Blue Plate Special by Kate Christensen

Blue Plate Special by Kate Christensen

A delectable memoir about the transformative power of food, Blue Plate Special is a deeply personal narrative in which food becomes the vehicle for exploring a life. Here, novelist Kate Christensen tells her own story, from her unorthodox childhood in 1960s Berkeley as the daughter of a legal activist who ruled the house with his fists to her extraordinary success as a PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author. Hungry not just for food, but for love and a sense of belonging, Christensen writes honestly about her struggle to find the contentment she has always yearned for. A beautifully written account of a knockabout life, full of sorrows, pleasures--and, of course, food--Blue Plate Special is a delicious reading experience.

Kate Christensen is the author of five novels and one memoir. Her novel, The Great Man, appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list and won her the 2008 Pen/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her previous novels are In the Drink (1999), Jeremy Thrane (2001), and The Epicure's Lament (2004). Her fifth novel, Trouble (2009), was released in paperback by Vintage/Anchor in June 2010. Her sixth novel, The Astral, was published in hardcover by Doubleday in June 2011. Her most recent book, Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites, was published in July 2013 by Doubleday. She is a graduate of Reed College and the Iowa Writers Workshop. Her essays, articles, reviews, and stories have appeared in many anthologies and periodicals, including The New York Times Book Review, O, the Oprah Magazine, Gilt Taste, Bookforum, Elle, The Wall Street Journal, Tin House, The Wilson Quarterly, The B&N Review, and Fivechapters.com. Her food-related blog, don't let it bring you down, can be accessed at katechristensen.wordpress.com.