Sedgwick, and Michael Korda put her at
the forefront of the field. Writing, Gubar
argues, can return agency and dignity to
the potentially dehumanizing experience
of cancer treatment. Agent: Ellen Levine,
Trident Media Group. (May)
The Sleep Revolution:
Transforming Your Life One Night
at a Time
Arianna Huffington. Harmony, $26 (400p)
ISBN 978-1-101-90400-8
Prompted by a frightening personal
experience with exhaustion, Huffington
Post founder Huffington ( Thrive) synthesizes a vast array of sleep research and
provides tips on maximizing sleep time
in an increasingly deprived global culture.
Noting that this deprivation is often
“glamorized and celebrated” among go-getters, Huffington cites figures indicating
that sleep-deprived people are less productive at work. She also lists health risks,
including heart attack, stroke, diabetes,
and obesity, as well as cognitive impairment on par with alcohol consumption.
Huffington goes on to explore the history
of sleep, from the ancient world to the
Industrial Revolution, when sleep began to
suffer. For science, she discusses circadian
rhythms, sleep stages, and sleep disorders
and their treatments. Tips on achieving
better sleep habits are presented for different
age groups, with parents encouraged to
rethink how they approach putting their
children to bed, and students to place
more emphasis on sleep for a higher GPA.
Much advice is familiar—put aside the
electronic devices, exercise more, and
meditate—but some is less so, including
suggestions on how to use the latest
sleep-tracking devices and sleep-opti-mizing hotels. Huffington proves herself a
powerful advocate for those suffering from
what she identifies as the current “sleep
crisis.” Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, WME.
(Apr.)
8 Keys to Mental Health Through
Exercise
Christina G. Hibbert. Norton, $19.95 trade
paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-393-71122-6
Clinical psychologist Hibbert (Who Am
I Without You?) has created a useful and
supportive exercise guide aimed at helping
readers with mental health problems. She
begins with a reminder that mental illness
a wee space are presentation, surprise
ingredients, and simplicity. Nothing is
simpler than a salad, and there are many
to choose from here. Blue cheese, rose-
mary, and walnuts are woven between
whole slices of apple, giving the salad the
appearance of a thick and oozing burger
with a stem peeking from its top.
Couscous and pumpkin seeds are stuffed
into leeks and plated with the leeks
upright, little columns of crunch. The
chef is a bit of a deconstructionist, most
notably in the naming of his recipes,
which he calls by their ingredients. So, in
Honor-speak, a breakfast sandwich with
ground beef, mushrooms, bacon, eggs, and
baked beans. Then again, what other
name could one possibly give dishes such
as calf’s liver–leeks-vanilla-honey or
lamb’s tongue–grape molasses–ginger
root–star anise? Each dish is accompanied
by a full-page, color close-up from photographer Tamin Jones. They are warm
and inviting, particularly the image of a
mouthwatering gluten-free, cocoa,
banana, almond flour cake frosted with
dense chocolate curls—which, it turns
out, are thickened with avocado. (Mar.)
Health & Fitness
Reading and Writing Cancer:
How Words Heal
Susan Gubar. Norton, $26.95 (192p)
ISBN 978-0-393-24698-8
Part writing manual, part memoir,
and part literary and artistic critique, this
companion to Gubar’s New York Times
column, “Living with Cancer,” would make
a valuable addition to any cancer patient’s
bookshelf. In stylish and unflinching prose,
Gubar (Memoir of a Debulked Woman) illu-
minates how writing and reading helped
her face ovarian cancer, and how they can
help others facing similar battles. She dis-
penses essential writing advice, such as
guidelines and prompts for journaling
(“I wish I could tell my oncologist...”),
alongside her own experiences putting
words to her cancer, from responding to
online commenters to discussing a treat-
ment’s embarrassing side effects. She also
turns her gaze outward, using her decades
in academia to put together a robust survey
of relevant literature and art. Gubar may
not be the first to address the “cancer canon,”
but her deft reading and analysis of writers
such as Susan Sontag, Eve Kosofsky
deviled with tuna and foie gras. Campfire
trout, butterflied and baked with jamón
ibérico and garlic, is simply wondrous, as
is the paprika-marinated pork loin roast.
Sweets and beverages round out this superb
cookbook, an outstanding introduction to
traditional Basque cuisine. (Apr.)
The Smoking Bacon & Hog
Cookbook: The Whole Pig &
Nothing but the Pig Recipes
Bill Gillespie, with Tom O’Keefe. Page Street,
$21.99 (194p) ISBN 978-1-62414-224-6
Gillespie’s follow up to his successful
Secrets to Smoking on the Weber Smokey
Mountain Cooker will likely be an even
bigger hit than its predecessor due to a
key, magical ingredient: bacon. Even if
readers don’t want to take the time to
make their own pancetta, pepper-crusted
bacon, molasses and coffee bacon, or sri-racha-and-honey-cured pork belly (among
many others suggested here), they’re sure
to appreciate the litany of practical, tasty
dishes using one of the world’s most popular ingredients. One of Gillespie’s most
frequent and easy techniques is to simply
wrap bacon around whatever’s in front of
him: chicken wings, onion rings, and even
pineapple with mozzarella sticks get the
treatment. This culminates in the formidable bacon weave, a blanket of 16 bacon
slices woven together and placed atop
breakfast burritos, quesadillas, and tater
tots. Novelty aside, Gillespie’s got plenty
of good ideas here: DIY chorizo, an
award-winning recipe for grilled pork
chops, barbecued beans, bacon corn
chowder, and apple bacon slaw are all winners. Gillespie cut his teeth on the BBQ
circuit, and he provides solid advice on
ribs, rubs, and sauces without going overboard. Carnivores with a soft spot for
grilling and smoking will get the most
out of this solid effort, as will fans of outdoor cooking in general. (Mar.)
★ Big Flavors from a Small
Kitchen
Chris Honor and Laura Washburn Hutton.
Mitchell Beazley, $29.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-
78472-105-3
Honor, proprietor of the small London
café Chriskitch, and food writer Hutton
prove that tiny can indeed be powerful
with their debut collection of 100 recipes.
The keys to Honor’s success in cooking in
