National Book Festival: Food Focus

Posted on September 22, 2025 by admin

The 2025 National Book Festival was a treat.  I’ve been going for years, and while the mix of authors and subjects has evolved, it’s always full of interesting panels and activities.

The audience for authors’ interviews filled ballrooms and side rooms, ranging from famous bestsellers (Geraldine Brooks, Ron Chernow) and famous not-yet bestsellers (Justice Amy Coney Barrett) to short presentations about Library of Congress publications.  The exhibit hall was filled with literacy-oriented organizations and educators presenting fun activities.  There were also a large bookstore and a football field-sized autographing setup.

Part of the Exhibit Hall
Book Sales and Autographing Areas
Photo Op: Two Proud Nerds
Another Photo Op: In Spaaace!

Unfortunately, there was precious little food-oriented programming.  Most of it resided in the Hall of States and the Library of Congress pavilion inside the exhibit hall.

I also covered the science fiction and fantasy panels for SFRevu.  If you would like to see more coverage of the NBF, it will be in the October issue.  Here are excerpts from two SF&F related panels:

The first panel I attended, cutely titled “Stake It or Leave It,” featured V.E. Schwab and Nnedi Okorafor, with moderator Megan Labrise.  The room was packed; I think the organizers underestimated the popularity of these two genre writers.

Labrise, Schwab, Okorafor
The Packed Room

Nnedi’s latest book (Death of the Author) had a specific origin: she started writing it two days after the death of her sister.  “I always write from pain.  The driving force was death – earth-shattering pain.”  Lest this sounds too dark, she also writes about food a lot.  Death of the Author has a whole chapter about food as a cultural connection to Nigeria.  V.E. agreed: “Food creates an emotional tether.”

Leigh Bardugo and John Picacio have produced a picture book, The Invisible Parade.  Ten years in the making, its genesis was their meeting at one of George R.R. Martin’s Worldcon parties (John thinks it was Renovation in 2011).  Development proceeded at subsequent Worldcons.  Also, they visited graveyards together.  Now, they get requests for tattoos based on John’s illustrations.

Bardugo, Raul the Third (Moderator), Picacio

They wrote the text together.  Influences included an eclectic mix: Mexican horsemen, the Chili Queens of San Antonio, Alexander McQueen, Crimson Peak. The theme of working through grief is explored by relating to deeply embedded Jewish values.  And food!  Leigh wants musubi to be placed on her ofrenda.

A tour of the Hall of States revealed several state books with food associations.  Washington featured a board book, What Did My Ancestors Eat?, by Quinn Miller Murphy, about family recipes derived from the different cultures represented in Washington state.

Friendly Washington Librarian
Washington Book and Poster

Pennsylvania’s book, Home in a Lunchbox, by Cherry Mo, shows how the connection to home, which can be found in the comfort of familiar food, fosters the confidence to move forward in a new country for a child from Hong Kong.

Pennsylvania Booth
Pennsylvania Book

And Louisiana displayed Gumbo Life: A Journey Down the Roux Bayou, by Ken Wells, coincidentally blurbed by Geraldine Brooks.

Throw Me Somethin’, Mister! Preferably Some Shrimp
Louisiana Book

The only actual food-related program was presented by Jennifer “JJ” Harbster at the Library of Congress pavilion.  “’A Fish Dish That is Not a Fish at All’: Exploring Historical Vegetarian Recipes” considered a selection of vegetarian community cookbooks from the LoC’s vast (over 40,000) cookbook collection.

JJ Harbster and Her Slideshow

The reasons for vegetable-based dishes varied over the years.  They fall into several categories: economics/patriotism during major wars; health concerns; ethical qualms; and religious practices.  The recipe for “Liberty Meat” found in the Twentieth Century Club War Time Cookbook (1918) includes cornmeal, walnuts, and peanut butter.

There have been several health reform movements over the years reflected in cookbooks devoted to the Graham and Kellogg movements; USDA recommendations; and in reaction to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, an expose of the meatpacking industry.  Ethical considerations were reflected in the rise of the Vegetarian Society and animal welfare movements; and for several religions, dietary restrictions are part of the belief system.

