Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater (Hardcover)
by Frank Bruni
List Price: $25.95
Price: $15.57 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping
You Save: $10.38 (40%)
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
How a man with a lifelong battle of the bulge landed the job as the restaurant critic for the New York Times, the most influential job in the food world, is only half the story (more like a third, really) in Frank Bruni's brave, brutally honest, often hilarious, and truly endearing memoir, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater.
Bruni struggled with over-eating since he was a boy growing up in a food-focused family in White Plains, NY. From adolescence through adulthood, Bruni was on the losing side of maintaining a healthy relationship with food, and eventually his inability to control his hunger--manifested in bulimia, convenience store binges, and bouts of sleep eating--defined his life. There aren't many books out there dealing with what it's like to be a man with an eating disorder. While Bruni's story is peppered with humor, his disgust at himself as he yo-yo's up to size 42 khakis at the Gap and endures years-long patches of celibacy leaves the reader aching in empathy. Self-doubt about his appearance causes him to sabotage any chances at happiness as he makes lame excuses to postpone dates in the hopes that he'll drop those few extra pounds before he might have to reveal himself. And throughout the book he's banking on being slimmer in the future--whether it's a few days, weeks, or months--and sacrifices truly appreciating the present, even when he's holding prestigious jobs at Newsweek and the New York Times.
"I was in retreat, my weight a reason not to reach out or take risks. I'd deal with my love life once I got thinner.... Fatness simplified life and lessened the stakes. It put life on hiatus, making the present a larded limbo between a past normalcy and a future one. It argued against bold initiatives.... But while I wasn't trying to make things happen, they nonetheless happened to me."
There's a very funny account of how he worked with a photographer friend to digitally manipulate his author photo for Ambling into History in an attempt "to transform the round into the oblong, chubby into chiseled, gone-to-seed to come-to-Papa." When he saw the results of the final photo (the one that would be taped behind the reservation stand of many New York restaurants) his friend wondered: "When was the last time anyone at the publishing house saw you?"
And when he gets the tap to become restaurant critic and leaves his gig as the Times's Rome bureau chief, he begins a preparatory world-tour of eating research before entering an exhausting career of eating out seven nights a week, juggling multiple dining identities (with matching AmEx cards), and becoming one of "the most loved and hated tastemakers in New York." --Brad Thomas Parsons
Review
"Amongst all the 'foodie' books which have been published lately?—praising food, relishing food, exploring food, celebrating food?—Frank Bruni's memoir stands utterly alone. This book is an intricate, honest and sometimes painful examination of one man's extremely complex lifelong relationship with eating, and with over-eating. What happens when a professional dieter?—one who has struggled since childhood with binging, fasting, shame and other extreme forms of caloric anxiety?—is invited, ironically enough, to become a professional food critic? There is much pathos in this story, and humor, and ultimately wisdom. I have always admired Frank Bruni in the past; I only admire him more now, for this brave piece of culinary truth-telling."
?— Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
?“Frits, false mustaches, and sleep broiling? In warmth, breadth, and beautiful writing, Born Round is?—to borrow a phrase?—Flintsonian.?”
?— David Sedaris, author of Me Talk Pretty One Day and When You Are Engulfed in Flames
?“A book about rambunctious hunger and appetite?—for life as much as food?—that is underscored with a profound yearning. Born Round is, quite simply, beautifully written and makes for greedy reading. It sounds like the most terrible clich?? to say 'I devoured it,?’ but I did!?”
?— Nigella Lawson, author of How to Be a Domestic Goddess and Nigella Bites
?“Frank Bruni has written a food memoir for our time, plumbing the depths of our personal and collective eating disorders. By turns shocking and hilarious, Born Round is as addictive as Chinese sesame noodles and as satisfying as Grandma Bruni's lasagne."?— Michael Pollan, author The Omnivore?’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food
"Born Round is delizioso! If this book were a restaurant, people would be lined up around the block to get in. This is a moving, joyous and poignant memoir filled with unforgettable characters and a story to savor. Frank Bruni, the full-time eater, has a full-time fan."
?— Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Lucia, Lucia andVery Valentine
?“Born Round is a lovely and very funny memoir of one man?’s lifelong struggles with food and weight. I laughed out loud a number of times, and groaned with recognition of both my own madness and healing. I love Mr. Bruni?’s stories about his family, his secret life, his friends, his path through the swamps and morass of overeating, and most of all, his quietly brilliant writing.?”
?— Anne Lamott, author of Grace (Eventually) and Traveling Mercies
?“Anyone who has ever eaten a huge and delicious meal, gone on a diet, or--best of all?—eaten a huge and delicious meal while on a diet will relish this charming memoir. Frank Bruni's wit and candor as he recounts his lifelong love-hate relationship with food will make you laugh, wince, and covet the chance to be his dinner companion.?”
?— Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Prep and American Wife
Publisher?’s Weekly Pick of the Week, 7/6/2009:
Man of Mangia
Outgoing New York Times restaurant critic Bruni admits he was even a baby bulimic in his extraordinary memoir about a lifelong battle with weight problems. To his Southern Italian paternal grandmother, food equaled love. Cooking and parenting from Old World traditions, she passed these maternal and culinary principles on to her WASP daughter-in-law, whose own weight struggles her son eventually inherited. Through adolescence, puberty and into college, Bruni oscillated from gluttonous binges to adult bulimia, including laxative abuse. Vocationally, journalism called, first through the college paper, then a progression of internships and staff positions in Detroit and New York, including his stints as a Bush campaign reporter in 2000 and as the Times Rome correspondent. In tandem, Bruni's powerlessness over his appetite developed from cafeteria meals to Chinese delivery binges to sleep eating. While Bruni includes such entertaining bits as the campaign trail seen through Weight Watcher lens and ample meals from his years as the Times restaurant critic, in the end, his is a powerful, honest book about desire, shame, identity and self-image. (Sept.)
by Frank Bruni
List Price: $25.95
Price: $15.57 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping
You Save: $10.38 (40%)
Pre-order Price Guarantee.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
How a man with a lifelong battle of the bulge landed the job as the restaurant critic for the New York Times, the most influential job in the food world, is only half the story (more like a third, really) in Frank Bruni's brave, brutally honest, often hilarious, and truly endearing memoir, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater.
Bruni struggled with over-eating since he was a boy growing up in a food-focused family in White Plains, NY. From adolescence through adulthood, Bruni was on the losing side of maintaining a healthy relationship with food, and eventually his inability to control his hunger--manifested in bulimia, convenience store binges, and bouts of sleep eating--defined his life. There aren't many books out there dealing with what it's like to be a man with an eating disorder. While Bruni's story is peppered with humor, his disgust at himself as he yo-yo's up to size 42 khakis at the Gap and endures years-long patches of celibacy leaves the reader aching in empathy. Self-doubt about his appearance causes him to sabotage any chances at happiness as he makes lame excuses to postpone dates in the hopes that he'll drop those few extra pounds before he might have to reveal himself. And throughout the book he's banking on being slimmer in the future--whether it's a few days, weeks, or months--and sacrifices truly appreciating the present, even when he's holding prestigious jobs at Newsweek and the New York Times.
"I was in retreat, my weight a reason not to reach out or take risks. I'd deal with my love life once I got thinner.... Fatness simplified life and lessened the stakes. It put life on hiatus, making the present a larded limbo between a past normalcy and a future one. It argued against bold initiatives.... But while I wasn't trying to make things happen, they nonetheless happened to me."
There's a very funny account of how he worked with a photographer friend to digitally manipulate his author photo for Ambling into History in an attempt "to transform the round into the oblong, chubby into chiseled, gone-to-seed to come-to-Papa." When he saw the results of the final photo (the one that would be taped behind the reservation stand of many New York restaurants) his friend wondered: "When was the last time anyone at the publishing house saw you?"
