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18th out of 470 books
—
986 voters
Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table
by
Ruth Reichl
In this delightful sequel to her bestseller Tender at the Bone, Ruth Reichl returns with more tales of love, life, and marvelous meals. Comfort Me with Apples picks up Reichl’s story in 1978, when she puts down her chef’s toque and embarks on a career as a restaurant critic. Her pursuit of good food and good company leads her to New York and China, France and Los Angeles,...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
April 9th 2002
by Random House Trade Paperbacks
(first published June 12th 2001)
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This followup to Reichl's first memoir, Tender At the Bone, is as lush as its predecessor, if a little sickening as a comforting marriage splinters, a self is reinvented, and a longed-for child is gained and lost.
Though she's well-known for writing about food, Ruth Reichl is just as adept at writing about the self, particularly when the self is caught in unfamiliar, transitional phases.
In the beginning of Comfort Me With Apples, Reichl finds herself embroiled in one extramarital affair after the...more
Though she's well-known for writing about food, Ruth Reichl is just as adept at writing about the self, particularly when the self is caught in unfamiliar, transitional phases.
In the beginning of Comfort Me With Apples, Reichl finds herself embroiled in one extramarital affair after the...more
I would be embarrassed to read this in a public place, but it's a mindless read and I have a hard time resisting descriptions of food. This is a good break-up book so far: all the romantic relationships Reichl describes crumble, and her writing is too cheesy for me to feel like she's a real person (see: Made From Scratch, the Sandra Lee memoirs), so it's pleasantly cathartic. Plus- recipes!
I shouldn't speak too soon, though. Maybe she'll meet some amazing guy she's still with in an inspirationa...more
I shouldn't speak too soon, though. Maybe she'll meet some amazing guy she's still with in an inspirationa...more
1 like · like · see review
Ruth Reichl, food critic and former editor of Gourmet magazine, is a fluid and engaging writer. Her stories about the early days of California Cuisine were interesting, as were the anecdotes involving people like Wolfgang Puck, Alice Waters, and the Aidells sausage guy before they became household names. But too much of the book is about her personal life, which at this phase involved living in a commune in Berkeley and pursuing several extra-marital affairs. Even if all her descriptions of meal...more
A beautifully written, inspiring book, full of amazing descriptions of food (though some foods, like boiled brain, don't sound all that appetizing) along with recipes that are woven into this story. This book is an autobiographical account of the author's early life as a restaurant critic. I found it compelling, but perhaps mainly because I had already read her second volume of life in NYC. This book I read chronologically out of order, but had already fell in love with the author, so her descri...more
I read this book on one part of a flight, and ended up in tears on the plane. Oh, she is such a beautiful writer, and just the type of writer that I love. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I kept reading sections to my foodie husband, and it was just a delight to, on top of that, read about berkeley and boonville and truckee... living in oakland, my husband cooked at the boonville hotel, and my parents live in tahoe.
Her love stories are so b...more
Her love stories are so b...more
2 likes · like · see review
I liked the real foodie parts of this book, but it pretty quickly devolved into the sort of memoir where I felt somewhat aghast for Ruth’s friends, family, former and current spouses, and lovers. Yikes!
TMI!
It would have comforted me if she had stuck an apple in her mouth rather than telling me quite so much about her infidelities.
[SPOILERS….]
I don’t know why this is so…she just seemed so stupidly self-destructive at some points and yet constantly fell forward into better and better jobs. I reall...more
TMI!
It would have comforted me if she had stuck an apple in her mouth rather than telling me quite so much about her infidelities.
[SPOILERS….]
I don’t know why this is so…she just seemed so stupidly self-destructive at some points and yet constantly fell forward into better and better jobs. I reall...more
This is the second of three books about Ruth’s life. I loved this one as much as the other two. This was a fun book to read because it reminded me of life in the 70’s and the values that were being explored. Ruth lived in a commune where one roommate recycled EVERYTHING and everyone showed up on Sundays for her great cooking. As a young woman she is married and starting her career working at Alice Water’s restaurant and getting her first food review gig. The book is also filled with great recipe...more
I liked this book for the adventurous spirit of a 20 something finding her wings and blossoming into a new career. The evolving relationships with friends and lovers made the book flow. As the NY Times says, she did not use too much nor too little detail, just enough. She skipped by, not running, not walking. So the story line stayed interesting and crisp. It did bother me when near the end she was describing foods in the form of young animals and young seafood that had been killed and prepared...more
While the restaurant adventures in Comfort Me With Apples were fun, and the recipes enticing, this book merely proves that Ruth Reichl should have quit while she was ahead. Tender at the Bone was not only her best memoir, it was the only one worth reading.
In this installment of Ruth Reichl's disjointed life, she describes her transformation from a millet-eating, commune-dwelling, bra- (and paycheck) eschewing Berkeley gal, to a gainfully employed restaurant critic for a legitimate magazine. As a...more
In this installment of Ruth Reichl's disjointed life, she describes her transformation from a millet-eating, commune-dwelling, bra- (and paycheck) eschewing Berkeley gal, to a gainfully employed restaurant critic for a legitimate magazine. As a...more
I'm not clear on why someone would write a 282 page memoir, followed up by 218 pages of a second memoir, before even mentioning either of the two things they're famous for. Plus, the 81 pages that remained in this second memoir once she'd brought up the LA Times job barely mentioned it.
