Looking for smart, engaging, and somewhat offbeat reading recommendations? Want to be a part of a community of readers who are curious and sharp? Want to have the opportunity to chat directly with authors, editors, and translators about their work? Then the #ReadUCP Book Club is for you!

This July we are launching our seasonal Twitter book club. We know you are already avid readers with many books on your bedside and crammed into your satchel, so we’re keeping it pressure-free with just four selections a year (July, October, February, and May) that promise to be fun, thought-provoking, and a little unconventional for a book club pick.

Each season we invite our @UChicagoPress Twitter followers to join us in reading and discussing our selection. We’ll share inside information on our blog and check-in via Twitter to share our thoughts and progress along the way. In turn, we invite you to send questions as you read and to join us for virtual book club meetings. Just use #ReadUCP when you tweet. To follow the conversation, you can use Twitter’s search tool or a tool like HootSuite or TweetDeck to filter by #ReadUCP.

Our Summer Pick Is: Edible Memory by Jennifer A. Jordan

In this season of farmers’ markets, community gardens, and backyard vegetable patches, what better topic than the history of the fruits and vegetables we so carefully tend and prize for their flavor?

In Edible Memory: The Lure of Heirloom Tomatoes and Other Forgotten Foods, Jordan examines the ways that people around the world have sought to identify and preserve old-fashioned varieties of produce. From heirloom tomatoes to antique apples, from turnips to kale, and from stone to tropical fruit, she examines the deep culinary connections we have to the past that influence not only the foods we grow and consume, but the ways we shape and imagine our farms, gardens, and local landscapes. From the market to the seed bank to the neighborhood restaurant, these foods offer essential keys not only to our past but also to the future of agriculture, the environment, and taste.

We invite you to join us throughout July and August to read and discuss Edible Memory, while sharing stories and photos from your gardens, markets, kitchens, and plates.

 On our blog, you can look forward to an enticing excerpt from the selection as well as a Q & A with the author. And stay tuned for dates for virtual book club meetings with Jennifer Jordan as our special guest,  ready to answer your questions and hear your experiences.

Follow #ReadUCP and Jennifer Jordan @ediblememory on Twitter for all the latest. And go ahead and get your copy now! Use the code EDIBLECLUB for 20% from now until September through our website.