Hillary: When I had my baby, I read a lot of books. The advice I was getting from experts was making me feel like a failure. A lot of this advice is written from a “my way or the highway” perspective. If it works for you, great. If it doesn't, then I would feel like there was something wrong with me or something wrong with my kid. The thing that I discovered is the stuff that was really working for me was stuff that I had invented myself out of trial and error, out of moments of desperation, or things that friends had shared with me.
Molly Flatt, The Charmed Life of Alex Moore
James Frey, KATERINA
Florence Fabricant, CITY HARVEST: 100 RECIPES FROM GREAT NEW YORK RESTAURANTS
Florence Fabricant is an important food and wine authority at the New York Times. Author of 12 cookbooks including THE NEW YORK TIMES DESSERT COOKBOOK, WNE WITH FOOD and her latest, CITY HARVEST: 100 RECIPES FROM GREAT NEW YORK RESTAURANTS, she has been writing weekly pieces in the New York Times for decades. A graduate of Smith and NYU (she has a Masters in French), she got her start writing for the East Hampton Star. Now she writes the “Front Burner” and “Off the Menu” columns, plus the “Pairings” column.
Elyssa Friedland, THE INTERMISSION
Elyssa: The first book, it was weird. I really didn't feel like I had a job because I would write it but there was no guarantee it was going to sell. When people were like, “Do you work?” I would just say, “No. I'm a stay-at-home mom.” They'd have to drag it out of me that I was working on a book. Until I had a contract, it didn't feel real to me.