A weekend spent recuperating from a rather persistent flu also meant I took succour in food—not the kind where I head to the door like Thorin’s kin coming up into sunlight as I quickly grab the package from the startled Swiggy delivery guy but one found between the covers of a book. I’m talking about Adam Roberts’s novel Food Person. Food writer Isabella dreams of joining culinary greats like Ruth Reichl and Marion Cunningham and seeing her name on the cover of a book one day. Only, on account of sudden cookie-induced unemployment and a flatmate with connections, she finds herself hired to ghostwrite a cookbook by erstwhile TV star Molly Babcock. Think Hacks, but more culinary escapades than punchlines. As reputations get smeared as easily as butter, it’s a joyful hug of a read.
What are the things you turn to for comfort? Maybe it’s a cosy culinary drama. Maybe it’s the recently dropped Mark Ruffalo-starring limited series Task, where everything that could go wrong with anyone, anytime, will go wrong. The human mind works in mysterious ways, and someone’s nightmare is another’s bedtime story.
Also, in a week’s time, the Booker Prize 2025 shortlist will be announced. How many can you boast of having read? Will Kiran Desai make it? We hope so.
