But in Spoon Fed, Severson does not ask us to relive the miserable years. But at the same time, she does not treat the past as something done and gone.
Severson's past is not in a lockbox. It's in a kitchen drawer she can easily open and explore for its enduring wisdom. And while her book is an invitation to meet some of the individuals she was fortunate enough to meet in her still-young career (Marion Cunningham, Edna Lewis), it is also a study in using one's past to inform the present.
That perspective, combined with Severson's charm and curiosity, make this one a must.
InCake Walk (Dial Press), Kate Moses has written a memoir in which the happy times outweigh the twisted moments.
She is the daughter of a repressed Brit raised in Japan, and a mother whose creativity and intelligence are so undervalued in 1950s suburbia that her quirky nature slides into more of a mental morass.
While many children of divorce think they are the root of their parents' problems, Moses becomes her mother's foil - her excuse to escape the marriage. Maybe all concerned really are better off in the long run, but the episode leaves Moses with layers of emotional scar tissue.
Baking saves her soul.
Bred on the sweet cereals and snacks we now know as harbingers of lifelong obesity, Moses learns to bake exquisitely rich and creamy desserts to feed her inner child - and make friends. Each of the book's 35 chapters concludes with a tantalizing and relevant recipe: vanilla birthday cake with lemon curd and vanilla buttercream, linzer torte, coconut layer cake, and the chewy fudge brownies that so impressed M.F.K. Fisher (see recipe).
