The Soup Peddler's Slow and Difficult Soups: Recipes and Reveries - David Ansel
I have about 30 cookbooks, and the large majority of them just sit in the shelf untouched. The mark of a great cookbook is one that has crumpled pages and food stains all over it. This is one of those. As soon as the weather cools down in Texas I bust out this soup cookbook. Don't be scared off by the title - the 'slow and difficult' bit is mostly of tongue in cheek. These soups do take a little more time and a bit more effort than opening up a can, but they really aren't particularly difficult and in the end totally worth it! I've made a bunch of the soups and there's probably only one that I won't make again. The rest are keepers that I rotate regularly in the fall/winter. I'm waiting for a sequel!

**Side-note: the recipes are interspersed with little anecdotes and stories about the author's life and soup business in Austin.