JJ has tried cooking several of the recipes.  She described one for “mock sausage” as “not impossible.”

It was not impossible to enjoy oneself at the Book Festival this year.  You could even find some food-related content, if you knew where to look.

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It’s a Two-Bakery Town, and That’s All Right with Me

Posted on September 11, 2025 by admin

Yes, folks, Olney, Maryland now has two establishments bound to sate the cravings of your sweet tooth.  Passion Bakery and Cafe has been open for several years in the old firehouse in Sandy Spring (technically a mile down the road from Olney), and now the Classic Bakery in the Olney Village Center has opened.  Both of these are branches of small local chains, and the fulfillment of immigrant dreams. 

In Classic’s case, the grandfather of the current owner founded a bakery in Iran, then continued to refine his craft after moving to this country in 1991.  His son, and now his grandson, Areen Movsessian, continue the family’s profession here.

At the grand opening of the Classic in Olney, the crowd was full of carbs and enthusiasm.  Friends and family mingled with local government representatives and Chamber of Commerce members.  They admired the shiny new space, the outdoor seating, and the cakes and pastries in the display cases.

Inside The Classic
Cakes, Pastries, and a Promise
Craig Zucker and Terri Hogan

Although the promised soft-serve ice cream has not yet appeared, we live in hope.  We enjoyed plenty of other offerings, some specially made for the opening.

Sweet Treats for the Ribbon Cutting
Custom Sugarwork on the Cupcakes
Savories on Offer

There were short speeches from Terri Hogan, Executive Director of the Chamber, and Craig Zucker, our State Senator.  There was a proclamation presentation followed by a ribbon cutting, complete with confetti and an oversized scissors.

From the Outside In
On the Patio
Areen Movsessian Holds the Proclamation
Cue the Confetti!

A grand time was had by all!  And as for me, I’m looking forward to the soft-serve, and the gata, the Armenian sweet bread I remember buying from the Classic’s Gaithersburg branch.  Three cheers for immigrants!

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Famous Authors and Food Writers at the National Book Festival

Posted on July 28, 2025 by admin

This year’s National Book Festival is almost here (September 6), and I wanted to write up the highlights of last year’s event even if unconscionably late.  Let this report serve as a prompt to attend this year if you never have – it’s one of my favorite events, and another thing I love about living around here.

I noticed this guy as I was walking in, just before opening hours.  He couldn’t wait to start reading!

The Bookworm

One could meet librarians from all over the country in the Hall of States.  They each brought two state books (one child and one adult), the focus of state-wide community reading programs.  Several, Oregon and Kentucky among them, were food-oriented, and the author of one of them was on the NBF program.

Oregon Librarian Jen Robinson and State Dumpling Book
Kentucky Librarians and Kitchen Ghosts
Kentucky Author Krystal Wilkinson Was At the Festival

And did you know Jolly Ranchers candy was invented in Colorado?

Pure Gold in Colorado

The Hall of States and the exhibits were, as usual, lots of fun to walk around and meet fellow book-lovers.  There were photo-ops galore.

A Big Kid Gets Her Picture Taken
All Together Now!

And the bookshop area was filled shoulder-to-shoulder with shoppers.  It gives you a good feeling about the future of reading!

Authors Up

The Secret Life of James Patterson

Some famous authors were interviewed onstage.  James Patterson talked with David M. Rubenstein about his latest book – not one of his best-selling novels but nonfiction about book-pushers: booksellers and librarians.  He’s a great interview.  His first words were, “Hi, I’m Steven King!” and went on from there.  But the best part was, he gives money to support libraries. 

David M. Rubenstein and James Patterson

The Good Lord Prize

James McBride was given the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, then spoke with NPR’s Michel Martin about his latest novel, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, and his writing process.  “I’m the person in the room who holds the handkerchief when God coughs.”  Nice work if you can get it?

