This was the perfect sorbet after a hearty meal like Dan Raviv’s tome against Wall Street greed. I actually finished this one in a little more than a day. I was just too lazy to come online this weekend to write about it. Yeah, sorry about that.

I must confess that I do enjoy watching some of the shows on Food Network. I’m by no means a culinary aficionado. I boil a mean pot of water and I’ve been told that my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are to die for 😉 Okay, that’s not completely true, but I’m not really a fan of cooking. I do, however love some of the Food Network stars. Chief among the elite is, of course, Paula Deen. I like real women. I think Paula falls smack in the middle of that category – either that or she’s a better actor than Elizabethtown revealed her to be.

This memoir, It Ain’t All About the Cookin’, while a quick read, was packed with the intimate details of how Paula Deen went from small town Georgia girl to the queen of all things Southern food. And when I say intimate, I mean intimate, right down to a joke about spitting or swallowing. Oh yeah.

She’s funny, self-deprecating, honest, and bawdy, and if you’re looking for a great summer beach book, this should definitely make your list. Plus, she ends almost each chapter with a yummy recipe, so it’s like confessional and cookbook all rolled into one!

Final score: 3/5.

Next on the reading list: Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer.

P.S. – Paula, honey, don’t think that you were ever foolin’ anyone about the fact that you smoke(d). That glorious nicotine-soaked laugh of yours gave you away from the word “go.”