--- title: Ruth Reichl on Summer Reading | TIME description: Gourmet magazine editor and author Ruth Reichl talks with Katherine Lanpher about her pick for a good summer read canonical: https://time.com/video/atKURLZr/ og:title: Ruth Reichl on Summer Reading og:description: Gourmet magazine editor and author Ruth Reichl talks with Katherine Lanpher about her pick for a good summer read og:url: https://time.com/video/atKURLZr/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/atKURLZr/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ruth Reichl on Summer Reading twitter:description: Gourmet magazine editor and author Ruth Reichl talks with Katherine Lanpher about her pick for a good summer read twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/atKURLZr/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Ruth Reichl on Summer Reading > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Ruth Reichl on Summer Reading [Watch (HLS stream): Ruth Reichl on Summer Reading](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/atKURLZr.m3u8) (4:52)  _Published 2009-07-02. Gourmet magazine editor and author Ruth Reichl talks with Katherine Lanpher about her pick for a good summer read_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:11 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Summer Reading](/video/5arH1ZSd/) ### Summer Reading [Lee Child on Summer Reading](/video/tq3JacXd/) ### Lee Child on Summer Reading [Colson Whitehead on Summer Reading](/video/6l4aWhpr/) ### Colson Whitehead on Summer Reading --- ## Transcript >> Ruth Reichl is the Editor in Chief of Gourmet Magazine and the author of four memoirs about her life and her life in food, including Tender at the Bone and Comfort me with Apples. Her latest memoirs about her mother, " Not Becoming My Mother and Other Things She Taught Me Along The Way ." Reichl's mother has figured in her writing before so, maybe it makes sense that her summer reading list has a book with a strong willed mother who isn't always easy to live with. Now, you've picked a prize winner for your summer read, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, won the Pulitzer prize for fiction. What pulled you to this book? >> I've liked her other books and it captured me from the very first second. And part of the pleasure of this book is, Elizabeth Strout is such a great writer that you feel comfortable in her hands. I mean you know that this is someone who knows what she's doing and you trust her, I mean almost instantly. >> You know when you first hear about this book, the life of a retired school teacher in a small town in Maine, come on, it sounds like a T- cozy. >> It does but it is anything but a T- cozy. I mean one of the things that I love so much about this book, this is a difficult woman. She is not a likeable character but you end up really liking her. >> What are your criteria when you pick a summer book? >> It should take you away. I mean that's what I want. It is a book that you can live in, that you can walk around in. That the characters become people that you care about and think about. >> So, we all want books to be transporting. So, what's different about the summer transport you want from a book? >> A summer book shouldn't be work. I mean, in the winter you feel like there are books you should read. There is no " should" about a summer book. It should just be something that gives you pleasure. >> I couldn't help but wonder if there was some similarity between summer reading and summer food? >> I feel like summer food and winter food are very much the same. I mean they should all be delicious and bring people together. >> Ruth! Ruth! I'm shooting for, you know, this book is a glass of Rose. >> I'm sorry. >> And a light salad, but no, that's ( inaudible ) that's okay. >> This book actually is not a glass of Rose and a light salad. I mean this book is a serious meal. It just happens to be a great pleasure and it's also one of the other things that makes it great for summer is it's linked short stories. And so you can read each story and go to the beach, read one story, pack it up and each one is very satisfying as a snack all by itself but together it makes an incredible meal. >> Talk for a moment about your latest memoir and how it came about. >> Okay, this latest memoir-- and in many ways I hadn't thought about this until you just mentioned it but in fact it is about a difficult woman like Olive. >> Let's think. >> But it came about really because I had to give a speech last year and I gave it … >> You won an award. You're being modest here. >> Yes, I won an award. >> You won a big mando award, Women in Communication. >> They said to me, you know you should give a speech when you'd get this. And I ended up saying that my mother like so many women of her generation had deeply frustrated lives. They were smart, educated and bored. I knew that my life had to be different. And I talked about my mother's aspirations and then she'd wanted to be a doctor and her parents looked at her and said, " You know, just keep your eye on the important thing. You have to find a husband and if you become a doctor, nobody's ever gonna marry you ." And that she had this very forded life. And the big lesson that she had to teach me is that at 77 years old, my mother finally found herself and found out how to be happy. >> I can't help but find links between your book for the summer and the book you'd just wrote. >> It's exactly right because at the end of Olive Kitteridge's life there is this moment, even though she has not been an exemplary person, there is this incredible moment of grace at the end of the book. >> All right. Have a good summer reading. >> Thank you. 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