So. Notes made while reading: The first 85 pages were about her first extramarital affair. Then pages 143-167 were about her next extramarital affair (with the man she later married). This book should have been s...more
So. Notes made while reading: The first 85 pages were about her first extramarital affair. Then pages 143-167 were about her next extramarital affair (with the man she later married). This book should have been s...more
this was closer to 2.5 stars i think. it was such an uneven book and i can't make up my mind how i feel about it. i enjoyed the description of the food - it didn't make me hungry surprisingly but nevertheless it was very interesting to read. there was more name-dropping than i expected, but that was just naive on my part as she *was* the l.a. times' food critic, what was i thinking? as a fairly-new mom to an adorable almost-toddler, i found (view spoiler)...more
This book picks up right where Tender At The Bone left off, which was a great comfort to me. I love nonfiction , but I am always left wondering what happened, and this satisfied my hunger for more "book." And there is no surprise why--Ruth Reichl is a great writer and I wanted more. In fact, after reading this book, I still want MORE!
I have found in my reading that second books by nonfiction authors tend to be more honest, morose, and therefore sad than the first books. This was no exception, b...more
I have found in my reading that second books by nonfiction authors tend to be more honest, morose, and therefore sad than the first books. This was no exception, b...more
This is the story of the famous restaurant critic's beginning in the business through her eventual job as the Food Critic for the L.A. Times. It chronicles the disintegration of her first marriage, the beginning of her 2nd marriage, her beginning independence, her struggles with infertility, among other things. Reichl is at her best when she's actually writing about food--sometimes the periphery is not as fun to follow.
Although it was interesting to me to hear her often funny stories, and to get...more
Although it was interesting to me to hear her often funny stories, and to get...more
So I guess the Julie and Julia girl was on solid food writer territory when she wrote about cheating on her husband, as Ruth Reichl devoted much of this book to the topic.
I've previously read Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise and Not Becoming My Mother: and Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way, which feature a wise, comforting, almost grandmotherly Reichl writing about food and her relationship with her mother, respectively, so I was taken aback by her younger sel...more
I've previously read Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise and Not Becoming My Mother: and Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way, which feature a wise, comforting, almost grandmotherly Reichl writing about food and her relationship with her mother, respectively, so I was taken aback by her younger sel...more
I love foodie books, and if I could give half-stars, this would get another half, but alas I cannot round up. This biography of the beginning of Reichl's career is not as compelling at the books of M.F.K. Fisher, of whom Reichl speaks so highly. Perhaps because it is so biographical, it feels limited in scale.
Reichl tells the story of her life from the time she lived in a post-60s Berkeley commune until she became the food columnist for the LA Times. In this, it's sort of an interesting anthrop...more
Reichl tells the story of her life from the time she lived in a post-60s Berkeley commune until she became the food columnist for the LA Times. In this, it's sort of an interesting anthrop...more
Warning: don't read this book on an empty stomach! My first book by Reichl and I am a fan. Her descriptions of food and her food adventures as a food critic in early California (with side trips to Paris, China, and Bangkok) had my mouth watering. Along the way, it's a sort of look at the famous people I found early on-- here's Wolfgang Puck before we knew him!
This story is also about her relationships with her husband, lovers, and parents. I found her self-reflection of these relationships somew...more
This story is also about her relationships with her husband, lovers, and parents. I found her self-reflection of these relationships somew...more
Oct 18, 2009
Bonnie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Maya Larson
Recommended to Bonnie by:
Ruth Reichl
Comfort Me with Apples, a line taken from Proverbs, is a fitting name for a food book; however, not sure I saw where the comfort food came in so much in this book. But cooking does tend to ground the author and I could identify much with her reasons for cooking what she was cooking when she was cooking and why she was cooking it.
Love Ruth Reichl as a writer and as a cookbook author of sorts. Since I read the third book first followed by her first and now this one last it was intriguing to finall...more
Love Ruth Reichl as a writer and as a cookbook author of sorts. Since I read the third book first followed by her first and now this one last it was intriguing to finall...more
Seldom does a book stir up such conflicting emotions in me! I picked this up because I read "Garlic and Sapphires" last year and so enjoyed Reichl's writing. I also enjoyed the bizarre situations and food she wrote about - I personally hope never to sample calves' brains or caviar, or any of the other weird but fancy dishes Reichl waxes eloquent about, but it sure is fun to read about it.
