BORN ROUND The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater

In his self-narrated memoir, NEW YORK TIMES restaurant critic Bruni reveals that food is everything to him—a substitute for love, a stress reliever, and a tangible link to his late mother and grandmother. He's sincere in his self-loathing, and that comes across in his performance. That's a little sad, and shallow. He succeeds in making the listener cheer him on as he grapples with a perceived weight problem. At times, he even sounds fat. But truthfully, Bruni is not really fat, a bit chubby perhaps. Dom DeLuise, John Candy, Orson Welles were fat. Bruni, his own worst critic, spends most of the book whining about needing to drop 10 or 15 pounds. This is America. Everybody could stand to lose 10 or 15 pounds. M.S. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2009]