And when he gets the tap to become restaurant critic and leaves his gig as the Times's Rome bureau chief, he begins a preparatory world-tour of eating research before entering an exhausting career of eating out seven nights a week, juggling multiple dining identities (with matching AmEx cards), and becoming one of "the most loved and hated tastemakers in New York." --Brad Thomas Parsons
Review
"Amongst all the 'foodie' books which have been published lately?—praising food, relishing food, exploring food, celebrating food?—Frank Bruni's memoir stands utterly alone. This book is an intricate, honest and sometimes painful examination of one man's extremely complex lifelong relationship with eating, and with over-eating. What happens when a professional dieter?—one who has struggled since childhood with binging, fasting, shame and other extreme forms of caloric anxiety?—is invited, ironically enough, to become a professional food critic? There is much pathos in this story, and humor, and ultimately wisdom. I have always admired Frank Bruni in the past; I only admire him more now, for this brave piece of culinary truth-telling."
?— Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
?“Frits, false mustaches, and sleep broiling? In warmth, breadth, and beautiful writing, Born Round is?—to borrow a phrase?—Flintsonian.?”
?— David Sedaris, author of Me Talk Pretty One Day and When You Are Engulfed in Flames
?“A book about rambunctious hunger and appetite?—for life as much as food?—that is underscored with a profound yearning. Born Round is, quite simply, beautifully written and makes for greedy reading. It sounds like the most terrible clich?? to say 'I devoured it,?’ but I did!?”
?— Nigella Lawson, author of How to Be a Domestic Goddess and Nigella Bites
?“Frank Bruni has written a food memoir for our time, plumbing the depths of our personal and collective eating disorders. By turns shocking and hilarious, Born Round is as addictive as Chinese sesame noodles and as satisfying as Grandma Bruni's lasagne."?— Michael Pollan, author The Omnivore?’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food
"Born Round is delizioso! If this book were a restaurant, people would be lined up around the block to get in. This is a moving, joyous and poignant memoir filled with unforgettable characters and a story to savor. Frank Bruni, the full-time eater, has a full-time fan."
?— Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Lucia, Lucia andVery Valentine
?“Born Round is a lovely and very funny memoir of one man?’s lifelong struggles with food and weight. I laughed out loud a number of times, and groaned with recognition of both my own madness and healing. I love Mr. Bruni?’s stories about his family, his secret life, his friends, his path through the swamps and morass of overeating, and most of all, his quietly brilliant writing.?”
?— Anne Lamott, author of Grace (Eventually) and Traveling Mercies
?“Anyone who has ever eaten a huge and delicious meal, gone on a diet, or--best of all?—eaten a huge and delicious meal while on a diet will relish this charming memoir. Frank Bruni's wit and candor as he recounts his lifelong love-hate relationship with food will make you laugh, wince, and covet the chance to be his dinner companion.?”
?— Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Prep and American Wife
Publisher?’s Weekly Pick of the Week, 7/6/2009:
Man of Mangia
Outgoing New York Times restaurant critic Bruni admits he was even a baby bulimic in his extraordinary memoir about a lifelong battle with weight problems. To his Southern Italian paternal grandmother, food equaled love. Cooking and parenting from Old World traditions, she passed these maternal and culinary principles on to her WASP daughter-in-law, whose own weight struggles her son eventually inherited. Through adolescence, puberty and into college, Bruni oscillated from gluttonous binges to adult bulimia, including laxative abuse. Vocationally, journalism called, first through the college paper, then a progression of internships and staff positions in Detroit and New York, including his stints as a Bush campaign reporter in 2000 and as the Times Rome correspondent. In tandem, Bruni's powerlessness over his appetite developed from cafeteria meals to Chinese delivery binges to sleep eating. While Bruni includes such entertaining bits as the campaign trail seen through Weight Watcher lens and ample meals from his years as the Times restaurant critic, in the end, his is a powerful, honest book about desire, shame, identity and self-image. (Sept.)
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