This book was, to put it mildly, not what I expected. Sure, Reichl's writing was still lovely and her food ad...more
This book was, to put it mildly, not what I expected. Sure, Reichl's writing was still lovely and her food ad...more
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As a rule, I don't normally like memoirs about women who cheat on their husbands because they are generally so exploitative and self-aggrandizing. COMFORT ME WITH APPLES is the exception to this rule. It shows how Ruth Reichl became a well-paid foodie and came to have the husband and son she has today. Before coming to New York, she lived in a humble commune home in Berkeley with her first husband, Douglas Hollis (a modern artist). Berkeley is pretty much the polar opposite of New York, so this...more
I bought this book maybe a year ago, stuck in on the shelf, and though I did bring it to Canada with me, I have not given it much thought. That is, until I heard to dreaded news that Gourmet magazine will no longer be in print. Gourmet is the only magazine I subscribe to. I love it. Though I cannot afford to make many of the recipes right now, I have them all filed away for a later date in life when I can. So I grabbed my dusty copy of Comfort Me with Apples one evening to read in honor of Ruth...more
May 15, 2012
Cheryl in CC NV
marked it as skimmed-reference-dnf
Funny, graceful, at times interesting - but I just couldn't like her enough, with her extra-marital affairs, to keep reading carefully past p.52 (I did flip through the rest and did read most of the story about Gavi). And I empathized with Nick at the commune too much. Good food is one thing, obscene amounts of money on unhealthy food like heavy cream and excessive amounts of wine is another. I, personally, don't have the stomach for it.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Comfort Me with Apples has many of the same appeals as Garlic and Sapphires but about half the charm. Where in the latter book there were amusing and poignant adventures, in Comfort Me with Apples there was adultery and unhappiness. The period about which this book was written was not an altogether pleasant one in the writer's life. For this reason, Comfort Me with Apples shows the nuances of Reichl's character better than Garlic and Sapphires which will be nice when reading more of Reichl's boo...more
In a nutshell, this is Ruth Reichl's story of how she became a famous restaurant critic. But beyond that, she describes how she changed in her 30's, how her love affairs shaped and reflected the various phases of who she is as a person, and all that she went through in order to fulfill her wish to have a child.
This book can also be viewed as loosely drawn together anecdotes concerning Reichl's random run-ins and experiences with other famous people, some of whom you might expect a restaurant cri...more
This book can also be viewed as loosely drawn together anecdotes concerning Reichl's random run-ins and experiences with other famous people, some of whom you might expect a restaurant cri...more
This was a treat to read, an escape into an appreciation of good writing, good food, good living, and good loving -- with heavy doses of not-so-good of the last on the side. Although it is truly hard to beat the sensuality of two food writers entwined in their craft and each other while immersed in an illicit affair in France. And having lived and cooked and explored the joys (and failures) of 1970s back-to-the-earth recipes in The Best Communal House in Philly, I really enjoyed hearing about he...more
I am reading all three of her books and pretending they are one long book. I like them more than most memoir-type books since the author lacks the typical need to jam in every story that might seem interesting or impressive. Slow-paced, easy reads. Lots of food and wine talk, which I can get behind.
This was a brutal book to read with a 5 month old baby. It fails the baby rating system! Her life falls apart in every possible way-- relationships get rearranged or forcefully pulled out of her arms (see above about failing the baby rating), everything is upheaval and rearrangement, but ultimately life goes on, food stays the constant comforter, and she grows through her problems.
There is something frightening to me about this middle book in her unofficial series-- the cataclysms of adult life...more
There is something frightening to me about this middle book in her unofficial series-- the cataclysms of adult life...more
Entertaining, but shoddily written and kinda trashy. Ruth Reichl's like the paperback romance novel writer of the professional food writing world. Buy this book (and Tender at the Bone) at the airport, finish it on the plane, then leave it in the seat pocket in front of you.
I've read two other books by Reichl, Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise and Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table. This book was weaker than either of those. It also contains as much information about her infidelity as it does about food. But if you enjoyed her other books and have an interest in the California cooking scene, you'll probably like this as well, where Reichl befriends Alice Waters, follows Wolfgang Puck and learns that Danny Kaye is not only an act...more
This book was fun to read because it was all about good food, and all aspects of it: cooking, eating, writing about it. The descriptions were evocative enough that you felt you were at some of these meals. Made me wonder, though, how on earth these foodies weren't huge! And whether beeing a food/wine editor or critic was just a way to support one's gourmand tastes and lifestyle.
It was also about relationships, namely Ruth's crumbling marriage and her two affairs. I was actually a little appalled...more
It was also about relationships, namely Ruth's crumbling marriage and her two affairs. I was actually a little appalled...more
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Ruth Reichl is an American food writer, the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine and culinary editor for the Modern Library.
Born to parents Ernst and Miriam (née Brudno), she was raised in New York City and spent time at a boarding school in Montreal. She attended the University of Michigan, where she met her first husband, the artist Douglas Hollis. She graduated in 1970 with a M.A. in art history...more
More about Ruth Reichl...
Born to parents Ernst and Miriam (née Brudno), she was raised in New York City and spent time at a boarding school in Montreal. She attended the University of Michigan, where she met her first husband, the artist Douglas Hollis. She graduated in 1970 with a M.A. in art history...more
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“I felt that I was really living in the moment. I did not know where my life was going, but right now the future did not trouble me.”
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“and he smiled when he saw me, as if just the sight of me had improved his day.”
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Apr 25, 2008 09:05am