Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jun 01, 2008

Tricia rated it:

Gus Simpson is turning 50, has two 20-something daughters, and her own cooking show which is experiencing a ratings slump. The story revolves around her need to heal from tragedy, develop better relationships with her children, and define who she is and what she wants out of the rest of her life....with a little romance thrown in the side.

One problem I had with The Friday Night Knitting Club is that there were too many darn characters in the book. It's even worse in this book because More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 14, 2008

Lain rated it:

Zzz... oh, I'm sorry, did you say something? I apologize -- I was put into a deep sleep by this latest book from Kate Jacobs. A great cure for insomnia!

I couldn't make it past 100 pages. Too much telling, not enough showing, and no clue where the book was going or why. If I read one more word about poor little Gus the TV star, who seems like a total unlikeable control freak, I was going to scream. Nothing happened, and I didn't really care if it did or not.

The inconsiste More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2008

Jill rated it:

I loved the first three hundred pages. The details are on, the story line is engaging, and I am willing to suspend some disbelief.

But, I figured out my trouble with Kate Jacobs. She runs this huge ensemble cast of characters through her novels, and this forces a contrived ending to wrap up all the different characters.

The over all effect is that everyone is a little too good, and that things work out perfectly, just like that. I think this book and Friday Night Knitt More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2008

Cortney added it

I only made it past the first chapter. It just didn't engage me. At all. Maybe it's something about reading in the third person that I don't like? Maybe it's something about Kate Jacobs drilling into my head the characteristics of Gus Simpson over and over and over and over....
With so many books on my to-read list, why waste time with something I'm not enjoying? It's so very hard for me to give up on a book because it may very well be a fabulous book after you muddle through _____ number o More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2009

Gail rated it:

Comfort Food is about Augustus "Gus" Simpson a Fiftyish television cooking show queen, who is suddenly thrown into a situation where she has to fight for her job against the younger woman who will do anything to take her job. Comfort food is a fun easy read, not a complete twinkie, but not meat and potatoes either. I would categorize it as a light lunch. There is conflict and some really unfortunate things happen to the main character, but in the end everyone gets their happily ever af More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 18, 2012

Nancy rated it:

I only got another Kate Jacobs audiobook because there was nothing else left, I swear! No, actually, I liked this one better than Friday Night Knitting Club, as a matter of fact. I'm not sure what Jacobs' background with food is, but she is much better at writing about knitting, which seems to come much more naturally. Jacobs writes about her characters on the "Cooking Channel" like she's never bothered to watch the Food Network prior to publishing the book. It's all so foreign soun More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 31, 2011

Sarah rated it:

I was interested to read another of Kate Jacobs’ books, especially since this one is not centered around knitting. I wanted to “get to know her” as an author and read a work that I wasn’t interested simply because it was favorable to one of my favorite hobbies. Wonderfully, I wasn’t disappointed.

Gus Simpson is a character who feels like she’s a little bit based on Martha Stuart – classic, perfect, and the one you turn to when you don’t want something adventurous but something homey a More...

0 comments like

Apr 25, 2011

Michelle rated it:

This book has an interesting premise of a well-known and firmly-established cooking show host whose life becomes entangled by a mess of family, friends, and Cooking Channel colleagues. Augusta "Gus" Simpson has been on the Cooking Channel for twelve years and loves what she does, but the ratings are dropping. In an effort to spice up the network and their long-running host, the president of the network sticks Gus, her family, and a newbie host, Carmen Vega, together in a live cooking s More...

0 comments like

Jan 26, 2011

Melissa rated it:

Originally I thought this book was going to be a sequel to the Friday Night Knitting Club novels; mainly because the main character's daughter liked cooking. However, I should have read a little better. That is not the case, this is actually a stand alone novel. And once I got past that, it was pretty good.

Gus is a famous tv chef with two grown daughters. When she finds out that her show may be canceled she is desperate to stay on air. In a plan that goes awry, she ends up co-hosting a More...

