Friday 5ive- November 13, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. Happy Friday the 13th, just what we needed in 2020, a Friday the 13th.

1)  Last Friday night, my husband and I had date night- at home version. Every week I get an email from GetTaste, which gives me the opportunity to purchase a four course set meal from a Michelin-starred restaurant. Last week, the choice was from 4 Charles Prime Rib, and they had a five course meal- Little Gem Salad, Baked Crab Cake appetizer, Chicago Cut of Prime Rib, Creamed Spinach, and Chocolate Cream Pie for dessert. The price for two people was a (NYC) reasonable $154, and we added on a bottle of Grgich Hills Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The meal arrived hot and well packaged, and it was delicious. The crab cake and creamed spinach were the best we have ever tasted. The beef was good, my only complaint was that it was a small portion for two people. We started with a Happy Hour cocktail of Chocolate Martini and Chocolate Espresso Martini. It was a wonderful way to end the week.

2)  On Saturday, I decided to try Anita La Mamma del Gelato, a new gelato place in the neighborhood. I'd heard that the Milk Chocolate Pretzel was a winner, so I gave it a try and the people were not wrong. It was creamy, crunchy, and very tasty. I will be making a return trip to try more flavors. 

So many choices!

3)  Today I took part in BookReporter.com's "9 1/2 Annual Book Group Speed Dating" presentation. Every year at the Book Expo at the Javits Center, my favorite activity is Speed Dating with Publishers. The attendees sit at tables and publishers go from table to table sharing upcoming books they are excited about. Since there was no Book Expo this year, Book Reporter held Speed Dating virtually for the second time this year, which is good in that you get to hear from every publisher instead of just a few, but I do miss the personal contact with the publicists and the books that we get to bring home. We do get access to egalleys, so there is that. It's a well-done, professional production, and I'm grateful that Carol and Austin from Book Reporter share this with us. Visit their website for all kinds of great bookish content.

4)  We started watching season two of The Good Fight on CBS All Access. The casting is fabulous- Christine Baranski,  Delroy Lindo, Audra McDonald, Sarah Steele, Cush Jumbo-  many great Broadway performers and guest stars. I can see why so many people call it the best drama on TV.

5) It's Nonfiction November so I'm trying to read one nonfiction book per week. This week I'm in the middle of Guy Raz's How I Built This, stories of entrpreneurs and how they made it. The founders of Away luggage, AirB&B, and AllBirds shoes are among the many people profiled in this interesting book, which came out of Raz's podcast of the same name. It would make a good holiday gift.

I also read two novels. The first- Kristin Fields' A Frenzy of Sparks- set in 1965 Howard Beach, is about thirteen year-old Gia and her family dealing with a changing country and drugs coming into their neighborhood. Gia is interested in nature and science, so fans of Where the Crawdads Sing may like this intense family story. It's an emotionally powerful look at addiction. My full review is here.

Hazel Gaynor's historical novel, When We Were Young & Brave is about a group of teachers and Western students in China who end up living for years in a Japanese internment camp during WWII. It's a fascinating story, based in truth, and while I had heard about nurses living in internment camps during the war, I had never heard about teachers and students. If you liked Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale, pick this one up. It's stunning. 

Have a great week all- stay safe, socially distant, wear a mask and wash your hands. It's more important than ever.

Friday 5ive- July 26, 2019

Welcome to the Friday 5ive for July 25th. It was sweltering hot last weekend, thank goodness it cooled down (and that we have excellent air conditioning both at our apartment and at The Book Cellar where I volunteer.) These are five things that caught my attention this week.

1) Sunday was a scorcher but I managed to take a trip to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to attend a brunch with 60 enthusiastic readers at Cebu Bar & Bistro to hear Adriana Trigiani and Lisa Grunwald talk about writing, the creative process and Lisa's new book Time After Time, which is my favorite book of the summer. It's always good to see Adriana, and she kindly asked me to say a few words about my love for Time After Time, which I gladly did. I handed out my cards to women who asked me about my blog, so welcome new readers! I met two lovely women at my table, Reggie and Joanne, and we shared our favorite authors and books.
I also got to speak with Lisa Grunwald and her husband Steve, and they are such kind and interesting people too, I now feel like we are friends as well. Lisa's publicist at Random House, Karen Fink, took this photo of us, and I enjoyed chatting with Karen as well. Nothing is better than talking books with new people! My blog post about the day is here.

Me, Lisa Grunwald, Adriana Trigiani

2) It was a week for bookish events as two of my coworkers at the Book Cellar (Allison and Rachel) and I attended a talk about historical fiction with writers Lauren Willig, Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb at Shakespeare and Co. on the Upper East Side. The ladies were funny and interesting, talking about collaborating with other authors, how they research, and the importance of cocktails. Willig lives in our neighborhood and visits the Book Cellar, and her latest book, The Summer Country, is set in 1812 and 1854 Barbados and is a fabulous book, dropping the reader right into steamy Barbados. My review is here.
Gaynor and Webb's new book, Meet Me In Monaco is set during Grace Kelly's wedding to Prince Albert and sounds so fabulous, I can't wait to read it. My book club read Gaynor's The Memory of Violets a few years back, and we enjoyed it immensely. Her lovely Irish lilt (she lives in Ireland) is delightful too.

