Isabel Dalhousie Is Back – The Sweet Remnants of Summer by Alexander McCall Smith

What a perfect book to wrap up my reading challenge for 2023!

The Isabel Dalhousie books by the amazingly prolific Alexander McCall Smith are my favorite among his many successful series. Set in contemporary Edinburgh, they chronicle the life of Isabel, a philosopher, her somewhat younger husband Jamie, a classical musician, their two little boys, and their housekeeper, Grace.

Isabel is a philosopher who edits and publishes a magazine devoted to ethics, and is a person who others come to for help with their personal problems and dilemmas. The series, and in particular this volume, explores how she (and we) cope with the challenges of modern life and its conflicts.

Isabel leads a very comfortable and appealing life, but though she is well off financially, has a loving and handsome spouse, and healthy children, she takes nothing for granted. She knows well that she leads something of a charmed life, and is aware of the good fortune that allows her to pursue her career, which is certainly not one that exposes her to what most of the rest of the working world experiences.

I am always just a little amazed how well McCall Smith writes from the woman's point of view. He seems so adept at understanding how women balance their personal, professional and inner lives.

He also presents the moral and ethical problems Isobel is called on to solve with a light, yet insightful and profound touch. It is impossible not to enjoy these books or come away with the positive feeling that all could somehow be right with the world if we would only make the effort.

A Summer of Drama by the Sea – Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau

New York, 1911: Peggy Battenberg, an independent-thinking twenty-year-old woman and the eventual heiress to a fortune, unwillingly joins her family for a summer sojourn at the exclusive Oriental Hotel, a massive and lavish Victorian-era establishment on Brooklyn's fashionable Manhattan Beach, just down the shoreline from the playground to the masses, Coney Island.

Peggy had been enjoying her volunteer job at a Manhattan bookstore where she met intriguing people who furthered her interests in the arts, social welfare, and politics, but her widowed mother and uncles, who controlled the family money, put a hold on the relative freedom she'd tasted, in order to secure her younger sister's engagement to a man who would expand her family's influence and their holdings in the mining industry out west. As she was still a minor, and had yet to come into any of her inheritance, and because, as a woman, she had no property or other rights, she was compelled to obey her uncles as well as please her mother, who followed strict codes of behavior, dress, and even food and drink choices. Though the Batternbergs were Jewish, they had long left behind such traditions as kosher dining – their food restrictions were more about shunning the tastes of the less well off for such items as Coney Island sausages, which would eventually be known as hot dogs, and the new drink, Coca Cola.

Still, once at the hotel Peggy found opportunities for rebellion: bicycling with her brother as her only chaperone, doctoring her restrictive swimming costume to remove the sleeves and under layers, and eventually making her way to Coney Island, where she is determined to find new adventures, but ends up involved in far more scandalous and sinister activities than she bargained for...but also falls in love with both modern art and and a pioneering artist.

This carefully researched and richly detailed mystery novel is a compelling read, especially for those who are interested in New York and Brooklyn history, the art world as it edges toward modernism, and the societal changes in both Europe and the United States in an age of mass immigration and the sweeping technical and scientific developments in the period preceding World War I.

 

Drugs, Sex, and Dissension – All the Leaves Are Brown by Scott G. Shea

Some of most memorable sounds of the 60s were the harmonies of the Mamas and Papas, though compared to The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, and the artists of Motown, they lacked the depth of catalog and output, and their time as an active group was limited to just a few years, far fewer than memory may render. 

The group was composed of John Phillips, his eventual second wife Michelle Gilliam Phillips, Cass Elliott, and Denny Doherty, all of whom (other than Michelle) had initially been members of other groups and musical acts. The group came together in Greenwich Village and fell apart in California.

As the book started off with a very boring account of John Phillips's background, I skipped forward to where it became more interesting – when it finally got into the origins of the Mamas and Papas (a good deal of which I already knew), but then it meandered off far too much into the lives of other musicians, not necessarily related ones, and was also chock full of irritating typos and misspellings. Several artists were also savaged, rather unfairly in my opinion, including the great Laura Nyro. 

I was already well aware that John Phillips was a person who led a life of extreme excess. For a time he subleased a coop apartment in Greenwich Village in a friend's building, and she complained about his parties and the noise a number of times. After reading the book, I disliked him all the more. He squandered his talent and actually produced very little. Drugs, alcohol and sex seemed to be his most compelling pursuits.

The book made it clear that the most interesting and likable member of the group was obviously Cass Elliott. She too, lived a life of excess, and her early death was very sad. Had she been able to overcome her addictions, she could have had many more years of influence in the music world.

All in all, this was a chronicle that focused on how four lives were often badly spent. It seemed more an indictment of a period in music history than a celebration of it, and while there bright spots in the book, it seemed to glory in the bad aspects of the time. Overall, a more disappointing than satisfying read.

 

War and Art in Italy – The Last Masterpiece by Laura Morelli

A deep dive into World War II Italy, and the race between the Nazis and the Allies for the fate of the treasures of European art, particularly that of Florence, where, in my experience, there is something that stops the traveler in their tracks with practically every step.  

The author tells the story from the points of view of two fictitious women. Eva is a German photographer who is brought on to document the paintings, sculptures, and other works that the Nazis are removing from the museums and other locations, ostensibly to protect them, but in reality to eventually bring them to the "super museum" Hitler is planning for Linz, Austria. Her counterpart is Josie, an American, who has joined the WACs (Women's Army Corps), and because of her excellent stenography skills, becomes an assistant to the officers of the Monuments Men, who are trying to save the same works from falling into Nazi hands. 

Author Morelli is an art historian with a Yale Ph.D, who has written several historical novels set in the art world. This is the first I've read, but I will get to the others (eventually), as this one was so fascinating for a reader like me with a strong interest in art and art history, and a love for all things Italian. As I read, I thought of my trips to Italy, especially Florence, and how astonishing it is, and how grateful I am, that so many of the great works of art were saved, and that so much of the war's destruction has been restored. It is a profound to realize, while reading this book, how differently things could have turned out, had the Nazis triumphed – here that is concerning art, but of course there is so much to consider.

It is very evident how much research and knowledge went into this book, with its descriptions of the art and the physical environment throughout Italy, along with aspects of the conditions in Austria (as background for Eva's story).

Morelli also handled the characterizations very well, for both women, their families and personal relationships. Both primary characters evolved and grew due to their wartime experiences. The forays into the friendships and camaraderie that developed among the WACs, and the inner thoughts of each woman as they dealt with their own conflicts were sensitively portrayed. Her light touch on romance rounded out the novel, but was not its point – there was just enough.

I felt the chapters featuring Eva moved a little slowly at first – my only criticism. Because of her origins and beliefs, she was not immediately likable, or understandable, to me, but as I continued reading, I was able to understand and even feel sorry for her. As the book closed, I thought of what it would be like for her to be on that losing side, and return home, knowing that she had embraced and worked for a cause that she realized was both evil and immoral. That is a topic for another kind of book altogether...

Songbirds of the 60s – But Will You Love Me Tomorrow by Laura Flam and Emily Siue Liebowitz

Before the Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys and so many others, there were the Girl Groups: the Shirelles, Ronettes, Angels, and Crystals (to name just a few) and songs like "Be My Baby", "Soldier Boy", "Then He Kissed Me", and of course, the one that inspired this book's title, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". Most of the early Girl Groups came out of the New York/New Jersey area, with another wave coming from Detroit, at the very beginning of Motown: the Marvelettes, Vandellas, and then the Supremes.

It was impossible, in the early 60s, to turn on the radio to your local pop station, and not hear those songs. They were the songs you sang along to, and likely danced to, if not then, a little later on. They were songs of love, hope, yearning, and desire.

This engaging book is a chronicle of the groups, their members, their producers, promoters, and the songwriters. Some of the singers became household names: Ronnie Spector, Martha Reeves, Darlene Love, and Diana Ross. Some of the songwriters are also renown: Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Ellie Greenwich, Stoller & Leiber, and Holland-Dozier-Holland. Other figures like Dick Clark, Don Kirshner, Berry Gordy, and the long shadow of Phil Spector figure prominently. 

The authors interviewed many of the surviving group members and others who contributed to their records and their fame. Their backstories are individual but make a collective, though not necessarily cohesive, whole. All of their music is part of our history and a backdrop to at least parts of our lives.

The book is organized more or less chronologically, but also topically. It takes us through such historical life-shaping milestones as the JFK assassination, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Vietnam War. Some of the most moving, and chilling, reminiscences are the descriptions of the discrimination and occasional violence that these nearly all Black groups encountered on road trips through the South. 

If you have an interest in the history of the last 65 years, popular culture, and music, you'll enjoy this book, and you'll hear your favorites again, playing in your head as you read along. 

Jewish Cooking and Culture in Rome, The Eternal City – Portico by Leah Koenig

What a wonderful book...the recipes are enticing, the pictures are stunning, and the commentary is so interesting. My only wish is that such a book had existed before I traveled to Rome in 1983, on my first trip abroad. Even though I had read guidebooks, I had almost no information about the former Jewish Ghetto, and I was dissuaded even from going to Trastevere, having been told that it was a dangerous neighborhood at the time, and perhaps it was for a young woman tourist on her own. After a couple of incidents of unwanted and aggressive attention, I took the warning seriously. Now, after reading this cookbook I am absolutely ready for fourth Italian sojourn, which would certainly now include Jewish Rome.

From World to World – In Search of Perfumes by Dominique Roques

This highly personal combination of memoir, travel experiences, history, and a gentle but insistent treatise on politics and environmental sustainability has been impeccably translated from the original French. 

