Time to loosen those hooks, belts and zippers, folks. We’re heading into the feasting season, from Thanksgiving (in the U.S.; Canada got a jump-start last month) through the various winter holidays right into the New Year. We use the holidays to feed our bellies and our spirits but it’s also a great time to feed our imaginations. When the hoopla has died down and the meals are luscious memories, the coming days are perfect for curling up and seeing how food plays so well in great books. Here are some tasty suggestions spanning 1873-2012 (several so delicious they were adapted to film):

The Belly of Paris – Emile Zola
Remembrance of Things Past – Marcel Proust
Babette’s Feast — Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)
A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway
Heartburn – Nora Ephron
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café – Fannie Flagg
Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan
Chocolat – Joanne Harris
The Hundred-Foot Journey – Richard C. Morais
White Truffles in Winter – N.M. Kelby
Pow – Mo Yan