Comfort Me with Apples, Ruth Reichl
Comfort Me with Apples, Ruth Reichl
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Comfort Me with Apples
More Adventures at the Table

Author: Ruth Reichl

Narrator: Lorelei King

Unabridged: 9 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/23/2021


Synopsis

In this delightful sequel to her bestseller Tender at the Bone, the beloved food writer Ruth Reichl returns with more tales of love, life, humor, and marvelous meals.When listeners left Ruth at the end of Tender at the Bone, she was in Berkeley, California, working as a chef at the Swallow restaurant. Comfort Me with Apples picks up in 1978; Ruth is still living in a commune with her husband, Doug, but she’s decided to put down her chef’s toque and embark on a career as a restaurant critic. After a bumpy start (at the end of her very first on-the-job dinner, her credit card is unceremoniously rejected), she is soon visiting restaurants all over the world in search of a meal to write home about. The story that follows is an affectionate look at the apprenticeship—funny, daunting, always entertaining—of one of our best food writers.Ruth Reichl’s pursuit of good food and good company leads her to New York and China, France and Los Angeles. She encounters world-famous chefs such as Wolfgang Puck and the three-star aristocracy of French cuisine, and her accounts of these meetings range from the madcap to the sublime. From a transformative lunch with M. F. K. Fisher to a friendship with Alice Waters, Reichl lovingly re-creates all her memorable meals in such succulent detail that listeners will yearn for truffles in Provence and shrimp in Beijing.Throughout it all, Reichl is unafraid, even eager, to poke holes in the pretensions of food critics, making each and every course a hilarious and instructive occasion for novices and experts alike. Reichl also shares the intimacies of her personal life—the joys and the heartbreaks behind the reviews—in a style so honest and warm that listeners will feel they are enjoying a cozy dining-table conversation with a friend.

About Ruth Reichl

Ruth Reichl is the bestselling author of the memoirs Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples and the novel Delicious! She was editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine for ten years. She lives in New York City with her husband, son, and two cats.

About Lorelei King

LORELEI KING has recorded over 200 audiobooks, including several titles from Janet Evanovich’s bestselling Stephanie Plum series and Darynda Jones’s Charley Davidson series.  Her many awards include the 2008 Audie Award for Female Solo Narration for Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas, the Radio Times performer of the Year for The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, and AudioFile Earphones Awards for Eleven on Top and Twelve Sharp, both by Janet Evanovich.  AudioFile also deemed her one of the "Best Voices of 2008."  King’s screen credits include Notting Hill, House of Mirth, and Cold Feet, among others. She has appeared as regular and recurring characters in popular British television shows such as Chef, Cold Feet, Alistair McGowan's Big Impression, Emmerdale, and the saucy Mile High. King now makes her home in London, where she lives with her husband, actor Vincent Marzello.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Chana

By the time I was a quarter through this book I was freaking out (bet that is a Berkley term). I was telling myself, "Don't judge! Stop judging! Take a deep cleansing breath, another!" It only helped so much. I was definitely judging! By the time Ruth and Doug have their honest conversation I was fu......more

Goodreads review by Laura

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 n......more


Quotes

“Even more appetizing than Tender at the Bone, this volume is bound to visit bestseller lists.”  Publishers Weekly

“Elegant description captures the imagination, tempts the palate, and illustrates Reichl’s well-deserved reputation as a food writer. Highly recommended.” Library Journal

“Reichl writes with gusto, and her story has all the ingredients of a modern fairy tale: hard work, weird food, and endless curiosity.”  New Yorker

“Magnificent, riotous, erotic…[Comfort Me with Apples] is an extended, lilting song about lovesickness and the restorative succor of good food…Two courses of Reichl’s literary cooking will leave still-ravenous readers hoping for a third serving soon. [Rating:] A.” Entertainment Weekly

“So many memoirs annoy by telling either too much or too little. This one tells just enough…The book reads not like life described but like life lived and then shaped…Each story affirms [Reichl’s] desire to get beyond the surface, even as she celebrates its unlikely depths.” New York Times


Awards

  • New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books