Win a copy of a New York Times Notable Book of The Year, Memorial by Bryan Washington today! This is a beautiful and poignant novel you’re going to enjoy. 5 winners will be selected!
For all you readers! We’ve partnered with Riverhead Books to give away Bryan Washington’s debut novel Memorial to 5 lucky JOC winners this holiday. The highly anticipated follow-up to Washington’s critically acclaimed book of short stories Lot, Memorial follows two men living in Houston — Mike is a Japanese-American chef at a Mexican restaurant and Benson’s a Black daycare teacher, and they aren’t sure if their relationship has run its course.
While the novel is neither a cookbook nor even a food book, cooking is a language of love throughout the story — love for a parent, love from a parent, love of a partner, and even lack of love.
Memorial is an exciting read, and we know you’re going to enjoy it. Enter to win a copy now!
About Memorial by Bryan Washington
Memorial is a funny and profound story about big first loves, family in all its forms, becoming who you’re supposed to be, the limits of love, and how sharing food can say so much without us saying anything at all.
The novel is packed with different types of dishes and cuisines, and each serves as vital motifs for relationships, people, and places. Whether it be discarded crinkled hamburger wrappers; sultry Sriracha sprinkled omelettes; uncomfortable Tex-Mex restaurants or elaborate feasts of okonomiyaki, kitsune udon, curry, rice and more; the story is driven by meals and cooking in both Houston and Osaka.
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, TIME, O, the Oprah Magazine, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, and Real Simple. “A masterpiece.” —NPR
“No other novel this year captures so gracefully the full palette of America.” —The Washington Post
A funny and profound story about family in all its strange forms, joyful and hard-won vulnerability, becoming who you’re supposed to be, and the limits of love.
About Bryan Washington
Bryan Washington is a National Book Award 5 Under 35 honoree, and winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. His first book, the story collection Lot, was a finalist for the NBCC’s John Leonard Prize, the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award.
Enter to Win A Copy of Memorial by Bryan Washington
GIVEAWAY RULES:
Please Note: Your email for the comment entry has to match with your email address in my Email Newsletter Subscription mailing list.
This giveaway contest closes on Tuesday, December 22, at 12 p.m. PST and is open to US residents only.
Five (5) winners will be selected via Pick Giveaway Winner Plugin and contacted via email, so please include a valid email address in the email address entry box (please double check your spelling!).
The winners are required to respond within 36 hours to claim the prize.
HOW TO ENTER:
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Ticket 1 (Required): Follow @riverheadbooks on Instagram and leave a separate comment below on this post.
Ticket 2 (Required): Subscribe to Just One Cookbook Email Newsletter if you haven’t and leave a comment below on this post.
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Ticket 5 (Optional): Like JOC Pinterest and leave a separate comment below on this post.
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The winners are…
- Alan K Murakami
- Vanessa Allison
- Jolene Chang
- SR
- Michelle Xie
Congratulations! We will contact you shortly.
Already subscribe to Just One Cookbook Email Newsletter 🙂
Followed Riverhead Books on Instagram
I’m also already following JOC on FB, so one last comment for that 🙂
I’m also following on Instagram so I’ll confirm that here 🙂
This book sounds wonderful! I’m also a huge JOC so I’m always using this site.
With this comment, I meant to say that I followed Riverhead on IG 🙂
I like JOC on pinterest.
I follow JOC on Facebook. Love your posts!
I follow JOC on Instagram.
I subscribed to JOC email newsletter.
I am following Riverhead books on Instagram.
Subscribed! 😊
“She’s more comfortable in Mike’s kitchen than I’ve ever been. He arranged everything to his liking, but Mitsuko’s reorganized all of it. Everything in the drawers, all of the ladles and spatulas and sticks. The bowls were a certain way, and now they are not. Plus, all Mike’s spices. And the utensils. I never knew where he kept his chopsticks—they just materialized whenever we needed them. The place looks unrecognizable. She’s flipped it on its head. It’s entirely disorienting, but for once I can actually settle in.”
“When the meat’s cooked, Mitsuko sets two bowls on the table. That’s new. I sit across from her.
We eat, mostly in silence.
Did you get that? Mitsuko asks.
Well, I say, bits and pieces.
“
“She proceeds to break down the carcass, bone by bone, stuffing the remains in a pot on the stove for stock. When she’s finished trimming the fat, she shakes each piece with a flick of her wrist. Her seasonings are lined up. She douses the meat in what looks like a pool of salt. But she doesn’t say shit about it, and eventually she pirouettes to the side, flinging the pieces into a pan. They sizzle like a sheet of rain.
If I were at home, I would’ve marinated this, Mitsuko says. But I’m not at home.
“
“Mitsuko grabs the chicken by one leg, balancing the other with a cleaver. In one fluid motion, she slices the bird in half.”