OT: Yes, Another Off Topic Post

I'm sure many of you have noticed the "blog to book" phenomenon--a perky new voice blogs away and lo and behold, New York notices and a book deal appears. It does happen-witness "Julie and Julia" a blog about a New York office worker who, in her spare time, decided to cook every recipe from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One. I've read her resulting book: Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen--it was mildly entertaining, with a good dose of navel gazing. It's in trade paperback now, and worth a read if you like food writing.

What brings me to write this today, however, is indeed yet another blog to book. Local author Shauna James Ahern's book Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back...And How You Can Too is due out this fall. A recent article in the Seattle Times discussed her book as well as another blog to book phenom Clotilde Dusoulier, whose book Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen is available now. Shauna Ahern's story resonates: after years of ill health with no diagnosis, she finally learned that she has celiac disease, in which the body cannot tolerate gluten. Gluten is the main protein in most grains, wheat, rye, triticale (not quadro), and perhaps oats. I went to her blog to take a look and got sucked in by her vivid writing, and the poignant emotion of her first few months' posts. I don't have celiac, but I will definately be reading her book when it appears this fall.