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DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK
The stunning and long-awaited memoir from the beloved founder of the James Beard Award-winning website Leite’s Culinaria—a candid, courageous, and at times laugh-out-loud funny story of family, food, mental illness, and sexual identity.
Born into a family of Azorean immigrants, David Leite grew up in the 1960s in a devoutly Catholic, blue-collar, food-crazed Portuguese home in Fall River, Massachusetts. A clever and determined dreamer with a vivid imagination and a flair for the dramatic, “Banana” as his mother endearingly called him, yearned to live in a middle-class house with a swinging kitchen door just like the ones on television, and fell in love with everything French, thanks to his Portuguese and French-Canadian godmother. But David also struggled with the emotional devastation of manic depression. Until he was diagnosed in his mid-thirties, David found relief from his wild mood swings in learning about food, watching Julia Child, and cooking for others.
Notes on a Banana is his heartfelt, unflinchingly honest, yet tender memoir of growing up, accepting himself, and turning his love of food into an award-winning career. Reminiscing about the people and events that shaped him, David looks back at the highs and lows of his life: from his rejection of being gay and his attempt to “turn straight” through Aesthetic Realism, a cult in downtown Manhattan, to becoming a writer, cookbook author, and web publisher, to his twenty-four-year relationship with Alan, known to millions of David’s readers as “The One,” which began with (what else?) food. Throughout the journey, David returns to his stoves and tables, and those of his family, as a way of grounding himself.
A blend of Kay Redfield Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind, the food memoirs by Ruth Reichl, Anthony Bourdain, and Gabrielle Hamilton, and the character-rich storytelling of Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris, and Jenny Lawson, Notes on a Banana is a feast that dazzles, delights, and, ultimately, heals.
Media Inquiries
Sharyn Rosenblum
Dey Street Books
Sharyn.Rosenblum [at] harpercollins [dot] com
Hi David,
I’ve been a reader and fan of Leite’s Culinaria (and of your legendary chocolate chip cookies) for so many years now, but read your memoir last fall and have been meaning to come here since then to tell you how moving and beautifully written it was. I’ve reread it many times and find it more inspiring each time. Thank you so much for sharing your story in your book, and for continually sharing your gift with us through your site and food writing.
cynthia, thank you so much for your very kind words. I can’t tell you how much it means to me. (And, I think you’ve read it more times than me!)
David,
I knew nothing about you, Portugal, or manic depression. Saw your book in the “Staff Recommends” Section of my local library…The cover caught my eye, and I’ve spent the last three days enjoying your very candid book. Just finished it and then enjoyed your Christmas video with “The One!” I had never heard of the Azores Islands…Show Stopper!!!
I send this quick note to simply say, well done and God Bless. I learned several things from your writing that will stay with me (some that will haunt me!). Just kidding, of course. Be well and have the happiest 2018!
Jill, thank you for your very kind and lovely words. I’m honored you enjoyed the book. And I hope that you find here, on Leite’s Culinaria, many things that also interest you. Wishing you and yours a wonderful 2018!
David,
Just this minute I finished reading your memoir. Thank you so much for writing it. I have bipolar 1 generalized anxiety disorder and PTSD. I wasn’t diagnosed and treated until my mid-forties. Your childhood experiences definitely remind me of my childhood. Thank you for sharing about your struggles with your sexuality. I am a facilitator of a bipolar and depression support group a duty that I share with a couple of other peer facilitators. I really appreciate that you were very honest about everything in your book and I feel less alone having read it. And of course I love food so I have loved hearing about the way you feel and think about food.
I wish I could sit down and have coffee with you.
Kristen Wilson, Eugene Oregon
Kristen, thank you for your kind words. I hope the book continues to help others. You are not alone. None of us is alone.
David,
“Notes on a Banana” was absolutely mind-blowing, in a good way … you had a story to tell and you told it magnificently. You are a gifted writer. While “An Unquiet Mind” was deep, “Banana” was, in my opinion, much more relatable (if that is indeed a word). Congratulations for having the guts, stamina, and talent to bring such a wonderful story to life. Please also give The One a thousand thank-yous for sticking with you, even when the pan was just a little too hot.
Lizzie, I can’t thank you enough for your kind words. They mean so much to me. Once a book is out in the world, an author doesn’t always know its impact. It’s heartening to learn it affected you. And I will certainly pass on your comments to The One.
P.S. From supposition I believe the white pill is Lamictal.
Ah, no. That caused too many cardiac side effects.