Carla Hayden and James McBride

Not a Cookbook,

despite the title, but a modern classic.  Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, written forty years ago, is taught in schools (including my daughter’s).  An opera will premiere next summer at the Glimmerglass Festival. This session was a celebration of longevity, of both the book and the author.  Rachel Martin asked about her writing process:  “Pretend no one’s going to read it, and say anything.”

Rachel Martin and Sandra Cisneros

Also Not a Cookbook, Paired With One That Is

Here’s a fruity coincidence.  Annabelle Tometich’s The Mango Tree: A Memoir of Fruit, Florida, and Felony, despite the author’s credentials as a chef, food writer, and restaurant reviewer, contains no actual recipes.  It’s mostly about her childhood, coping with the consequences of her mother’s behavior (the mango tree figured in her mother’s run-in with the law).  “Why not double down on the most traumatic memories of your life during the pandemic layoff?”  Hence the book, which I am reliably informed is lighthearted and entertaining, about a Filipina growing up in Florida.

Crystal Wilkinson’s Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks is a memoir of a different color.  There have been Black folks living in Appalachia since the early nineteenth century, and culturally, “the kitchen was the center of the universe.”  For Ms. Wilkinson, the former poet laureate of Kentucky, five generations of Black women haunt her kitchen, and she can feel their presence when she cooks.  Forty of their recipes are included in her book.

Anna Spiegel, Krystal Wilkinson, Annabelle Tometich

A Little Party on the Stage

Tamron Hall, a popular talk-show host, has collaborated with her chef friend Lish Steiling to produce A Confident Cook: Recipes for Joyous, No-Pressure Fun in the Kitchen.  Librarian Carla Hayden interviewed them both.  She was clearly a fan.  This book was written to instill confidence in a new or timid cook.  “You only need three knives!” “Heating the pan before you add fat makes it non-stick!” (Who knew?) And here’s a good one: when cooking, “use all your senses!”  At the end of the discussion, the three joined in a selfie session.

Interpreter, Tamron Hall, Carla Hayden, Lish Steiling

Two in One

My long day wrapped with a high point.  Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham (who write under the pseudonym James S. A. Corey) talked about their new trilogy, The Captive’s War.  The first book is titled The Mercy of Gods.  The TV series based on their nine-book saga, The Expanse, was one of the best of the century so far (IMHO).  The trilogy has already been optioned for TV adaptation. The world breathlessly awaits!

Cyndee Landrum, Ty Franck, Daniel Abraham

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The Cultural is Culinary: Review of Braided Heritage

Posted on July 22, 2025 by admin

Jessica B. Harris’ new cookbook is both intensely personal and broadly encompassing.  Her thesis (appropriate for a lifelong teacher) is that the cuisine of America has been formed from the weaving together of three major influences: Natives, Europeans, and African Americans.

At an event last month held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, she and Paula Johnson (the Smithsonian’s curator of food history) engaged in a fascinating conversation about her development process: how she decided on the structure, content, and design to create a unique blend of scholarship, personal vignettes, and appealing recipes.

Dr. Jessica B. Harris and Paula Johnson in Conversation

Although I would suggest that Asians should be included in that construct, she makes a case that the golden number is three.  She applied a lesson learned from “Schoolhouse Rock” – “Three Is a Magic Number” – and proceeded to structure this book as an appreciation of the strengths contributed by each of those sources.  But more than that: how each had changed and been (arguably) improved by the influence of the other two.

Each chapter presents, through personalities and ingredients, aspects of American gastronomic culture, not necessarily as they were when first conceived, but warped and changed by the “braid.”  By showcasing and including recipes from a series of food-oriented contributors who personify each braid segment, she makes a virtue of necessity.  During the conversation at the library she admitted, “I hate recipes – I’m an intuitive cook!”

Case in point: the Strawberry Shortcake recipe contributed by Renee C. Hunter, a fully-enrolled member of the Shinnecock tribe of Long Island.  It’s traditionally served at the June Meeting of the Shinnecock Presbyterian Church (that’s two strands of the braid right there), a celebration of “springtime, planting time, and remembrance of the departed.” The strawberries are the only component of this recipe (except for salt) which would have existed in North America before the European colonization.

