Check it out: Books good enough to eat, without all the fat

Satisfy your appetite with nonfat, no-cholesterol books extolling the glories of exquisite cuisine. Get your fill of delicious mysteries, adventurous true culinary tales and trendy food writers’ observations served up for the literary armchair banquet traveler. There’s no kitchen to clean, no slaving over a hot stove, no slicing, no dicing. Instead, try these delectable delights for the culmination of a calorie-free Labor Day weekend read.

“Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia” by Elizabeth Gilbert: After a nasty divorce and experiencing a mid-life crisis, the author decided travel would be an antidote to the heartbreak she had suffered. Quitting her job, she embarked on a quest and on the way, found the world’s greatest pizza, a new love and spiritual balance.

“Garlic and Sapphires” by Ruth Riechl: Everyone’s favorite food critic and reviewer, Editor in Chief Riechl of “Gourmet” magazine, regales the reader with her insights about the world of Michelin-starred establishments. Treat yourself to her descriptions of patronizing, ordering and eating in restaurants disguised in various costumes and wigs-talk about a “reality” show! Who wouldn’t enjoy accompanying her on her forays into haute cuisine?

“Cooking with Fernet Branca” by James Hamilton-Paterson: Take a quiet, somewhat inebriated and impecunious British writer enjoying an idyllic life in Tuscany, add heaping cupfuls of an ex-Eastern bloc, artiste next-door neighbor, mix in a tablespoon of laugh-out-loud satire and you’ve got a highly original novel worthy of palate-cleansing merriment.

“A Good Year” by Peter Mayle: Need some fine wine to complement a dinner? The “Year in Provence” writer serves up a warm, tender tale about a successful, no-nonsense investment broker who inherits a French vineyard and chateau. As an added feature, check out the story on DVD with Russell Crowe and Marion Cottiard in an old-fashioned, romantic Ridley Scott-directed film.

“Mistress of Spices” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: Tilo believes the spices she sells in her Oakland shop satisfy her customers’ deepest desires. What happens when she experiences desire in the form of Doug, an American man? The DVD movie version, available at the library, stars Aishwarya Rai and Dylan Dermott.

“Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine and Love in Italy” by Michael Tucker: Actor Tucker, with actress wife Jill Eikenberry, bought a rural Umbrian retreat in the Spoleto region of Italy. This gentle memoir details the exquisite cookery, wine-making and people in the friendly countryside.

“Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone” edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler: Eating by yourself qualifies as a guilty pleasure — or so these 26 top chefs and foodies say. In essays interlaced with recipes, read about the bizarre and unusual comestible choices of Marcella Hazan, Nora Ephron, Ann Patchett and others.

“Little Chapel on the River: A Pub, A Town and the Search for What Matters Most” by Gwendolyn Bounds: When this Wall Street Journal editor lost her Manhattan apartment in the Sept. 11 attacks, she found the small town of Garrison, N.Y., and a tiny Irish pub. Experience how traditional pub life nourished her soul during an extraordinary time.

“And Murder for Dessert” by Kathleen Delaney: Serve yourself a cozy mystery. In California wine country, the new owners of the Silver Springs Winery hope to impress diners at their Harvest Festival Dinner, and they were successful until Master Chef Otto turned up dead before the last course.