--toward the end, especially. He artfully describes his strategies for sneaking into a restaurant multiple times and sampling a multitude of courses, trying to remain unrecognized as "The Critic"; and he humorously relates the ways his dining companions sabotage his strategy. I just wanted to know a little more about the restaurants he visited--the good and the bad and in the case of Wild Salmon, the ugly.
A bit of the Wild Salmon review was quoted and it made me want more.
(Never mind--I just found a bunch of them online.)
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