This Month

"Word-sniffing is an addiction," foodie idol M.F.K. Fisher once opined, "like glue sniffing in a somewhat less destructive way." We proudly embrace this happy habit, offering you a bevy of worthwhile reads to titillate (or even offend) the finer senses this month. The word-freak in you will rejoice in our interview with George Saunders, in which we ask him how he spins short-story gold out of pop-culture dross. We also serve up a French treatise on the chemistry of cooking and a biography of the lowly oyster. On the fringes of palatability, you'll find a delightful novel of manners that's brimming with questionable recipes, as well as a look inside the world of competitive eating. Beyond taste buds, we take on the visual world with a look at the definitive collection of contemporary Chinese art. If you're more in the mood for something in gloriously bad taste, you can peruse the morbid memoir of an obituary writer. For the true word addict, beauty is in the eye of the reader.