0 comments like

Oct 22, 2010

Chantelle rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Jan 29, 2010

Jlaurenmc rated it:

So you're laying in bed, cozy with a quilt (and perhaps a dog at your feet)... It's snowing outside, or at the very least it's so cold you don't want to budge from underneath the covers. That's what my New Year's weekend was like. I started off the New Year right by participating (somewhat) in a New Year's Read-a-thon sponsored by Kristen at Bookworming in the 21st Century. I didn't really get a chance to read much on New Year's Eve until later, then I dove straight into a comfy read -- Kate Jac More...

0 comments like

Jul 21, 2009

Diane rated it:

Author Kate Jacobs , who wrote the successful THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB, moves to the culinary world in her new novel, COMFORT FOOD. If you enjoy spending the evening watching Food TV, this novel is for you.

Augusta "Gus" has been hosting a successful TV show on the CookingChannel for years. She was widowed several years ago and left alone to raise her two young daughters Aimee, a global economic analyst, and Sabrina, an up-and-coming decorator. Gus is about to turn fif More...

1 comment like

May 26, 2009

Kathleen added it

Comfort Food, by Kate Jacobs, narrated by Barbara Rosenblatt, produced by Penguin Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

Barbara Rosenblatt is one of my favorite narrators, and she does books like this one very well. Augusta, (Gus) Simpson is a nationally known chef from the food channel. But she is turning 50 and doesn’t like it. Her husband has been ded for 15 years but she hasn’t really dated anyone since he died. Her life is sort of stalemated, still mainly spent around her two d More...

0 comments like

Apr 22, 2009

Isabella rated it:

Gus (Augusta Simpson), soon hitting the “half-century mark,”is a guru on the Cooking Channel hosting three successful shows over the last twelve years. However, even with her achievements she can’t help but feel herself becoming stale spice on the shelf, being thrown to the wayside as younger chiefs take center stage. This only worsens as her show is threatened and the only means of survival are teaming up with Carmen Vega, Miss Spain, on a new show called, “Eat, Drink and Be.”
I found the More...

0 comments like

Sep 23, 2011

Danny rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 18, 2010

Clarissa rated it:

Have you ever read a book and loved it while reading but became uncertain of it after? I had that experience after reading Kate Jacob's first book (Friday Night Knitting Club). But I did enjoy reading it, so I decided to check this one out. Plus I love watching the Food Network which factors heavily in this book.

The novel's main character is a woman named Gus of all things, who after the death of her husband, leaving her a widow with two children to raise, found a way to make money. More...

0 comments like

Feb 23, 2009

Anne rated it:

Comfort Food' is set in New York and centres around Gus (short for Augusta), a widow who is just turning 50. For the past twelve years Gus has been a hard-working single mother - her two daughters are both now adults, although neither of them are 'grown up'. Gus is the star of a succesful TV cookery show.

The beginning of the story tells how Gus is having mixed feelings about her impending 50th birthday and doesnt really feel like organising one of her famous partys. Everything see More...

0 comments like

Sep 07, 2010

Sterlingcindysu rated it:

I enjoyd The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Two, but boy, I did not care for this one at all. Much, much too sweet and sappy and I didn't care for any of the characters.

(copied review) Shortly before turning the big 5-0, boisterous party planner and Cooking with Gusto! personality Augusta "Gus" Simpson finds herself planning a birthday party she'd rather not - her own. She's getting tired of being the hostess, the mother hen, the woman who has to plan her own birth More...

0 comments like

May 07, 2009

Laura rated it:

This book is a mid to low 3 stars for me. As I was listening to this book, it just wasn't quite working for me. I kept trying to figure out what (if anything) was wrong with it. I wanted to enjoy this book as entertaining fluff. Was I just not in the mood for it? The characters should have been interesting. The plot should have been amusing. Why wasn't it coming together for me?

I felt like I should have liked Gus, the single parent who has worked her way to the top of the food T More...

0 comments like

May 29, 2008

Bill rated it:

Diana and I listened to this audio-book while travelling by car from Maryland to Kansas this week. It was a good "read" for a car trip... easy to follow, funny and sad. The themes of the story: getting older, family, friends, love, pain, grief, healing and competition... all wrapped up in one of our favorite things, FOOD, had us smiling and even tearing up a couple times... pleasant book.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 17, 2011

Kristy rated it:

I didn't like this book as much as I had hoped or as much as I had liked "The Friday Night Knitting Club" series. It didn't keep my attention as much as I had hoped. What I did enjoy about the book was that Gus Simpson (the protagonist) dealt with a lot of problems and when times were hard, she knew how to make the best lemonade out of some really bad lemons. She handled everything with elegance and grace, even with turning the big 5-0. I was rooting for her when she celebrated by hopp More...

