Table of Contents: From Breakfast With Anita Diamant to Dessert With James Patterson - a Generous Helping of Recipes, Writings and Insights From Today's Bestselling Authors

by Judy Gelman; Vicki Levy Krupp

  Influences on My Writing

  This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff. A number of my books are about teenagers, and Wolff's memoir of his childhood and adolescence has a been of source of inspiration for me. It's a masterpiece, funny and sad and beautifully told.

  The Rabbit novels by John Updike. Updike's four novels about Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom form an American epic that chronicles the private life of its flawed everyman hero, while also exploring many of the major historical transformations that took place in America in the second half of the twentieth century.

  The stories of Flannery O'Connor. O'Connor stories are like no one else's: funny and bizarre and fearless, soaked in violence and religion. I read them as a teenager and haven't gotten them out of my head since.

  Like Todd (a.k.a. “The Prom King”), the stay-at-home dad in Little Children, I've been known to cook the occasional family dinner. It's a little complicated in our house, though; my son, Luke, and I are carnivores, while my wife, Mary, and daughter, Nina, are vegetarians. Some nights the two parties go in separate directions (chicken for us, risotto for them), and some nights we cooperate (real burgers and veggie burgers). Fortunately, there are a few things everyone can agree on. Here are two of our favorites:

  LUKE'S PESTO

  Makes 4 servings

  From The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins (Workman, 1982)

  2 cups fresh basil leaves, rinsed and dried

  3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

  1 cup walnut pieces

  1 cup olive oil

  1 cup grated Romano cheese

  1 pound of your favorite pasta

  1 Purée basil, garlic, walnuts, olive oil, and cheese in a food processor or blender until smooth.

  2 Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook pasta according to package directions, until al dente. Drain pasta, place in a large serving bowl, and toss pasta with pesto. You know the rest.

  NINA'S MINESTRONE

  Makes approximately 10 servings

  I'm not sure where this recipe comes from. It's just one version of a common soup; the chicken stock keeps it from being purely vegetarian, but vegetable stock can be used instead.

  1 large onion, chopped

  1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

  2 celery stalks, chopped

  2 tablespoons olive oil

  2 garlic cloves, minced

  ½ cup tomato sauce

  1 teaspoon dried basil

  1 teaspoon dried oregano

  4 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock

  4 cups water

  2 chicken bouillon cubes (or salt to taste)

  2 cups chopped vegetables (such as green beans, kale, and shredded cabbage)

  1 14-ounce can red kidney beans

  ½ cup small pasta (we like orzo)

  Salt to taste

  Ground black pepper to taste

  Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

  1 In a large saucepan or soup pot, sauté onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil until the vegetables are soft, approximately 8–10 minutes. Add garlic, and sauté for another minute.

  2 Add tomato sauce, basil, oregano, stock, water, bouillon cubes, and vegetables. Simmer for at least 45 minutes.

  3 Add beans and pasta. Simmer until pasta is soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Some fresh bread is always nice, too.

  Jayne Anne Phillips

  Elena Seibert

  SELECTED WOEKS

  Lark & Termite (2009)

  MotherKind (2000)

  Shelter (1994)

  Machine Dreams (1984)

  Black Tickets (1979)

  The Risk and Joy of Writing For me, writing is about risk and joy; the risk of never knowing where the book will lead and the joy of seeing it through, living with the material for many years until the connection becomes a (spiritual) relationship. Writing is a spiritual practice, actually, in which the writer redeems or saves stories that would otherwise be lost. My books have a core of truth around which the story illuminates and expands. Black Tickets looks at the mobility and energized anger of post-1970s America in brief, language-infused stories; Machine Dreams tallies the cost of the Vietnam War at home; Shelter follows a group of children to a primal wilderness where they confront good (in one another) and evil; MotherKind traces a birth/death arc in the lives of one mother and daughter; Lark & Termite portrays love as stronger than death, and makes real the connections between parallel worlds linked by the characters.

  Readers Should Know Lark & Termite was a Finalist for the 2009 National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award; the paperback is perfect for book groups. The world of the 1950s, Lark's love for Termite (whose intense perceptions comprise the “living secret” of the novel), the connections between parallel worlds, and the numerous, answered mysteries, make for complex conversations and discussion.

  Readers Frequently Ask The questions are always different, depending on the book, but many ask where the story started. I wrote an epigraph/disclaimer for my first book, Black Tickets, published in 1979 when I was twenty-six, that still holds true: “These stories began in what is real, but became, in fact, dreams. Love or loss lends a reality to what is imagined.”

  Influences on My Writing A Death in the Family by James Agee; The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, and The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter - all for their language, their knowledge of dimensions beyond life, and their understanding of passion and loss.

  HOMETOWN MEAT LOAF

  Makes 6 servings

  My mother's original Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book, copyright 1947, is one of my most prized possessions. She married in 1948 (see my novel, Machine Dreams) and began raising a family in 1950. The thick book long ago sprung free of its binding and is packed with recipes she wrote out by hand. She gleaned recipes from women's clubs and friends, inherited them from her own mother, or simply invented them. I was surprised to see homemade cards and notes from me (see MotherKind) folded into the pages. “Hometown Meat Loaf” was a staple at our house, and it was one way she made sure her children ate oatmeal.

