This is nonfiction that is fun, entertaining, educational and enlightening. It shows people judging a book...

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	• Garlic and Sapphires Ruth Reichl Random House Uk Ltd, 2007 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 130 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

I loved this book!

I read this book for our book club and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was meant to be somewhat lighter than some things we'd been reading lately and it was that; but it was also enlightening about ourselves and how we treat others. The recipes are wonderful! I've highlighted the recipe index so I can turn right to them!

Entertaining and delicious

I loved this engaging memoir by the New York Times food critic. I particularly enjoy Reichl's egalitarian view of fine dining (everyone should have the same great experience, famous or not). As a lover of good food and fine dining, I found this to be a very entertaining read.

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This is nonfiction that is fun, entertaining, educational and enlightening. It shows people judging a book by its cover.

During the 1990s, Ruth Reichel was the restaurant critic for the New York Times. When she began the job, she realized that a majority of the restaurants she would be reviewing knew what she looked like and were on the lookout for her. Therefore, she created a number of disguises for herself using clothing, wigs, and makeup. I highly recommend this book for an enlightening look at how Ruth's costumes changed the way people treated her as well as the effect on Ruth herself.

I found it intriguing how Ruth took on other personalities almost without trying to. When she dressed as her mother she found herself ordering the foods her mother liked, and criticizing and returning foods to the kitchen as her mother would. My favorite character was Brenda. She wore a long and oddly scruffy carrot red wig that made her look rumpled and sleepy as if she had just climbed out of bed. She wore bright colored clothing, large colorful eyeglasses, and lipstick painted on bigger than her own lips. The way people treated her was different and wonderful. They smiled at her and talked to her. They wanted to spend time with her. They wished her well. Ruth states "Brenda was my best self, the person I've always wanted to be. She was generous and funny, optimistic and smart. She was kind. I hoped that finding the Brenda inside me would not always require a wig." See the end of this review for Ruth's comments during an interview about wearing disguises.

I also loved Ruth's artistic and sensual descriptions of food. Personally, I am not into food and I cook as little as possible. So I was surprised that I was entertained with her eating experiences and her knowledge of food. Some examples follow.

P 86 regarding oysters. She said "You can't eat these. They've been out of the water too long. See how dry it is? An oyster should have abundant liquid in the shell. See how dull it is? When an oyster first comes out of the water, it is shiny, luminescent. It looks like this moonstone. But the longer an oyster is out of the water, the duller it becomes. This, as you can see, has no shine at all."

P 60 regarding a japanese noodle restaurant: "It takes a magician to make soba. They are made of buckwheat, which has no gluten. That means that getting them to hold together is an act of will."

More than once during this book I thought about truth being stranger than fiction. For example, Mr. Shapiro purchased a dinner with the author through a charity fundraising auction. He bragged to her that he always insisted on being the last person out of the restaurant. Her dinner with him lasted six hours. He was a jerk in other ways as well. My first reaction was disbelief that someone like him even existed. Another item that surprised me was about a man who would not give any money to his wife but allowed her to purchase as much clothing as she liked. Therefore, she frequently purchased two of each article of clothing and would give the second item to a consignment resale shop.

There is an interview with the author at the end of the audiobook, which does not appear in my paper version of the book. In that interview, the author discusses several topics, one of which follows. I've done some editing for length and clarity.

"When I first started wearing disguises, I thought it was about being anonymous and that it was all about the job, but as time went on I began to see that it's very hard to pretend to be someone and not be that person. People react to what you look like and you yourself begin reacting to how people react to you. I found being in disguise was a way of connecting with myself in a way that I hadn't anticipated. It was also a way of seeing how important (pause). You know, we always say don't judge a book by its cover and it's only the surface, but the truth is that it is more than surface deep. I started thinking how important clothes are and the way that when you're a little girl you make these choices about what you're going to look like and how important it is every time you cut your hair. You're making these decisions and thinking about what it is that people are going to think of you. The surface that we present to the world is very conscious, even when we think its not. We're always thinking about who we are in the world. Our clothing choices and our hair choices and our makeup choices are all saying to the world this is how I want you to see me, and the world really does see you as the way that you present yourself."

Setting: 1990s New York area. Copyright: 2005. Genre: nonfiction, biography, food.

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Fun for Foodies and Everyone Else

I am not a foodie. However, Reichl's writing is so vivid I found myself thinking about the dishes she describes. Her style is easy to follow without dumbing the language down. The novel is one part funny anecdotes, one part food, and one part introspection. A great read!

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