Read it or Weep

Food for Thought January 10, 2008

I love reading non-fiction books as much as I like reading fiction books, they just feed different needs. Like books about food. Or strange hobbies. Or odd careers. Of course you have to be careful when you read books about real people and things because you might wind up thinking, “Me too!”

Here’s one example. Let’s talk about the book Candy and me : a love story by Hilary Liftin. I could totally identify with Hilary’s love of candy, the one difference being her sweet tooth is ginormously large and mine is wee tiny in comparison. I enjoyed her remembering the candies of her youth and her raposodising over the candies of today. I did not enjoy the power her words had over me. I read about her love of Circus Peanuts and then had to try them for myself. I mean, how can I convincingly tell of my love for candy if I haven’t tried all the good stuff out there? So I bought Circus Peanuts because Hilary loved them. It gets worse. I love them now too! They’re squishy -but firm- and pleasantly sweet -but not too sweet. Yummy!

Another book that was persuading me overeat? American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America’s Back Roads by Pascale Le Draoulec. Do you see a trend? I do. But again, Pascale had my undivided attention at her first bite of pie. Pascale was moving from California to New York and decided to make it a road trip/adventure. Her mission? To find great pie everywhere she went. She fulfilled her mission and made me dream about Strawberry Rhubarb pie for weeks! Plus Key Lime pie and Banana Cream pie and Cherry pie…

Hungry for dessert? Me too…