"Gus Simpson adored birthday cake. Chocolate, coconut, lemon, strawberry, vanilla -- she had a particular fondness for the classics. Even though she experimented with new flavors and frostings, drizzlings with syrups and artfully arranging hibiscus petals. Gus more often took the retro route with piped-on flowers or a flash of candy sprinkles across the iced top. Because birthday cake was really about nostalgia, she knew, about reaching in and using the senses to remember one perfect childhood moment." The first words of Kate Jacobs's novel establish the power of food to evoke memories and bring people together. But Comfort Food isn't all sugary icing. As Cooking Channel star Augusta "Gus" Simpson contemplates her fast-approaching 50th birthday, she realizes that she faces scary risks in her plans to rejuvenate her life. A smoothly themed follow-up to The Friday Night Knitting Club.
Comfort Food
Narrated by Barbara Rosenblat
Kate JacobsUnabridged — 10 hours, 53 minutes
Comfort Food
Narrated by Barbara Rosenblat
Kate JacobsUnabridged — 10 hours, 53 minutes
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Overview
Shortly before turning the big five-oh, Cooking with Gusto! TV personality Augusta “Gus” Simpson finds herself planning a birthday party she'd rather ignore-her own. To make things worse, the network wants to boost her ratings by teaming Gus with the beautiful, ambitious, and younger Carmen Vega-the former Miss Spain, no less.
But Gus isn't going without a fight-whether it's off set with her two demanding daughters, on camera with the vicious beauty queen herself, or after hours with Oliver, the new culinary producer who's raising Gus's temperature beyond the comfort zone. Now, in pursuit of higher ratings and culinary delights, Gus might be able to rejuvenate more than just her career.
“Fresh, tasty Comfort Food goes down mighty easily...Kate Jacobs's breezy follow-up to her bestselling The Friday Night Knitting Club is a satisfying read that showcases Jacobs's skill in creating endearingly flawed characters...The kind of book you rush home to finish.” -USA Today
“[A] warm and irresistible story...Highly recommended.”-Library Journal
“Jacobs has once again crafted a luxuriant yarn of a story...Comfort Food is good for the heart and the soul, serving up a rich pastiche of friendship and motherhood, with a savory side of romance, too.”-BookPage
“Real comfort food makes us feel safe and warm inside. It brings together family and friends by blending years, memories, and tastes. The novel Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs brings all these elements to the table.”-The Paper Palate
Editorial Reviews
Without resorting to stereotypical personalities or over-the-top plot twists . . . Jacobs does something unexpected—she changes things up, and [Club] goes from being a good book to being a really great story.
Jacobs follows The Friday Night Knitting Club with another multigenerational tale, this time on the foodie circuit. Popular Cooking with Gusto! host Augusta "Gus" Simpson, a widowed mother of two adult daughters who's about to turn 50, is tiring of her many obligations, which include throwing an annual birthday bash for herself. That trial pales, however, in comparison with the introduction of saucy former beauty queen and YouTube star Carmen Vega as Gus's cohost: Carmen is younger, hotter and very tight with the boss. It's soon apparent on the set that this new situation isn't working, so the two are packed off, along with a forgettable cast of secondaries, to a corporate team-building weekend, complete with New Age guide. When the resort's head chef calls in sick, a team-building opportunity presents itself. Jacobs gives Gus a reasonable love interest and provides the requisite bickering and backstabbing, but the foodie moments lack passion, and the results yield no stars. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Jacobs's cheery followup to the bestselling Friday Night Knitting Club(soon to be a feature film starring Julia Roberts) is another multigenerational tale with broad appeal, one tracking the personal and professional tribulations of a popular celebrity chef and her two twentysomething daughters. While the secondary story lines are at times a bit thin, Barbara Rosenblat's (
—Beth Farrell
The lives and loves of a TV chef, her daughters, neighbor and associates all receive a makeover in this lighthearted but sometimes sagging romantic problem-solver. Jacobs (The Friday Night Knitting Club, 2007) turns to the subject of food on television. Widowed control-freak and mother of two Gus Simpson, approaching 50, has been a star of the CookingChannel for 12 years with her show Cooking with Gusto! But now, under pressure to improve her drooping ratings, she finds herself sharing a new program-Eat Drink and Be-filmed in her own kitchen, with pushy Carmen Vega, a ruthlessly ambitious ex-Miss Spain. Helping out on the live program are Gus's adult daughters Sabrina and Aimee, her neighbor Hannah (a reclusive journalist with a disgraced sporting past), one of Sabrina's ex-boyfriends and Oliver, the show's attractive producer. In a rather slack middle section, the story gets diverted down multiple paths, involving career, family, finance and relationships, while dodging from one mini-crisis or set piece to the next: a kitchen fire, a teambuilding weekend, a bride with extreme wedding nerves. But late in the day, Jacobs marshals her occasionally tepid characters, cuts back on the life philosophy, connects various predictable dots (and one or two less predictable ones) and delivers a slew of happy endings. Not quite as satisfying as the title would lead us to expect. Agent: Dorian Karchmar/William Morris Agency
Barbara Rosenblat gives a flawless performance…[She] performs Jacobs’ hilarious scenes perfectly, capturing all the intended humor…A delicious performance from soup to nuts.”
