Brief, tender instruction on how to stop and smell the roses.
A French author meditates on the simple pleasures of life.
In the translator’s note, Gladding writes, “these pieces are drawn from The Troubled Waters of the Mojito and The Ecstasy of the Selfie, the most recent collections of…Delerm’s ‘literary snapshots,’ a genre he invented over two decades ago and still uniquely represents.” Throughout this collection of lighthearted vignettes, the author invites readers to slow down and cherish moments—e.g., getting caught in a rain shower, eating a clementine one-handed, and dancing as if no one is watching, “making peace with your body.” Delerm also explores the serenity that comes from folding sheets, the brightness to be found in washing windows, and the calmness that arrives when you hold a physical book in your hand. “In essence,” writes the author, “it holds a promise of solitude, retreat, silence.” Other elements of everyday life take on a darker tone, such as the self-destructive nature of vaping, the drama associated with achieving the perfect selfie, the isolation of using a smartphone, the impatience that can arise from waiting at a restaurant, and the agitation that comes from losing memories to Alzheimer’s. Of one such person, the author writes, “She’ll remember that she lost something, she won’t know what. They say it’s hell. But there isn’t a word for it.” Delerm examines many intimate moments in life, such as the expressions of ecstasy that desserts can elicit or the joy of bouncing a baby in your arms. The author also contemplates the regional joys of France and Italy, including viewing a Michel Bouquet play from the third balcony, watching tango dancers near the Seine, and observing summer tourists gather at the San Giacomo fountain in Venice. Although the text feels disjointed, perhaps necessarily so, Delerm’s brief observations allow readers to dip in and out, offering moments of reflection and contemplation as time permits.
Brief, tender instruction on how to stop and smell the roses.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781953861542
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Archipelago
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Top Chef fans might savor this detailed account, but others will find it bland.
The Top Chef host describes her journey to new heights.
For those who don’t know, Kish is a “gay Korean adopted woman, born in Seoul, raised in Michigan” and “a chef, a character, a host, and a cultural communicator—as well as a human being with a beating heart.” Though this book covers every step of her journey, every restaurant job and television role, and also discusses her experience as an adoptee (very positive) and a queer woman (late bloomer), the storytelling is so straightforward, lacking in suspense, character development, or dialogue, that it is basically a long version of its (longish) “About the Author.” Seemingly dramatic situations are not dramatized—when she was eliminated on her first Top Chef run, she assures us that she did the best she could, and drops it. “I can spare you the gory details (bouillabaisse and big personalities were involved).” Later, she cites a belief in protecting the privacy of others to omit the story of her first relationship with a woman. With no character development, neither does the reader get to know those who fall outside the privacy zone, like her best friend, Steph, and her wife, Bianca. When she gets mad, she says things like, “It’s a gross understatement to say I was crushed, beyond frustrated, and furious with the situation.” The fact that “I’ve never been a big reader” does not come as a surprise. It is more surprising when she confesses that “I believe the universe is selective about the moments in which it introduces life-changing prospects.”
Top Chef fans might savor this detailed account, but others will find it bland.Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9780316580915
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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