The author is a businessman whose work caused him to spend decades traversing both familiar and remote locations around the world sourcing the essential oils produced from trees and plants that create the world's most treasured and sophisticated fragrances. His travels took him to the places and resources most recognizable, such as the roses of Bulgaria, and lavender of Provence, to the most mysterious, such as the Amazon jungles of Venezuela for tonka beans, Laos for benzoin, and Madagascar for vanilla. Some of the places he visited could be physically or politically dangerous: Haiti for vetiver, Somaliland for frankincense. 

It is an eye-opening and even mind-bending account that combines the details of the materials and production of these ingredients with the mystical and legendary allure of locations that are far from top of mind for most Westerners, but that doesn't stint on relating the dangers of exploitation of raw materials and the greed of those who profit from them – he does not hesitate to comment on the contrast of the poverty of the workers in some of these places versus the governments and others who manipulate their natural resources as well as their people.

Despite that grounding in the disturbing realities of past colonialism and current profiteering in Africa, Asia, Caribbean and South America, the romantic allure, mysticism, and myth surrounding so many of the substances and extracts that he seeks, and the famous perfumes that are the result combine in the wonderful stories that the author tells. As he says in the prologue, "Perfumes are at once familiar to us, yet mysterious.", then goes on to mention the <i>Diorissimo</i> that his mother wore, and describes how scents immediately bring up some of our most familiar and meaningful memories. The stories of his wanders around the world, and his encounters with the producers of the raw materials create both fascinating and intoxicating reading. Highly recommend.

 

Our National Nightmare – The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment by Thom Hartmann

I became familiar with Thom Hartmann through his Substack, The Hartmann Report, which reports on current affairs and politics. Sometimes it is so unsettling I can only read it in small doses.

Since this book was published in 2019, gun deaths have gotten even further out of control. It seems as though there is a new incident of mass murder every week, sometimes even more often than that. It is clear that certain violent-leaning and suggestible individuals were empowered by the election and administration of Donald Trump, perhaps even more so after the January 6th insurrection, which fortunately failed. Even so, a future second term for him is a chilling prospect. That being said, in just four years, gun violence is far, far worse than it was at the time of publication and a revised edition would surely reflect that.

However, this little book is an important history and guide to the circumstances that have brought the United States to develop its dangerous relationship with firearms. It reinforced much of what I already knew on the topic, and illuminated some of the finer points of historical detail. I would recommend it for anyone interested in learning more about what brought this country to this point, and what can be done to enable much-needed change.

Trés Bien – A Bakery in Paris by Aimie K. Runyan

A very enjoyable, and very quick, read set in Paris, alternating between the period of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 (and the rebellion of the working class Commune against the royalists), and 1946, immediately following the end of World War II.

The story traces two women of different generations of the same family who establish and operate a neighborhood bakery in Montmartre, and follows their personal ambitions and challenges, and their romantic and family attachments. The descriptions of the city, the social milieu, the clothing, and, of course, the food are vivid and appealing. There are even some recipes for those inclined to make their own French bread and pastry.

There are many books set in the Paris of the 1920s, or during World War II, but these time frames add a unique perspective, with the benefit of unexpected historical references to add to the reader's knowledge of the French capital.

A World of Darkness – Ravage & Son by Jerome Charyn

Set in the Jewish Lower East Side of Manhattan not long after the turn of the twentieth century, Abraham Cahan, the legendary editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, rescues Ben Ravage, a boy living at a trade school and home for orphaned boys and sends him to Harvard, where he earns a law degree. Ben, rather than joining a law firm, returns to the neighborhood and becomes a detective for the Kehilla, a Robin Hood sort of gang fighting corruption and violent crime.

Ben is the illegitimate son of Lionel Ravage, a cruel, swindling landlord and businessman who lives uptown among the other wealthy German Jews, including Jacob Schiff (who was in real life a principal at the banking house of Kuhn, Loeb and a prominent figure in charitable enterprises) who in this story operates various businesses, not all above board. The older Ravage lives a dark life making his downtown rounds, but he falls in love with and seduces the beautiful but impoverished Manya, who gives birth to Ben.

The story moves back and forth between the various principals and threads: Cahan, who is fighting F.W. Woolworth's plan to raze buildings on Grand Street in order to build another five and ten store, which he believes will change the character of the neighborhood and lead to gentrification that will drive out the poor and destroy a traditional mode of commerce; the conflicts between the two Ravages, Schiff's enterprises; and, Clara Karp, a fictional Yiddish theatre actress of tremendous influence who appears as a female Hamlet, and alongside the real-life king of Yiddish theater, Jacob Adler, known for his King Lear.

This is a complex and picaresque tale, violent to the point of gruesome, including some very graphic details I could certainly have done without, though they are important to understanding the characters. This Lower East Side is dark, and far beyond any tale of poverty, squalid living and working conditions, the press of Tammany Hall corruption, and the spread of vice, drugs, and violence against the innocent and often illiterate inhabitants of the area. Despite this darkness, this is still a fascinating portrait of a way of life that is now long gone, and barely remembered except in the memories of the aging grandchildren of the inhabitants of that era.

Umm, So Delicious – A Winter in New York by Josie Silver

I really enjoyed this book – it was a good escape from the very serious problems facing us in the world today, and since I liked it so much, I even entered the giveaway. Should I win, it would make a great gift for a good friend.

It was a delightful mix of romance, friendship, food, and family stresses and conflicts, and with some "Moonstruck" references thrown in, how could you really go wrong? The New York and Brooklyn settings were totally familiar to me as a long-time New Yorker, and the abundance of familiar details of those made me smile.

Thirty-something heroine Iris is an English transplant to the city, who has fled an abusive relationship back in London, and is also still coming to terms with the death from cancer of her beloved mother, a former rock singer, who raised her as a single parent. Gio, her hero counterpart, is a widower with a teenaged daughter, and is a part of a close Italian American family, the Belottis. His father, also a musician, left for the road, leaving the young Gio in the care of his brother and sister-in-law. He grew up with their daughters, as the "son" of the family. The Belottis run a successful gelateria in Little Italy, which has been in the family for generations, and live in a spacious brownstone in Brooklyn. Their claim to fame is their signature vanilla gelato, the secret recipe for which is passed down exclusively through the family (or so they think).

Iris is a trained chef, but for the time being, she is working at a trendy noodle restaurant on the equally trendy Lower East Side. Her boss and friend, Bobby, lives with his husband in an apartment over the restaurant, and Iris lives on the top floor. They share a quirky cat, Smirnoff.

Iris and Gio meet but get off on the wrong foot when they both reach for the last copy of a book in a local store.

When Iris and Bobby stroll through Little Italy during the Feast of San Gennaro (not specifically named in the book, but we New Yorkers know), they come across a shut gelato shop. Iris instantly recognizes that this is the shop whose owner gave her mother the secret recipe on a napkin. All her life, Iris's mother prepared the gelato for the two of them, and Iris has zealously guarded the recipe, and what remains of the napkin...

How the story unfolds is the charm of this book, so I will leave it there. Read and enjoy, and decide who you'd like to play Iris and Gio in the movie. Emily Blunt is my choice for Iris, and for Gio, perhaps Oscar Isaac, but I'm open to suggestions!

No, No, No – Ceremony of the Innocent by Taylor Caldwell

Every day I receive a list of bargain e-books from Book Bub. Most are low-priced, and occasionally there's even a freebie. If I find a free book of interest available on Prime, I add it to my Kindle/iPad. I also get others from Edelweiss and other sources. Between those, and the ones on my shelves and in several full shopping bags, I don't think I'll ever have the time to read them all – especially since I keep finding new and enticing titles at the library. It's a dilemma that my book loving friends will understand.

Ceremony of the Innocent (the correct title) was one of those Book Bub books, and I read a little of it on its Prime page, and initially intrigued, I requested it from my library. I was somewhat shocked when I received it but I wanted to give it a chance: The cover art and copy of this mass market paperback version is lurid and repulsive, but so indicative of the 70s, when it was first published. Refusing to be put off, I decided to delve further into it. 

I was drawn at first into the sad story of the impoverished young Ellen Porter and her Aunt May, who raised her. The time is roughly the 1890s, and they live in a small Pennsylvania town, somewhere in the northeastern area of the state. Ellen is a tall, beautiful redheaded girl who looks older and more mature than her thirteen years; May is a seamstress who also works as a maid to try to make ends meet, she is probably barely forty but poverty has aged and broken her. Seeing no alternative, she forces Ellen to end her education and persuades her client and employer, the mayor's wife, to take Ellen on as a maid in training, saying she is already fourteen, though with her height and mature looks, Ellen might pass for fifteen or sixteen. 

The small town constantly gossips about Ellen and May. Some say she is May's illegitimate daughter, that with her flaming hair and mature body, she must be sexually active – a harlot. Of course she is none of that, and is rather just a poor disadvantaged girl who looks different from the pale blondes who are considered the town beauties. There seems to be no future for her other than a life of struggle and servitude.

One day, though, she meets Jeremy, the handsome, well-educated and successful son of her employers. She is overwhelmed, as is he. Their brief encounter will stay with both of them until they meet again, and he sweeps her off and marries her.

From this point forward, the book becomes a strange stew of their continued love story, politics, religion, and commentary on the America of the early decades of the twentieth century. I found the policies she eventually ascribed to Jeremy, who had been elected to Congress, and who had originally seemed so kind and passionate, to be distasteful and hateful, to say the least. She portrayed many of the leading progressive political figures of the time with a peculiar, distorted view, bordering on what felt like an underlying paranoia, or at the very least, a deep hate for working and middle class Americans, immigrants, and others. At the same time, she seemed to warn against excesses of greed, power and capitalism, while supporting both communism and fascism almost simultaneously.

