Rating: 
Summary: A Fine, Funny Autobiography
Review: The first of a (so far) two volume autobiography, Tender at the Bone is delightfully honest, poignant book. Burdened with a manic depressive mother, a distant German-born father and a roller coaster weight, young Ruth Reichl overcomes them all to find freedom, a vocation and herself. Ranging from New York City to a Montreal boarding school to Paris to Berkeley to Buffalo back to California, this easily read book captures the spirit and the atmosphere of each. Particularly enjoyable for me was Reichl's time in California in the early 70's. She captures the commune life with its political overtones (occasionally silly, I'll admit) and dumpster diving. I liked this book a lot--even though I'm a guy and a mediocre cook at best. If you are a boomer whose world has changed much or anybody who likes to cook, this is a book for you.
Rating:
Summary: A delicious autobiography
Review: In this autobiography, Ruth Reichl, the longtime food critic for the NY Times, now the editor in chief at Gourmet, explains how she came to love food. The book weaves a tapestry of stories, including some about her mother (dubbed the Queen of Mold for serving completely unpalatable dishes) and her early childhood (how an early trip to Paris and her time spent at a French-Canadian boarding school influenced her tastes) to her adulthood, working in a collaborative kitchen and becoming friends with influential foodies.The stories are often laugh out loud funny, and some are very touching (her mother's manic behavior is explained later in the book). The book allows the reader to see Reichl's influences and her deep love of food through the stories, without Reichl ever coming out and saying "these are my influences." Food lovers in particular will probably adore this book, but lovers of autobiographies will probably also enjoy it. The book is not about food, exactly, but about a woman's coming of age (and part of that coming of age is that she simply loves food and the art of its creation). A delicious read--I couldn't put it down.
Rating: 
Summary: A Bit Sordid
Review: I'm not much interested in the sordid details of her life, her mother's, or her friend's. I must have mistaken this for a cooking essay book. Granted, she throws in recipes along the way.
Rating:
Summary: Well written and fun to read
Review: This is a fun book to read and I always looked forward to getting back to it. Ms Reichl writes an easy to read book, she makes you laugh, the portrayals are believable, and it flows very well. I look forward to the sequel. She is an astute and careful observer.
Rating:
Summary: Journey of a gourmet
Review: A very interesting study about how one woman acquired her superb culinary taste beginning in her youngest years. Reichl's descriptions are memorable, evoking the various times and places of her youth with palpable clarity. If you like reading about food, you'll appreciate Reichl's memories too.
Rating: 
Summary: a gourmand' s love of food and people
Review: Quite simply this is a lovely book. It is memoir which is heart warming without making your teeth hurt, and an epicurean's delight. Reichl has had a fascinating life and shares it in a very readable, unaffected fashion. She illustrates her recollections of various episodes with exceedingly appealing recollections of various culinary experiences. I found myself flying through the book, yet savoring every passage (with an inexplicable need to take breaks to forage through the kitchen for snacks...less than subliminal seduction). The author has an wonderful appreciation and respect for other cultures which greatly enhances her anecdotes. "Tender to the Bone" is an uplifting experience. I look forward to delving into its sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Delicious!
Review: That Ruth Reichl is an excellent writer is proven by her career, as she moved east from reviewing restaurants in California to doing the same for the NEW YORK TIMES, on to her current position as Editor-in-Chief of GOURMET Magazine. There is no question that the quality of her prose makes TENDER AT THE BONE a quick-paced and fascinating read. By her own account, Reichl's parents politely would be described as "eccentric." This eccentricity led them unceremoniously to dump her in a boarding school in Montreal, indifferent to the fact that French was spoken there exclusively, while their Ruth talked only English. Of course, the situation forced Ruth into learning French, which she came to speak with fluency. And this fluency greatly has assisted her with her career in the food industry. Her mother was a dreadful cook and, even worse, she was a dangerous one. Reichl's report of the party her mother had hosted which ended with two dozen guests being admitted to the hospital with food poisoning is hilarious, just as long as the reader also wasn't one of that group of guests. Therefore, not surprisingly, her parents failed to notice Ruth's keen appreciation of good cooking. Her epiphany came when she was a guest at the home of one of her French-Canadian classmates, and her description of this revelation is writing at its best. TENDER AT THE BONE is a linear tracking of events which formed the woman Ruth Reichl became, each event illustrated by a food anecdote which displays the evolution of her growing appreciation of high-level cuisine. By some fortuitous quirks of fate, Reichl has been in the right places at the right times, such as Northern California when cooks there--she among them--were giving form to fine American cookery. Ruth Reichl is food writing royalty and, in consequence, her memoir makes for delicious reading.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: This is a terrific read. I read it as a part of my local papers book club selection. Not sure I would have found it on my own. I whipped right through the book (picked it up every spare moment I had). Ruth has a very interesting, though sometimes warped upbringing that gets a hold of the reader. If you love good food and strong characters, I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Cooking Book
Review: Tender at the Bone is a story of a womens life revolving around food. Very interesting concept but not delivered so well. I think the story lost a lot when the food was incorporated. This book is sold as "a true story" but the main character, Ruth doesn't come off as a real character.
Rating:
Summary: Food never sounded so good!
Review: I received this book as a gift, and at first glance thought a book by a food critic sounded dull. Was I wrong. This book is filled with great,laugh-out-loud stories that show how this excellent writer developed her love of fine food. The writer leads from her early deplorable culinary experiences concocted by her mother - "the queen of mould," to rich descriptions of a dinner in Greece where we can almost taste the food through her descriptive prose. Feast your way through this book. You won't be dissapointed.
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