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Cooking for Harry: A Low-Carbohydrate Novel
Harry became a fabulous cook. It began with a simple secret bowls of buttery popcorn that he and his wife, Francie, would share after the children were tucked into bed. The aroma of melting butter, the hot kernels on their tongues, the salt crystals sticking to their lips—it was their own private romantic feast, imbuing their marriage with a new kind of passion. Soon, Harry began to dazzle Francie with luscious bisques and brioches, delectable soufflés, rich risottos, and classic versions of coq au vin that left her breathless.
Their family life came to revolve around the dinner table, where each night Harry’s cooking brought Francie and their four children together for an awe-inspiring and mouthwatering meal. But inevitably the years slip by, and when all but one child has left the house, Harry wins a digital scale in his company’s Holiday Raffle and their happy bubble bursts in a single instant. Harry’s cooking has finally caught up with him. His doctor confirms He desperately needs to lose weight.
Terrified of losing him, Francie puts Harry on a strict diet, leaving him eternally frustrated at the table and in the kitchen. When they both realize that he has to take a break from his culinary passions if this diet is to work, Francie begins to cook. Eventually a younger-looking, leaner, and more driven Harry emerges—one so newly committed to his job and his low-carb support group that not only is he no longer in the kitchen, he’s hardly ever at home. Feeling confused by the dynamics of their new relationship, Francie must contend with her need to keep Harry on his diet, and also with the women who have suddenly begun to eye her truly attractive husband. The question now Will love be enough to keep this marriage together, or will the Atkins Diet ultimately tear Harry and Francie apart?
Pop a pan of cookies into the oven and put up your feet. Cooking for Harry is a deliciously good time.
Their family life came to revolve around the dinner table, where each night Harry’s cooking brought Francie and their four children together for an awe-inspiring and mouthwatering meal. But inevitably the years slip by, and when all but one child has left the house, Harry wins a digital scale in his company’s Holiday Raffle and their happy bubble bursts in a single instant. Harry’s cooking has finally caught up with him. His doctor confirms He desperately needs to lose weight.
Terrified of losing him, Francie puts Harry on a strict diet, leaving him eternally frustrated at the table and in the kitchen. When they both realize that he has to take a break from his culinary passions if this diet is to work, Francie begins to cook. Eventually a younger-looking, leaner, and more driven Harry emerges—one so newly committed to his job and his low-carb support group that not only is he no longer in the kitchen, he’s hardly ever at home. Feeling confused by the dynamics of their new relationship, Francie must contend with her need to keep Harry on his diet, and also with the women who have suddenly begun to eye her truly attractive husband. The question now Will love be enough to keep this marriage together, or will the Atkins Diet ultimately tear Harry and Francie apart?
Pop a pan of cookies into the oven and put up your feet. Cooking for Harry is a deliciously good time.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
58 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
December 28, 2014
Cooking for Harry is about a wife being a wife to her husband until she can’t control her husband’s waistline even with the aid of a genuine leather belt. Harry has fervor for cooking which started as a simple indulgence, but unfortunately leads to his optimum growth that was not healthy anymore. The dilemma started with Harry winning a scale at their company’s Christmas party. He found out he was obese though they don’t need a machine to tell them that. Francie, the ever compassionate wife, put Harry on a strict diet, made him go to support group with the same situation, influences him to go to the gym and be more active in his life activities. Everything was going smoothly, Harry was shedding pounds and is gaining confidence back, but something was escaping. They’re marriage. Without the big pound of fat on Harry girls are now actually looking at him and with his added confidence and job promotion he was a perfect pseudo bachelor. Francie did her job to prolong her husband’s life but did not anticipate something like this to happen but making decisions can alter another and she just did what she has to do. She dealt with it.
I could relate to Harry I just couldn’t stop eating. It’s an easy way to reward yourself and also a stress reliever. And just like Harry I noticed that the pounds are already getting into me and I have to do something. I exercised and try to eat healthy once in a while. I know the feeling of being fat and big, and I have surpassed the problems with weight along the way it’s a matter of perspective how focus are you to pull yourself together and make yourself a better you.
I love the book it’s fast-faced and very cozy. I recommend it to everyone who loves to eat and eat and eat more and more.