All in all, in retrospect, the entire novel becomes as lurid and offensive as this edition's cover. Her prose is dense, melodramatic, and wandering, but I kept reading in the hope that somehow Ellen would overcome her struggles – let's just say she didn't. I can only wonder how this book became the "national bestseller" touted on the cover.

Now, Before It's Too Late – Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson

Historian Heather Cox Richardson's newest book is a very accessible and concise look at the current state of democracy in the United States of America. She also explains, in a well-organized chronology, the history of events, from the Colonial Era forward, that brought us to our present to this point in time.

This book could be seen as an overview of what Dr. Richardson writes in her Substack newsletter, which, on a nearly daily basis, examines in detail current affairs and politics that are the most pressing issues and events of our time. If you don't read it, you should – it is that important.

This book was a great refresher course in American history, and particularly addresses the more recent decades, particularly the years since the 1980s, that have so drastically changed the course of the America, that I, as a Baby Boomer, grew up in from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. With great clarity, she takes apart the events and policies that led to the negativity and factionalism that we are currently experiencing. 

While she is not without hope for America's future, she makes it clear that our democracy is not a sure thing, or something we can take for granted, and that our fate is in our hands.

Paris at War – The Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin

I listened to roughly three quarters of the audiobook production before having to switch to the hardcover version due to library due dates, but any audiobook performed by the exceptional Barbara Rosenblat ranks high on my list. Her distinctive, expressive voice adds so much to my enjoyment of any book. Brava, Barbara!

The Mistress of the Ritz is a lightly fictionalized account of the lives of Blanche and Claude Auzello. Blanche Ross, as she presented herself, was a young American actress who arrived at the exclusive Ritz Hotel in Paris, in the early 1920s, accompanying her friend Pearl White, the far more famous silent screen actress who starred in the successful serial "The Perils of Pauline". On her very first evening there Blanche met Claude Auzello, the assistant manager, and a decorated hero of the First World War. They fell passionately in love and quickly married, though their personal characteristics and cultural differences led them to quarrel incessantly from the start.

Despite that, Blanche and Claude stayed together, with Claude providing impeccable service to the hotel's illustrious guests, including Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, Coco Chanel, and many others. Blanche's dynamic, friendly personality, and her beauty contributed to the hotel's ambiance and Claude's success. 

When World War II broke out and the Nazis occupied Paris, they moved into the Ritz along with seizing and terrorizing the rest of the city. Claude pleaded with Blanche to return to America but she refused to leave him. They were under the constant scrutiny of the German invaders but Claude, by now the manager, ran the hotel at the same standards as ever, despite the circumstances, satisfying the occupiers' every whim.

Blanche and Claude engage in certain other activities but their combative relationship causes them to distrust one another. Blanche forms a close friendship with Lily, a mysterious woman surrounded by rumors, and Claude, whose past affair caused much of the tension between him and Blanche, appears to be indulging in additional extra-marital liaisons. Eventually it will all come clear.

The Ritz itself feels like a character in the book – the author describes its history, appearance, and role in the life of the city of Paris so thoroughly – that when you are done listening, or reading, you too feel as though you have experienced it.

The other aspects of description of Blanche's and Claude's appearances, their personalities, and their experiences truly bring them to life, and the dialogue between them and their inner thoughts are entirely believable.

Long after the war ends, Lily provides an epilogue to Blanche and Claude's story, a very unexpected coda. I recommend not researching the real life Blanche and Claude until completing your read, but do be sure to read the author's note which follows.

Not So Tasty – National Dish: Around the World in Search of Food, History, and the Meaning of Home by Anya von Bremzen

A big disappointment after my high expectations for this book, which just proves that reviews can be misleading, though I saw several on Goodreads that concur with my opinion. 

I found the first two sections rambling and repetitive, and in retrospect, I should have stopped reading after the Naples chapter, which was actually about pizza and pasta, not just one dish, but I foolishly soldiered on. The Tokyo chapter also covered two dishes, rice and ramen. I somehow made it through the tapas of Seville, though if I ever see the word jamón again, I will stamp my feet in an angry flamenco. The Oaxaca chapter then literally put me to sleep, which is especially shocking, as the ten days or so I spent in Oaxaca were some of the most memorable of my travels. That was the end of this book for me. 

In retrospect, I don't think that the premise for the book is sound. Many countries, even very small ones, have regional cuisines or cities that are known for a particular food, so to define an entire country by one dish seems both superficial and absurd – consider Belgium, as an example, where waterzooi is the signature stew of the Flemish areas, Ghent specifically. Even during my visit all the way back in the late 1980s, I knew enough to have sought it out when I stayed in Ghent – and not only was it delicious, but try as I have to replicate it, no recipe has ever brought me close to a reminder of that taste or experience in that particular place. 

Even the author herself expresses that the food culture of Naples and whole of the south of Italy is completely different from that of the north of the country. I can attest to the truth of that at least, based on my own observations during multiple trips throughout Italy. In the Naples chapter, she presents some of the history of the Risorgimento (unification), and of the origin of Pizza Margherita (named after Queen Margherita, the wife of King Umberto I, the first ruler of the unified Italian kingdom), but that is widespread knowledge to most foodies and travelers to Italy who would be the likely readers of this book. 

So, sorry, if you are a lover of food writing and food travel, perhaps look elsewhere for your inspiration enjoyment.

Art in the City – The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever by Prudence Peiffer

Dense and packed with detail, The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever presents a view of American art as created and practiced by a group of emerging artists of the late 1950s and early 1960s, including Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Indiana, Jack Youngerman and others, who had (eventually) a strong impact on modern art. These artists, several of whom served in World War II and studied in Paris courtesy of the G.I. Bill, found their way to Coenties Slip, a small street off the East River in Lower Manhattan, where they settled and worked in the deteriorating loft and other nineteenth century buildings that were once central to the shipping trade that was once so important to the city's commerce. 

By the time they arrived, the docks around South and Water Streets and vicinity were collapsing into the river, and the area was largely deserted and/or ignored – though a decade or so later would be transformed by large scale development. 

It was an isolated part of the city that seemed frozen in time, but the seeds of change were already in place, even as the artists moved in, and their sojourn was fairly short-lived, as the buildings were already being condemned. It was an area of potential that had been identified by the powerful Robert Moses, who built and also destroyed so much of New York's and Long Island's roads and "parkways", and in fact, many of the most interesting sections of the book discuss his enterprises in his multiple city government roles and his clashes with the preservationist Jane Jacobs, who fortunately stepped in to shed light on Moses's many excesses.

While I was interested in the background and work of the artists, there was far too much attention given to their personal lives and living arrangements, the presentation of which I found to be dull and somewhat repetitive, and after the introductory chapters that presented them, while I dutifully read on, I was hoping to learn more than I did about the art, and perhaps to see more photos of their work. What photos that were included are black and white, many casual portraits of the artists, individually and in groups, and it seems as though it would have been possible and more impactful to have included color images of the works, many of which could have been photographed in museums, galleries, and private collections.

Crime Solvers – The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

It is interesting how discussing a book with a book club group can change your opinion of it. I was very enthusiastic about The Word Is Murder when I began reading it, though I had misgivings about the portrayal of one of the major characters, Hawthorne, the crime-solving detective, as a homophobe. For me, that's a major flaw in a character's (a person's) personality. The more we discussed it, and the more I considered it, the more it disturbed and offended me, and I don't understand why the author gave Hawthorne that characteristic, since he doesn't seem to take it anywhere. Hence, I downgraded my opinion from "4 Stars" to "3 Stars" on my Goodreads page.

The author, Anthony Horowitz, is himself the other main character and narrator, who relates the story of the crimes involved from his perspective. This is an unusual technique, but I found it clever, and amusing. Not all of the book clubbers agreed, but I'll keep my opinion intact.

The plotting is excellent, and Horowitz keeps the reader guessing almost until the very end. I may or may not read the next book in this series, if only to find out more about the mystery of Hawthorne's homophobia, and if Horowitz manages to change his mind. The Word Is Murder is the fourth of these novels.

Horowitz, a British author, was previously unknown to me, but it turns out that he has had a prolific and successful career in children's and young adult fiction, as well as adult fiction. He is also well known as the television writer of "Foyle's War" (which has run on Netflix) and "Midsomer Murders" which has run on PBS, though I have never watched it. It might be work a look...

A Memoir of Growth and Pain – You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

This memoir by poet Maggie Smith relates the history of her marriage, her divorce, and journey to find some level of peace and acceptance. It is beautifully written, yet at times almost excruciatingly painful to read. She shares just enough of her life so that we have a sketch of the arc of the relationship from its beginning and onward as it unravels, the failed linchpin of that being when she discovers her husband's betrayal, and then its following and complete destruction. 

She writes eloquently of her loving relationship with her two young children, her closeness with her family, and with friends. Preoccupied with motherhood, and with her evolving success as a published writer, she does not recognize how the marriage is deconstructing until much later, when, as the divorce proceeds and is completed, she has the distance to realize how it was coming apart long before she discovered her husband's unfaithfulness.

Smith is respectful enough of her ex-husband in her portrayal, considering that he was the cheater, and once separated from Smith, moved 500 miles away from his young children, so that parenting became even more primarily her responsibility.

Even though I am agewise a peer of Smith's mother, I can recognize my younger self in past relationships that ended unhappily, though I suspect it doesn't matter how old one is in such situations. In those too, the signs were there for Smith as they were for me, though in the midst of things, they went unread. Tolstoy wrote in Anna Karenina, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.", but that could easily be rephrased to happy marriages or relationships. Happy relationships are not often examined, it is the unhappy ones that plague us with doubt, disappointment, sadness, and anger.

