Q&A with Jaclyn Crupi

From comfort reads to the ultimate writers' dinner party - author, book editor, seller and reviewer Jaclyn Crupi takes our Q&A and gets full marks 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Just some of the books that Jaclyn shares with us in this newsletter!

Jaclyn Crupi is an author, book editor, seller, buyer, reviewer and reader - so yep, she knows books! And she shares her knowledge, ideas and views with such great generosity, warmth and humour over on her Instagram. Look out for Jaclyn’s two most recent books, Nonna Knows Best and Garden Like a Nonno.

Jaclyn’s book reviews are always spot on for me, and where I have picked up some exclellent reads, books I’d never otherwise have picked up. Case in point Julia May Jonas’s Vladimir which she reviewed so favourably and thoughtfully that I rushed off to read it and of course it was a winner.

Thank you, Jaclyn, for taking our Something to Eat and Something to Read Q&A. And just in case you missed our latest episode, all about breakfast in books, here’s a link to listen in! See you in a couple of weeks with our next installment of the pod.

Breakfast in books

Jaclyn Crupi’s Something to Eat and Something to Read Q&A

What’s the last book you read and LOVED and why? 

It’s so hard to narrow it down (this is torture). My most recent read that had the most lasting impact on me was Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. It’s an incredibly powerful book about incarceration and how we punish, and who we punish. It’s a biting and clever satire. You feel its full power on every page, with every change of voice and perspective. What Adjei-Brenyah does so well is reveal exactly whose humanity is in question (and it’s not the prisoners’). It’s the kind of book you will never forget, and you will remember exactly where you were when you read it. 

I also recently read a wonderful novel by André Dao called Anam. It’s a multi-layered complex mining of inheritance, inter-generational trauma, colonialism, and identity for past, present and future generations. Dao uses a hybrid form to tell this story that is very much the story of his grandfather and family but also a fiction. It’s breathtaking.

What was the last meal you had in a restaurant and LOVED? And why?

I was lucky enough to be part of Queenscliffe Literary Festival last week, and they invited me to speak at a lunch at Basils Farm. The food included some of my Nonna Paolina’s recipes from my books Nonna Knows Best and Garden Like a Nonno, which was so special. Everything was delicious, and we grazed over shared platters of fresh bread, warm olives, basil pesto, giardiniera (garden pickles), arancini and polpette. Dessert was tiramisu and cannoli. I was in heaven for the entire meal. It was the exact sort of food I love to eat, with an emphasis on garden produce. 

What was the last meal you had at home and LOVED? And why?

Alice Zaslavsky has a carrot makhani (Indian-style butter carrot) recipe in In Praise of Veg that I just made. It really makes the most of my homegrown multi-coloured carrots I must say. I love it so much. 

What’s your go-to comfort food?

This week I made Rachel Roddy’s Pasta e Fagioli twice, once with dried borlotti beans and once with fresh. Both versions were delicious, but the fresh beans are super special because their season is so short. My nonna’s version was very similar, and this Italian bean soup will forever be comfort in a bowl for me.

What’s your go-to comfort read?

My list of comfort re-reads are Heartburn by Nora Ephron (the audio book is brilliantly read by Meryl Streep), Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (the audio book is delightfully read by Rosamund Pike), Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (I’ve never listened to the audio book but I’m sure it’s great) and Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin. I re-read Eligible every year on Boxing Day as my treat for getting through Christmas trading in a bookshop.

A cookbook you are loving cooking out of at the moment?

I’m obsessed with Rachel Roddy’s An A–Z of Pasta. It’s a perfect pasta cookbook. The recipes are authentic and delicious, and I get so much joy cooking from that book. I am constantly cooking from it. I’m also currently cooking from Charlotte Ree’s new memoir with recipes Heartbake. The focaccia recipe is so much simpler than my usual one, and I am a convert. I understand supermarkets are sold out of cream cheese because of the popularity of her Burnt Basque Cheesecake recipe (it’s delicious and so easy). I currently have my eye on A Splash of Soy by Lara Lee as my next cookbook purchase. It looks gorgeous. 

You get to invite four of your favourite writers over for dinner, who are they and what will you cook?

I would invite George Saunders, Ann Patchett, Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout, all American writers I adore who are already good friends, so conversation would flow and I could just let them chat and sit on the edge of my seat trying to catch every word. I would cook lasagne and many salads so dinner was completely prepared before they arrived, and I would not miss a thing. I would try not to fangirl too much; I would quite likely be unsuccessful in this attempt.