Building a Bookshelf

In my estimation, one of the best perks of this job has always been the review copies of cookbooks sent by publishers every spring and fall. In the early days of the job, I tried to keep them all, but as my bookshelves filled up and my house became overwhelmed with stacks of books, I realized the joy in sharing. Now I distribute some of the bounty to the contributing Food writers and other local food professionals. In general, it works something like this: Restaurant chef books and anything Asian to Mick Vann, culinary history and interesting personal memoirs to MM Pack, gardening and canning for Claudia Alarcón, wine and cocktail books to Wes Marshall, ethnic foods and anything that harkens back to America's past to Kate Thornberry, cooking with kids and food scholarship to Rachel Feit, and I still keep most of the baking and dessert books for myself. Here are some selections from the fall crop of cookbooks that we really liked – maybe they'll be appropriate for someone on your list.