Smith's mother tells her how unexpected the marriage's breakup was to her and the rest of Smith's family. She cites Smith's fortieth birthday, when Smith's husband presented her with a handwritten list of the 40 things he loved about her. Not only has that piece of paper disappeared, but Smith has no memory of it. Some reviewers have expressed disbelief about Smith's forgetting it and its loss, but I understand it – like so many poignant reminders of other times, in her pain she has destroyed it and excised the memory. She mentions in another passage how she now understands why people cut their past significant others out of photos or outright destroy them: of course you do, when the pain is greatest, you try to remove its source, and hold on only to the good pieces of memory.

I found this book by reading a post in "Oldster", a Substack edited by the journalist and editor Sari Botton, and when I went to the library to borrow it, I found it prominently displayed...perhaps a bit of the serendipity in life that Smith mentions in her writing. Who knows? Maggie Smith in "Oldster" 

An Inspiring Life – Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, by Iris Apfel

This is a revised review, based on a re-read for my latest Substack article, about the inspiration I have found in the life of Iris Apfel:

If you are a fan of style icon and centenarian Iris Apfel, you'll love this book! If you haven't heard of her, then it's the perfect introduction to this extraordinary woman. 

Iris Apfel became something of a celebrity once her personal collection of clothing and accessories was exhibited in 2005 at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Since then, she has been the subject of a documentary film, "Iris", and has sold her "Rara Avis" line on HSN. This engaging book combines her personal recollections and photos along with terrific illustrations and graphics. 

Iris shares some fascinating anecdotes about her professional life (she and her husband ran a successful textile design business), her travels, her style and her viewpoints on a number of topics. It's a fun and appealing read. You may not like or agree with everything she says, but she is her own woman with her own perspective, and since she has passed her 102nd birthday, I believe that more than ever, she retains the right to speak her mind. Viva Iris!

Since this book first came out, Iris was also featured "If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast", a documentary narrated by the late Carl Reiner, who made to 98 himself. She has also been the subject of a picture book, Iris Apfel (Little People, BIG DREAMS, Volume 64), and a Little Golden Book Biography, simply titled Iris Apfel. There are even highly collectible Barbie dolls that celebrates her one-of-a-kind style...hard to find, but out there for dedicated collectors and lovers of the current film. Meanwhile, read and enjoy this book celebrating the indomitable Iris Apfel.

Hearts of Gold – Curves for Days by Laura Moher

I don't usually choose "romance" novels but I took a chance on this one since it featured a less than ideally sized (meaning not thin) woman, at least one who saw herself that way. I was not disappointed.

Rose, our heroine, is a thirty-something woman who comes from a tough working-class background, and is alone in the world. She comes into a winning lottery ticket that nets her 80 million dollars, and finds herself surrounded with hangers-on and worse in Indianapolis. Wanting to escape that, as well as traumatic memories that led her to drop out of high school, after securing legal and financial help for managing the money, she buys a car and starts driving, eventually landing in a small town in North Carolina, where she begins to create a new life for herself.

Angus, also in his thirties, is a life-long resident of Rose's new town, and has a repetition for his gruff demeanor. He has a one-man contractor business, but also is a part-time mental counselor working with his fellow veterans, who are sufferers of PTSD, have drug and alcohol problems, and in some cases, debilitating effects of injuries from their service.

Rose buys a fixer-upper home and hires Angus as her contractor. Each of them is wary of the other, but gradually they form a friendship, and eventually more. How that all happens, and how the author presents Rose's desire and plan to do something productive with her newly-acquired money, and Angus's work with his clients, along with their ups and downs with each other, makes this novel quite a cut above what the reader might expect from romance fiction. I enjoyed it, was a bit sorry to have it end, and will look for more from this author. 

Examined Lives – Summer Roommates by Holly Chamberlin

This was an enjoyable novel about, for a change, older women. The four women ranged from their fifties into their seventies. While it is presented as a "beach read", it is really more than that, examining aging, friendship, intimate relationships, family conflicts, and personal and professional growth.

Sandra, 74, lives in a small coastal Maine town, the kind of place where everyone knows everybody else, in a large well-cared-for gracious home. She is widowed, her two grown children live far away, and her best friend has developed dementia. Other than the loneliness that comes with those circumstances, her life is a good one, with the companionship of her recently adopted cat, Clovis. But after a winter feeling isolated and rather lonely, she decides to try renting rooms to compatible single women to see how that might out on a more permanent basis – following the expanding current trend in group living for older adults.

Her daughter, a lawyer, is concerned for her safety and that she won't be taken advantage of, but her son is more supportive and encouraging. Sandra carefully vets the candidates with the help of a trusted realtor. She chooses Mary, a 60-something recently retired lawyer from New York; Amanda, a teacher in her 50s from Boston who has decided to take a vacation from her long-term relationship; and on a gut feeling that the realtor tries to dissuade her from, Patty, going on 70, who is adrift after a life of low-paying jobs and poor decisions about money and men, and is reluctantly living with her sister and brother-in-law. There is something about her, though, that touches Sandra, and she accepts her, giving her the smallest, least expensive room, and making accommodations for weekly payment instead of upfront as the others have made.

There are disagreements and misunderstandings, but over the summer, the four get to know one another, form connections, and perhaps more importantly come to terms with themselves and their individual issues. 

I enjoyed the author's examination of the concerns of older women, on aging and sexism, and coping with concerns about healthcare and dementia. These are very real things that many older people are struggling with or worrying about. I did feel that the characters, aside from Patty, were a little bland. I would liked a little more ethnicity in the mix as well, but for other readers, they are probably diverse enough. On the whole it is a good read, thoughtful but not overly demanding. I'll look for this author's work again. 

Bravery on the Home Front – Canary Girls by Jennifer Chiaverini

Author Jennifer Chiaverini, who has written so many fine historical novels, turns her attention here to women who worked in munitions factories in England during World War I. Their work was often extremely dangerous as they were working with chemicals such as the TNT that was used in bombshells. There was always the possibility of explosions, and poisoning from the materials, which could lead to debilitating illnesses or ultimately, death. The term, Canary Girls, comes from the extreme yellowing of skin color from exposure to the TNT compound. In addition, their hair changed color, or turned white, and they experienced breathing problems and exhaustion, also due to their very long shifts and lack of time off. 

She focuses here on several characters who represent different social classes. April was a working class young woman who "went into service" as a maid at a manor house. She left her position at the urging of her friend, Marjorie, and at the factory they received higher wages, better food, and compared to maids' 24/7 work conditions, shorter and defined hours. Lucy was a middle-class woman married to an aspiring architect who was also an Olympic medal finalist and champion footballer (soccer player). After her husband enlisted in the military, she took a factory job to help support herself and their sons. Helen, the daughter of a German-born classics professor at Oxford, married a man who, as the son of a very wealthy sewing machine business owner, became the boss at the munitions plant when their company converted output into wartime manufacturing. Helen, a very progressive woman, looked for a role at the factory, and became an advocate for the women employees and their working conditions. 

The other thing the women all share is athletic ability and an interest in football. They become members of the factory's women's football team and begin playing against other teams in a league. Helen is instrumental in supporting the team and is eventually enlisted as a player. Their football team helps unite the women and raises their spirits.

As the war drags on, there are various challenges both personally and professionally for each of the characters. As readers, we become aware of the deprivations of food and other commodities and the fear engendered by German bombings, as well as the measures taken against German nationals or those of German descent living in England at the time. This is all probably less well-known to most of us in the United States, as the emphasis on all of these aspects has been more widely reported about World War II, perhaps because it is more recent, and many of us grew up in that post war era.

All is all, this is a very compelling read, and there is a lot to learn about this time period, including how America's late entry into the war was viewed. On the whole, I greatly enjoyed it. However, there was one glaring error that could and should have been avoided: when Helen wants to tour the factory, her husband admonishes her about wearing any metals as she makes her rounds, but also silk and nylon garments. When I saw "nylon" I had to pause, as I was quite sure that nylon did not exist during World War I. I was correct: it came into being in the 1930s in a DuPont laboratory. https://sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/nylon-a-revolution-in-textiles/ I am really surprised that either the author or her editor were not aware of this. Finding an error like this, I wonder if there could be others? I'd be interested in learning about other readers' discoveries, if there are any. In any case, this detail, which occurred fairly early in the book haunted me, and is what caused me to knock off the fifth star I might have otherwise given it. 

Tarnished Lives – California Golden by Melanie Benjamin

Was the 60s era California's Golden Age? That's for this novel's readers to decide. 

I really enjoyed Melanie Benjamin's Swans of Fifth Avenue, and I'm currently listening to the audio book version of Mistress of the Ritz (so far, so good). California Golden is a fast-moving page-turner with a lot of familiar settings for anyone who lives in or has traveled frequently to California, and with all its cultural references to the 60s and the Baby Boom era in which it is set. As I qualify as both a frequent visitor to the Golden State and as a Baby Boomer, there wasn't a lot of new territory to discover here, in those respects and in many of the plot elements. Unfortunately, a number of the developments in the storyline are pretty predictable before they unfold, but I enjoyed reliving some (but not all) of the aspects of the 60s.

Mindy and Ginger Donnelly are sisters. We follow them from their pre-teen years, into their later teens and beyond, in chronological order, and through flashbacks. They are the daughters of Carol Donnelly, a champion surfer (a rarity for a woman in the 50s and 60s), a reluctant mother who'd rather be chasing a wave than living the suburban life of the post-war era. In fact, Carol leaves her husband and daughters to live in Hawaii in a surfing community. Their disappointed father sues for divorce, and Carol is forced to come back to California to make a home for them – more or less, mostly less, as the girls struggle through the remainder of their childhood and adolescence, mainly struggling to self-parent themselves. But Carol, as we eventually learn, has quite a backstory of her own, though it is told in a way that does not engender much sympathy.

