Save Me the Plums

 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.

The Orchid Thief

The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession by Susan Orlean, 284 pages


Susan Orlean is a journalist. She came across a story about man who was arrested for stealing endangered orchids from a Florida swamp. Orlean goes to Florida to follow the case and ends up meeting the man. John Laroche had been hired by the Seminoles to set up a nursery and he came up with a scheme to obtain the rare orchids, clone them and sell them to make a lot of money.

Laroche is the central character in the narrative but Orlean also profiles several other people and investigates related subjects. Laroche is a fascinating man who begins exploring a subject and then becomes engrossed in it. He may spend years collecting items but then decides he is done with it and stops, never to do it again. She delves into the world of obsessive orchid collectors and producers. She also explores the history of orchid collecting, the history of Florida and the history of the Seminoles.

It does get a little slow in the middle but it is worth it to go through to the end. This was a re-read for me and I found it as compelling as I did the first time. I would recommend this to people who like narrative nonfiction.

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson   480 Pages

Erik Larson’s latest book provides me with my second reason why she has no desire to ever, ever take a cruise. The first was all the books I’ve read on the Titanic.

Like Larson, I knew a bit about the sinking the luxury liner Lusitania, but after reading his book, I realize that my knowledge was skimpy at best, embarrassingly wrong at worse. I had always thought that the sinking of the Lusitania and other ships carrying American citizens is what propelled the United States into the Great War. Wrong. President Woodrow Wilson was a cool cucumber after the boat sunk, with the loss of life reaching a total of 1,198 of the 2,000 souls who were on board.

The ship left New York bound for Liverpool, England, on May 1, 1915. She was sunk by a torpedo form the German U-20 on May 7. When she sailed from New York harbor, she was booked to capacity. “This was, according to the New York Times, the greatest number of Europe-bound passengers on a single vessel since the year began.” Rather remarkable given that the war had been raging for ten months.

Larson gives reader lots of background information. I admit to discovering more about the politic of both Germany and the U.S., more about U-boats, and more details about the Lusitania than I ever though I would. Larson is an expert at narrative nonfiction that pulls readers into the story.

And while he is adept at making some boring topics interesting, his true success comes into his details about people. The U-20 commander, Schwieger, was a cold-blooded SOB. He didn’t think twice about sinking boats of all sizes, even those carrying large number of women and children. His main goal on each mission was to put as much tonnage as he could on the bottom of the world’s oceans and seas. The Lusitania’s captain, William Thomas Turner, was a credit to his position. I think I would have like him.

The parts of the book that I enjoyed most were the one about the passengers. Readers get to know several of the passengers. Larson paints vivid pictures of life aboard the liner.

The entire book leads up to the moment that a U-20 torpedo strikes the boat. The horrendous details that follow are enough to give readers nightmares. The sinking read much like the Titanic sinking: people jumping from the ship, the lifeboats (there were enough) not functioning properly, the debris that littered the ocean surface after the boat dropped below the waterline. To me, the most horrifying scenes were the people floating upside down in the water. They had put their lifejackets on incorrectly, thereby causing their heads to be forced underwater.

I give Dead Wake 4 stars out of 5. The details of the ships and the politics were a bit much for me. I think they could have been condensed somewhat.