pickAn absolute joy to read. Exactly what you hope to find in non-fiction by someone with a poetry background.
Such a warm appreciation for food, connecting to remembrances shared with family and friends, of travel, of being the child of immigrants, of discovering the cultures and places of your family tree. 1/?
He 👏🏻just 👏🏻steps 👏🏻up. Bare minimum is showing you care, taking note of the details, “ignore prescribed gender caretaking roles“, but it's still good to see.
Today's 'scratched my brain just right' sentence.
Reminding myself that it's best not to interfere with a wild species in its native habitat does not prevent me from now really wanting to Boop the boops boops. ☺️
Whoops! Late to post my (nonfic heavy) #ReadingBracket2025.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil will *always* end up on the board whenever she‘s got a book to enter into the fray.
Titles written below (for those of us who struggle with tiny print):
Jan: The Witching Year by Diana Helmuth
Feb: Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson
Mar: Bite by Bite by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Wild: Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel 🏆
Wild: Eight Bears by Gloria Dickie
pickI used to try to read aloud to my pet house rabbit and, though she was my little soul-twin in many ways, she was decidedly uninterested; she preferred a cozy silence.
Bite by Bite will go down in personal memory as the first book I read aloud to my pup. He *loved* it. We started with Nezhukumatathil‘s essay on potatoes. Jett is now my “best spud.” 🥔 He also loved the chapter on maple syrup. As such, I‘m unable to rate this book objectively.
pickI enjoyed this memoir in essays about an interesting assortment of foods. The author, a poet, has a beautiful way of writing about her family, her career, her marriage, and culture. In some ways the structure reminded me a bit of Kate Lebo‘s first collection of essays, The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (with Recipes).
pickI adored Nezhukumatathil‘s World of Wonders. This follow up focuses on food instead of the natural world, which is another of my favorite things to think about. There‘s beautiful illustrations at the beginning of each essay about various foods. Each food evokes a memory or association for the author. A perfect blend of food writing, memoir, and history.
pickBeautiful writing about food and life.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.
pickProse written by poets must be my absolute favorite genre of literature and Aimee Nezhukumatathil has gifted readers with another stunning essay collection. But then when she pairs a poem with an essay - it absolutely sings. Bite by Bite provides all the nourishment a reader could need.
Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees | 
For those who might also appreciate this angle, I'll add that it is not a foodie book that focuses on recipes or much kitchen experience. It's often the food prepared by others or discovered when dining out. 2w
Truly a wonderful time regardless of your skill level.
Oh, and the illustrations by artist Fumi Nakamura acting as introductions to each new food essay are beautiful and brilliantly colourful. 😍
⚠️Mention of school shootings, enslavement 2w