Mindy, as the big sister, who follows in her mother's footsteps to become a surfing phenomenon, feels a great responsibility for the very vulnerable Ginger, but one day at the beach the girls make choices that will challenge their bond, and forever impact their future lives – and that is where the saga really starts to unfold.

Mindy embarks on a Hollywood career but it ends almost before it begins, while Ginger falls into a relationship that captures much of the down side of 60s California beach culture. Reading their stories, it was easy to imagine what their older and wiser selves might have said to them decades later about the directions they took.

Carol's fate in late middle age seems to be a harsh judgement, perhaps even retribution, for her earlier choices. Though her character made me angry, I also felt sympathy for her. Her daughters, as the next generation, had more opportunity to reset their lives, and the reader is left with the impression that they will.

The title "California Golden" is filled with irony, as the novel also focuses on the impact of racism and colonialism in Hawaii, carried over into the California setting, where white supremacy also makes several appearances. Since it is the 60s, the Vietnam War and drug culture are also addressed. Domestic violence and sexual politics come into play. There is nothing "golden" about any of these – they are the dark side of the peace, love, and brotherhood we prefer to remember about the era, when in fact, there was tremendous turmoil: the contrasting violence against civil rights marchers, riots in major cities (including Los Angeles), and the opposition to the war. Still, I am glad I lived through it, and that some essence of its ideals remain, though in today's harshly divided America those principles are struggling to survive more than ever.

A Mind Adrift – Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey

This book was the first chosen to be read for a newly-formed book club. Had I not been reading it for that purpose, I would not have stayed with it, as I found it both painful and depressing.

Maud, a woman in her early 80s, living in a working-class English town, is moving ever deeper into dementia. Her memory is muddled and she is often confused. She frequently repeats herself, or seems to speak out of context about unrelated details, and asks the same questions over and over, of her daughter, Helen, her granddaughter Katy, and the various "carers" who come to her home on a regular basis.

Maud does not know, or doesn't remember, what has happened to her best friend Elizabeth, and is worried that she is injured, hurt, or the victim of a crime. She goes to Elizabeth's home, repeatedly calls the police about her, and even takes out a missing person ad in the local newspaper, aggravating Peter, Elizabeth's hostile son. She asks Helen about Elizabeth in nearly every conversation. 

I found it shocking that Maud was living alone, even with frequent visits from her daughter, and with her "carers" who make her lunch, and do other things around her home. There are notes and signs put up around the house as reminders, but Maud doesn't grasp their meaning, or remember them. To help herself, she writes her own notes, which she stuffs in her pockets, but then forgets that they are there or what they mean.

Helen, who seems overwhelmed by her circumstances, has clearly not realized or doesn't want to accept that Maud's condition has deteriorated to the point that she should not be alone at all. Eventually this is rectified but handled very gracelessly – Helen sells Maud's house without her truly grasping what is happening, then moves her into her home.

There is another person missing in this story: Sukey (a nickname for Susan), Maud's beloved older sister, who disappeared shortly after World War II when Maud was just a young teenager. Her whereabouts were never resolved. Given that Maud's family lived throughout the bombings of World War II, and the deprivations that followed, it seems likely to me that some of Maud's difficulties are also the long-term result of PTSD – when Sukey did not reappear, Maud was sick in bed for a long time with what seems to have been a physical condition brought on by depression. There are also references to circumstances later, when as a wife and mother, Maud seemed unable to cope.

Having grown up in a family where there were both mental illness and memory loss in those close to me, I found this book quite horrifying. I felt tremendous sympathy for Maud, and for Helen, who was not finding her mother the help she needed, despite what seemed to be her best effort. It felt like a statement to me of what is missing in healthcare for the elderly and the mentally ill, in both the British setting of the book, and in what I have observed in this country. In that way, the novel was very effective, but I can't recommend it for anyone who is deeply disturbed by those issues. 

Windows to the Heart – The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan

An outstanding work of historical fiction, set in France following the end of World War II, and centering around Asher, a character inspired by the modernist artist Marc Chagall (1887-1885), who worked in many mediums, but whose stained glass windows are some of his most widely-recognized works.

Asher is a French Jew whose wife and toddler daughter were killed in front of him by the Nazis. He joined the Resistance and became an assassin. When the war ends, he finds himself at loose ends, mourning his family, his home, and lost business as a fine craftsman of custom-made boots. He wanders the French countryside, a devastation of destroyed villages, roads, bridges, farms, cathedrals, and buildings of every other variety. Everyone is starving, and what we would today call PTSD affects nearly every person. Crime and violence are widespread as the surviving French people try to recover and rebuild.

Eventually he finds his way to the Château Guerin, a stained glass workshop and manor house, run by Brigitte, whose family has operated the business for generations, and her husband Marc, devout Catholics, along with a crew of workers. Asher is famished, and they feed him, then offer him lodging and work. All of the workers have come to the château in a state of despair from their wartime experiences. As he is surrounded by practicing Catholics, the workshop's commissions are replacements for the destroyed windows of churches and cathedrals, and anti-Semitism is widespread, Asher keeps his religion a secret from the others.

Brigette and Marc's other mission is to create a healing experience for the workers, which they do by providing them with food, security, and work. Over time, Asher finds a sense of purpose in his work, learns glassmaking, and is able to nourish his artistic spirit. He also connects, even as he deeply mourns his wife and daughter, with a local woman who supplies the château and village with fruit and vegetables from her vast garden.

Asher becomes more and more of a contributor to the château's work as time passes. Though he lives under the strain of his secret, and continues to grieve, he is still able to heal and grow. This is a beautiful and moving story about the capacity of the human spirit for forgiveness, community, the creation of art, and the enjoyment of beauty, wherever and however it can be found.

Pioneering Woman of Law – The Spinster, the Rebel, & the Governor by Charlene Bell Dietz

This book is both a find and an inspiration. It is the introduction to the imagined inner and community life, based on research through factual court and other records, of Margaret Brent, the woman whose extraordinary accomplishments in law, at a time when no woman could officially become an attorney, inspired the Margaret Brent Award of the American Bar Association, an honor received by women with accomplished and storied careers in the judicial arena. Brent is largely unknown except by those in the legal field, but once you read this historical novel, you will not soon forget her.

At thirty-six, Margaret Brent left her comfortable home and most of her family in England to start a new life in Maryland in the first half of the seventeenth century. Just the ocean voyage alone would have been daunting, but to come to a small colony of male landowners, some with wives, but many without, a number of servants (most of whom were working off their passage in an indentured arrangement), and the surrounding Native American communities, some hostile, some not, would have been too intimidating for most people, particularly single women.

Margaret and her sister Mary, and their brothers Fulke and Giles, immigrated to the colony of St. Mary's City, Maryland in 1638. They were just four of the children of a large family of Catholic landed gentry in Gloucestershire, England. There was great turmoil in England over religious issues, which began the previous century when Henry VIII abolished the authority of the Pope and made himself head of the Church of England. Both Catholics and Puritans, who were Protestants who objected to the practices of the Church of England, experienced prejudice and repression – hence the establishment of the Puritan colony in 1620 of what became Plymouth, Massachusetts – and families like the Brents, who, despite their wealth and prestige, were living fearfully, as their religious practices were outlawed. 

As single women, Margaret and Mary were able to become landowners in Maryland (if a woman married, her property became her husband's). One of the major themes of the book is Margaret's conflict between her desire for independence and the ownership of her property, versus her feelings for Leonard Calvert, the governor of the Maryland colony.

In addition, the novel presents how Margaret, both well-read and bold, and with a strong sense of justice, began to challenge the all-male government system of the colony, and advocate for those who had been wronged in various disputes. She made appearances before what was the court system of the time, and served as the attorney for those in need. She was also deeply involved in the financial affairs of the colony, and as executrix, managed the affairs of the estate of Leonard Calvert after his death. This too was extraordinary for a woman of her time. 

In the list of historical figures that opens the book, the author shares that Margaret presented over 125 cases to the governing body and that the title of "Attorney" appears in the official records of the time. This accomplishment led to a number of honors in her name in Maryland, and in Virginia, where she later moved.

As presented, Margaret's story and achievements are fascinating – no doubt she was an amazing woman in real life, as well as in fiction. The novel incorporates this historical material in an understandable and accessible writing style, and this woman of the 1600s feels very much alive, with a personality and accomplishments that would make her a powerful figure if she were with us today.

Dreams of a Lost World – Poland, A Green Land by Aharon Appelfeld, Translated by Stuart Schoffman

I was deeply engaged with this novel, translated from the original Hebrew, until I got to the unsatisfying and somewhat perplexing last chapter. I have a theory on it, but I'm not sure if I'm right about my conclusion.

Yaakov Fein, a successful middle-aged Israeli businessman and former army officer living in Tel Aviv, travels to Szydowce, Poland, the small village where his parents lived before World War II, and who managed to flee when most of their relatives and friends were murdered by the Nazis, in particularly horrific circumstances. He's been feeling restless and alienated lately, and having an interior conversation about his distant relationship with his parents, who have passed on. Yaakov's wife, Rivka, and his grown daughters are skeptical, even hostile, towards his wish to see where his ancestors lived. The marriage is tense, and the daughters are aligned with their mother.

Nevertheless, he flies to Warsaw, takes a train to Krakow, where he spends a few days seeking out the remnants of the former Jewish community, and enjoys the European atmosphere, which is so different from Tel Aviv. A taxi driver takes him the rest of the way. There, he boards with Magda, an attractive but lonely widow, and her adult daughter Maria, who has emotional and mental impairments.

