Chow Bella and Changing Hands Bookstore are proud to present the Chow Bella Book Club -- an online book club for people who love food, books and books about food.
Every month, we'll choose a book -- memoir, history, novel, biography, cook book -- that you can buy at a discount from Changing Hands (awesome, right?). I'll review that month's book and then host a "meeting" on the First Tuesday of each month on that month's Chow Bella Book Club blog post to discuss it.
We've got more on the back burner -- including live Chow Bella Book Club events at Changing Hands Bookstore, contests and special guests. So stay tuned and get ready for some real page-turners.
Find out how the idea came about, what this month's book is about -- and how to get your 20% discount on it, after the jump.
This book club idea came about while I was reading (actually listening to -- just finished it) a certain recent chef memoir and wanting to talk about it with someone. None of my close friends had read it or even planned to read it. A book club sounded like a good idea, but I bet you're like me in that I can't always get away for a specific meeting time.
So, I immediately thought to invite Chow Bella readers into a vibrant but pleasant conversation -- here's a good example of a civil discussion where the parties don't necessarily agree with each other but get everyone thinking.
Our first selection for the month of October is The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How A Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks by Kathleen Flinn.This is a brand new release (out this month), and I'd love to get into a discussion about why people aren't cooking at home more, even though there are more food culture lovers than ever. We know that cooking at home saves you money (we're in a recession, people) and is better for your health (we're fatter and sicker than ever) but it's just not happening. So when Gayle Shanks, co-owner/co-founder of Changing Hands Bookstore made the recommendation, we all agreed this was a great first read.
If you're in need of some pointers to get your rear in the kitchen more and spend time actually cooking -- or if you're on the other end of the spectrum and wanting to get into the heads of your friends and wonder why the heck they aren't getting their home cooking act together, this book will be a perfect peek through kitchen windows into what's really going on.
Here's some early praise for the book:
"This could be the most important book you'll ever read."
--Morgan Spurlock, Super Size Me"Kathleen entered the kitchens of strangers and took the time to understand how they think about food before changing their cooking forever."
--Amanda Hesser, Food 52, The Essential New York Times Cookbook"A life-changing book--entertaining, inspiring, and deeply educational."
--Erica Bauermeister, The School for Essential Ingredients
Hurry up and grab your copy and get ready for next month's post, where we will have at it in the comments section in traditional book club style.
Chow Bella Book Club members can get their copy through Changing Hands for 20% off -- to do so, print this coupon. You can also order online at ChangingHands.com/ChowBellaBookClub -- they'll mail it to you, or you can go pick it up at the store.
Make sure to set up a snack station next to your computer to nibble on while you follow along and/or share your opinions in the comments section of the blog posts to follow -- starting the first Tuesday of every month. That means we'll be discussing Kitchen Counter Cooking School on November 1st at 7 p.m., so put it on your calendars, folks.
While it won't be a live discussion, we'd love for it to be quasi-live. It'd be cool if we could get the discussion rolling soon after the Chow Bella Book Club "meeting" blog post is published but if it's a few weeks or months later and you want to chime in on your opinion, we'd love that, too.
See you next month!
Jennifer Woods is a freelance food writer -- an Arizona native who has lived and worked in the food industry (in one way or another) in the Valley for the last 11 years. She is currently a work-from-home-mom who loves to cook, eat, read about food, support local food producers and share that love with her husband and two small kids.
