Nonfiction Reviews
104 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY FEBRUARY 2, 2026
You’re Overwatering It! A Plant Guru’s Guide to Houseplants Jonny Balchandani . Timber, $30 (224p) ISBN 978-1-64326-640-4 Balchandani, creator of the Instagram account @thebeardedplantaholic, debuts with a funny and practical manual on caring for houseplants. After nearly killing a “scrappy little vine” with neglect, he watched it miraculously bounce back, an experi- ence that helped him understand plants are living things with unique needs and behaviors. He was hooked and began filling his home with green- ery. Asserting that “most of the plant advice out there is absolute nonsense,” he shares the tips he’s learned. For example, houseplant labels that urge buyers to “water once a week” or keep in “low light” are misleading. Plant parents should instead trust their instincts and observe their plants to understand their needs (if a plant is stretching toward a window and its leaves are getting smaller, it needs more light). To help readers find the best plant for them, he offers “person- ality tests” determining “what kind of plant parent are you” and “what’s your plant soulmate.” Elsewhere, he guides readers through how to handle common pests, propagate houseplants, design verdant displays, and care for rare flora. Balchandani writes with wit and energy, warning about “divas in disguise” and “care instructions that are so ridiculously vague, they might as well just say: ‘Good luck, sucker.’ ” Aspiring plant whisperers will find this a windfall. (Feb.) FOOD & COOKING Viennese Bakery: Classic Cakes and Bakes from Vienna’s Cafe Culture Bernadette Worndl, trans. from the German by Alison Tunley. DK, $35 (224p) ISBN 979-8-217-30579-7 Food stylist Worndl ( Fruit ) adapts a collection of recipes from Therese Schultz, the bakery manager at Vienna’s Grand Hotel during the 1920s, for the modern kitchen in this ambitious guide. Linzer torte, baked quark cheesecake, striezel (sweet braided bread), and other appealing Austrian classics abound. However,
the considerable amount of skill and time many of these recipes require will intimidate some home bakers: the show-stopping imperial torte, for example, involves baking a Japonaise cake and preparing a whole-egg chocolate buttercream before cutting and layering. The cake is then refriger- ated overnight and covered first in rolled-out marzipan and then a final layer of melted chocolate. Similarly involved are the Ischler cookies, which require preparing vanilla custard, cookie dough, and Parisian cream, then assembling with apricot jam, melted chocolate, and pistachios. For less intimidating options, readers will want to check out panettone-like fruit bread, drunken capuchin pud- dings (mini cakes soaked in a spicy wine mixture), and vanilla crescent cookies. Lovely photos of Vienna and scans of Schultz’s handwritten recipes add a charming, nostalgic feel. Veteran home bakers looking for their next challenge will want to check this out. (Feb.) Citrus, Illustrated: A Cookbook of 35 Sweet and Savory Recipes George Geary, illus. by Rebecca Hollingsworth. Chronicle, $19.95 (168p) ISBN 978-1-79723-593-6 With this zesty outing, Geary ( The Cheesecake Bible ) offers a love letter to citrus. The collection is divided into eight sections, each devoted to a specific type of fruit—grapefruit, kumquat, lemon, lime, orange, tan- gerine, citron, and Buddha’s hand, , a segmented Asian citrus,—offering fun facts and quick overviews of different varietals. Recipes range from tried and true, including a “world’s best” lemon- ade, to more inventive, such as blood orange glazed carrots. Australian finger limes, distinct for the caviarlike “flavor- ful beads” that make up their innards, make a fun and refreshing topping in a shrimp and sea bass ceviche appetizer. A martini featuring vodka infused with Buddha’s hand is garnished with a finger of the flamboyant fruit. Desserts include a breezy no-bake key lime pie and decadent chocolate fudge cake with tangelo icing. A final section of multi-citrus recipes encourages
inventiveness and hybridity in triple citrus cookies and triple citrus vinai- grette. Geary, an Angelino, proves a charming narrator, sharing his love of storied L.A. restaurants in recipes such as chicken salad with mandarin oranges, inspired by a dish served at the tearoom of the now closed depart- ment store Bullock and Wilshire. Hollingsworth’s illustrations are vibrant and sweet, but the lack of photography, especially of unfamiliar fruits and dishes, may frustrate some home cooks. Still, this cheerful labor of love is approachable and endearing. (Feb.) Cocina Puerto Rico: Recipes from My Abuela’s Kitchen to Yours Mia Castro. Union Square, $40 (336p) ISBN 978-1-4549-5811-6 Chef Castro’s lively and wide-ranging debut collection pays homage to her Puerto Rican roots and her grand- mother’s home cooking. After a brief history of the Taíno, Spanish, and African influences on the island’s cuisine, Castro covers equipment and pantry essentials, including a useful guide to viandas, the starchy fruits and tubers such as breadfruit, yuca, and chayote, that serve as the “backbone” of Puerto Rican cooking. Foundational seasonings and sauces include home- made adobo and sofrito, while beverages include horchata and cafecito. There’s classic pega’o, or crunchy, sticky bot- tom rice, alongside Castro’s unique spin on arroz con pollo, a dish that secured her win on the cooking com- petition show Beat Bobby Flay . She also shares a recipe for grilled skirt steak or pork tenderloin that took the top prize on Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. Seafood abounds, from crispy grouper nuggets to saucy crab stew, while plan- tains and coconut also make frequent appearances. Castro provides useful descriptions for those unfamiliar with the dishes at hand—saltfish serenade is a “down-to-earth Latin cousin of a tuna Nicoise salad”—and shares personal connections (adding beer to black beans is her mother’s “special touch”). Those nostalgic for their home cuisine and those new to Puerto Rican fare will be equally taken with this expansive offering. (Feb.)
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