Garlic and Sapphires, Ruth Reichl

Not a course book. A delicious, light read. Pun intended, please hold your groaning.

I picked up this book on a friend's recommendation.  It is the true story of a New York Times restaurant critic who goes undercover to keep people from recognizing her.  She pulls off a slew of fun disguises with complete characters to back them up and discovers the difference that an appearance can make for how the world treats someone.  I loved it because it was fun, light reading, but extremely well-written.  Being a restaurant critic, Reichl has an excellent turn of phrase.  She also lives more through her senses than I do, so it was fun to read such vivid descriptions that I could never imagine thinking, let alone writing.

I thought I would not like a food book -- I can't watch food-TV without feeling both fat and hungry.  However, this book proved me wrong.  Final conclusion: read it!