I accidentally read a book this week. I had started the new Kazuo Ishiguro when I glanced at the galley for Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl. I couldn’t resist the allure! I am a food lover. Mr. Bookdwarf and I save up to go eat at fancy restaurants. I cook most nights of the week and make my own pizza dough. So to read the tales of Reichl’s tenure as the restaurant critic for the NYT was unresistable to me. And does she have stories to tell. I love her accounts of transforming herself into different characters to visit each restaurant. It’s also rare for a critic to let you see the real person, flaws and all, beneath them the critical veneer, but Reichl lets it all hang out. My only beef with the book, aside from the fact that the Penguin US site sucks and has no link to the book, is the cover.

Couldn’t they have done better? Her other two books look so much better! Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this book until the very end, where she sort of rushes to finish. If you love food, check out this book.