Here is The Anthony Bourdain Reader, a deeply curated selection of the man’s writing—fiction and non-fiction—over the years. Through it all, as Patrick Radden Keefe makes note of in his introduction, it’s abundantly clear that Bourdain always thought of himself as a writer. Everything else—chef, TV personality, drug addict—was secondary to his desire to write. And with that fire, he spent the later part of his career writing about people other than himself, places other than where he lived, with an earnestness and humility that allowed a lot of us to see places and people that we wouldn’t have otherwise had the chance to experience. It’s a damn shame he’s gone, but, as this Reader shows, the words offer some immortality. Highly recommended.

–A Good Book, Sumner, WA

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