In her previous works, Hood (The Book That Matters Most) has tackled subjects as diverse as books, knitting, and grief. This latest collection contains 27 essays about food and how we often mark pivotal moments of life via special recipes. From Grandma Gogo's gravy to Hood's perfect carbonara, readers will travel with her through life's vicissitudes. Many of the essays will bring a smile to the face and jostle long-forgotten fond memories, while others gently tackle losing a child or a beloved brother. The recipes that accompany the essays are not fussy, tending toward comfort food. The lack of access to the printed recipes is a significant downfall; there is no table of contents indicating where each recipe could be found, meaning listeners will either have to write the recipes down as they hear them, or do a lot of skipping tracks back and forth through six CDs to find the recipe they wanted to try. Narrator Nina Alvamar brings a wonderful, cozy warmth to the book, perfectly complementing the essays. VERDICT Recommended where food-based memoirs by authors such as Ruth Reichl, Calvin Trillin, and Laurie Colwin are popular, though the print version will be a better fit for those who want to cook from it rather than just enjoying the essays. ["This warm, humorous, touching, and wonderfully readable book will appeal to food lovers and fans of culinary biographies": LJ Winter 2018 starred review of the Norton hc.]-Donna Bachowski, Grand Island, FL © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this moving collection of essays, Hood (The Knitting Circle), now in her 60s, looks back on her life through the lens of her love of food and cooking. Hood grew up in Providence, R.I., in an Italian-American family that loved food, with her grandmother doing the cooking. Hood's father, who was in the Navy, loved to cook but his rather pedestrian repertoire ranged from runny mashed potatoes to lopsided cake; her mother, who worked for a time in a candy factory, was more adept in the kitchen, making elegant "fancy lady" sandwiches and pies (her lemon meringue pie and meatball recipes are among the many included here). The essays reference major life events, revealing how preparing food helped Hood deal with the death of her older brother and the death of her five-year-old daughter from virulent form of strep ("Now I was cooking to keep from losing my mind from grief," she says while making pork roast with garlic). Cooking also inspired such happy memories as baking with her children or preparing meals for friends. Hood covers her teens as a department store Jordan Marsh girl, her early adulthood as a TWA flight attendant, motherhood, and her recent marriage to food writer Michael Ruhlman. Hood's sharp essays emphasize food as emotional nourishment, bringing family and friends together-both to celebrate the joys and to heal the wounds of life. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.