Hazel Gaynor, Heather Webb, Lauren Willig 

Allison and Rachel get their books signed

3) The sign of the week had me laughing out loud. The Meatball Shop has this one outside its restaurant and it perfectly encapsulates this week's heatwave.

4) Lots of us were waiting for Levain Bakery to open its new location a short 12 blocks from our apartment. They sell the most sinful cookies- Chocolate Chip Walnut, Dark Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip and Oatmeal Raisin- and I visited them on opening day to get some. I didn't even mind that it poured buckets of rain down on my head as I walked home because, you know, cookies.

5) My husband and I have been watching The Loudest Voice miniseries on Showtime, about Roger Ailes, the man who created and ran Fox News. Russell Crowe is unrecognizable and hypnotic as the bombastic, bullying and creepy Ailes, who was forced out of Fox News for sexually harassing women in his employ.

I hope you have a wonderful and cooler week.

The Lighthouse Keepers's Daughter by Hazel Gaynor

The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter by Hazel Gaynor
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks ISBN 9780062698629
Trade paperback, $16.99, 416 pages

Author Hazel Gaynor's historical novels frequently deal with stories in two different time periods- A Memory of Violets and The Girl Who Came Home among them. Her latest intriguing novel, The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter continues in that tradition.

Grace Darling lives with her parents and brother in 1838 at Longstone Lighthouse off the coast of England. She is a great help to her father, the lighthouse keeper, learning all there is to becoming a lighthouse keeper in her own right. It would be her dream to take over for her father, but alas, her brother will take over as women are not encouraged to hold such jobs.

When a terrible storm blows through and a nearby ship sinks, it is Grace and her father who jump into a boat to rescue several men and one woman who washed up on a rock. The woman, Sarah Dawson, was traveling with her two young children to visit her brother George Emmerson in Scotland after losing her husband.

The story of how Grace risked her own life to save others becomes legend, with newspaper stories written about her bravery. Artists wish to paint her portrait, people ask for locks of her hair and small pieces of her clothing, and she and her father even get to meet a duke and duchess who honor them.

In 1938, Matilda Emmerson finds herself pregnant and sent by her proper Irish parents to Newport, Rhode Island to stay with a distant cousin, a female lighthouse keeper named Harriet. Matilda is to give birth to the baby, give her up for adoption and return home to forget the whole thing.

Harriet is a bit brusque, and keeps to herself. Matilda hears her crying out for someone named Cora in her sleep, but when she asks about Cora, Harriet rebuffs her. Matilda finds a trunk with a portrait in it of a woman who has some connection to herself, and sets out to find out who the woman is.

Matilda begins to enjoy her life in Newport, making friends with a local artist named Joseph, and when she discovers a secret that Harriet has been hiding, her life begins to make sense to her. (The secret is a doozy!)

The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter is a wonderful book for young adult women to read as well. Through Grace, Sarah, Matilda and Harriet, we see independent women trying to make their way through a male-centered world, overcoming obstacles and tragedy. and finding their own strength.

I liked that there were male characters who supported these women- Grace's father, George Emmerson and Joseph- and who valued these women for their strength. Gaynor combines great characters with compelling storylines.

The Lighthouse Keeper is a poignant read, and I enjoyed learning about life in a lighthouse. I also found Grace's brush with fame interesting, and not so different from what happens in today's tabloid-filled world where people get their fifteen minutes of intense fame.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Hazel Gaynor's tour. The rest of her stops are here:

Instagram Features Tuesday, October 9th: Instagram: @lavieestbooks Wednesday, October 10th: Instagram: @kate.olson.reads Thursday, October 11th: Instagram: @sarahs_reads Friday, October 12th: Instagram: @shereadswithcats Saturday, October 13th: Instagram: @the_need_to_read Sunday, October 14th: Instagram: @simplykelina Monday, October 15th: Instagram: @dropandgivemenerdy Review Stops Tuesday, October 9th: BookNAround Wednesday, October 10th: bookchickdi Thursday, October 11th: A Chick Who Reads Friday, October 12th: 5 Minutes For Books Monday, October 15th: Doing Dewey Tuesday, October 16th: I Wish I Lived in a Library Wednesday, October 17th: 100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews Thursday, October 18th: Man of La Book Monday, October 22nd: Jenn’s Bookshelves Tuesday, October 23rd: Books and Bindings Wednesday, October 24th: Broken Teepee Thursday, October 25th: Staircase Wit Monday, October 29th: Reading Reality Tuesday, October 30th: Thoughts From a Highly Caffeinated Mind Wednesday, October 31st: Instagram: @writersdream Thursday, November 1st: Kahakai Kitchen Friday, November 2nd: Into the Hall of Books

The Girl From The Savoy by Helen Gaynor

The Girl From The Savoy by Hazel Gaynor
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062446169
Trade paperback,  $15.9, 448 pages

My book club read Hazel Gaynor's two previous historical fiction books, The Girl Who Came Home and The Memory of Violets, both about strong women who dealt with difficulty and we liked both of them very much.

