Mario Batali

Mario Batali is the author of the James Beard Award-winning Molto Italiano, the newly released Italian Grill, and other cookbooks.

From his Ink Q & A at Powells.com:

Introduce one other author you think people should read, and suggest a good book with which to start.

Jim Harrison is America's greatest living fiction writer for many reasons and deserves a Nobel Prize. Although every single one of his books and volumes of poetry and short stories is perfect, I think a great start is The Road Home. As you read anything he has written you initially marvel at the complexity of the characters and the realness of their dialogue, both internal and external. The tale in The Road Home is of several generations of families that Jim has explored before, and their exquisite and bumpy ride through the rich terrain of the Native American cultural and physical landscape in the Midwest. As you read further you discover the true protaganist is Harrison himself, his love and Zen-master appreciation of the natural world, and the toll that world's inescapable intersection with civilization can take on human experience. He is funny to the point of laughing out loud, wise to the point of inspiration, and such a wordsmith that I often reread entire pages for the simple pleasure of their cadences.

Read the full Q & A.

Check out Mario Batali's list of five great American books.

--Marshal Zeringue