Although the recipe contributors range from home cooks to professional chefs, all the dishes have the feel of traditional home cooking.  The design of the book reinforces this feeling.  This food has been honed by generations, by passing the recipes down through families.  Even the dishes contributed by Sean Sherman, the “Sioux Chef,” are not in the least “cheffy.”

I tried the recipe for Coleslaw with Butter Vinaigrette, as I had never heard of using butter instead of oil in a vinaigrette.  It was contributed by the historian Peter Rose in honor of her Dutch heritage.

Coleslaw Ingredients

The butter resulted in a slightly greasy mouth-feel that interfered a little with the enjoyment of the dish.  We did, however, find that it improved on the second day, as the cabbage absorbed the butter and the dish was more balanced.  It worked well as an addition to a cold pork sandwich.

The Finished Slaw

The recipes are well-written.  There are, however, five cases of the Dread Overleaf Fallacy.  All could have been avoided with more consideration in the book’s layout.  This is one of my pet peeves about cookbook design.  How can a cook be expected to flip page(s) in the middle of preparing a dish to follow the recipe?  Especially if using a book holder as you see in the picture above.

Overall, however, this book is a fine addition to our understanding of American culinary traditions.  

Braided Heritage: Recipes and Stories on the Origin of American Cuisine, Jessica B. Harris, Clarkson Potter Publishers, New York, 2025.

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Haven’t I Seen You Somewhere Before?

Posted on June 30, 2025 by admin

Review of Kim’s Convenience at Olney Theatre

Watching Kim’s Convenience, the new production at Olney Theatre, is a strange exercise in déjà vu.  Those who have seen some or all of the five-season TV series derived from it can’t help but run mental comparisons, but they’re still in for a good time.

Can a ninety-minute show contain all the complexity of relationships among a family of Canadian-Koreans and their customers that were explored on cable?  Well, no.  But it can provide a window into the family dynamics of Appa (Stan Kang), the father with limited English but fierce protective instincts; Umma (Tuyet Thi Pham), his wife, and mother of Janet (Justine “Icy” Moral), and Jung (Zion Jang), two very assimilated young adults.

Most of the family interaction occurs between Appa and Janet.  Appa wants Janet to take more of an interest in running the store, but Janet has her own life as a photographer (while still living at home).  A gentrifying neighborhood and an attractive offer to sell the store provide tension and a measure of suspense to the plot.  Appa isn’t getting any younger, and Jung has long ago left home in a flurry of temper.  Appa hasn’t seen him since, but Jung has kept in touch with his mother.  In a poignant scene with Umma (an otherwise underwritten part), Jung returns and shows her a picture of his firstborn.  Later, a reunion of Appa and Jung provides a satisfying, if just a bit facile, resolution.

The cast is uniformly first-rate.  There’s one additional cast member: Jonathan Del Palmer, playing multiple roles as customer/neighbor/friend/policeman (and Janet’s romantic interest).  It’s a tribute to his versatility that I didn’t realize it was all him until his third appearance!

Jonathan Del Palmer, Stan Kang, and Justine “Icy” Moral in Kim’s Convenience at Olney Theatre Center. Photo Credit: Margot Schulman

Another shout-out must go to the set, a painstaking re-creation of an urban convenience store.    Getting a close-up look at it as we exited after the performance, I noticed Canadian brands of snack food as well as such details as a rack of Toronto-area road maps. What fun the production staff must have had dressing the set!

The convenience store setting speaks to the immigrant experience in North America.  Appa was a teacher in Korea, but his limited English led him to seek other avenues to succeed in his adopted country.  Like many other Koreans, he found a corner store to be his way to the (North) American dream.

Jonathan Del Palmer, Justine “Icy” Moral , Stan Kang, Tuyết Thị Phạm, and Zion Jang in Kim’s Convenience at Olney Theatre Center. Photo Credit: Margot Schulman

Some members of the cast mingled with the audience after our matinee performance.  I met Mr. Kang, so much unlike Appa that I was amazed at his acting skill.  And, bonus: Joy Zinoman of Studio Theatre was with him.  “My mentor,” he explained.  She should be very proud.

