Jeepers Creepers Meepers

Comfort Me With Apples

I thought I was in for another comfortable read similar to Tender At The Bone, and while Comfort Me With Apples was a good book, it was rather different. First of all, the book essentially chronicles the author's affairs and the breakup of her marriage. There is also her subsequent marriage to one of the men she had an affair with, and then their failed adoption of a baby girl. Reichl's career as a restuarant critic seems like a quiet background to all this drama, and her relationship with her mother gets more tumultuous and dramatic as well. In some ways, this book really chronicles all the typical chapters of an adult life, but for some reason the constant tension was much more disquieting in the second volume.

Having said all that, I must admit that I still think I will read Sapphires and Garlic, because I'm interested to see what took her to New York and what it was like to have to don a disguise in order to get "regular" service at New York's top restuarants. Reichl's psychological perspective on the restuarant business is fascinating, and her recipes sound amazing. But first, I have a few other things on my list.