The village is small, and is the hub for the many farmers who live in the vicinity. There is a grocery, a tavern, and a few other businesses. No Jews remain, nor does Yaakov immediately notice any sign of their former residence.

Magda also has a small farm, including cows and other livestock. She puts Yaakov up in her pleasant home, where she serves him homemade meals of foods made of the produce of her garden, and the milk of her cows. They talk, and Yaakov learns that she knew members of his family when she was a child. Her stories about his family helps bring them to life, and the two of them grow close, and passionate, before long. Yaakov dreams vivid, complicated dreams of his parents and his lost relatives.

While Magda works on her farm chores, Yaakov walks around the village, seeking out whatever else he can learn about his murdered relatives and the fate of all the village's Jews. At first the villagers are pleasant enough, though guarded, but then Yaakov learns that many of the paving stones in the center of the village are made from the broken headstones of the murdered Jews, including the visible remnants of that of his great-grandfather. Tensions rise when Yaakov expresses a desire to pay for the stones to be removed and be shipped to Tel Aviv. He makes an offer. The hidden resentment and anti-Jewish attitudes of the villagers come to the forefront when the mayor, as their representative, asks for an exorbitant sum, and Yaakov refuses. Then, of course, the hate bubbles up.

It's different with Magda, but they both know that their liaison is temporary. After a week or so, Yaakov calls home, and his wife continues with her skepticism and criticism. When he calls next, she tells them that their younger daughter has been hospitalized and is having tests. With this news, and the hostility that has surfaced in the town, he knows he must return home. Magda understands and accepts the situation. She brings him to the Krakow train station in her wagon, pulled by her horses and they say their sad goodbyes. Yaakov returns to Warsaw, where he catches his plane home.

At this point, the book unravels. On the plane to Tel Aviv, Yaakov falls into conversation with another Israeli man, another businessman, as it turns out. Here's the question? Is Yaakov dreaming? Is the other man real, or is he Yaakov's father, or even a version of himself. Hmm...

Two Thirds of a Whole – Small World by Laura Zigman

I found this novel very moving: a story of two middle-aged sisters, both recently divorced, who also carry the pain of a sad childhood which they shared with another sister who was seriously disabled by cerebral palsy and died at just ten years old, along with their parents' divorce, and their father's decline into depression.

Joyce, the narrator and younger surviving sister, is an archivist who works on projects for a company that creates family histories from documents, photographs, videos, and other materials. Sometimes the family histories are to celebrate an event like a wedding, bar mitzvah, or anniversary, but sometimes there are other purposes involved. Since the divorce she lives alone in an apartment in Cambridge, MA where she works from the home office she has created in the second bedroom.

Lydia, the older sister, a graphic designer and fine artist, has been living in California for thirty years, but now that her marriage is over, she's decided to come home to New England. Joyce invites her to move in, at least temporarily, and take over the other bedroom.

The sisters work out a companionable, though not very communicative life together, and things seem smooth enough for a few months, until their quiet, never-there upstairs neighbor moves out and a couple moves in, bringing an array of belongings and unusual equipment. Then the noise and disruption begins...

Joyce participates in a neighborhood web group called Small World, but she also writes poems that are inspired both by what she sees posted there, along with her observations. She keeps this to herself. The poetry is an interesting and often very touching adjunct to the narrative flow of the book, and I found it very expressive as a way of understanding Joyce's character.

The sisters have a lot of secrets, about their shared childhood trauma, and about their present. Their communication difficulties are one of main drivers of the narrative, and it isn't until many of those are revealed, that there can be an examination of their bond and a resolution to their conflicts.

All in all, a very contemporary look at how childhood and family dynamics make us who we are, and how we view ourselves and those closest to us. Highly recommend.

Over-Baked – The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

I had high hopes for this book, as it sounded like such fun: a contemporary mystery about a TV baking contest called Bake Week (like The Great British Baking Show), set in a Gothic-like estate in a remote northern Vermont, but it quickly devolved as it is absolutely stuffed with extremely quirky and clichéd characters, and so many of the major plot points were easy to guess very early on. Despite that, I give the author, Jessa Maxwell, kudos for her efforts, and hope to see something stronger should she publish another book. She certainly worked hard to produce something that was structurally well-organized.The six contestants, Stella, Peter, Lottie, Hannah, Gerald, and Pradyumna, each have a particularly unusual backstory that they bring to the event. Then there is its originator, Betsy, the long-time host and contest judge, who is also the owner of the estate, the production lead, Melanie, and a new co-host/judge, Archie, who has been brought in from another cooking show, much to Betsy's irritation.

The novel is told from the points of view of each of the contestants and Betsy, each having a chapter to introduce them, then additional ones as the plot unspools. While we all have a past, with periods of good and bad, and high and low spots, and our own peculiarities, these characters are so overdrawn in their eccentricities or histories that when they are all shoehorned into one book, disbelief is inevitable.

Well-drawn, though sometimes eccentric characters make up the most successful and recognizable mystery books, TV shows, and films: Hercule Poirot, Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles, Nancy Drew, Phryne Fisher, and so many more. I couldn't help thinking of the recent clever and comedic mystery films, Knives Out and The Glass Onion, starring Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, and how effective such characterizations can be when written well. Unfortunately, The Golden Spoon and its characters are a long way from any of those.

Coincidentally, when I was checking some details for this review, I came across a South Korean TV series by the same name. It sounds interesting: a poor young man exchanges identities with rich young man and lives a different life...something like a spin on Trading Places with Eddie Murphy, Dan Ackroyd, and Jamie Lee Curtis? Or reaching way back to Charles Dickens: maybe the inspiration was Great Expectations?

Not Banned Here – Anne Frank's Diary, The Graphic Adaptation by Ari Folman and David Polonsky

Earlier this year, I volunteered to read and assess book candidates for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, something I plan to do again. It was time well spent.

To continue my involvement with the Mark Twain House and Museum (go, if you're anywhere near Hartford, CT, or visit https://marktwainhouse.org). I just joined their Goodreads group, and it seems especially fitting to have started with Anne Frank's Diary, The Graphic Adaptation.

Why? Three reasons: Anne Frank is one of my lifelong heroes, the hate and evil of anti-Semitism is rapidly rising once again, and this is one of the "banned books" in certain school districts and libraries in some states. Reading and supporting books like this one is a way to fight back against that outrageous ignorance.

Putting all that aside, I loved this adaptation of Anne's diary and highly recommend it for adults as well as for older children and teens. I consider it an excellent adjunct to the diary, and depending on the age of the reader, and their familiarity or lack of, it could serve as an introduction or an epilogue. I see it engendering family and reading group discussions and would hope it would also be taught in schools, though the very places where it is most needed are most likely the ones that have banned it.

This adaptation presents a narrative of the events that led to, and took place during, the time that Anne and her family, their friends the van Pels, and the dentist Dr. Pfeffer, hid from the Nazis in the attic of the building on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam where Anne's father had his business. There is also an Afterword that recounts what followed.

The adapter, Ari Folman, and illustrator, David Polonsky, have created a seamless representation of the events and emotions that Anne recorded in her diary, and expand on the key themes that come through in any reading of the original material: Anne's quest to know herself, the complexity of her relationships with her family members and the others in hiding, her search for meaning in a world gone mad with hate, and her need to contradict that evil with her belief in the essential goodness of (most of) humanity. 

May her memory, and that of all the people who perished at the hands of the Nazis, and by all extremists, be for a blessing.

Why It Happened – Murder on Bedford Street by Victoria Thompson

I didn't think this installment was as appealing as some of the others I have read in the series (I really need to go back and read all the ones in order that I have missed, since I'm fairly new to Victoria Thompson).

There wasn't as much interaction between the leading characters, the husband and wife investigating team of former policeman Frank and midwife Sarah, or with their employees Maeve and Gino, though Maeve played a large part in the story, which was a plus. I also didn't get quite as much of the period flavor as in others in the series.

What made it interesting (and actually important) was the novel's focus on mental illness, how it was recognized, and treated, in the early twentieth century. The stigma of mental illness was even more profound then than it is now. It leads to the question: how much have we progressed, or not, in treating people with serious conditions that could lead them to hurting themselves or others, as occurred in this book? The answer, I think, is not as much as we should have. While large municipal and state-run institutions that housed patients often in appalling and prison-like conditions have largely been abolished and destroyed, we now lack enough facilities or practitioners who can care for people who are suffering, untreated, and often living homeless in the streets of our cities. That is as far from humane as can be, and fallout from COVID exacerbated the numbers of people who need treatment. Perhaps that was Thompson's impetus for this book, and I do recommend it for that reason.

Hollywood Dreams – Stars Over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner

Like all of Meissner's fiction, this novel was well-researched and offered some fascinating insights into the Hollywood of the late 1930s and onward. 

The author explores the friendship between two very different women, Violet, a transplant from Alabama, and Audrey, a native Californian. The two women meet at work at Selznick International Studios, where they work in the secretarial pool as filming for "Gone With The Wind" is about to begin. Audrey owns a small bungalow bequeathed to her by her Aunt Jo, and Violet becomes her roommate. Audrey has a very close friend, Burt, who is in love with her, though she does not have the same feelings for him.

Audrey is a little older, and has aspirations to act in the movies, but her big break has failed to come. Violet left home to escape the rigid society of her upper middle class environment, and a broken romance. Both women (of course) have their secrets, which they eventually share and which lead to a situation many friendships could not sustain, which will become the later focus of the plot.

In a moment of poor judgment and after drinking a few too many cocktails at a party they attend with Burt, they "acquire" a hat that is part of the wardrobe of Scarlett O'Hara in the movie. As Burt works in the costume department and is responsible for the items kept there, he gets into trouble for the incident and nearly loses his job. The hat will take on great significance as time passes.