I could relate to Harry I just couldn’t stop eating. It’s an easy way to reward yourself and also a stress reliever. And just like Harry I noticed that the pounds are already getting into me and I have to do something. I exercised and try to eat healthy once in a while. I know the feeling of being fat and big, and I have surpassed the problems with weight along the way it’s a matter of perspective how focus are you to pull yourself together and make yourself a better you.
I love the book it’s fast-faced and very cozy. I recommend it to everyone who loves to eat and eat and eat more and more.
October 27, 2018
Sweet, cute story!
November 16, 2025
Mindless and no idea where I got this book, but it was light and easy to read and just what I needed. It was like reading a hallmark movie.
October 16, 2013
Precisazione: nel web si viene a scoprire che Kay-Marie James è lo pseudonimo di un’autrice che ha adottato un nome fittizio per cimentarsi in questo romanzo che viene definito “ironico”. Non ho idea di chi sia realmente costei, ma spero che non le venga più in mente di fare una cosa simile.
Partiamo dal fatto che leggendo la trama, la prima cosa che viene in mente è che si tratti di un chick-lit, quindi più o meno si sa già cosa aspettarsi. Perché ho deciso di leggerlo comunque? Ogni tanto sento il bisogno di farmi del male.
Leggendo però sono giunta ad avere due impressioni contrastanti.
La prima è che sono presenti elementi assolutamente incredibili. La figlia ventitreenne della coppia è un superultramegagenio che seppur così giovane ha già un divorzio alle spalle che le ha fruttato un mucchio di soldi, ed è talmente dotata che ha un lavoro che le permette di nullafare la stragrande maggioranza dell’anno e di poter andare in giro per il mondo alloggiando in lussuosi hotel. Il figlio liceale della coppia invece è un maestro dell’informatica, che si diploma con un anno in anticipo e con il posto assicurato al college tanto che il suddetto college lo reclama pochi giorni dopo il diploma. Ah-ah.
Una delle differenze più palesi che ho riscontrato leggendo chick-lit inglesi e statunitensi (non che in effetti ne abbia letti molti, ma sono particolari che saltano all’occhio) è che le autrici americane tendono a strafare. Almeno metà dei membri della famiglia presa in causa deve essere al di sopra della norma, devono essere geni (ovviamente compresi dalla società), guadagnano fior di quattrini nonostante magari non siano neanche maggiorenni, vengono contesi da mezzo mondo, sono perfetti, trovano il vero amore e tutti si rendono conto che saranno coppie che dureranno per sempre, sono permeati di numerosi piccoli dettagli che li rendono degli ideali. Con la conseguenza di renderli personaggi inutili e irritanti. Amber e Jason non fanno eccezione.
La seconda impressione che ho avuto durante la lettura è che l’autrice abbia voluto raccontare una storia dalla base seria ma ficcandola a forza in un contesto frivolo.
Per leggere l'intera recensione: http://scrittevolmente.com/2013/08/27...
Partiamo dal fatto che leggendo la trama, la prima cosa che viene in mente è che si tratti di un chick-lit, quindi più o meno si sa già cosa aspettarsi. Perché ho deciso di leggerlo comunque? Ogni tanto sento il bisogno di farmi del male.
Leggendo però sono giunta ad avere due impressioni contrastanti.
La prima è che sono presenti elementi assolutamente incredibili. La figlia ventitreenne della coppia è un superultramegagenio che seppur così giovane ha già un divorzio alle spalle che le ha fruttato un mucchio di soldi, ed è talmente dotata che ha un lavoro che le permette di nullafare la stragrande maggioranza dell’anno e di poter andare in giro per il mondo alloggiando in lussuosi hotel. Il figlio liceale della coppia invece è un maestro dell’informatica, che si diploma con un anno in anticipo e con il posto assicurato al college tanto che il suddetto college lo reclama pochi giorni dopo il diploma. Ah-ah.
Una delle differenze più palesi che ho riscontrato leggendo chick-lit inglesi e statunitensi (non che in effetti ne abbia letti molti, ma sono particolari che saltano all’occhio) è che le autrici americane tendono a strafare. Almeno metà dei membri della famiglia presa in causa deve essere al di sopra della norma, devono essere geni (ovviamente compresi dalla società), guadagnano fior di quattrini nonostante magari non siano neanche maggiorenni, vengono contesi da mezzo mondo, sono perfetti, trovano il vero amore e tutti si rendono conto che saranno coppie che dureranno per sempre, sono permeati di numerosi piccoli dettagli che li rendono degli ideali. Con la conseguenza di renderli personaggi inutili e irritanti. Amber e Jason non fanno eccezione.
