The Cook, The Adventurer, An Artist and His Lover

by luxurydossier

“I never trust anyone who hasn’t read White Fang,” said my cousin the French professor over lunch in a Provencal café. I’m not sure if I would go that far, as I’m not a big fan of Jack London nor wolves in general. And so I’m wondering, what’s on your summer reading list? Here’s mine, for beach or jet or yacht or just a list that I would read again if I had the time.
1. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen. Forget all that nonsense about Robert Redford and Meryl Streep and that phonograph. The movie pales in comparison to the majesty of this book. If you want to know what life in Colonial Africa was really like, here’s the book for you.
2. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Hilarious account of a walk on the Appalachian Trail.
3. The Prince of Frogtown by Rick Bragg. A Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times war correspondent, Bragg’s prose is often overlooked. I’m sounding like a librarian here but, really, read this book.
4. The Diaries of Andy Warhol. I’m big on diaries, they appeal to the voyeuristic nature of journalism, and Warhol was something of an obsessive diarist. Fantastic, fun reading. He was out every night and kept track of every single cab fare.
5. Duveen by S.N. Behreman. One of the best books of any century. A must-read.
6. White Mughals by William Dalrymple. Fantastic look at the history of the subcontinent.
7. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. Long before the Food Network, there was this book. All the inside info about chefs, revealed. I come from a family of chefs and this is on the mark. One caveat: not for the squeamish.
8. The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway. Enough said.
9. Polo by Jilly Cooper. A trashy account of polo, but a lot of fun if you spend your time trying to figure out who is whom.
10. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Another masterpiece.
11. Conjure by Ismail Reid. Fantastic poet.

The truth is, I am a voracious reader but terrible at reading anything new. Fiction doesn’t really interest me, as the truth seems fare more intriguing.