Many things occur in this triangular friendship, and alignments change. Violet falls in love with Burt, and he with her. They marry, while remaining friends with Audrey. World War II intervenes and time continues to pass as the lives of the friends evolve. Where this will all lead is the crux of the story...which has some somewhat unlikely elements that I will leave to other readers to discover.

What seems unfortunate to me is the device author Meissner used to introduce readers to the action – the infamous hat has made an appearance in a vintage clothing store and the store owner, recognizing its significance wants to return it to its owner. This felt contrived to me, at least as it was used in the book, and less than believable. If it had been handled differently, it would have been more effective and much more appealing. The jacket copy describes this as a "journey more enchanting than any classic movie" but this aspect is just not convincing. Otherwise, there is a lot to like about this book in terms of atmosphere and detail.

Another Side of 60s London – East End Passport by Roy and Cécile Curtis

The full title of this charming little book is East End Passport: A Guide to Petticoat Lane. I picked it up at a new (only to me – it's been around for 50 years or so) used bookstore, Rodgers' Book Barn, in Hillsdale, NY, on a recent weekend trip, along with some other treasures. 

Published in 1969, it is wildly out of date as a travel guide, and be warned, uses some language and commentary that over five decades later, could be deemed somewhat offensive or patronizing by certain readers, but it must be taken in its historical context.

It has a wonderful design – the size and shape of an old-style British passport, with numerous pen and ink sketches by the author's wife, Cécile.

Its great value is as a window into the historic East End of London, where numerous immigrant groups passed through on their way to other parts of London, the whole of Great Britain, or to America, as my own great-grandparents did just after 1900. It retains some of the flavor of what it must have been, not unlike New York's Lower East Side, South Philadelphia, or the West End in Boston as they once were, and now are entirely changed to the point of being unrecognizable. 

Fortunately for me, my first trip to London in 1988 included a Sunday walking tour of the area, when it still retained a bit of its old-time flavor. I only wish I had had this book beforehand for more context and added insight. However, I am happy to have it now, and enjoyed it despite the odds and ends that made me wince just a bit.

Radio City on Stage – The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

Fiona Davis's historical fiction, set in iconic New York City locations, is always entertaining reading and offers commentary about the significance of the settings she chooses. 

This book revolves around Marion Brooks, a young woman who becomes a Radio City Rockette in the mid-1950s. The narrative moves back and forth between that decade and 1992. Reading about the audition and practice processes is interesting in itself, and the description of the theatrical women's boarding house where Marion shares a room with another Rockette offers a wonderful feeling of nostalgia for a very different time, though in many ways, Marion is as contemporary as any young woman of our time. She yearns to follow her dream, make her own way, and be independent.

New York City in 1956 was under attack from a person the author renames the "Big Apple Bomber". There actually was a someone planting pipe bombs in busy locations in the city at that time, though his case has been long forgotten, supplanted by other dangerous individuals like the Son of Sam in the 1970s, and now the Gilgo Beach murderer.

Marion struggles with the expectations of her over-protective father, who has tried to shield her and her older sister Judy from danger, after the death of his wife, their mother, who was hit by a car when the girls were young. Her father views her desire to become a professional dancer as a foolish rebellion and prefers that she marry and have a conventional, safe suburban life. 

Before that, however, she becomes embroiled in the search to apprehend the bomber. When she breaks through and defies her father, a series of tragic events and disappointments changes her direction but ultimately takes her on a fulfilling professional life's journey, though the personal cost is high.

The book is a very fast read, and while it rings true as to locations, some of the plot developments seem a bit contrived. I also noticed, as I have in Davis's other books, the occasional use of an expression that seems out of place – more 2020s than 1950s. This is not enough to limit enjoyment of the book, and most likely younger readers than me may not notice, but I expect others of my age group, familiar with the 1950s might.

The other aspect of note is the author's insertion of Parkinson's Disease into the story, into the character of Marion's father as he aged, and Marion herself in 1992. Davis was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2020, and became active in the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. I applaud her for helping to shed light on this affliction and wish her all the best. I hope that she and many others will be the recipient of new treatments as they become available.

Upending Tradition – Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story by Terri-Lynne DeFino

While I am not Italian-American, I have had and have, close friendships with a number of people of Italian descent, and because they were so kind and welcoming to me, I knew a number of their Italian families, including a few in New Jersey, so quite a lot about this novel reminded of them. But really, I'm not sure how much difference there is between Pennsylvanian Italians, New York Italians, and the Jersey Italians of this novel.

The author precedes each chapter with a few "Jersey" dialect Italian words or expressions – some of which I have heard, even used myself, over the years, though many were new to me too. The definitions and pronunciation guides were very helpful (and often very funny), and now I think I could finally order a sfogliatella (a shell-shaped pastry filled with custard), pronounced svoo-ya-del, in an Italian bakery or café without sounding ridiculous or feeling embarrassed.

The words figure into the story, the saga of the Palladino family, which is based in Wyldale, a fictional working-to-middle class town, which sounds like any number of towns I know in north and mid Jersey (or Brooklyn, Queens, or Philly). Varina, the central character, is a 70-ish widow, who operates a small Italian food specialty store. Sylvia Spini, her 90-plus mother, also widowed, lives with her, and has made finding Varina a boyfriend, who could perhaps even become a new husband, the mission of her remaining years.

There are three grown children: Davide, a high-end hairdresser, owns several salons in the better towns in the area. A ladies' man, he is successful and always in and out of relationships. Dante is the other son, who now heads the family's other business, construction, until recently run by Varina's brother Tommy, who retires and decamps to Florida. Dante is amicably divorced from Pandora, his Greek-American (wow) wife, and has a college-age daughter, Gabriella. The youngest, Donatella, is the wild child, a thirty-something woman who is always in some kind of trouble or difficulty. I must digress here – I love these character's names, which are so expressive of the family's Italian heritage.

The "almost" fourth child is Paulie, a gay man who was rejected by his own parents when they couldn't accept his orientation. He has been unofficially adopted by the Palladinos, works in Dante's business, and since their childhood, has been Donatella's best friend, protector, fall guy, and as an adult, her sometimes lover, despite his identity.

Sylvia and Donatella secretly team up to find a man for Varina, leading to all kinds of unintended, but mostly positive, consequences. Varina makes a new friend, Ruth, a Jewish woman, also widowed, when they meet at a travel agent's office where they have independently booked the same trip to France. Sylvia is skeptical of Ruth (Not Italian, not close to her family, no kids – could she be a lesbian after Varina?), but soon Sylvia will have something else to occupy her thoughts and dreams.

There is one other, shall we say, character in this book, known as Vicky. Vicky is an old-time Victrola record player which has been in the family for generations, that plays opera and waltz music, on its own ghostly schedule...an accompaniment to the three generations of Palladinos and Spinis who have lived in the same house for decades, and just another bit of the craziness of the family dynamic.

Just like life, there are some unexpected twists and turns for the Palladino clan, though we as readers are likely to suss them out before they do. But no matter, as they make for entertaining and heart-pleasing reading that would certainly translate into a joyful film or Netflix series, which I would hope to see one day. As Shakespeare wrote, "All's Well That Ends Well", and the sequence of events makes this novel worthy of your readership.

And Women Too – The Real Mad Men of Advertising, a Smithsonian Film

I recently watched "The Real Mad Men of Advertising", a Smithsonian Channel documentary, produced after the conclusion of the "Mad Men" television series, which ran for seven seasons, from 2007-2015, and depicted the advertising profession in New York in the 1960s, and gave excellent insights into the trends of popular culture and the politics of the time.

The documentary is in four parts, each covering a decade, from the 1950s through the 1980s. A number of former advertising stars, including copywriter Jane Maas (1932-2018), various university professors and museum curators, and others speak about the history, trends, and famous ads of the various decades. Another leading contributor is Matthew Weiner, originator of the "Mad Men" series. Narration is by John Slattery, one of the stars of the "Mad Men" series.

The complete program runs just over 160 minutes, so it can be watched at one sitting...in fact, I would recommend it for maximum enjoyment and immersion. 

On Camera and Behind It – The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin

With its historical perspective, this novel, a fictionalized version of the friendship between silent film star Mary Pickford and the screenwriter/director Frances Marion, offers unique insights into the lives of two women of influence in the early years of the movie business, and presents portraits of some of the other screen personalities, writers, directors and studio owners, some flattering, some far less so.  

Even though the chapters alternate between Pickford and Marion, Marion is really the heart of the story, and to me, as a fellow writer, the more interesting personality. The chapters about her work in Hollywood, her experiences in World War I as a journalist who planning (and later producing) a film about the women who served in the war, and her relationship and marriage to her husband, Fred Thomson, a minister turned screen cowboy, were very compelling. Marion, who wrote over 300 screenplays and won two Oscars, is one of the subjects of the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University, https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-frances-marion/. She also published a number of books, including a memoir, Off With Their Heads!: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood, which was later made into a documentary film. 

Pickford was depicted as very guarded, since her success and reputation was dependent on her screen and public image. I found her difficult to like, and although she supported her mother, sister, brother, and niece financially, she appeared overly attached and childlike in her relationship to her mother. It seemed that she was never really able to leave her past behind and move forward, and was also exceptionally emotionally dependent upon her second husband, Douglas Fairbanks, who eventually divorced her. The other, and very informative, side of Pickford depicted in the book was her business and professional acumen. She was one of the founders of United Artists studios, and of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. 

I originally read this book in hardcover format, but enjoyed it even more as an audio book, read by Broadway actress Kimberley Farr, who has been the reader of many other audio book productions.

