Tag Archives: adult non-fiction

The Moon Travel Guides and Places I’ve Loved

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Cover image for Moon Travel Guide, New York City.

Not too long ago, I came across the Moon travel guides while searching for information on Quebec City in our catalogue. A quick Google search led me to the guides’ about us page, which presents a perspective on travel writing that’s off the beaten path, shall we say. The area of ethical travel is a burgeoning one, and I was aware of the growing discourse on traveling responsibly and sustainably but had never come across a series of guides published by one of the five major book publishers in North America (Hachette Book Group) in this vein.

It turns out the Moon guides started in California in the 1970s as an independent publication with humble ‘Xeroxed’ pages. Now, they publish hefty tomes with advice for patronizing local businesses, making the most of the outdoors, strategizing to maximize time spent, and how to focus on sustainability. They also make sure that each author of a particular guide either lives in the places they write about or has spent a significant amount of time in that location. With all this in mind, I thought I would share some of the guides I’ve used and some that I would have used if I’d known they’d existed, all in the hopes that I may inspire you to do your own ethical travelling this summer!

New York City

I have travelled to the metropolitan goliath that is New York City twice now. I enjoyed each of my visits greatly, although sensory overload is an understatement when it comes to the streets of Manhattan. That being said, the level of cuisine, theatre, art, and any other experience you can think of within those 59 square kilometres is unparalleled. I recommend seeing a show on Broadway or off — sometimes the most interesting plays are being shown outside of the mainstream — and finding a local restaurant that is completely unique to the area. To give an example, after attending a particularly entertaining and smart production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York City, I convinced my mother to walk a good six or seven blocks out of our way to a restaurant in the West Village. We also caught a glimpse of both Jerry O’Connell and Sigourney Weaver that night after the play had ended, in case that’s of interest. The restaurant was called L’Artusi, and it has impressively survived the devastation that the pandemic brought to the hospitality business in general. Its specialty is simple: modern Italian dishes, excellently prepared and seasoned with an eye for detail. I remember we walked up to the doors, inlaid with a glass panel through which we could spy a dark dining room and flickering candle light. For a moment, we were worried it was closed, but then we pushed open the door to be greeted by friendly staff. There was room for us after all in the dim ambiance. It was a lovely meal.

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From Page to Screen: Cookbook Edition

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We’ve all heard of books being adapted into Netflix series or blockbuster franchises, but what about cookbook authors who make the leap from page to screen? The media landscape for foodies is rich and varied. More and more, food writers are being asked to extend their skills to media production. I wanted to share some of the books and authors who have meant something to me in my life because of both the quality of their writing and their charismatic presence on my computer or television screen. 

Claire Saffitz 

Cover image for the cookbook Dessert Person.

After the fallout at Bon Appetite magazine and YouTube channel regarding allegations of inequitable practices and unfair treatment of racialized staff, Claire Saffitz made the move to her own YouTube channel, penned Dessert Person. Her new cookbook of the same name arrived shortly after. Dessert Person videos are somehow both calming, leisurely strolls through a recipe and, at the same time, bely an immense need to achieve perfection at all costs. Saffitz is methodical, analytical, and measures every ingredient to several decimal points (I’m mostly kidding). 

The great thing about her recipes is that she embodies something Julia Child would have loved, which is scientific workability, or the ability to reproduce anything she makes in your kitchen at home. She includes a lot of detail, specific descriptions of how things should look, and alternative methods if you don’t have the time or equipment to make it her way. Saffitz is in no hurry with her baking, which over the years I have found is a good mindset for baking. If you’re in a hurry for your dessert to be done, the dessert doesn’t care. It simply deflates, overcooks, undercooks, doesn’t combine properly, or the carrots in your carrot muffins turn green. Don’t get me started. Don’t be in a hurry. Let your ingredients and recipe set the pace for you. Your baking will turn out better for it. 

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The Indubitable Value of Reading Without Finishing the Book

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There is, without a doubt, a stigma against not finishing books. Unread tomes on our bookshelves are often alluded to in hushed tones, guilty secrets only we know about, like that dentist visit we keep putting off. (Who would do such a thing? Not me, of course.)

Lately, I’ve had the conviction that this is nothing to be ashamed of. I have started and not gotten to the end of many a book in my time, and I will most likely do so for the rest of my life. I read a book up until the point where I decide it’s not worth its remaining hours. There is also a different sort of timing to consider. As in the realm of relationships (what is reading if not a relationship you have with a book for a period of time), sometimes you’re not at the right point in your life’s trajectory to connect with a story and appreciate it for how great it is.

As a result, there are several books that I have spent a good chunk of time with and never finished. Many of them I would recommend to anyone, but I just reached a point where my interest waned. More than that, I felt satisfied by what I’d read up until that point, like a seven-course tasting menu that fills you up by the third dish. I’m highlighting them here because they are all worth any amount of time you have to spend. Given that there are so many books in VPL’s collection, especially when you include digital subscription content, you don’t always have endless hours to read everything to completion. Nor do you necessarily want to. Don’t let that stop you from reading or listening to an audiobook of whichever work has grabbed your interest in the present moment. Seriously, don’t.

Conversations with Friends

Book cover image for Conversations with Friends.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with Normal People — Rooney’s literary romance bestseller. I listened to it on audiobook and found it quietly heartbreaking, an almost ironic lack of romanticism audible in the Irish narrator’s voice. That sharply trained focus on realism and melancholy vision of high school love kept me listening the whole way through.

Before Normal People, there was Conversations with Friends. In the beginning, I was really excited about its narrative voice, which was dry, witty, and intelligent. The main character is Frances, best friend to Bobbi and aspiring professional writer. The two become entangled with older couple Melissa and Nick (a successful journalist and actor respectively). I read to about halfway, to a point in the plot where it’s clear where the relationships are headed. This is often where I leave stories like these. Once I know where we’re headed and the majority of how we’ll get there, it’s hard for me to persevere to the end. I very much enjoyed the part I read, however. As they say, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey, and this book was like a road trip filled with stimulating dialogue and gorgeously-written scenery.

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