Save Me the Plums: My “Gourmet” Memoir by Ruth Reichl 304
pages
You
know you have too many books when you snag an Advanced Readers Copy of one of
your favorite writers; it makes its way into your reading space, and then gets
lost among the books. Drat it, welcome
to my world! If you understand this, then you know how excited I was when, in
adding more books to the bottom of a pile, I discovered this little gem!
If
you have never read of Ruth Reichl’s other memoirs, you’ve missed out. I was hooked by her style and voice the
minute I finished reading the first page of “Tender at the Bone.” I laughed and
laughed, but the sad part, like all of her books, is that these are true
stories.
Reading
Reichl’s books is like getting to know a person from the time she was a child
(ten years old--- I think was the first time we meet her in “Tender’) until
she’s an adult.
This
volume opens with Reichl discovering “Gourmet” magazine when she was eight
years old and hanging out with her father.
And in this volume, Conde Nast has offered Reichl the job of a lifetime:
Editor-in-Chief of her all-time favorite magazine.
She
turns it down, citing that she is a writer, not some corporate paper-pusher. Of
course there wouldn’t be a book if Reichl hadn’t eventually given in and joined
the team. At that time, 1999, the
magazine was on its last legs.
Reichl
was given carte blanche to recreate the magazine, but resistance from staff was
overwhelming. Eventually she managed to
turn the magazine’s voice from hoity-toity to setting the world on fire as the
articles became in-depth pieces and recipes more accessible.
Readers
will feel as if they are in the board room, in the ‘Gourmet’ kitchens, in the hallways
of 4 Times Square, where the magazine was located. A fast read, fun and exciting
and includes a few recipes that I just have to try. “Save Me the Plums: My
‘Gourmet’ Memoir” receives 6 out of 5 stars in
Julie’s world.
