the book

After years–literally years!–of working on it, my book “The Amateur Gourmet: How To Shop, Chop, and Table-Hop Like A Pro (Almost)” should be in your book store RIGHT NOW. Go out there today and buy it; take a picture of yourself with it and upload it to The Amateur Gourmet Book Pool on Flickr. If you live in New York, and you’d like me to autograph it, come to my reading at the Park Slope Barnes and Noble on September 24th at 7:30 PM. Thanks to the amazing people who made this book possible–my parents, my agent Elizabeth, my editor Philip, my amazing friends–and thanks to all of you who’ve been reading this site for such a long time and supporting me from the very beginning. This book is for all of you: I hope you all love it as much as I do.

Here’s some early buzz for the book which comes out in just FIVE DAYS:

– Lindsay Nair at The Roanoke Times food blog Fridge Magnet calls the book “humorous” and “well-written” and then, inspired by my first chapter, attempts tomato sauce for her first time.

– Dorothy Hernandez at The Detroit News food blog Matters of Taste writes: “I just finished reading the book, and it’s a fun, fast read of an amateur foodie’s discovery of food and himself.”

– The Boston Herald’s food blog cheers: “You’ll love Adam D. Roberts, the author of ‘The Amateur Gourmet’ (Bantam Books, $25), which is published next week.” Thanks Boston Herald. I love you too!

– A few weeks ago I went to speak at Susan Shapiro’s journalism class at The New School and one of her students, Jackie, who read the galley, wrote this on her blog: “Throughout the pages of the book, I starred things, folded down page corners, underlined intensely, and jotted notes in the margin such as ‘Oh my god! Yes! Exactly!'” Thanks Jackie. I did the same with your blog!

Finally, it seems that Random House is featuring my book on its main page as an editor’s pick but those books rotate in and out, so check back and see if you see it there.

And that’s it for now! There’s exciting stuff coming up–book coverage in newspapers, magazines, radio (in Philadelphia! but more on that later)–so stay tuned…

Before we start singing (Happy Music Week!), here’s something to sing about: the first review of my book, via Publisher’s Weekly!

The Amateur Gourmet: How to Shop, Chop and Table-Hop Like a Pro (Almost)

Just a typical Jewish law student who returned to New York to study playwriting, Roberts forsook torts and all things dramaturgical for tarts and all things culinary. In order to better share his discoveries and enthusiasms, he eventually launched a Web site—amateurgourmet.com—replete with recipes, marketing and cooking tips, restaurant reviews and overall winsomeness. Here, in 10 short essays, and with the same charming voice, he offers simple (perhaps even simplistic) lessons from his own journey out of fast food and microwave captivity to the Promised Land of Foodiedom. From basic tomato sauce to a feast for 10, he guides the way through a series of culinary adventures and exhorts the kitchen novice toward the same discoveries, surprises and challenges. This is not really a cookbook or a memoir so much as a kitchen travelogue or series of essays on culinary attitude adjustment, and Roberts has such lightness of spirit that even proficient gourmands may be tempted to seek again the stance of a rank beginner in order to experience anew a perfectly cooked tomato sauce or dinner for one in Paris. There are recipes, mostly cribbed from other cookbooks, but the book’s primary feature is its delight in learning something new. (Aug. 28)