Dibs

What is it about food-memoirs that makes their authors choose ick-inducing titles? From Anthony Bourdain’s Bone in the Throat to Ruth Reichl’s Garlic and Sapphires (which makes me think of sharp shattered gems stir-fried into food, like those times I’ve found tiny stones in tostadas) — this fourth book by the Bust columnist starts with a strong, lilting whirl of ant eggs and M&Ms. Halliday’s sly assurance is born of international sojourns and Manhattan savoir-faire overlaid upon a funnel-cakey Midwestern girlhood, but we’ve kinda been there before, one too many times, amid all the ha-ha high-school/Tab/Farrah Fawcett nostalgia, not to mention puns about “eating cock.”

Grade: B-

Kate Grenville has already won the prestigious Orange Prize, and this, her latest novel, just won the 2006 Commonwealth Prize. (How could it win if it hasn’t come out yet? Well, it is out — but only in Australia. This is the first American edition.) Part historical saga, part family memoir, The Secret River traces Grenville’s ancestors’ trials and tribulations, from their arrival in early 19th-century Australia as exiled criminals, through decades of struggle and triumph. But beware — the dreaded word “colonialism” crops up in the first sentence of the press release, and sure enough Grenville uses her fluid style to bonk her readers on the head with a little too much PC guilt-mongering than might be absolutely necessary.

Grade: B+