THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (November 19, 2023): This week’s issue features Fuchsia Dunlop’s seductive new exploration of Chinese cuisine, “Invitation to a Banquet”; Michael Lewis Tells His Own Story of Sam Bankman-Fried; He Carried the Bags (and the Secrets) for the Beatles – A new biography resuscitates the colorful, tragic life of Mal Evans: roadie, confidant, procurer, cowbell player…

A History of Chinese Food, and a Sensory Feast

A photograph of assorted dim sum, including green steamed dumplings, rice rolls, shumai and other items.

Fuchsia Dunlop’s “Invitation to a Banquet” is a cultural investigation of an impossibly broad and often misunderstood cuisine.

By Dwight Garner

INVITATION TO A BANQUET: The Story of Chinese Food, by Fuchsia Dunlop

“A really good cookbook,” Jan Morris wrote, “is intellectually more adventurous than the Kama Sutra.” Fuchsia Dunlop’s masterly new book, “Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food,” is not a cookbook per se. But it has an earthiness that calls to mind Morris’s comment.

AUDIOBOOKS

Listen to a Wellness-Culture Satire That Delves a Few Levels Deeper

In Jessie Gaynor’s debut novel, “The Glow,” read by Gabra Zackman, a P.R. rep immerses herself in the woo-woo world of a cultlike “spiritual retreat,” and its enigmatic leader.