A Tragic Family on Stage – Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

For the first time, I am reading and rating books as long list candidates for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. Booth was ultimately one of my three choices, and the one I enjoyed most and considered the best-written. Apparently I had inadvertently overlooked it when I made my initial selections, or perhaps it was added at a later point, but as we reached the last week of the rating period, I knew I could fit in one more, and I made a wonderful selection, because it turned out to be an outstanding work of historical fiction.

Even though it was published last year, I was given access to an advance copy of the e-book, which I  found so compelling that I could hardly put my iPad down, and was reading at every possible opportunity. I finished the 480 or so pages over three days, and was sorry when I came to the end, something I haven't experienced all that often lately.

It is the somewhat fictionalized story of the Booth family of actors which most tragically included Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, the next-to-youngest of the ten children. Booth's father was the famous Shakespearian actor Junius Brutus Booth, and John Wilkes's brothers Junius and Edwin were also actors, Edwin having the most illustrious career of them all. New York's Booth Theater on 45th Street in the current Theater District was named for Edwin. Edwin and the other members of the Booth family were Union loyalists, with John the exception. Booth's mother was Mary Ann Holmes, his father's mistress, whom he eventually married once he was divorced from his first wife, but the children were all born illegitimately.

The Booths lived in Maryland, near Bel Air, about twenty-five miles northeast of Baltimore, first in a rustic and remote cabin on a farm, then in a large house built by Junius Sr. They also had a town house in Baltimore. These locations figure importantly in the book, along with others in Philadelphia, New York, and Richmond.

The book follows the family chronologically through the births (and the many deaths) of the children, their education, entry into adulthood and beyond, until the assassination and capture of John. It particularly portrays the lives of John, Edwin, and their sisters Rosalie and Asia, who was especially close to John. The Booth family story is interspersed with brief chapters that recount Lincoln's political career, his speeches, and episodes from his presidency, leading up to his death, which provides a paralleling timeframe and account of his rise to the White House.

Much of the book is based on historical fact, with the fictional aspects being the conversations and imagined internal lives of the main characters. Anyone who has read non-fiction books such as Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, or studied even the basics of the Civil War era will recognize that the trajectory of events is quite realistic, but reading what the author Karen Joy Fowler imagines of the family interactions, motivations, and thoughts of the principal characters truly brings them to life and makes them all the more compelling. Her skill brings these historical events out of the past and into the present, with all of its current strife between today's political parties and the culture wars that are causing so much struggle now. The similarities of the gulfs between today's Democrats and Republicans are chillingly striking...

I highly recommend this title for readers interested in history, politics, and theater.

Early Americans at Odds, 1689 – Out Front the Following Sea by Leah Angstman

A novel of American history from before the American Revolution, and before the time of the French and Indian War which made George Washington a future leader... The year was 1689 and King William's War had begun, a fight between the Protestant English colonists of what we know as New England, and the Catholic French colonists of what was referred to as New France. As you probably realize, the English eventually pushed the French back to beyond the Mississippi River, and north to Acadia (central Maine and beyond into what are now the provinces of Canada). South of New England, the Dutch were colonizing present-day New York, and northern New Jersey, and were also a threat to the English. The various Native American tribes were being impinged upon by all of the Europeans, and at various times, aligned with the different colonists in order to retain their lands and autonomy. As we know, they were not successful.

This was the era of pirates and highwaymen, witch trials, and violent punishments for small and large infractions. Women, of course, had no rights to own property, and in fact, were the property of their husbands.

Ruth Miner, a brilliant young woman of English background, was accused of witchcraft in her town, along with the murder of her parents, and had to flee in self-preservation or be put to death. Her only hope and friend was a young sailor, Owen, of French descent, with whom she had been raised, and now shared a mutual attraction. She stows away on his ship as it travels along the Connecticut coast to Stonington (located just south of Rhode Island), and finds refuge there.

A series of shocking and unfortunate events spin out, with Ruth experiencing violence, abuse, and heartbreak, though she makes a friend of a Pequot Indian she meets in the woods, and the Stonington couple who take her in. Owen moves in and out of her life in unexpected ways.

In the end, despite tremendous suffering and loss, Ruth endures.

This is a rich and beautifully written book by historian Leah Angstman, whose obvious efforts in research of the period gives this story authenticity, vividness, and no shortage of drama. Highly recommend.

So Tender – Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen by Donia Bijan

This was the most beautiful book...it brought tears to my eyes more than once. The author, Donia Bijan, has written a lyrical memoir that describes her early life with her parents and sisters in Iran, before the Islamic Revolution, their move to the United States, and her complicated quest to become a professional chef, or as her father and she sometimes called it, a cook. It is also the story of her relationship with her parents, primarily her close bond with her mother, who must have been an amazing and formidable woman, and was a loving supporter of Donia's ambition.

Her parents were a dedicated obstetrician (her father), and nurse (her mother) who established and ran a small hospital in Tehran. They had living quarters on the building's grounds, which sounds like an idyllic Eden, though her parents worked long, hard hours caring for their patients, and on top of that, her mother was an extraordinary cook and hostess. Amy (her mother, as she was known in English) was a fervent believer in women's rights and became one of the few female politicians elected to the Iranian legislature during the Shah's reign. Of course, after the Revolution, women were completely oppressed and had the Bijans remained in Iran, she would surely have been executed as an enemy of the new government. Fortunately the family was on vacation in Spain at the time the Shah's government fell, and family members were able to alert them not to return to Iran, but as a result they became exiles.

Her parents had already sent Donia's two older sisters to college in the U.S., and Donia went to high school, then college, in California, this after her parents had immigrated. Her father never adjusted to his new country, was unable to sufficiently master English to take the medical boards, and became angry and bitter. Amy, on the other hand, who had been trained in England, and spoke strong English, was able to study, pass the exams, and become the support for the family. 

The chapters progress through Donia's college years, her training at Cordon Bleu in France, and her apprenticeships at various restaurants throughout that country. When she returned to the United States, settling near her family in San Francisco, she eventually merged her French training, Persian roots and food memories, and American experiences into a restaurant of her own. It is a remarkable, and vivid story of an atypical life. 

As I read, I thought frequently of an Iranian couple who had been my ESL students. They too left their home after the Shah was deposed, and lost much of their family's property and assets to the revolutionaries. Despite the pain they might have felt, they were so positive (at least outwardly) and thoughtful. I remember the little tubs of halvah and other treats they brought me, and I have kept a gift  bottle of rosewater in my pantry closet, which always brings them to mind each time I see it.

I can not praise Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen enough. It is one of the best books I have read over the past few years, and certainly one of the most moving.

As a bonus, there are some wonderful recipes included, though this is in no way a cookbook. The recipes feel more like a gift. I expect to try a few when I can. 

On Broadway – Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater by Eddie Shapiro

This is a series of twenty-one chatty interviews, by theater journalist Eddie Shapiro, conducted from 2008 through 2012. He began with the late Elaine Stritch and Carol Channing and worked his way to Sutton Foster and Laura Benanti, with stops along the way for Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, and Idina Menzel, plus many others. If you enjoy musical theater, you’ll be entertained by this collection…and the photos are fun too.

Roughly ten years have passed since the book's initial publication, and it's time for an update, along with some more interviews. Certainly Bernadette Peters is a major omission, and he could add additional profiles for Lea Salonga, Sara Bareilles, and Kelli O'Hara, to name just a few.

When I'm feeling nostalgic, I like to flip through my collection of Playbill theater programs, remembering performers who might have appeared as an unknown and later became famous – one great example is Glenn Close, who appeared as the opera singer Jenny Lind in "Barnum" around 1980, making her singing debut. It's also bittersweet to consider performers (in plays and musicals), who have passed on, including such luminaries as Lena Horne, Madeline Kahn and Gilda Radner – so grateful to have seen them all.  

Three Among Many...Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon – and the Journey of a Generation

Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon, along with Judy Collins and a score of women who made their musical mark primarily during the singer/songwriter era (the late 60s/early 70s) were and are the soundtrack of my life. I read somewhere that the music we hear and embrace in our late teens into our late twenties becomes "our music", and I agree. 

These three women are the core for so many women of my Baby Boomer generation (though they are just a little older than most of us). When the trio of some of their most important albums, like "Tapestry" (King), "Court and Spark" (Mitchell), and "No Secrets" appeared in and around 1971, they seemed to instantly begin playing in bedrooms, dorm rooms, and studio apartments everywhere.

The award-winning journalist Sheila Weller researched and wrote this triple biography of Carole King (born 1942), Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon (both born in 1943). It hopscotches back and forth between the lives of the three women, all of whom almost simultaneously became household names around their thirtieth birthdays, even though King had already had more than a decade of great success as a Brill Building pop music composer with songs like "Up on the Roof", "The Loco-Motion", "One Fine Day", and more. Their lives sometimes intersected in the music business, through complex personal connections, and crisscrossed friendships and romantic relationships. 

Weller's book takes us deep into the culture of the period, and the music scenes in Los Angeles and New York, through extensive interviews, and adds a wealth of anecdotes and insights about the three women from many of the people who had close relationships and attachments to them. It is a kind of comfort read too, if that was your era, when so much seemed to be changing and possible for women. We can each consider what it means to "feel like a natural woman" and go from there.

No one could have predicted how that would play out for women in the five decades since the early 70s, with so many broadening opportunities and fewer restrictions (on the whole) for us. We accomplished so much, yet now after forty-plus years of advancement, we have been faced with some troubling attacks on our personal freedoms during the last five or six. I read the book when it first came out in 2013 when it was first published, with a second read just recently – a decade later. So much has happened over those ten years. 

On the plus side, despite the current social and political wars, if we look solely at women in music, we have so many huge names: Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift immediately come to mind. Each is a great example for their female peers in their 20s and 30s. Their success gives me hope.