Life Without a Recipe: A Memoir of Food and Family

Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book Life Without a Recipe: A Memoir of Food and Family by Diana Abu-Jaber, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Diana Abu-Jaber ISBN: 9780393249101
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: April 18, 2016
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Diana Abu-Jaber
ISBN: 9780393249101
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: April 18, 2016
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

A “bold, luscious” memoir, “indispensable to anyone trying to forge their own truer path” (Ruth Reichl).

On one side, there is Grace: prize-winning author Diana Abu-Jaber’s tough, independent sugar-fiend of a German grandmother, wielding a suitcase full of holiday cookies. On the other, Bud: a flamboyant, spice-obsessed Arab father, full of passionate argument. The two could not agree on anything: not about food, work, or especially about what Diana should do with her life. Grace warned her away from children. Bud wanted her married above all—even if he had to provide the ring. Caught between cultures and lavished with contradictory “advice” from both sides of her family, Diana spent years learning how to ignore others’ well-intentioned prescriptions.

Hilarious, gorgeously written, poignant, and wise, Life Without a Recipe is Diana’s celebration of journeying without a map, of learning to ignore the script and improvise, of escaping family and making family on one’s own terms. As Diana discovers, however, building confidence in one’s own path sometimes takes a mistaken marriage or two—or in her case, three: to a longhaired boy-poet, to a dashing deconstructionist literary scholar, and finally to her steadfast, outdoors-loving Scott. It also takes a good deal of angst (was it possible to have a serious writing career and be a mother?) and, even when she knew what she wanted (the craziest thing, in one’s late forties: a baby!), the nerve to pursue it.

Finally, fearlessly independent like the Grace she’s named after, Diana and Scott’s daughter Gracie will heal all the old battles with Bud and, like her writer-mom, learn to cook up a life without a recipe.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A “bold, luscious” memoir, “indispensable to anyone trying to forge their own truer path” (Ruth Reichl).

On one side, there is Grace: prize-winning author Diana Abu-Jaber’s tough, independent sugar-fiend of a German grandmother, wielding a suitcase full of holiday cookies. On the other, Bud: a flamboyant, spice-obsessed Arab father, full of passionate argument. The two could not agree on anything: not about food, work, or especially about what Diana should do with her life. Grace warned her away from children. Bud wanted her married above all—even if he had to provide the ring. Caught between cultures and lavished with contradictory “advice” from both sides of her family, Diana spent years learning how to ignore others’ well-intentioned prescriptions.

Hilarious, gorgeously written, poignant, and wise, Life Without a Recipe is Diana’s celebration of journeying without a map, of learning to ignore the script and improvise, of escaping family and making family on one’s own terms. As Diana discovers, however, building confidence in one’s own path sometimes takes a mistaken marriage or two—or in her case, three: to a longhaired boy-poet, to a dashing deconstructionist literary scholar, and finally to her steadfast, outdoors-loving Scott. It also takes a good deal of angst (was it possible to have a serious writing career and be a mother?) and, even when she knew what she wanted (the craziest thing, in one’s late forties: a baby!), the nerve to pursue it.

Finally, fearlessly independent like the Grace she’s named after, Diana and Scott’s daughter Gracie will heal all the old battles with Bud and, like her writer-mom, learn to cook up a life without a recipe.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Saving Gotham: A Billionaire Mayor, Activist Doctors, and the Fight for Eight Million Lives by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book The Art of Freedom: Teaching the Humanities to the Poor by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book Lenin's Brother: The Origins of the October Revolution by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book The Quest for Immortality: Science at the Frontiers of Aging by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book Cræft: An Inquiry Into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson: A Novel by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book South Toward Home: Travels in Southern Literature by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book Beyond Human Nature: How Culture and Experience Shape the Human Mind by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book How to Lie with Statistics by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book Land of Fish and Rice: Recipes from the Culinary Heart of China by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Breaking the Ties That Bind by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book The Developmental Science of Early Childhood: Clinical Applications of Infant Mental Health Concepts From Infancy Through Adolescence by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny (Issues of Our Time) by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book God's Fool: A Novel by Diana Abu-Jaber
Cover of the book Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America's Journey from Slavery to Segregation by Diana Abu-Jaber
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy