The Cookbook Collector

I’ve finally found a book I can read. It has been a long slog to get to The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman. What is it about this book makes it one I can read?

There are the people—they are intelligent, amusing, thoughtful, different, lovable, confused, conflicted and I’m drawn to them. I recognize them.

There is the situation—a bookstore in Berkeley, a software company in Cambridge, a software company in Palo Alto, all very interesting, at varying times, a part of my life.

There are the issues, the questions—to marry or not, to reveal or keep silent, to buy or to sell, the ambiguities of life and work, all well known to me now.

It is all there, written beautifully, it is smart, clever, serious and wise all combined in by a master of literary creation. Goodman has done her research, she knows what she is writing about, and there is much that is worth collecting.