Joy Zinoman and Stan Kang Pose After the Show

Kim’s Convenience is playing at Olney Theatre Center through July 27.

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Two Lives in Four Quarters: King James at the Round House

Posted on June 15, 2025 by admin

After a boffo production of Bad Books, Round House’s season-closer production of King James balances the gender quotient and throws in an extended sports analogy to boot.  We are invited to consider an unlikely pair of obsessed fans in scruffy Cleveland bonded by love of basketball and LeBron James.  You don’t have to know a thing about the last two to enjoy this play, but I got the impression there were some references that went over my head.  It didn’t matter.

We meet Matt and Shawn in the first act (or “quarter” – yes, the metaphor starts there) when an extended haggle over the sale of Cavaliers season tickets results in the start of a long-standing friendship.  Two-handers depend wholly on the quality of the performances; this one holds us by the interplay between the manic energy of Gregory Perri as Matt and the contrastingly laid-back but no less fascinating performance of Blake Morris as Shawn.

Blake Morris as Shawn and Gregory Perri as Matt in King James at Round House Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman Photography

The life fortunes of our two protagonists rise and fall, mirroring the Cav’s fortunes as King James kindles hope for seven seasons but then leaves for greener pastures.  The energy between them shifts and simmers.  Matt makes money from an investment while Shawn goes into debt to finance a graduate degree in screenwriting; Shawn returns to Cleveland to work in Matt’s mother’s curio shop when his career stalls; Matt prospers for a while but slides down the slippery slope again, while Shawn tries to make it in LA.

By the fourth act (I mean “quarter”) Matt is reduced to working in the shop (which he swore he’d never do) while Shawn returns to Cleveland wearing blindingly white Air Jordans.  One could tell poor Matt’s on the downswing by his posture and unkempt hair, even without the shop-logo shirt he’s reduced to wearing.  But the play ends on a note of hope and, yes, hoop dreams.

The Fourth Wall Bar and Café at the Round House has developed some new specialty cocktails to channel the spirit of King James.  The Heat Spritzer, Lebron’s Lakers Lemonade, Gameday Gatorade, Tip-Off Tequila Sunrise, and The King’s Crown all can set you up to root for your favorite team.  They even feature a zero-proof offering, the Cavalier’s Championship Cup.

The King James Menu

King James continues at the Round House Theatre thru June 22.

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Presents From the Past: Little Beasts at the National Gallery of Art

Posted on June 2, 2025 by admin

Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World is on view at the National Gallery West Building until November.  I’ve never been that fascinated by taxidermy, but here’s an opportunity to see three-dimensional specimens juxtaposed with representations of them by curious minds of the 16th and 17th centuries, when the study of natural history was just beginning to be codified.  Driven by the Enlightenment and advancements in technology, not to mention international trade and imperialist colonization, the study of insects and animals advanced apace.  It was documented by artists whose works still influence depictions of the natural world today.

The exhibit occupies three rooms plus a theater in which a film by artist Dario Robleto plays every hour.  The first room features a selection of illustrations from Joris Hoefnagel’s 16th century The Four Elements, “one of the treasures of the National Gallery’s drawing collection.”  Each page will be on view for only a few weeks at a time, both to limit exposure to light and provide a more varied experience of the work.

Exhibit View of Little Beasts

Throughout the exhibit, specimens lent by the National Museum of Natural History are paired with art from the NGA.  This exhibit is the first instance of collaboration between the two museums.  Here’s hoping there will be more!

A Pairing of Squirrels

One piece I found particularly interesting is a ”cabinet of curiosities,” made to allow a well-to-do gentleman to show off his collection of specimens.  It’s adorned with bronze insects and lizards, made from molds cast from the bodies of actual insects and lizards.  Probably, in its time, it held dead insects and lizards.

A Marvelously Curious Cabinet

The press tour was conducted by enthusiastic staff.  Alexandra Libby, one of the co-curators, was especially animated.

Curator Libby and Peacock

There is a sumptuous catalog, and a free pamphlet-sized nature journal geared towards children with helpful suggestions to add an interactive dimension to one’s visit.

