Wine Culture | Book Chatter

Pinch Me book cover including the Italian countryside.

Pinch Me
By Barbara Boyle
She Writes Press, 9781647428327, Feb 2025, 216pp

The Short of It:

If you want to feel wonderful about the world again, pick this up. It’s a beautiful, feel-good memoir.

The Rest of It:

This book is wonderful. In its brief 216 pages, I lingered and made the recipes and scanned all the QR codes for photos. Yes, people! Delicious Italian food AND photo albums of the restoration process of this beautiful 300 year old farmhouse. Barn, really.

Barbara Boyle and her husband Kim visit a small Italian town for vacation and fall in love with the town, its people and the overall sense of place. So much so that when they return to their US home in San Francisco, they begin to dream about a possible home there. Could that work?

With the right realtor, a dedicated construction crew and lots of trips back and forth, they purchase what is essentially a barn and turn it into the most beautiful home, overlooking the hillsides and wildflowers and yes, grapevines too.

I am not a big RENO person. As soon as foundation talk enters the chat, I tune out but not in this case. Solving the foundation issues in a 300 year old relic, takes precision, care and creative solutions. I found this part to be fascinating. Also, how they started with the roof! I would never have even though to start with that when the walls are crumbling and held up by mud.

Construction aside, the relationships that this couple built there are admirable and the kindness of strangers, who eventually become neighbors was so comforting and sweet. I loved hearing about their interactions with the local businesses too. All of the delicious restaurants and pasta making experiences and the emphasis on fresh produce and simple ingredients.

Reading Pinch Me was a palate cleanser for my soul. Anyone in need of that needs to find a copy immediately. I will say this, there is a deeper topic introduced towards the end and also a COVID pandemic mention given how it affected that region. But, it was just what the doc ordered as far as escapism.

Highly recommend. It will be on my fave list at the end of the year. Would make a great gift too. I would include some photos of the house but I want you to get the book and scan those QR codes for the albums!

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

Sweetbitter
By Stephanie Danler
Knopf Publishing Group, Hardcover, 9781101875940, May 2016, 368pp.

The Short of It:

An apt title for a story that pushes you away as much as it pulls you in.

The Rest of It:

Youth. Remember it? Maybe it’s been awhile since you’ve felt that elusive, fleeting happiness that percolates ever so gently when it comes to love. Well, this story captures it beautifully.

New York City is the backdrop for this novel and it’s dizzying in its perfection. Even with the bug infestations and the rats running through the street, Tess finds it to be magical in its own way.

“It’s ludicrous for anyone to live here,” she thinks, at the same time, she thinks, “I can never leave.” ~Sweetbitter

Tess moves to the city with the hopes to reinvent herself. In her twenties, it’s as if the world is there for the taking so when she lands a job at a well-known restaurant, she quickly falls into the routine of the place which includes many players, much drama and Jake, the bartender she’s completely obsessed with.

Tess is a work-in-progress. She’s green when it comes to love and war and she takes a beating both professionally and personally. Her eagerness to learn and her willingness to take it all in makes her vulnerable and somewhat innocent. Often times I found myself wanting to shake her a little but as I approached the final pages, I realized just how masterful the writing was.

There’s so much to love about this book. There’s food and wine and plenty of flawed, interesting people and Danler absolutely nailed the restaurant industry. I suppose it’s a coming-of-age story but it’s sophisticated, gritty and brutal in its honesty. I highly recommend it.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Chatting with friends about books and life…