O's 2010 Summer Reading List
Lush historical novels, wise contemporary tales, thrillers that will scare the dickens out of you. (And speaking of Dickens, we've got him, too.)
13 of 20
The Hundred-Foot Journey
By Richard C. Morais
256 pages;
Scribner
"My first sensation of life was the smell of machli ka salan, a spicy
fish curry, rising through the floorboards," recalls Hassan Haji, in
Richard C. Morais' The Hundred-Foot Journey, a mouthwatering
debut novel of colliding cultures and cuisines. Cooking has always sent
Hassan intoa "magic trance," but when his family's grand Bombay
restaurant burns to the ground, they go eating across Europe: A "platto
di Mussolini" is a plate of mussels, not the dictator on a dish, Hassan
has to explain to a waiter in Tuscany. The family finally opens Maison
Mumbai in a small French mountain town and incurs the wrath of the
imperious chef across the street, in this hilarious romp through life,
love, and the workings of a French kitchen.
— Louisa Ermelino
Published 06/17/2011