La seconda impressione che ho avuto durante la lettura è che l’autrice abbia voluto raccontare una storia dalla base seria ma ficcandola a forza in un contesto frivolo.
Per leggere l'intera recensione: http://scrittevolmente.com/2013/08/27...
May 14, 2016
Cooking for Harry (2004) is a plateful of yum, a culinary confection – and for me a welcome break from more philosophical fare I’ve been reading lately.
Harry, wife to Francie, is a fabulous cook, eating too many tasty morsels leading to his downfall. He experiments with gourmet delectables in the kitchen where the reader is first tantalized with popcorn popping: “the odor of melting butter . . . , hot kernels bursting on my tongue, . . . and salt crystals sticking to our lips.”
Poor Harry balloons to over three hundred pounds, causing Francie to take over cooking for Harry, as both adhere to a strict diet including substituting cauliflower for mashed potatoes.
The tables turned, each mate reaches his/her own identity crisis, dabbling into forbidden delights outside of the kitchen. As the book blurb asks, “Will love be enough to keep the marriage together, or will the Atkins Diet ultimately tear Harry and Francie apart?”
I was touched by an acknowledgement in this novel written under the pseudonym Kay-Marie James. Clues to the author’s true identity included the fact that she is/was a New York Times bestselling author and that she “wrote the novel as a “way to help her best friend, who was struggling financially.” Touching! I’m going with Nora Ephron because of the tale’s snappy style. But your guess is as good as mine. High entertainment value!
Harry, wife to Francie, is a fabulous cook, eating too many tasty morsels leading to his downfall. He experiments with gourmet delectables in the kitchen where the reader is first tantalized with popcorn popping: “the odor of melting butter . . . , hot kernels bursting on my tongue, . . . and salt crystals sticking to our lips.”
Poor Harry balloons to over three hundred pounds, causing Francie to take over cooking for Harry, as both adhere to a strict diet including substituting cauliflower for mashed potatoes.
The tables turned, each mate reaches his/her own identity crisis, dabbling into forbidden delights outside of the kitchen. As the book blurb asks, “Will love be enough to keep the marriage together, or will the Atkins Diet ultimately tear Harry and Francie apart?”
I was touched by an acknowledgement in this novel written under the pseudonym Kay-Marie James. Clues to the author’s true identity included the fact that she is/was a New York Times bestselling author and that she “wrote the novel as a “way to help her best friend, who was struggling financially.” Touching! I’m going with Nora Ephron because of the tale’s snappy style. But your guess is as good as mine. High entertainment value!
January 14, 2015
I love to cook and have tried various diets in my life so I had some connection to the story immediately. Francie and Harry have been married for 25 years. They have children, friends and a happy home life that centers around food. Harry is the family and indeed the neighborhood chef. He is truly passionate about cooking…and eating. Over the course of the 25 years, Harry has packed on quite a bit of weight and finally a doctor’s check up convinces him and Francie that he is morbidly obese. The story really becomes about how Harry changes as the result of committing to a new “healthy” life style and program and how these changes alienate Francie and in fact set their marriage on a course to self destruct. Themes of guilt, passion and most of all change run throughout this novel. I found it well written and very realistic, marriages often self destruct in the wake of what should be “positive” changes. I would read more by this author.
January 26, 2010
I find it interesting that although there are numerous fiction books about overweight women and their realtionships, there are very few that explore men and their weight loss experiences. Cooking for Harry quick enjoyable read that explores a man's weight loss journey and how it impacts his realtionships with his wife and family.Although Harry initally doesn't think that he has a weight problem, as the years pass, his wife Francie worries about his increasing waistline. After winning a digital scale at a office raffle, Harry is forced to face the reality that he is 100 pounds overweight and needs to lose wieght. While Harry is reluctant to change with the help of Francie and others, he is able to take control of his weight and his health, but at what cost?
May 25, 2010
Harry, a shy computer nerd, discovers early in his marriage that cooking was the way to his wife's...er...heart. Starting out by making fresh buttery popcorn after the kids are put to bed, he discovers a passion for food creation. As the chef, he is the admired center of his universe. Safe in the kitchen, creating mouth-watering masterpieces, he makes and keeps close friends.
