Book Review: Taste My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci

If you are as big a fan of Stanley Tucci as I am, you will love this book. Stanley takes us on his lifelong odyssey with food and family. He begins with anecdotes about his childhood in the peaceful New York town of Katonah. He is the oldest of three children in a middle-class Italian-American family where the day’s activities culminate around the dining room table and what is for supper. You can hear that distinctive wry wit and humor that he is known for hilariously shining in his recollections of family events, all of which centered around food. These interactions would ultimately shape his entire life going forward. Tucci marks the milestones of his life involving people, places, and events not with dates on a calendar but with specific meals or other food-centric references. Just as he savors his life through culinary pursuits you will savor each chapter wishing you can linger a bit longer at the table with your host. The last chapter recounts his battle with oral cancer in vivid detail. He shares his candid memories, private thoughts, and emotions as his ordeal stretched endlessly over months that turned into years before his victorious complete recovery. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves and understands the impact that food and family play in how you experience your journey through life. 

One final note for fans of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. Stanley Tucci is returning to television. National Geographic has confirmed it plans to film a new show starring Stanley Tucci in Italy. It will be a ten-part unscripted docuseries exploring ten regions of Italy. The project will be called “Tucci-The Heart of Italy”. It will be produced by Tucci’s Salt Productions and BBC Studios’ Factual Productions. 

Addio per ora 🇮🇹

Book Review: Corkscrew by Peter Stratford-Bow

Corkscrew is the highly improbable but occasionally true, tale of a professional wine buyer by Peter Stratford-Bow

This humorous novel follows the exploits of a young English wine buyer as he navigates an unlikely journey around the world of wine while trying to advance his career by any means possible. The author claims there is some truth in his characters and their adventures but if it is even only a small grain of it he is lucky to have survived to pen this story. By reading between the lines you get a glimpse into how some of the wines you find on the shelves of your favorite wine shop get there. The absurd situations the ascending young wine buyer finds himself in are hilarious. The way he extricates himself from them for his benefit will have you shaking your head in disbelief and laughter. I also learned a lot of British slang by reading the book which would have taken me months to pick up working on the docks in the Port of Felixstowe. This book will make you howl and keep you interested from start to finish because there is nothing about the plot, if there is one, that is predictable. Buckle up and hold on because you are in for one wild ride.