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A review by okiecozyreader
Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I really enjoyed listening to Ruth Reichl tell about her time at Gourmet magazine while I was reading her novel THE PARIS NOVEL. It was super fun when she got to the part about the black dress in Paris that inspired that novel. It made me so happy thinking about how much her editor loved that story and wanted a fictional piece based on it.
“This dress was meant for you. It is perfect.” “She leads me into the light and turns me, very slowly, to face the mirror.
I have been transformed. The woman in the glass is voluptuous, with curves in places I have never had them. A dress can do this? This person is glamorous. Elegant. She is Maria Callas. Paloma Picasso. Severine.”
Ch 15
This memoir itself was fascinating. What a life she has lived, for this to just be one part of it (considering she has 2 other memoirs about her time as a newspaper writer / restaurant critic). It is a fun behind the scenes look at life inside the glamorous Condé Nast magazine world and what she thought GOURMET should be like (featuring amazing writers). It made me wish I could go back and look at some of the issues and consider some of the things she talked about, especially the last issue that wasn’t printed.
“I had no idea what to expect; none of the Condé Nast publishers I’d met were cut from the same cloth. Some, like the legendary Ron Galotti (widely believed to be the model for Sex and the City’s Mr. Big), were as brash and flashy as Florio himself. The New Yorker’s David Carey was quietly brilliant, Vanity Fair’s Pete Hunsinger the epitome of a gentleman, and Men’s Vogue’s William Li the personification of hip elegance.” Ch 17
“The most important lesson we learn at the table is that great rewards await those who take chances. Do we really want to be telling our children, ‘Just eat your nice chicken nuggets’? It would make so much more sense to say, ‘Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.’ ” ch 24
“When you attain my age you will understand one of life’s great secrets: Luxury is best appreciated in small portions. When it becomes routine it loses its allure.” Ch 26
“This dress was meant for you. It is perfect.” “She leads me into the light and turns me, very slowly, to face the mirror.
I have been transformed. The woman in the glass is voluptuous, with curves in places I have never had them. A dress can do this? This person is glamorous. Elegant. She is Maria Callas. Paloma Picasso. Severine.”
Ch 15
This memoir itself was fascinating. What a life she has lived, for this to just be one part of it (considering she has 2 other memoirs about her time as a newspaper writer / restaurant critic). It is a fun behind the scenes look at life inside the glamorous Condé Nast magazine world and what she thought GOURMET should be like (featuring amazing writers). It made me wish I could go back and look at some of the issues and consider some of the things she talked about, especially the last issue that wasn’t printed.
“I had no idea what to expect; none of the Condé Nast publishers I’d met were cut from the same cloth. Some, like the legendary Ron Galotti (widely believed to be the model for Sex and the City’s Mr. Big), were as brash and flashy as Florio himself. The New Yorker’s David Carey was quietly brilliant, Vanity Fair’s Pete Hunsinger the epitome of a gentleman, and Men’s Vogue’s William Li the personification of hip elegance.” Ch 17
“The most important lesson we learn at the table is that great rewards await those who take chances. Do we really want to be telling our children, ‘Just eat your nice chicken nuggets’? It would make so much more sense to say, ‘Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.’ ” ch 24
“When you attain my age you will understand one of life’s great secrets: Luxury is best appreciated in small portions. When it becomes routine it loses its allure.” Ch 26