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Save Me the Plums

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Ruth Reichl was known for her insightful restaurant reviews. But she wasn't sure she was qualified to run Gourmet magazine. When she was offered the job of editor-in-chief, she overcame her hesitation to lead the publication she had loved for decades. She would work at the magazine for ten years, learning that the things that worked in a review column didn't always work when success was determined by the whims of both staff and readers.

Save Me the Plums is the real-life dishy look inside the day-to-day operations of a magazine that you've always wanted. As you read, you feel like you're tasting a cake in the magazine's kitchen or attending a party with the hottest celebrity chefs. She easily throws off references to Alice Waters and James Beard, but it doesn't come across as braggy; Reichl is just showing you her world from her unconventional childhood to making dinner with her son.

Reichl is a foodie who understands there is more to it than creating a beautiful and delicious plate. She believes that food writing should bring to light the damage we do to our planet in the quest for certain foods and the reality that eating well is not possible for everyone. When she ran Gourmet, she insisted that the magazine feature writing that would inspire and challenge people, instead of continuing to be an old-fashioned magazine for the wealthy. Save Me the Plums is an loving tribute to the heyday of magazine publishing, when fascinating and provocative articles about food were the topics of conversation everywhere.

I can't believe I waited so long to read something by Ruth Reichl. Her love for food is evident on every page, and she has a true gift for telling a great story. I will be happily reading through her backlist this summer.


Save Me the Plums
My Gourmet Memoir
By Ruth Reichl
Random House April 2019
288 pages
Read via Netgalley

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I have read all of the author's previous works '' Tender At The Bone and Comfort Me With Apples, and my favorite "Garlic and Sapphires." I have shared them with family and friends and had lively discussion about her books and how engrossing they are to the books of food culture. I was thrilled to receive this for review. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My opinions are my own. Even if your not a foodie this book will resonate with you as the story of a strong woman taking on a career change that will change her life forever,.
Gourmet magazine. was a popular food magazine for its time. They needed a new Editor in Chief and Ruth was hired to transition the magazine back to its popularity. She had never worked for a magazine nor as a Editor in Chief before. She ended up taking the magazine to new heights and and made it highly successful. She shares her journey here honestly as the Editor in Chief even her mistakes along the way She opens up most heartfelt about the day of 9/11.
Several recipes are here and her love of good food shines through.. I highly recommend this book for your reading enjoyment for all foodies and fans of the author's previous work. Very well done and fun read.

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Gourmet magazine was one of my favorite mags back in the 1990s, I even still have all the mags among my cookbooks! I confess to never having made any of the dishes, I'm really not much of a cook, but I still enjoy looking through them! This memoir by Ruth Reichl is a great behind the scenes look at her time as editor-in-chief of the magazine and a peek at her life. It was a quick and enjoyable read. Foodies and cooks will likely enjoy this book.

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I received an Advanced Reader Copy from and Netgalley for my unbiased opinion of the book. I LOVED THIS BOOK! I couldn't put it down. This book is an insider view of the last editor and now defunct magazine. I remember when I purchased my first issue of Gourmet magazine., It was something to be savored and aspire to. I loved Ruth's style of writing. It made you feel like you were right there with everyone. It will make you laugh and feel sad; Ruth is an empowering woman who did her part in paving the way for women in the food. For this, I will be forever grateful. I can't wait to hear more from her.

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Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this Book. I just thoroughly enjoyed reading Reichl’s Memoir about when you she ran Gourmet Magazine. She has a real genuine way of writing and making the reader engaged. This memoir is so delightful. I am looking forward to reading her backlist.

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This is the second book I’ve read by Ruth Reichl and I absolutely loved it! I was swept up in it from the start and felt like I was there watching everything unfold. As a self confessed foodie and bookworm this book was perfect for me and didn’t disappoint.

