Essay: The book is going everywhere

People will never stop reading books. Indeed, good books now have many additional ways, including podcasts and video, to reach the reader

I listen to a podcast every day. From time to time I dip into The New York Times’ ‘The Daily’. On April 27, I am glad I did. I was walking up and down the 400-metre road in front of my house at 5:30 AM, the only time I could sneak out without feeling guilty of breaking lockdown rules. I was slightly disappointed that this episode of ‘The Daily’ was not one of their investigative pieces. Instead, someone was reading out an article written by a chef about shutting down her restaurant. I thought I’d give it a few minutes before going back to my podcast library. Four minutes in, I looked down at my phone screen to know more about whose words I was listening to. A chef? I mean no chef writes likes this? I was in rapture for the next 43 minutes. I came home and told my husband. He had lived in New York for 10 years at some point in his life and had been to this restaurant. Next, I looked up the piece online. Despite having listened to the entire article, I wanted to experience it again. This time I wanted to read it. It was that good. The article had already gone viral. Not being very familiar with New York, I hadn’t heard of Gabrielle Hamilton or Prune. But I would get to know her very well over the next few days.

One of life’s great pleasures: curling up with a good read. (Shutterstock)

I’ve been told I am obsessive. The summer I learnt how to swim I would drive 40 minutes in a non-AC car in Delhi’s blistering June to swim for an hour every day. If I like a song, I’ll listen to it on repeat until I tire of it. I have used the same soap for as long as I can remember. And the list goes on.

I watched all the videos I could find on Gabrielle – Mind of a Chef, the one where she cooks for her sons; the short Vanity Fair video clip and even the 24-minute speech she gave at The Welcome Conference.

I shared the article online and some friends said I had to read her book, Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef. After all Anthony Bourdain had called it ‘Simply the best memoir by a chef ever. Ever.’ I messaged every bookshop I know in town. Unfortunately, not a single copy was available (It’s a frustration I experience often. I’m all for supporting brick and mortar bookshops and I even help run a few, but we all have to do better – however, that’s for another piece). But Kindle did. I could download it and start reading it immediately. However, as obsessed as I was with her story, I just couldn’t. For someone who has to work in front of a screen for eight hours every day, I couldn’t get myself to do it. As tempting as it was, I knew I would abandon the book within pages. It would rob me the joy of turning a page, of reading a book while I ate, lay down, snatched minutes while I waited for yet another Zoom call to begin. So I waited. And soon, as Amazon began delivering books, I ordered a copy and finished reading it in four days. I could have read it in three, but I stretched the end for as long as I could. I noted down a list of food terms (magret entrée, capon, clafoutis, manti etc.) that the author mentions in the book. I would look them up at the end of each day. The brutal honesty, self-deprecation, introspection, emphasis on dogged hard work was something I identified with – I was left both in awe of Hamilton but also angry at her. Read the book. I’d love to discuss it with you.

Priya Kapoor

I continue to be obsessed with Gabrielle’s writing and story. In one of her interviews she spoke about a sequel to Blood, Bones and Butter. Kind Regards is to be published this year. I cannot wait.

Priya Kapoor is Editorial Director, Roli Books.