And the food angle?  I understand that the Espresso & Gelato Bar in the Concourse is stocking Cricket Gelato; just outside the entrance to the Little Beasts exhibit, on the targeted merchandise cart, one can find Worm Lollipops.

Catalogs and Lollipops

Bon Appetit!

Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World

May 18 – November 2, 2025

National Gallery of Art, West Building, Ground Floor, Gallery 23

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Review: Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with live and active cultures!)

Posted on May 21, 2025 by admin

When I saw the notice for Woolly Mammoth’s current play, Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with live and active cultures!), I thought, “Oh, boy!  Another play using food as metaphor!” and I wasn’t wrong.  This wry, sly, insightful, and thoroughly enjoyable production mixes historical and biographical insights into Japanese and American cultures (both definitions) on so many levels I was reminded of the Ig Nobel Prizes’ motto: “First it makes you laugh, then it makes you think.”

Julia Izumi, the playwright, performs in the lead role.  As the famous filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, she travels through his life and work projecting and explaining, and also deflecting and avoiding explanation of personal grief – through guess what? Yogurt! Here’s the metaphor.  It’s played for laughs, as a popup non sequitur, but also as part of a throughline of cultural transition.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre production of Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with live and active cultures!). L-R: Ashil Lee, Julia Izumi

There’s a direct line drawn from traditional Japanese culture to today: from Kabuki theater, with the use of a traditional Japanese woodblock sound heralding each scene imagining Kurosawa’s past; to the excellent portrayal of a benshi (interpreter of dialog placards in Japanese theaters during silent movies) by Kento Morita; to talkies, including Kurosawa’s films; to ridiculous American yogurt commercials.  These are all represented on stage by a mix of simultaneous live feeds, still projection, and acting by the five-person cast (with spontaneous breakouts of singing and dancing).  There’s a large helping of Japanese language, some faithfully translated, some not, to keep the audience fully engaged.  (My daughter, who speaks Japanese, clued me in to some of the latter.)

Woolly Mammoth Theatre production of Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with live and active cultures!). L-R: Ashil Lee, Julia Izumi, Lizzy Lewis

Julia Izumi plays a character named Julia (who she insists is not her) as well as Kurosawa in a parallel exploration of the meaning of grief and regret in human life.  The suicide of Kurosawa’s brother, whose career as a benshi was cut short by the advent of talking pictures, and Julia’s uncle’s suicide coupled with her mother’s silence about it, become the foci of the twin resolutions.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre production of Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with live and active cultures!). L-R: Julia Izumi, Ashil Lee, Lizzy Lewis, Jamar Jones, Kento Morita

Culture as story/yogurt as culture: pun, metaphor, obscure object of desire – told with humor and a refusal to reduce individuals to their culture, but a recognition that culture influences everything – this play has it all.  Did I mention that the cast also play multiple parts terrifically, while continuously breaking the fourth wall?  I laughed, I cried, I rushed home to eat yogurt.  Everyone should do the same.

Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with live and active cultures!) at Woolly Mammoth, by Julia Izumi, directed by Aileen Wen McGroddy, produced in partnership with New Georges, through June 1, 2025.

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Suzy Creamcheese Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Posted on May 6, 2025 by admin

Review of Cheesecake by Mark Kurlansky

Mark Kurlansky is known more for his deeply researched nonfiction on single subjects (cod, salt, milk, onions) than his fiction.  Cheesecake marries the two genres in a highly entertaining novel incorporating the oldest written recipe for its namesake into a tale about the gentrification of the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

The only surviving book by the ancient Roman author Cato the Elder focused on farming, but it included not one but two cheesecake recipes, one simple and one more complex.  It is the latter that figures in the plot of Cheesecake, the novel, as competing groups of striving West Siders develop their own interpretations.