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As a child, Ruth Reichl discovered her love for food and for writing about food as she pored over a treasure trove of old Gourmet magazines. After years as a food writer, most notably for the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, she became the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, the opportunity of a lifetime.
Reichl’s lack of magazine experience put her on a sharp learning curve, but she settled successfully into the world of Condé Nast luxury magazines. Better yet, she could sometimes be home for dinner with her husband and son.
The change of position came with a massive lifestyle change. High-powered people living high-powered lives in high-powered wardrobes threw her more Bohemian style into sharp contrast. The expectations and accompanying expense accounts pushed her to lean into the affluence, to become accustomed to luxuries she had never even thought of in previous jobs.
As she traces her time with the magazine, which had its ups and downs, she comes to examine the ways wealth and influence have affected her. In the process, she learns more about who she is—with or without the trappings of success. And while she does not hint at a religious life, she gives food for thought for all of us as we consider the very spiritual question of what defines us.
This book, rich in description of the editorial world, fine food, and travel, is a fun read for both publishing nerds and foodies. Even the least of the cooks (like me) will be inspired to try something new and beautiful. (Random House)

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This book is classic Reichl, with good story telling, honest opinions and some great recipes. While she rehashes some of the tales from her earlier books, they are told in a different context and help you to understand Reichl and her choices better. There is also lots of interesting new information in the book as well which made me feel like I got to know Reichl so much better. This is definitely a worthy read.

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I have greatly enjoyed Reichl's previous memoirs (Comfort Me With Apples, Tender at The Bone, and Garlic and Sapphires) and this book was no exception. Reichl here recounts her time as editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. Gourmet had become something of a fusty, old-fashioned cooking magazine, still married to its concept of traditional gourmet (i.e. French/continental) cuisine. She modernized the concept, from photography to recipes, bringing in unexpected authors, like David Foster Wallace, as well as ethnic cuisines which had rarely, if ever, previously appeared between the covers. She recounts hilarious stories about her publisher and more poignant ones about her son's happiness at finally having a mother who would be home for dinner every evening.

Reading this book was like slipping into conversation with a well-loved friend you haven't seen in forever - comfortable, intriguing, and so worth the wait (and recipes!).

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One of my all-time favorite memoirs! Reichl covers Condé Nast gossip & glamour, Gourmet behind-the-scenes, Parisian adventures, and has you tasting every bite with her brilliant food writing. However, her honest retelling of her hesitance to take the editor job and her struggles as a working mother shows that the perks can only get you so far. This amazing memoir will take you back to the heyday of magazines in NYC & will inspire you to try something new - whether that’s a new career or a new restaurant is up to you.

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Love Ruth. Love her writing. Always have, always will. I loved learning more about the inside of Gourmet magazine and the huge role that Ruth had in making it was it was at the end. Great writing!

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Another glorious tantalizing tome from Reichl about her years as the editor of Gourmet magazine. Her description of the life in the opulent Conde Nast offices combined with some the best food writing ever make this book a must read for all those interested in the magic of food. Viewing the high life with a tentative yet acerbic eye, she allows us to enjoy it's intoxication while it lasted. Highly recommended!

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I have loved every one of Ruth Reichl's books but I didn't connect with this one. This is a memoir of the days she spent at Conde Nast working on a magazine before the magazine folded unexpectedly I thought this book had too many people who weren't described memorably enough for me to keep track of each one so the details never took hold.

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I forgot how much I love Reichl's writing! She is so relatable and her stories so real, you feel like you are just hanging out with her and she is talking to you. This book explains how she became head of Gourmet Magazine, and relates her journey to remake the magazine into something vital and relevant. Her passion for food and food issues is evident on every page. Great book from beginning to end. Oh ... and there are recipes!

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Ruth Reichl’s books are among my favorite food memoirs. I regularly give away copies of Tender At The Bone to friends and Comfort Me With Apples and Garlic And Sapphires are right up there too. After finishing Garlic And Sapphires, which goes into her experiences as the New York Times food critic, I fervently hoped her next book would be about her time as the editor in chief at the now shuttered Gourmet magazine.

Save Me The Plums was worth the wait. Reichl gives a no-holds-barred account of her transition from food critic to EIC, her coworkers, the triumphs, and how it all came to an end. She was a very unconventional choice for Gourmet and we get to see very clearly how it played out. She had quite the learning curve but what a marvelous ride she had. It made me a little bummed I never read Gourmet, at least not that I can recall. But given her account of what the magazine was like before she took over, I can understand why I would have written it off as “not for me” and never taken another look.

Reichl changed the culture of the staff and that in turn led to vibrant years together. I really enjoyed hearing about the risks they took, the way various people left their imprint on it, and the various writers they hired for articles, including Junot Díaz, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and David Foster Wallace. The behind-the-scenes on DFW's piece Consider The Lobster was especially fascinating. She also admits where she messed up and what about the role worked for her and didn’t.

She also shares luminously about 9/11, both the personal impact and how the magazine staff came together to feed the rescue workers. It made me tear up, thinking back to where I was that fateful day and how we’ve changed as a nation since then.

