Best Beach Reads

These must-reads range from a juicy chef tell-all to a serious look at sustainable seafood.

Photo courtesy of Penguin Group

Four Fish by Paul Greenberg

A smart investigation into how four wild fish—tuna, cod, sea bass and salmon—regularly end up on dinner plates, and whether they can be brought back from the brink of extinction.

Photo courtesy of Ecco / Harper Collins

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain

The iconoclastic chef-author of Kitchen Confidential offers this collection of intelligent rants and raves on everything from vegetarians to star chefs like his hero, Fergus Henderson.

Photo courtesy of Random House

The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman

The author spent a day at New York City's Kitchen Arts & Letters store to research her novel about two sisters—one a dot-com genius, the other a bookworm.

Twain's Feast by Andrew Beahrs

A road trip in search of eight of Samuel Clemens's most beloved (and bizarre) regional American dishes.

97 Orchard by Jane Ziegelman

A look into the culinary habits of five immigrant families living in New York City at the turn of the 20th century.

More Great Books:

Favorite Dessert Cookbooks

Cookbook Goddesses

Wine Books

Published August 2010