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.