Several recipes are included and I’ve bookmarked a few, including Spicy Chinese Noodles and Thanksgiving Turkey Chili. The love of food permeates the pages and while Reichl has a more adventurous palate than I do, she excels at making her readers love the journey as much as she did. Save Me The Plums is a marvelous addition to the food memoir canon.

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I loved Ruth Reichl's new book, Save Me the Plums. It gives readers a fascinating look into the making of a magazine. Ruth's years at Gourmet Magazine were exciting and challenging and she spares nothing in the details of what life was like during those years.

I am a huge fan of Reichl. This is the third book of hers that I have read.

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The author as a young girl finds an old Gourmet Magazine in a used bookstore while accompanying her father on errands. She opens it up and begins reading. Just 8 years old, she nonetheless is transported by its descriptions of other lands, different foods and ingredients. She begins to collect the magazines and develops a new hobby, cooking, as a result. Her hobby opens new horizons for her: as her mother brings home strange new foods to cook and her father takes her through different ethnic neighborhoods as they search for novel ingredients. Fast forward 40 years and the opportunity of her life presents itself, would she like to be the editor of Gourmet Magazine? With warmth, candor, humor and humility author Ruth Reichl shares her decade at the helm of Gourmet. We meet her family, her work crew and learn something about the joys and frustrations of her job. We share in her frustration at the ending we know is coming. This is such a wonderful book for lovers of publishing tales, foodies and women-succeeding-at-work. It is fast and impossible to put down. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

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Ruth Reichl knows about good food, and she knows good food writing. After years as the food critic for The New York Times, and then for years before at the Los Angeles Times, she decided to accept the job as Editor-in-Chief at Gourmet magazine.

Reichl had a long relationship with Gourmet, from when she first found the magazine in a dusty used bookstore on an outing with her book designer father, through the years it lost its unique voice, through to her reign as editor. She was able to bring back the spark that Gourmet had, to let her creative team run wild with imagination and panache. She inspired the best young writers to its pages. She brought life to its covers. She helped unite the chefs of New York in celebrations and in charity work.

Save Me the Plums is her memoir of her decade at Gourmet, from her early days where she felt she was out of her depth, through the years where the magazine recaptured its spirit and its voice, to the final days, where nothing was able to save the magazine from the depths of the nation’s financial devastation.

Reichl’s stories are beautifully told, filled with textures and flavors, nuance and surprise, and just like the best gourmet meal, a dash of magic. I love reading her stories. She has a way of explaining how things change as they stay the same and how you can move forward by staying in place. And that story of Paris and the black dress? Absolutely breathtaking!

If you’ve read Ruth Reichl before, then you know how special her writing is. You should buy this and devour it immediately. If you’ve not read her before, then my advice is the same. Start with this one, or a different memoir, or her novel Delicious!, or one of her cookbooks (I adore her 2015 cookbook My Kitchen Year on audio—yes, I do know how that sounds, and believe me, you do want to listen to a cookbook on audio!). But give yourself the gift of Reichl’s writing. After you read one, be prepared. You’ll be left hungry for more.

Galleys for Save Me the Plums were provided by Random House through NetGalley, with many thanks.

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Picking up where My Kitchen Year left off, food writer Ruth Reichl invites us on a literary and culinary journey from her transition of leaving the The New York Times as restaurant critic to becoming the Editor in Chief of Gourmet magazine.

It was refreshing to be given an inside peek at her learning curve of becoming a beginner once more: learning the different slang of a magazine vs. a newspaper, her championing of the layout, content, images, and recipes to appeal to everyday readers, along with the tricky but necessary partnerships with advertisers. In her later tenure, she recounts the struggles of personnel changes while remaining optimistic despite the doomsday predictions and eventual shuttering of Gourmet.

What a treat it was to return to the beautiful and comforting prose of Ruth Reichl, which is as just delicious and mouth-watering as the recipes she shares at the end of each chapter.

My thanks to Random House and NetGalley for access to the digital ARC.

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I really love Ruth Reichl’s work. It was cool to learn so much about Gourmet, publishing, and NYC during the years Reichl spent at the magazine. But it’s her writing that I most appreciate. She’s funny and blunt, but also sensitive and reflective. She writes confidently about both her achievements and her vulnerabilities, acknowledging her privileges along the way. I’m so glad I’ve not yet read a few of her backlist titles - more delights await!

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