In principio era la tavola

Reading Gopnik is a bit like reading David Foster Wallace: makes me both aspire ("I want to write like that!") and despair ("I could never write like that!"). Don't be fooled: this is a philosophy book--a smart, meaty [sic!] meditation on politics, meaning, and the good life.

Adam Gopnik is my favorite current writer of nonfiction. He's brilliant and often funny. He loves his family, France, and food. Though not overtly political, he has liberal sensibilities. He has a wide range of interests in sync with my own, including urbanism, sports, classic novels, and music from Leggi tutto

I loved Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon and so was delighted to see that the library has another book by the same author. Culinary, French, what could be better? I'm finding myself skimming, skipping much of the book; however, some parts are interesting. I'll reserve judgement. Okay ... I should just Leggi tutto

Among the most self-indulgent, over-intellectualized works I've ever encountered--and I actually enjoyed law school. Given my enjoyment of Mr. Gopnik's other work, I am a little surprised to have been so annoyed by this one. However, after suffering through dozens of pages on "taste" as characterize Leggi tutto

“In cooking you begin with the ache and end with the object, where in most of the life of the appetites---courtship, marriage---you start with the object and end with the ache.” Do you see why I love Adam Gopnik? He can take the simplest of activities---like cooking, for example---and he can find gre Leggi tutto

Here's my review for the Star Tribune newspaper: For his last meal on earth, Adam Gopnik would have roast chicken with lemon and an apricot souffle for dessert. Or maybe beef with béarnaise sauce, with chocolate pot-au-crème for dessert. Questions of food consume Gopnik in “The Table Comes First: Fami Leggi tutto

Mixed feelings about this book. For a start, I felt starved for propert writing about writing about the food. We're all deluged with cook-books, culinary supplements, restaurant reviews, but there is very little writing about this trend. So, who better to do it but Adam Gopnik, essayist supreme of N Leggi tutto

Keeping company with Adam Gopnik is reminiscent of conversation at a long French dinner party where food, philosophy and life are woven into a deeply enjoyable tapestry. At the end, we sigh and move on with our lives and the happy memory of an evening well-spent. Gopnik's essays touch on some of my

[Overdrive eBook] Fascinating essays on many aspects of food -- including explorations of the origin of the restaurant and cookbooks, a discussion of the current reigning culinary trends, a dialog with a food writer of the late 19th century that Gopnik feels close to, and other amusing bits -- even

Adam Gopnik reads like MFK Fisher, minus heart, charm, or lovely turns of phrase. While some of his writing did have humor, I could almost hear the New Yorker guffaws after punch lines. Overall, his style didn't appeal to me. Neither did sentences like this one: "I notice that, in your essay on the pe Leggi tutto