Great meals in literature

 
The UK’s Telegraph takes a look some of the most notable meals in books. What’s your favorite?
The Bell Jar
In Sylvia Plath’s novel, avocados are significant symbols for the protagonist Esther Greenwood. They represent her desire to stand in opposition to traditional domestic gender models. Esther’s incessant consumption of avocados is not only a form of rebellion, but an example of the power of food in evoking memories of the past. Esther associates the fruit with her grandfather, and consequently the fruit serves as a source of comfort.
On The Road
“I ate another apple pie and ice cream; that’s practically all I ate all the way across the country, I knew it was nutritious.” Jack Kerouac’s seminal Beat novel is better known for its descriptions of sex, drugs and endless road-tripping, but Kerouac’s text is also laden with rich descriptions of food. As he ventures further west, his reliance upon apple pie and ice cream becomes more pronounced. Kerouac’s paean to comfort food infuses holiness into an otherwise ordinary meal.
Literary meals
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45 Great American Indie Bookstores
“As we approach the season when you’ll be spending money on gifts, as well as looking for engrossing reads to get you through the cold winter,” Jason Diamond writes at Flavorwire, “we’re supplying you with a list of 45 great American indie bookstores.”
Village Books, one of my hometown bookstores (we have several) is one of Flavorwire’s choices.
When you talk about a bookstore being the heart of a community, Village Books in the Bellingham neighborhood of Fairfield is one of the first places that comes to mind. The beautiful building, the knowledgeable staff, and their programs to help local writers all make Village the kind of local indie that other indies look to for inspiration.
The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA
A town with a reputation for having the best coffee should also have the best bookstores, and Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Company, which has been evolving for four decades, lives up to all expectations. Simply put: this place is temple to literary culture.
Montague Bookmill, Montague, MA
This New England temple of cozy is housed in a 19th-century gristmill, has a waterfall running down the side of it, a great little café where you can sit and drink beer, and one of the best selections of used books in the region. They even have a section dedicated to the Bloomsbury Set.
Maple Street Books, New Orleans, LA
Maple Street has been a New Orleans institution since the 1960s, and has two locations to serve the locals and tourists who can break away from partying in America’s most seductive city to hang out and read a good book. And you can’t help but love the way they champion local authors.
45 Indie Bookstores
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Book here! 14 beautiful hotels inspired by literature
“They say that all fiction can be reduced to two basic plots: “a stranger comes to town” and “a man goes on a journey,” Mridu Khullar Relph writes for CNN.
Which suggests travel and literature make for cozy bedfellows.
Here are some of the coolest hotels inspired by writers and their work.
The Nines in Portland, for example. Portland is home to Wordstock, a huge literary festival, as well as Powell’s Books, the largest independent bookstore in the world. The Nines was built to reflect this interest in Portland’s literary culture by creating a place where guests could browse books, socialize with other literature lovers and get a sense of the city. The hotel works with Powell’s and has created a lending library of more than 3,000 books for guests.
The room designed after “Eloise.”
The New York Plaza features ‘Eloise at The Plaza’, a one-of-a-kind shop, reading room and event venue which celebrates Kay Thompson’s iconic children’s book heroine, Eloise, who in the books lives at The Plaza.
Hotels and books
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Quote of the Day
“I’m of the Strasberg school of writing. If I don’t feel it, I can’t write it,” Hilton Als said during his author event last week at Brooklyn’s Greenlight Bookstore. How do we know this? Because Kate Gavino has been highlighting quotations from readings in New York City with drawings at her Last Night’s Reading Tumblr.
image: Kate Gavino/ lastnightsreading.tumblr.com
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Alma Alexander
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