Friday 5ive- July 3, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention this week. It's hard to believe that it's the 4th of July already (or is it?). NYC was planning to allow inside dining next week, but that had to be put on hold due to an increase in cases in other states that may be partially linked to people inside restaurants. Sigh.

1)  I've talked about the Peleton bike we bought a few years back, and now that is looking like a really good purchase this year. I just hit my 400th ride this week, something I'm very proud of even as I hear shout-outs from the instructors for people who are celebrating 5000 rides. How do they that? Are they riding all day everyday? Yay for them!


2)  I was so sad to hear of the death of comedy legend Carl Reiner. I have been following him on Twitter, where he has been very active recently. I will remember him best as the creator/writer of the 1960s classic sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show. When I was a little girl and I would see the show come on, I would excitedly tell my parents "Bin Bin Dyke is on!" There are not many sitcoms that can stand the test of time, and The Dick Van Dyke Show is one of them. CBS is running two classic episodes on Friday night (tonight) at 8pm, starring Reiner as Alan Brady, the egomanical TV comedy star for whom Van Dyke's character Rob Petrie was the headwriter for his show. Don't miss it.

Dick Van Dyke Show on CBS Friday night

3)  We haven't been watching a lot of television lately, but we streamed  Irresistible, the new comedy film written and directed by Jon Stewart, and starring Steve Carell and Rose Byrne as opposing political operatives who end up involved in a mayoral race in a small town in Wisconsin. It's very funny, and the twist ending is a lesson to us all in these heated political times. Chris Cooper plays the retired Marine colonel Carrell is trying to get elected, and he is, as always, perfection. I highly recommend it.  See more about it here.


4)  I've been ordering one book a week from independent bookstores, and I have to say that I am very impressed with their customer service. I ordered Jane L. Rosen's novel, Eliza Starts A Rumor, (after seeing her on Adriana Trigiani's Facebook Live) from Odyssey Bookstore in Ithaca, NY on Friday and it was waiting for me at my door on Monday. That is amazing customer service!

Today I received Megha Majumdar's debut novel, A Burning, which I ordered from Books & Crannies Bookstore in Martinsville, VA, a black-owned bookstore. I also received John Dickerson's book, The Hardest Job in the World- The American Presidency from Book Revue in Huntington NY. All three look wonderful.

5)  I've had a lot of time to read, and this week I finished four books and started a fifth.
Beatriz Williams' new historical novel, Her Last Flight recounts the story of a celebrated aviatrix (think Amelia Earheart) who disappears and is presumed dead, and the war journalist who finds her while looking for someone else. It's Williams' best book yet, and the twists in the novel will make you gasp.

Her Last Flight

Elin Hilderbrand is the queen of summer novels, and her latest, 28 Summers, (inspired by the play/movie Same Time, Next Year), is about two people who spend a romantic weekend together every year even as they are married and/or involved with other people. I read it in one day, it was so good.

28 Summers

Kelly Harms' new novel, The Bright Side of Going Dark, tells the story of a social media influencer who begins to question her lifestyle, and a woman who works for the social media company who ends up pretending to be her on social media. It's a timely story, and I liked the characters very much.

The Bright Side of Going Dark

Meryl Wilsner's Something to Talk About is a romance about a successful female writer/director who is caught in a photo with her younger female assistant at an awards show that sets people gossiping, and the two women begin wondering if maybe there is something more there. It's a charming, thoughtful novel.

Something to Talk About

I'm in the middle of Katherine St. John's debut novel, The Lion's Den, which is perfect for fans of Bravo TV's Below Deck. When a young woman invites some of her friends on her much older and wealthier husband's yacht for her birthday celebration, something bad happens. I'm liking it so far.

The Lion's Den

I hope you all have a very happy 4th of July, with hamburgers and hotdogs and lots of s'mores by the campfire. Stay safe, wear your mask, and wash your hands.

Don't Jump by Vicki Abelson

Don't Jump by Vicki Abelson
Published by Random Content ISBN 978-0-9915368-3-2
Trade paperback, $19.99, 377 pages

Once in awhile I'll read a book that I haven't heard much about by an author I don't know and be pleasantly surprised. Reading Vicki Abelson's roman a clef Don't Jump- Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n Roll... And My F'ing Mother knocked me out.

Abelson begins her novel with her protagonist Andi, a 50-something woman who calls herself "a narcissistic blowhard with low self esteem" who felt that she should be somebody, like Julia Roberts maybe. But life doesn't work out that way...

Andi is feeding her two young children dinner and dealing with her mother Cookie who drives her crazy when her husband calls to tell her that he has been called into the HR office at his place of work, a late-night talk show (think David Letterman) where he is a writer. He has been fired- and we're off and running.

We flashback to Andi's life story. She is the daughter of divorced parents, and when her brother goes to live with her father, Andi becomes a latchkey kid whose mother works long hours and when she is home, is too exhausted to deal with Andi.

Andi's big love in life is smoking pot, which she does with gusto. She wants to be an actress and ends up working as waitress in a restaurant in New York popular with professional athletes and actors. She becomes very friendly with a married tennis superstar, and since her marriage to a drunken emotionally abusive man isn't working out, she thinks that maybe something can come of this flirtation.

Andi tries to become a standup comic, in an era when women were not standup comics. She becomes successful as a nightclub promoter, moving from one venue to another and this was most fascinating part of the book.

I didn't know much about the club scene in 1980's New York, and Abelson drops us right smack in the middle of this crazy scene- the music, the drugs, the drinking, the sex and the hard work it took for her create a career while dealing with crazy bosses and capricious musicians.

Besides Andi's career, we learn much about her love life. Andi becomes involved with a few men, most of whom are no good for her, but she longs to be loved. Then she meets the man whom she will marry, someone she has known for awhile and while he begins a career as a comedy on a succession of TV comedy/talk shows, she becomes a wife and supermom.

Her husband's career is nothing like Rob Petrie's from the old Dick Van Dyke Show though. There is no kicking it with Sally and Buddy, having fun everyday and then going home to Laura and little Robbie. A comedy writer gets hired on a successive thirteen week basis. If he does well for thirteen weeks, her gets another thirteen weeks of employment, unless the show gets cancelled. It is a stressful existence. (Side note- Don't Jump is published by an imprint started by Carl Reiner, the creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show.)

We see the difficulties of the business and the personalities. Part of the fun of this book is picking out the thinly veiled famous people- Letterman, Jay Leno, Bill Maher and Ray Romano among them.

This is the first book I read in 2016 and the year starts out strong. Don't Jump is smart, funny, profane, original, fascinating- everything you want a book to be. I felt like I was sitting on a stool at my favorite bar and this interesting chick sits down next to me and starts telling me her intriguing life story. I didn't want it to end and I give it my highest recommendation- READ THIS BOOK.  If you liked Carrie Fisher's Postcards From the Edge, you'll love Don't Jump. (And by the way, HBO or Netflix should pick this up pronto- it is tailor-made for them.)