The Katsikas family emigrated from a Greek isle to run a diner called the Katz Brothers (they thought it would be “a better name for the neighborhood.”)  The recipe they adapted from Cato became a drawing card for their diner.  In the 1970s, Manhattan was a scruffy place to survive but a cheap place to live.  The neighborhood was filled with characters from many cultures and income levels, all united in their appreciation of a good dessert.  Katz’s Cato’s New York Cheesecake became an object of envy and curiosity.  Its progress became a metaphor for the sociological evolution of the area.

For interwoven into the gastronomic odyssey is a less light-hearted topic: the greed of landlords and the subversion of rent protection, causing the evolution of the Upper West Side into the unaffordable enclave it has become.  Sadly, this progression has included the disappearance of local delis and bakeries as collateral damage.

So the book becomes a sort of elegy for the lost mores of a late-twentieth century neighborhood and the food culture that was flourishing there.  It’s nostalgic, witty, poignant, and furious all at once.  And, in an appendix, there’s a history of cheesecake, with recipes.  What more could one ask for?

Cheesecake: A Novel by Mark Kurlansky, Bloomsbury Publishing, July, 2025

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The Right Words Can Change The World: Review of Bad Books at Round House

Posted on April 10, 2025 by admin

The world premiere of Bad Books makes a fitting corollary to Round House’s previous production, What the Constitution Means To Me.  In the current atmosphere of attacks on so many of our civil rights, their fearless attitude towards free expression promotes hope, and the determination to defend what we had previously taken so much for granted.

And, just like WTCMTM,  Bad Books avoids the trap of preachiness.  Wit and irony sparkle from the start, as Kate Eastwood Norris (as The Librarian) and Holly Twyford (The Mother) engage in a face-off about control of children’s reading.  Should parents be empowered to forbid certain books?  It’s not abstract – the Mother’s son has been reading a novel recommended by the Librarian which, it is revealed, cuts a little too close to real life.

The Mother is not just that.  Her past actions (she believes) caused a tragic accident which she atoned for – but not, apparently, enough – and her call for aggression against the Librarian on social media causes consequences for both of them.  Norris transforms into her second role as The Manager to levy retribution, and then into a third role (The Editor) in a showcase of extraordinary acting talent honed by years of experience in Washington area theaters.  Twyford matches her, emotion for emotion.

Notice All the Books? Kate Eastwood Norris (The Librarian) and Holly Twyford (The Mother) in BAD BOOKS at Round House Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman
Kate Eastwood Norris (The Librarian) and Holly Twyford (The Mother) in BAD BOOKS at Round House Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman
Holly Twyford (The Mother) and Kate Eastwood Norris (The Manager) in BAD BOOKS at Round House Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman

Bad Books marks Round House’s premiere of in-the-round staging, utilizing a slowly revolving stage throughout the show.  The characters are constantly shifting position as well, resulting in sometimes-occulted action which, briefly, distracts an audience member’s attention.  A little fine-tuning is indicated.

Still, the symbolism comes through – the librarian’s station sits at the fulcrum of the spinning world; “circles within circles” describes the cover of the problematic book; the stage design features a collection of banned books (nearly 1,500 contributed/lent by the RH community*, plus 700 “faux books” suspended in an overhead circular fixture).  And the plot – the circumstances of the two protagonists (antagonists) resolve at the end almost, but not quite, where they each began.

At the Fourth Wall Bar & Café, the specialty cocktails have a distinctly literary cast.  Can Specialty Cocktails be described as Classics?  You decide!  Here they are:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Fizz

Bourbon, orange juice, huckleberry syrup, lime, Sprite

Catcher in the Rye

Whiskey, maraschino liqueur, lime juice, simple syrup

Clockwork Orange Creamsicle

Whipped cream vodka, orange juice, triple sec, half and half

Of Mice and Mint Julip

Gin, mint syrup, lime juice, club soda

The Color Purple

Vodka, lemonade, lavender-lemon syrup

And:

Zero Proof

perks of being an elderflower [sic]

Lemonade, lime juice, elderflower syrup, and Sprite

*Full disclosure: I contributed six of them.

Bad Books at Round House Theatre through May 4, 2025.

By Sharyn Rothstein

Directed by Ryan Rilette

Featuring Kate Eastwood Norris and Holly Twyford

A National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere

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