The Cookbook Collector

The Cookbook Collector
By Allegra Goodman
Dial Press, 2010. 394 pgs. Fiction

The Cookbook Collector is set on the East and West coasts at the height of the technology boom. Small start-ups are exploding into the financial markets and billionaires are made overnight. Emily Bach is a founder of one such company and her life seems headed in all the right directions. Then there is her younger sister Jess who spends her time working in a small bookstore, studying to earn an unmarketable advanced degree, and handing out leaflets in an attempt to save the redwoods. These two sisters, along with their friends and family, are about to experience a true roller coaster of events both political and social. They will each be required to decide what they truly value and what they would sacrifice to get it.

This is a beautiful book about family, trust, faith, and happiness. Behind all that is the love of books and food. Though it takes place in the recent past, 1999-2002, it reads a lot like an historical novel, filled with rich details of a way of life that is already disappearing. The characters are engaging and their struggles extremely timely. If it weren’t for some moments of rough language, I would readily recommend this title for book groups. It is a novel made for discussion and reflection.

CZ