Summer Edit: What We're Reading

We may be known for what’s on the table, but here’s a look at what the PORTA team reaches for beyond it. From memoirs and mouse tales to novels, cookbooks, and scent-driven journeys, these are the stories keeping us company between long lunches and late sunsets.

Alice’s List

I usually reach for novels, but this summer I’m diving into memoirs by three iconic New Yorkers who shaped how we eat, gather, and see the world: Ina Garten: Be Ready When the Luck Happens, Keith McNally's I Regret Almost Everything, and Graydon Carter's When The Going Was Good. A deliciously voyeuristic lineup—served with a strong side of personality. Each made their mark on New York—more or less at the same time—through food, hospitality, and media. Garten brings warmth and reinvention, McNally offers grit and drama, and Carter delivers wit and cultural commentary. Together, they capture a city always in motion.

Francesca's Picks

This summer, I’m looking forward to more time in the kitchen—trying new recipes and favoring long lunches over dinner parties. I just picked up Julius Roberts’ cookbook, The Farm Table, and can’t wait to try the savory tarts—anything with ricotta, peas, or mint is a win. I’m also excited for time with my daughters. Summer break here runs long (three months!), but for now, I’m embracing it. We adore Alice Melvin’s mouse books and just picked up Mouse by the Seaside. or solo moments, I’m diving into God of the Woods, a rec from my brilliant friend Teddy Minford via her Substack.

Simone's List

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
I started this earlier this year and plan to finish it over the summer. At 1,000+ pages, it’s sprawling, surreal, and structurally ambitious—but still a page-turner. I’ve read a lot of Murakami (Kafka on the Shore is a favorite) and want to follow this with What I Talk About When I Talk About Running for insight into his creative process.

Gypsy by Gypsy Rose Lee
I picked this up after seeing Gypsy on Broadway—Audra McDonald was stunning. The memoir is a vivid time capsule of showbiz and vaudeville, equal parts theatrical grit and surprising vulnerability.

Nic's List

I continuously applaud Ocean Vuong's approach to queer vulnerability and the way he honors what others may overlook; The Emperor of Gladnessis no exception. Less than halfway through and already I have been introduced to unexpected connection, devastation, humor and healing. I look forward to completing this release by the ocean, in tribute to the author's namesake.

In Sensorium by Tanaïs is not only an immersive love letter to fragrance, but is structured as one, flowing from base to heart to head notes. Tanaïs blends memoir with ancestral significance of scent in a refreshing master class of its own. 

Alex's List

Girlhood by Melissa Febos
Recommended by my friend Anouk—I tore through it. It’s now in my top five forever books. Febos writes with wild brilliance about the mess and beauty of becoming a woman, putting words to things I’ve felt but never knew how to say.

Real Estate by Deborah Levy
I’m obsessed with Levy. This one is dreamy and reflective, full of sharp, quiet truths about home, freedom, and what it means to build a life. I gave it to my sisters and a few friends—every one of them texted back: “Who is this author and what else has she written?”

Katherine's List

I’ve been reading Patience Gray’s Honey from a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades, and Apulia over the past few summers. It’s a beautiful cookbook read straight from cover to cover, but I like to open it up to any page while sitting outside waiting for the grill to heat up. The author and her sculptor partner moved about the Mediterranean together through the 1960s and 70s, going from rundown farmhouse to ancient stone hut on a “marble odyssey.” I really read this book more for the sweet earthiness of their daily life than to follow the recipes.