A summer reading list for fans of Seattle farmers markets, cooking, eating, and life

Peonies at U-District farmers market—one sign that
summer is on the way. Get your summer reading list
ready! (Cancler)

If you live in the Pacific Northwest and like shopping locally at Seattle farmers markets or like to cook (or live with someone who does and like to eat!), then you might enjoy reading one or more of these books this summer. Providing a range of light to serious reads, the topics include food and life, as well as history around Puget Sound; some are written by local authors. Ten are available now and two will be released this summer.

All of the books on this summer reading list are available at Amazon (click on the title’s link) and most can be checked out from the Seattle Public Library.

1. Appetite for Life by Noel Riley Fitch or My Life in France by Julia Child and her nephew Alex Prud'Homme and the basis of (half of) the movie Julie and Julia. These are delightful (auto)biographies of the grande dame of French cooking for Americans.
2. Dream Keeper: A Novel of Myth and Destiny in the Pacific Northwest by Morrie Ruvinsky is a mythological parable and a contemporary story of love and suspense.
3. Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly by James E. McWilliams outlines the shortcomings of the ideology about "food miles". McWilliams offers ideas for a sustainable food system that gets mixed reviews. No matter which side you are on, Just Food makes you think harder.
4. Market Ghost Stories by Mercedes Yaeger. Not your "typical" ghost story book, Yaeger’s book makes Pike Place Market history come alive.
5. Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan in which he examines the deplorable American diet, or his less well-known but equally engaging The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World about the history of four specific plants: apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes.
6. Savage Hope is a romance novel by Cassie Edwards, described as her most refreshing "Savage" tale in years. The story provides readers with a glimpse of the life of the Makah Indians of the Pacific Northwest in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
7. Snow Falling on Cedars is a highly regarded novel by David Guterson, who lives on Bainbridge Island. "Cedars" is a fictional story about a murder trial—and much, much more—set on an island in Puget Sound in the 1950s . A thoroughly enjoyable read.
8. Soul of the City: The Pike Place Public Market by Alice Shorett illustrates the many people who have fought to sustain the historical Pike Place Market.
9. Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food by Ben Hewitt engagingly examines the paradigm shift in the way a small Vermont community feeds its citizens.
10. When Wolf Comes by John Anthony Pappas. A Northwest historical adventure that is perhaps the only literary depiction of life on the Northwest Coast as it was in 1801.

These titles are scheduled for release during the summer of 2010.

1. Twain's Feast: Searching for America's Lost Foods in the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens by Andrew Beahrs celebrates and explores American foods. This title will be released on June 24, 2010.
2. American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields by Rowan Jacobsen. This title will be released on August 17, 2010.