“I’m a serious cook, and my husband is a serious eater, so I read <span class="italic">The Italian Slow Cooker </span>by Michele Scicolone, and it’s superb! I have made Sicilian orange chicken, sausage and spareribs . . . I also enjoyed <span class="italic">The Finkler Question</span> by Howard Jacobson. How can you not like a man who turned down the chance to be the English Philip Roth?