Kim Severson

So, I'm getting cynical, a couple of books that I expected to love, and been disappointed, and I'm not much of a non-fiction reader as a rule. When I started this book, and got to the "I'm an alcoholic" refrain, I winced. I thought about putting the book aside, and not reading it. I'm just not much of whinging about problems, and making them the main focus of everything in life. This is NOT that book. Severson may well be flawed, and be hyper-aware of her flaws, but her writing, and the show more story she tells, rises far above that. She is funny, she is wise, she is wry, and she is honest. From the moment of the Hershey Bar cake of her youth, and again with her love of California Dip (Onion soup mix & sour cream), I loved this book. I adore this book. This is the book to get for any woman in your life, because it speaks about how each woman has their own voice, vulnerability, and strength. show less

I didn't like this as much as I hoped and I'm not sure why. I think I wanted more food, less personal. Severson seemed poised between making this a book about food and eating and a book about being an ex-alcoholic, lesbian and neither side seemed to get its due.

I enjoy a good memoir and I fancy myself a foody, so what would be better than reading a memoir by a New York Times food writer?

Well this is not great literature. The subtitle "How Eight Cooks Saved My Life" is a bit hyperbolic in most cases. Really these are eight cooks who Kim Severson, respects, learned a lot from, and useful literary devices employed by Severson to describe her personal development. And then she shares some of their recipes at the end of each chapter.

Some of the show more recipes look really good. The writing was not great but it wasn't bad. I won't be looking for Severson's next book but this was mildly entertaining. show less

Kim Severson's Spoon Fed was enjoyable. A breezy memoir in nine chapters, each centered on one or another well-known cook, all women, who helped the author with one or another insight in overcoming various personal hangups and getting on to maturity, it falls into the tell-all inspirational category. I've known four of these illustrious women well enough (Marion Cunningham, Alice Waters, Ruth Reichl, Edna Lewis) to recognize descriptions and dialogue as perfectly accurate: Severson's a good show more reporter. Bottom line: things are as they are; play the hand you're dealt as well as you can; stay the course; look out for others. show less