Books: The 10 best

Grant's favorites from 1997 | George Grant

Oliver Wendell Holmes once advised his daughter, "It is a good plan to have a book with you in all places and at all times." That is wise counsel I have always tried to heed. This year at one time or another I have dragged around to sundry odd places each of the following volumes-my personal picks for the 10 best of 1997 in no particular order.

Like most men, I love food. I was thus enchanted this year by Lobscouse and Spotted Dog. This is an absolute must-have book for all die-hard fans of the Aubry-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian. It is a cooking companion to those stunningly accurate Napoleonic Era sea tales. More than a mere cookbook, though, it is literally a gastronomic encyclopedia of the age. And authors Anne Grossman and Lisa Thomas make the subject as tantalizing as a trifle and as filling as burgoo.

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