  Lark & Termite is about a brother and sister (the title characters) growing up in the late 1950s, in a world full of family secrets. Lark, seventeen, believes that her brother Termite, who doesn't talk or walk, has his own intense perceptions. Their maternal aunt, Nonie, raises them, and her fierce protective love never wavers. Nonie and her longtime boyfriend, Charlie, run a family restaurant that serves up “home cooked” meals. Charlie's meatloaf is a specialty, and it is definitely my mother's recipe, transformed into a basis for argument between Charlie and his penny-pinching mother, Gladdy. Charlie is a beloved character with a complicated history, who watches over Lark and Termite like family.

  I like to think of Charlie and Nonie, making this as a Friday night special, while Termite sits on his special stool at the counter and Lark sits beside him, filling the napkin containers.

  1½ pounds ground beef (I use organic)

  ¾ cup quick-cooking rolled oats

  2 large eggs, beaten

  ½ cup chopped onion

  1 cup tomato juice

  2 teaspoons salt

  ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for sprinkling

  2 slices good-quality Cheddar cheese (medium-thick slices from the deli counter work well)

  ½ cup ketchup or red salsa

  1 Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2 Combine beef, oats, eggs, onion, tomato juice, salt, and pepper in a large bowl, using your hands. Pack half of mixture into a 9″ × 5″ × 3″ loaf pan, lay cheese on top, and cover with remaining meat mixture.

  3 Sprinkle freshly ground pepper over top, then top with your favorite kind of ketchup or salsa. Bake for 1 hour, or until meat thermometer inserted in center reads 160°F. Lark and Termite have a brother-sister relationship of uncommon sweetness and depth. Lark, at seventeen, has been her nine-year-old brother's protector, attuned to his wants and
needs as Termite is unable to walk or talk. Termite was nearly a year old when “somebody brought him. Not your mother. Somebody brought him for her.” Lark tells us he never had a birth certificate. They count the day he came his birthday, but she declares it his birthday when it suits her, with one of her delicious cakes and candles. Lark's second section of Lark & Termite (“I decorate the cake …”) describes one of her cakes in detail, and ends as she whispers to Termite, “Your birthday, Termite, every day.”

  Here are two of Lark's cakes, both my mother's recipes from handwritten notes. Food is love, and in Lark and Termite's Winfield, West Virginia, world in 1959, love is always frosted, and the icing is on the cake.

  LARK'S WHITE CHOCOLATE-COCONUT CAKE WITH BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

  Makes 12 servings

  Note: The preparation time for this cake is an hour or so, but the results are worth it!

  FOR THE CAKE

  2½ cups cake flour

  1 teaspoon baking powder

  ½ teaspoon salt

  8 ounces (1 1/3 cups) white chocolate morsels

  1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

  1½ cups granulated sugar

  4 large eggs, separated

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1 cup buttermilk

  1 cup chopped pecans

  1 cup flaked coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

  FOR THE FROSTING

  1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

  2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  ¼ teaspoon salt

  3 cups confectioners' sugar

  6 tablespoons evaporated milk

  2 ounces white chocolate, in bar form, for decorating (optional)

  1 Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease 2 9″ round baking pans.

  2 To make the cake: Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place white chocolate morsels in a small, microwave-safe bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Heat in microwave at high power for 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted, about 1–1½ minutes total. Set aside to cool.

  3 In large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add melted chocolate and vanilla, and combine. Add ¼ of flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Then add 1/3 of the buttermilk and beat just until incorporated. Continue alternating the flour mixture and buttermilk, ending with the flour mixture. Gently stir in pecans and coconut.

  4 In a separate bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff. Add egg whites to batter. Fold egg whites into batter by using the edge of a large spatula to cut a path down the middle of the mixture. Then, gently turn half the mixture over onto the other half. Continue to cut down the middle and turn a portion over, only until the egg whites are incorporated. (This technique helps the egg whites retain air for a fluffier cake.)

  5 Divide batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Bake for 40–45 minutes, until browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer cakes to wire rack. Let cool completely before frosting.

  6 To make the frosting: Beat butter in bowl of an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and salt and combine. Gradually add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and beat until well blended. Dribble in the evaporated milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until frosting is creamy and smooth. Frosting may be used immediately, kept at room temperature for a few hours, or refrigerated for up to a week. Bring to room temperature before using.

  7 To assemble and frost the cake: Place one cake layer right side up on cake plate. Spoon frosting on top and spread to cover cake. Place second cake layer right side up on top of the first layer and frost the top and sides.

  8 To decorate the cake, if desired: Microwave the chocolate bar on high for about 15 seconds to soften (it should not melt). Holding the chocolate with aluminum foil to prevent your fingers from melting the chocolate, use a vegetable peeler to shave curls from the narrow edge of the bar. (If the curls are breaking, heat the chocolate in the microwave for a few more seconds.) While frosting is soft, sprinkle the chocolate curls around the sides of the cake. Curls may be refrigerated until ready to use.