Gaynor's new novel is The Girl From The Savoy, set in London just after WWI. Dolly Lane has left her small hometown, and service in a wealthy family's home with her friend Clover, to take a job as a chambermaid in the vaulted Savoy Hotel.

Dolly is running from her past and Teddy, the man she has loved since they were children, who was tragically injured in the war and no longer remembers who Dolly is. There is another secret that Dolly is running from, one that is hinted at and then slowly revealed as the story unfolds.

On her way to first day at the Savoy, Dolly knocks into a man, Perry, and the papers he is carrying are scattered. Dolly helps him pick them up and they have an interesting conversation. When she sees him throw the sheets of music he has written in the trash, she takes them with her.

Dolly dreams of stardom on the stage as a dancer and actress, and she and Clover attend the theater often, sitting in the cheap gallery seats with hundreds of other girls who have the same dreams. When Dolly sees an ad for a songwriter's "muse", she answers it and finds that it is Perry.

She becomes his muse and meets his sister, the famous stage actress Loretta May. Loretta takes Dolly under her wing, but she is hiding a terrible secret as well, one that will change everything.

Sometimes historical fiction has a contemporary feel to it, which can take the reader out of the story  but The Girl From the Savoy felt like a book actually written in the 1920's. It would not have surprised me if someone had told this book was written almost one hundred years ago. The language, the descriptions, it all felt very much of that time. Kudos to Gaynor for achieving that.

I loved being immersed in the world of the glamorous, world-famous Savoy Hotel, and seeing what that world looks like from the viewpoint of the working class people who keep it running. Gaynor must have done a great deal of research to get this just right.

The fact that so many young ladies at the time yearned to be actresses and dancers surprised me, for some reason that never crossed my mind that it was the aspiration of so many people, as it is today. I guess it is a timeless dream.

Dolly is a terrific character, a young woman who has not only the desire to build a life she wants, but she has the gumption to make it happen for herself. She overcomes tragedy through sheer dint of will.

There is one plot point that a careful reader will be able see coming and I'm not sure how I feel about that. It seemed a bit too convenient and contrived for me.

Overall I liked The Girl From The Savoy, but it wasn't my favorite of Gaynor's books- that award goes to The Memory of Violets.

My review of The Memory of Violets is here.
My review of The Girl Who Came Home is here. 
Hazel Gaynor's website is here.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Hazel Gaynor's tour. The rest of her stops are here:

Tour Stops

Tuesday, June 7th: BookNAround

Wednesday, June 8th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Thursday, June 9th: bookchickdi

Friday, June 10th: A Bookish Affair

Monday, June 13th: A Chick Who Reads

Tuesday, June 14th: 100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews

Wednesday, June 15th: Savvy Verse & Wit

Thursday, June 16th: Back Porchervations

Monday, June 20th: Dreams, Etc.

Tuesday, June 21st: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Wednesday, June 22nd: 5 Minutes For Books

Thursday, June 23rd: Kahakai Kitchen

Friday, June 24th: Into the Hall of Books

The Beach Club Book Club Reads A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor

A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor
Published by William Morrow ISBN 978-0-06-231689-9
Trade paperback, $14.99, 386 pages

The Beach Club Book Club enjoyed Hazel Gaynor's historical fiction The Girl Who Came Home, and so when the opportunity to read her novel A Memory of Violets came up with the Book Club Girl Book Club, we took it.

Irish sisters Florrie and Rose live in poverty in 1876 London, selling small posies of violets and watercress at Covent Garden's flower markets. Their mother is dead and their father is an awful man. Florrie always cared for her little sister, but one day they are separated and Florrie is panicked looking everywhere for Rose but not finding her.

Rose ended up hiding in the carriage of a wealthy woman, who took pity on the poor child and eventually convinced her husband to raise the child as their own. Florrie found refuge working and living with other young girls who made flowers to sell.

The conditions were nice, and the program was run by a kind, wealthy man who believed that helping these girls find a better life was his calling. But Florrie never stopped looking for Rose, hoping that one day they would be reunited.

The story moves forward to 1912, where a young woman named Tillie ends up working as a housemother's assistant in one of Mr. Shaw's Training Homes for Watercress and Flower Girls. She finds a journal written by a former resident, Florrie, and tries to find out what happened to Florrie and Rose.

The Beach Club Book Club loved A Memory of Violets. One of our members praised the sister theme (she has three older sisters), and compared the flower storyline to another book we had read, The Language of Flowers.

She also enjoyed the theme of how fate plays such an important part in our lives. Two quotes that resonated with her were:

"There is a reason for everything and everything has a reason. Keep a close eye on life and you'll know what the reason is."

And one quote that her children used in their yearbook was also in the book:

"Give the world your best and the best will come back to you."

Since some of us in the club are Irish, we enjoyed that aspect of the story. Irish families tend to be big and like to stay together, something we could relate to. Among the final thoughts about A Memory of Violets were that it was an enjoyable and heartwarming read, and we liked it even more than The Girl Who Came Home. We can't wait to read Hazel Gaynor's next one.

rating 5 of 5

Our review of The Girl Who Came Home is here.