0 comments like

May 25, 2008

Lynn rated it:

This story of a widow turning fifty, her relationship with her two twenty-something daughters, her cooking show trials and tribulations, and the interesting people in her life is a most enjoyable read. Likeable characters - even the ones you don't think will be. The cooking show - a fun scenario. I do believe I will go back and read the Friday Night Knitting Club.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 07, 2010

Sara rated it:

Rich and warm like a good brownie, I devoured this book. Lighthearted may be a true way to describe this story, but it was also interesting and heartwarming, grab this book the next time you take a trip. Gus is a cooking TV personality who loves party planning until the day that she chooses to ignore the day of her 50th birthday. Her friends are surprised when they have not received birthday party invitations. Work and life have been challenging for Gus, she started out as a young widow with two More...

0 comments like

Jan 15, 2012

Sherry rated it:

"Comfort Food" is a good read, no more and no less--a great choice for the beach or a plane trip. Its heroine, Gus Simpson, is a 50-ish Martha Stewart type with two feisty daughters, a neighbor who is reclusive for good reason, and a cooking show that is unexpectedly on the rocks. When Gus is forced by circumstances to take some risks, pulling her reluctant friends and family along with her, the results are entertaining, and the ending keeps things interesting with a few surprising twi More...

0 comments like

Oct 27, 2009

Kim rated it:

This book left me ambivalent. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. And I'm hesitant to say if I liked it or not.

I guess most of all the premise was hard to identify with. I spent most of my time wondering why all these people agreed to be on the show. The daughters have JOBS for heavens sake, real jobs, that don't require their mother. And yet they show up for every show and complain the whole time.

I felt like I would start to identify with the characters and the More...

0 comments like

Sep 03, 2010

Laurel-Rain rated it:

Augusta "Gus" Simpson, a widow with two grown daughters, is turning fifty, and suddenly, after many years as a top Cooking Channel host, the producers are telling her that ratings are down and something drastic has to be done.

What transpires next is something that Gus thought she could never do—co-host with a diva-like woman, Carmen Vega, who is not happy about the collaboration either. The show gets off to a rocky start, too, when nothing goes as they planned. But unexpect More...

2 comments like

Jul 11, 2010

Rachel rated it:

Comfort Food centers around Martha Stewart-type TV chef Gus Simpson, a fifty year old widow with two grown daughters. Her cooking show ratings have been declining and The Cooking Channel wants her to team with sexy Latina cook, Carmen Vega. There are also several subplots going on: Gus's youngest daughter is afraid of commitment and has been engaged three times; her neighbor Hannah has a big secret that only Gus knows; and Gus and her daughters are still mourning the loss of Gus's husband just t More...

0 comments like

Jan 11, 2010

Chris rated it:

"The author of The Friday Night Knitting Club returns, this time with a novel about cooking show host Augusta ""Gus"" Simpson, her family, and friends. Although you can read the first chapter online, I don't think the first chapter does the rest of the book justice - which was exactly what I thought about The Friday Night Knitting Club.[return][return]The beginning of the novel seemed a bit choppy, perhaps trying too hard to tie in the ""comfort food"" More...

0 comments like

Apr 01, 2008

Paula rated it:

I'd read and enjoyed "The Friday Night Knitting Club" and I wasn't disappointed by this second title.

the main character is nearing 50, and I'm a long way off, but her issues are pretty universal; her family problems even more so.

Looking forward to the next title (no pressure!)

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 08, 2011

Heather rated it:

This book was just ok. It was the kind of book that if I had been at the airport and didnt have a book and bought it, I wouldn't have been angry that I had to read it. But it was really predictable and had some parts that really annoyed me. I don't know if it was because I read it on kindle but it was confusing how the point of view shifted very abruptly, sometimes I couldn't tell it was even a new paragraph and suddenly the story was from someone else's perspective. It's also a pet peeve of min More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

reviews