Wine and food pairings are all well and good, but there’s no better pairing than two complementary books. Reading + Eating posts feature two titles that will inspire you to cook, read, eat, and enjoy. The gorgeous cookbook images, and handpicked recipes and quotes make for some delicious reading.  Under the Tuscan Sun has become a well-known and beloved memoir since it was published in 1997. A celebration of Italy, of resilience, and of food, it still evokes the particularity and beauty of Tuscany.

“An intense celebration of what [Mayes] calls ‘the voluptuousness of Italian life’ . . . appealing and very vivid . . . [The] book seems like the kind of thing you’d tuck into a picnic basket on an August day . . . or better yet, keep handy on the bedside table in the depths of January.”

—New York Times Book Review  

“Sometimes the valley below is like a bowl filled up with fog. I can see hard green figs on two trees and pears on a tree just below me. A fine crop coming in. May summer last a hundred years.”

― Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun  From Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar, comes Extra Virgin, a lush cookbook filled with rustic, mouth-watering Tuscan recipes. Traditional yet accessible, the cookbook covers appetizers, pastas, meat, vegetables, risotto, drinks, desserts, and everything in between. Try the recipe for Grilled Tuscan Chicken!   Try the recipe for Spaghetti Alla Carbonara! “Gabriele and I believe that pasta brings a family together at mealtime like no other food. […] Sometimes it feels like that bowl of shells and pesto, or penne and red sauce, is as Italian a way of saying “I love you” as blurting out “Ti amo!” –Debi Mazar, Extra Virgin  Planning your own escape to Italy? Fodor’s has you covered: Fodor’s Essential Italy