
Ruth takes us on more adventures abroad and at home; she eats, she loves, and she makes me fall in love in with her for all these new reasons. I feel like I have discovered a piece of myself when I read Ruth's books, and I love that about her. I feel her language, if that makes sense.
Comfort Me With Apples is a great book, and if you liked Tender at the Bone, you will love this follow up because it literally picks up right where Tender at the Bone left off; I love her for that. So often, I put a book down and I am wondering where in the heck it went from there, and I love when writers connect the dots. Ruth connects the dots and fills in the picture of a life.
I am sure I am not in a unique position of relating to this woman; she has layers that surely anyone could relate to. But there is something special that ties us together, and of this, I am certain. Ruth lived for a long time on a commune. Now, I did not live on a commune, but I have lived with some many people communally at our farmhouse that I sort of feel like I lived on a commune--for better or worse. And then, the people sort of drifted away and there we were: the two of us, my husband and I... left alone in a place that was once the home to so many people. And that is a strange thing.
I suppose I don't quite have the words to explain what it was like to cook for 8 or 10 people and then, in the blink of an eye, there was just two of us. But I know that Ruth can relate to me on this point, though she was the one doing the walking away rather than the staying. When I read it as she tells it, though, I see something of myself, and I am comforted by that.
Her food adventures also mature with her own life, which I think is remarkable considering how many people fail to grow in life. I love the relationship with her parents, too. If you read the first book, you were likely as fascinated by her parents as you were by her, and I think she expands on the relationship in the way that only an adult child can do.
Well, now I am going to log back onto my Kindle and download her next book because I am hooked... I am addicted to Ruth Reichl and I don't care who knows it. When it comes to food writing, she is IT. I know it might seem like I am pushing her books, but it's only because the writing is so exceptional, and the story so compelling. Just do it. You won't be disappointed.
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