I’m always a bit skeptical when I start reading books based on blogs. I’ve been let down before. But I felt ok going in to A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg because I wasn’t a regular reader of her popular blog, Orangette.
I liked her and her writing style right from page one.
To give you an idea why, here’s my favourite quote from the book:
There is no problem that cannot be solved with cake. It’s the right answer to everything.
If you agree with that statement then you’ll really like this book and you’ll spend a lot of time wondering how you and Molly could meet and become friends. At least, that’s what I did. After reading her book, I’m officially a fan of her blog. Doesn’t it usually happen the other way? Doesn’t matter. I’ve been reading her posts from years ago (they date as far back as 2004), and I want to try her recipes, especially the Winning Hearts and Minds Cake.
I really like what one reviewer on Amazon said about Molly: “Her voice and the sometimes heart-rendingly personal stories she tells with each recipe really do bring you to her kitchen table. And then they give you a cookie.”
So true.
A Homemade Life is a book that I’ll read again in a few years to remind myself what good food writing is. In the meantime, I’ll be getting to know Molly some more through her blog and trying as many of her recipes as possible along the way.
(Also, here’s a video of Molly Wizenberg discussing her writing process)