Comfort Food is good for the heart and soul.”
Kate Jacobs’ breezy follow-up to her bestselling The Friday Night Knitting Club is a satisfying read that showcases Jacobs’ skill in creating endearingly flawed characters… the kind of book you rush home to finish.”
Rosenblat infuses the [story] with tension, warmth, and humor. Drawing on years of experience and a veritable magic bag of accents and vocal tones, Rosenblat expertly discerns all the characters…The story goes down as easy as a scoop of vanilla ice cream with Rosenblat adding the syrup, whipped cream, and cherry. A quality production.”
Praise for Knit the Season
“The spirit of the season permeates every page as the women knit their way through the family trials and tribulations of Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s, and an unforgettable wedding.” —USA Today
“Comforting, heartwarming…Curling up with a Friday Night Knitting Club novel is like visiting with old friends…This holiday entry is sure to please fans and leave them hungry for the next installment.” —Booklist
“More than a few craft-lovers will find this yarn under their tree.” —BookPage
“[Gives readers a] warm, fuzzy feeling.” —Family Circle
“Jacobs’s prose is pleasant, and she smoothly juggles all the story lines.” —Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Knit Two
“Jacobs stitches together another winning tale…As comforting, enveloping, and warm as a well-crafted afghan.” —Publishers Weekly
“Fans [will] eagerly snuggle in to see how the friends piece together their knitting projects while finding solace in one another’s company.” —People
“As warming and cheering as visiting old friends.” —Booklist
“Fans of Debbie Macomber’s Blossom Street series will find much to enjoy here.” —Library Journal
“Reflects the relationships among women in real life.” —The Omaha World-Herald
“For legions of readers awaiting a reunion with their friends from the bestselling novel The Friday Night Knitting Club...Kate Jacobs’s warmhearted sequel, Knit Two, is certain to be a cozy companion on a blustery winter night.” —BookPage
Praise for The Friday Night Knitting Club
#1 New York Times bestseller!
“If you are looking for an inviting group of gals to spend a few winter evenings with, pull up your afghan (you knitted it yourself, right?) and snuggle in...Reads like Steel Magnolias set in Manhattan.” —USA Today
“An absolutely beautiful, deeply moving portrait of female friendship. You’ll laugh and cry along with these characters.” —Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Its simplicity and soothing repetition leave room for conversation, laughter, revelations and friendship.” —Detroit Free-Press
“It’s all here—dating, love, motherhood, career, estrangement, death and, especially, friendships that span generations…[A] quick, fun, poignant yarn.” —The Seattle Times
“A Steel Magnolias for the twenty-first century.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Impossible to put down.” —Booklist
“Readers will come to root for nearly everyone.” —Concord (NH) Monitor
“[The Friday Night Knitting Club] evolves into an unbreakable sisterhood as the characters learn from each other’s differences and bond over their love of knitting.” —Vogue Knitting
“It’s easy to forget that the characters aren’t your friends…But before you realize your emotional vulnerability, Jacobs does something unexpected—she changes things up, and it goes from being a good book to being a really great story.” —Marie Claire
“An urban counterpart to How to Make an American Quilt.” —New Statesman
Augusta "Gus" Simpson, a cooking channel diva, is turning 50 and is in danger of losing her television show. She has to cope with professional struggles, like the beauty queen turned chef appearing on her program, and personal ones, like her daughters' complicated love lives. Barbara Rosenblat gives a flawless performance, creating voices for Gus and each of the characters. Rosenblat performs Jacobs’s hilarious scenes perfectly, capturing all the intended humor. Her skill as a narrator is highlighted by her ability to switch characters seamlessly, as demonstrated by her shifts from Spanish beauty queen Carmen to New Jersey next-door neighbor Hannah. A delicious performance from soup to nuts. R.F. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169641516 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date: | 05/06/2008 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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