  9 Serve on your favorite antique (pedestal) cake plate to show off the gorgeous frosting! As Lark says in Lark & Termite, “people ought to see something pretty moving toward them. That way they get time to want what they really can have.”

  LARK'S APPLE BLACK WALNUT CAKE WITH LEMON GLAZE

  Makes 12–14 servings

  Note: Black walnuts have a richer and more intense flavor than English walnuts, the ones commonly found in grocery stores. Black walnuts are grown primarily in Minnesota and can be ordered online, or you may substitute English walnuts.

  Use firm, tart baking apples, such as Granny Smith or Cortland, for this cake.

  FOR THE CAKE

  3 cups peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped apples (about 3 medium apples) (see note)

  2 cups granulated sugar

  2 cups all-purpose flour

  2 teaspoons baking soda

  2 teaspoons cinnamon

  1 teaspoon salt

  2 large eggs

  ½ cup vegetable oil

  2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  1 cup chopped black walnuts (see note)

  FOR THE GLAZE

  2–3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

  1 tablespoon whole milk

  2 cups confectioners' sugar

  1 Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a Bundt pan, or spray pan with a cooking spray that contains flour, such as Pam for Baking.

  2 To make the cake: Combine apples and sugar and set aside. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

  3 In a large bowl of an electric mixer, combine eggs, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Add flour mixture alternately with apples and sugar mixture, beating on medium speed to combine. Stir in walnuts.

  4 Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 60–70 minutes, or until cake looks dry and nicely browned and has started to pull away from the sides of the pan. Test for doneness with a toothpick (or the clean straw of a broom - my mother's method). Cool cake in pan on a wire rack set over a baking sheet for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan to cooling rack.

  5 To make the glaze: Whisk 2 tablespoons lemon juice, milk, and confectioners' sugar until smooth, adding more lemon juice gradually as needed until the glaze is thick but still pourable. Pour half of the glaze over the warm cake and let cool 1 hour. Pour remaining glaze evenly over the top of the cake and allow to set for a few minutes.

  6 Transfer cake to pretty platter. Decorate with birthday candles (every day can be a birthday). To serve, slice with serrated knife.

  Katherine Russell Rich

  Gaspar Tringale

  SELECTED WOEKS

  Dreaming in Hindi (2009)

  The Red Devil: To Hell With Cancer - And Back (1999)

  Inspiration In a word, fear. I do best with editors who have gravelly voices and hard, fixed stares. I once had an editor who said, “Really, just take all the time you need.” Well, what can I say? Turned out I needed six years.

  Making Up for Lost Time I came late to writing; I didn't really begin till I was forty-two. Before that, I was a magazine editor and worked with writers. For years, I didn't really have a whole lot to say. And then when I did, as it turned out, I'd had this twenty-year apprenticeship in writing since I'd spent two decades observing writers up close. I think that helped me skip a certain number of errors. For instance, I knew that if you were going to write a book, you'd better feel a sense of urgency about the subject. Otherwise, you'd be in for a long, long slog. With both my books, The Red Devil and Dreaming in Hindi, I was urgently obsessed. This sounds pretentious I'm afraid, but with a book I have to feel like what I'm writing about is important.
I could be just about to start a novel. I might have the plot and characters, but it won't be until I can feel that this book absolutely has to be written that I'll be able to begin.

  The Celestial Tongue Since my book Dreaming in Hindi came out, I've been asked “What made you want to learn Hindi?” a lot. The real answer, “I dunno. I just did,” makes people squint. So I've come up with a list of the things I've loved about doing it. At different times, and sometimes all at once: I've loved the cadences of the language, the way that the singsong of Hindi reminds me that the language comes out of an oral tradition (as opposed to our Western, written one), out of a culture where most people didn't have books, so that sentences were lilting, had rhymes and repetitions. With that more poetic style of speaking, information is easier to remember. An Indian poet once told me that the ancient medical texts were written in poetry. “Our language is more celestial,” he said, referring to the fact that it seems shaped more by nature. I love that celestial tongue for the fact that it has one word for yesterday and today (kal), for how in Hindi, night spreads, it doesn't fall. You eat the sun (sunbathe), you eat a beating. I love the way it's allowed me access to people who couldn't speak English and whom I'd never have gotten to meet otherwise: an outcast activist, a middle-aged housewife who'd get so worked up at the fact I was speaking her language with her, she'd haul off and gleefully punch me in the arm. “Why, these samosas are very good.” Wham! “Yes, it sure is hot today.” Pow! Like getting repeatedly walloped by joy.

  Influences on My Writing I have to say Robert Penn Warren. It was only after I signed a contract to write my first book, The Red Devil, that I realized I didn't know how to write a book. I was then struck mute with terror. Luckily for me, the book club I was in at the time chose that moment to read Robert Penn Warren's extraordinary novel, All the King's Men. The richness of his language coupled with his surety and the risks he took; it was, all of it, infectious and drained my fear. I just wanted to do what he was doing. Once I started the book, I wrote it in nine months.