However, there's a down-side to all that great food and when Harry discovers that he needs to lose 100 lbs, his world crumbles. Who is he when he isn't cooking?
James provides an enchanting tale of what happens when true love and comfort crashes against the reality of changing one's life. This is a great book.
However, there's a down-side to all that great food and when Harry discovers that he needs to lose 100 lbs, his world crumbles. Who is he when he isn't cooking?
James provides an enchanting tale of what happens when true love and comfort crashes against the reality of changing one's life. This is a great book.
September 5, 2011
This was a really easy book to read but stayed interesting all the way to the end. It's one of those books that causes you to think about other people's trials in life. It often seems that the solution to someone else's problem is obvious but this book highlights how complex a solution, no matter how obvious, can become and how it can affect people not directly in it's path. In this book Harry loves to cook and is given lots of positive reinforcement to continue with his lavish meals. In time, the cook becomes victim to many extra pounds and has to either change his life or realize it will probably end way before it should. I enjoyed reading about all of the characters affected by Harry's decision.
August 14, 2017
Francie was a horrible cook. Harry loved cooking, and became quite the gourmet chef. (In fact, if this story was playing out today, he would probably be competing on Chopped -- and would most likely become a "Chopped Champion.") Through the years, their family life revolved around Harry's gourmet cooking. Then one night, at his company Christmas party, Harry won a talking digital scale -- and it changed life as the family knew it, for Harry had to face reality. He was grossly overweight and HAD to go on a diet for the sake of his health. To support Harry in his effort to lose the weight, Francie took over the cooking. This is a delightful, often humorous, quick read. I enjoyed every minute of it and was actually kind of sorry when I reached the end.
March 26, 2014
Sweet little book about marriage, life, and accepting one's mate through thick and thin, no pun intended. Harry and Francie are a married couple whose last child is going off to college. Harry has loved to cook their whole married life until one day he went to the doctor and boom, was told to lose weight. Everything they ever knew as a couple changed. The book takes some twists and turns, but is very sweet.
January 2, 2018
I really liked this book more than I thought I would. It takes place just within the scope of the main characters marriage. Harry is overweight and begins a journey of trying to lose this weight and is drastically affected his marriage. This book makes you take a hard look at marriage and love and what it means to love someone and be there for them. This book made me mad and then subtlety happy all over again.
June 1, 2011
Cooking For Harry was a book I picked up at the Library Store's books by the bag sale. I liked the cover, so I grabbed it. It was a quirky read, about a man who goes on a low carb diet at the request of his wife. Their marriage falls apart, as many do with a large change... and then the book wraps up nicely, albeit too quickly. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars.
August 29, 2007
I was obsessed for awhile with finding out which "well-known author" wrote this book, because apparently Kay-Marie James is the pseudonym of someone who wrote the book to help raise money for a friend in dire straits. I still haven't found out. Does anyone know?
March 10, 2008
A woman puts her husband on a low-carb diet, doctor's order, then fears that his weight loss is bringing about a new personality and a possible infidelity. A quick, fun read, but nothing entirely special here.
October 5, 2007
Very cute story. a quick read about food and love
February 21, 2008
I really enjoy reading books which incorporate cooking and food...this does that.
July 30, 2008
fun summer read!
February 18, 2011
quick read...wasnt bad wasnt the best
October 21, 2009
Amusing!
January 14, 2010
This book is LITE - I can't emphasize that enough.
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November 5, 2010excellent book :)
October 30, 2010
I really enjoyed this book, then I loaned it to my mom and she liked it too. I believe it gave me insight into how a whole relationship changes when one person is required to change.
January 16, 2012
If you need a laugh, this is a great quick read to pick-up...especially in the post-holiday diet season! Enjoy.
February 8, 2012
I thought this was going to be a comedy.
December 1, 2019
I read it awhile ago. At the time I remember that I could relate to the book and I had a hard time putting it down. A fun read.
September 8, 2012
This book is light and fun. It would be great for a summer read and has some good comedic sections. The characters rang true for me and it was well plotted.
November 27, 2012
read this review and others at http://readingforsanity.blogspot.com/...
January 20, 2013
good, quick light-hearted read
August 2, 2013
A quick fun read, reminded me of my husband and I.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews