The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor by Patricia Crisafulli

Reprinted from auburnpub.com:

Sometimes you read books that just speak to you at the right time in your life. This month’s Book Report has two such books.

The first is a cozy mystery by Patricia Crisafulli titled The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor. (A cozy mystery is a mystery that’s no blood or gore or anything too scary.) Gabriela is a 40 year-old divorced mom of ten year-old son Ben who moves back to her hometown of Ohnita Harbor from New York City after her divorce. 

In New York City, Gabriela worked in Authentications at the New York Public Library. Back home in Ohnita Harbor, she works in the town library, which is the oldest library in the country still in its original building, called “the Fortress”. 

Like most community libraries, it is struggling financially. Gabriela is organizing a rummage sale to raise funds and, with a group of volunteers, is wading through the mountain of donations. When they open up one box of donations, they discover an intriguing ivory cross that looks like like could be an antique worth a great deal of money.

 Word gets out about the cross and many people are interested. The library maintenance man Mike seems overly curious, as does a local antique dealer who offers his assistance, and the head of the library board of directors becomes increasingly insistent that the cross be sold immediately before a true assessment can be made.

When a local banker and good friend of Gabriela’s is found dead in the harbor after seeing the cross, it is assumed she accidentally drowned. Soon after, a body is found dead on the library lawn. Is the cross cursed or is someone after the cross?

Gabriela uses her contacts to find out more about the cross, and discovers it may have belonged to St. Catherine of Siena, a medieval saint whose head is actually on display as a relic in the Duomo de Siena in Italy. If this cross belonged to St. Catherine, it could be worth enough to save the library.

There were many things that spoke to me about The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor. The setting is a stand-in for Oswego, the author’s hometown and where I attended college. I volunteer at The Book Cellar, a used bookstore located in a New York Public Library branch, and we get donations of books all day every day, so I totally related to Gabriela’s job.

I have visited the Duomo de Siena, and saw for myself the head of St. Catherine. Gabriela’s friend has a basset hound, and I used to have a beloved basset myself. 

The characters in the book are interesting. Gabriela is described as “a truth teller”, perhaps a nice way of stating she says what she thinks whether people want to hear it or not. Her young son Ben is portrayed realistically; he can be sweet and kind, and then cranky and self-centered as many children his age are. 

Gabriela’s mother Agnese is from Tuscany, and Gabriela is glad to be able to be back home to care for her mother after she was widowed and now has a health scare. Agnese’s Italian comes in handy when they need to speak to people in Siena.

The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor is a fascinating mystery, and the local setting will appeal to many who live in the area. I highly recommend it and am glad to see that there will be a second book in the series, The Secret of Still Waters Chasm, set in the Adirondacks.

The other book that spoke to me was the fourth in Laurie Gelman’s Class Mom series, Smells Like Tween Spirit. This time Jen Dixon’s tween son is on the wrestling team, which means Jen must become a wrestling mom and deal with a particularly unpleasant mom from a rival team. 

Her adult daughters decide to quit their jobs and team up to start a health food cafe (without killing each other), she’s going through a dry spell with her husband, and she has to deal with her Dad’s dementia and her Mom’s inability to face that, all this while teaching her favorite spin classes. 

This one is truly funny and a little bittersweet. If you’ve ever been a sports mom (I was) you’ll relate, and you’ll laugh out loud at Jen’s antics as she tries to keep the wheels of her life spinning. Another highly recommended from me.

The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor by Patricia Crisafulli- A

Published by Woodhall Press 

Trade paperback, $19.95, 369 pages

Smells Like Tween Spirit by Laurie Gelman- A

Published by Holt Paperbacks

Trade paperback, $17.99, 256 pages

  

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

TLC tour schedule:

Saturday, September 17th: The Cozy Book Blog – author guest post

Monday, September 19th: From the TBR Pile – author guest post

Saturday, September 24th: @abduliacoffeebookaddict23

Monday, September 26th: Bookchickdi

Wednesday, September 28th: @kristens.reading.nook

Thursday, September 29th: @paws.read.repeat

Friday, September 30th: @fashionablyfifty

Monday, October 3rd: Laura’s Reviews and @laurasreviews_1

Monday, October 3rd: @kenzathome

Tuesday, October 4th: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, October 6th: What is That Book About – author guest post

Thursday, October 6th: Kahakai Kitchen

Sunday, October 9th: Subakka.bookstuff and @subakka.bookstuff

Wednesday, October 12th: @thebookishalix

Wednesday, October 12th: @always_reading1

Friday, October 14th: @books.ashley.reads

Monday, October 17th: @welovebigbooksandwecannotlie

Monday, October 17th: She Just Loves Books and @shejustlovesbooks

Wednesday, October 19th: @booksandcoffeemx

Two Tales of Hollywood

The Comeback by Ella Berman 

Published by Berkley ISBN 9780593099513

Hardcover, $26, 376 pages

A Star is Bored by Byron Lane

Published by Henry Holt ISBN 97881250266491

Hardcover, $26.99, 352 pages

I recently read two novels set in the world of Hollywood- Ella Berman's The Comeback and Bryon Lane's A Star Is Bored. After reading these two intriguing books, I'm not sure that I'd want a career in Hollywood.

What sets Berman's novel apart is the strong first person narration of the story. It begins with 23 year-old Grace Turner being recognized by a fan in the CVS store where she is picking up her mother's diet pills. Grace is known as Grace Gold, teenage star in director Able York's most successful movies. 

Grace was discovered by York as he was looking for a young teen to star in his movie. He brought Grace and her parents from their home in London to Hollywood, where he convinced her parents that he could make Grace a star- and he did.

York became her mentor and she became his muse. She bought her parents a home in nearby Anaheim, but became estranged from them as she appeared in all of Able York's movies over the years. He became a celebrated auteur, and she was his muse. She did the whole young Hollywood thing- drinking, drugs, marrying young.

Able and Grace had a falling out, and Grace's latest attempt in film without Able left her confidence shaken. She slunk back to her parents, where she has been hiding out for a year, eating dinner on TV trays with them and hiding from life outside.

Able is set to be awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award and Grace is asked to to present it to him. She sees this as an opportunity to tell the world what happened between them, but does she have the strength to do so?

Grace's voice is so vivid in this intensely personal story. We see Grace as her star is rising, and the aftermath of her destructive behavior. Moving back and forth in time gives this story a jarring juxtaposition, letting us in on Grace's state of mind. Given the reckoning in Hollywood recently, this is a timely story. I recommend The Comeback, and look forward to Ella Berman's next book. The Comeback was a recent Read With Jenna pick.

Bryon Lane had a job as an assistant to actress Carrie Fisher, and in the write-what-you-know line, his novel A Star Is Bored tells the tale of Charlie, a young man who longs to leave his job on the overnight shift at a local television news station. He gets the opportunity to become the personal assistant to Kathi Kannon, daughter of a Golden Age of Hollywood star, and a star in her own right, having created the role of Priestess Talara in the worldwide phenonomon series of science fiction/action movies. 

Kathi has a drug problem and suffers from bipolar disorder. She has wild mood swings, spending days in her bed alternating with expensive shopping sprees and trips to Vegas. She gives Charlie a highly inappropriate nickname (she needs her own Human Resources Department), and he is charge of waking her each day with her medications and Diet Coke.   

Charlie organizes Kathi's life (the label maker gets quite a workout), and spends a lot of time keeping her out of trouble and on track writing the book she has already spent the advance money on. As difficult as she is, she is also raucously funny, and there is never a dull moment with Kathi. They form a friendship, but as anyone who has dealt with a drug addict knows, that bond gets tested. Charlie discovers that his life is not his own, but belongs to Kathi, day and night.

A Star is Bored is hilarious, and also moving. Kathi and Charlie have a sweet relationship until they don't. Kathi's mom (the Debbie Reynolds doppleganger) fiercely loves her daughter, but all her efforts to help and protect her don't work. 

If you have read Carrie Fisher's memoir Wishful Drinking or saw the HBO version of the stage show based on that, you will get an extra level of enjoyment from this endearing novel. I recommend it.

Hollywood is a tough place people.

Two under-the radar books

Reprinted from the Citizen:

If you liked watching TV’s Parks and Recreation for the description of small-town government, Nina Bocci’s latest novel, On The Corner of Love and Hate is perfect for you.  

Emma Peroni works in the economic development office of her small town in Pennsylvania. Emma’s dad is the popular mayor of the town, and now ready to leave politics and enjoy retirement. He would like to see Emma’s coworker, handsome, charismatic Cooper, run for mayor, and he asks Emma to help Cooper win the election, just as she had done for her ol’ dad.

The problem is that Emma is not a fan of Cooper’s. They have known each other since high school, and Emma feels that Cooper tries to skate by on his charm. She has been picking up his slack at work while Cooper has been courting the voters, and she has no desire to help Cooper even more.

Being from a small community also means the dating pool is smaller than in a big city, and Emma’s love life is less successful than her work life. Her mother would like her to date someone nice (like Cooper), and Emma’s recent dates haven’t exactly been winners, but Cooper is catnip to all women and that does not appeal to Emma. But when Cooper appears to be involved in a scandal, Emma has to come to the rescue.

On The Corner of Love and Hate is a delightful, sweet story, with characters who seem like people from your own small town.

Now that school is back in session, Laurie Gelman’s You’ve Been Volunteered (her sequel to Class Mom) is a timely September read. Jen Dixon has three children, two adult daughters and an elementary-aged son. Her best friend has moved away, and her husband is preoccupied with trying to expand his sporting goods store business.

Once again Jen has been asked to be room mother for her third-grade son’s class, and since she was so successful at that, she has also been asked to head up the volunteer program for safety monitors. As we all know, the better you are at a job, the more jobs you are given. Unfortunately this job is not as easy as class mom.

And once again, readers are treated to Jenn’s hilarious emails to parents about classroom activities, parent/teacher nights and what not to bring to the Halloween party. We delve more into Jen’s life, and I especially liked Jen’s interactions with her aging parents and her loving, supportive husband.

If you enjoy American Housewife on TV, You’ve Been Volunteered is a book for you.

BOOK: On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci

GRADE: B+

PUBLISHER: Gallery Books

COST: Trade paperback, $16

LENGTH: 336 pages

---

BOOK: You’ve Been Volunteered by Laurie Gelman

GRADE: B+

PUBLISHER: Henry Holt & Co.

COST: Hardcover, $26

LENGTH: 268 pages

Class Mom by Laurie Gelman

Class Mom by Laurie Gelman
Published by Henry Holt and Company ISBN 9781250124692
Hardcover $26, 304 pages

Summer is a great time for light reading, and I love nothing more than picking up a really funny book and laughing my head off. Laurie Gelman's debut novel, Class Mom, caught my eye with its title. Since I was a class mom more than once, I bet I could relate to this one.

From the very beginning, Class Mom had me in stitches. Jen Dixon has two daughters (by two different men) in college and is now happily married to "Baby Daddy #3 and Husband #1" Ron Dixon. They have a young son Max, now headed to kindergarten.

Jen gets a call from her best friend and "reigning high priestess of the school's PTA" Nina, begging her to be class mom for Max's class. Jen was class mom for seven consecutive years when the girls were in elementary school, a record that still stands at William Taft Elementary, and it was the worst job she had since she worked at Allstate.

Now she is the oldest, "oh, sorry, wisest" mom in kindergarten, and she reluctantly takes the job as class mom. The highlights of the book are Jen's hilarious and sarcastic emails sent to the parents that, according to the author, were based on the ones she sent to parents when she was class mom at her child's New York City school. (She was fired from her position.)

Jen's emails are everything every class mom wishes she had the guts and humorous instincts to send, including rewards for those who respond quickly to emails and punishments to those who don't. They are filled with shout-outs, un-PC statements, and cutting sarcasm that some of the parents either don't understand or are very upset about. Jen does get called to the principal's office.

We meet the various parents, including one whose child is allergic/sensitive to everything (or maybe it is the mom who is that way?), one family who always volunteers to bring cups, and one mom who always sends the fastest response stating that she is out of the office. Every. Single.Time.

Miss Ward, the kindergarten teacher, is a bit of a puzzle too. She is young, dresses way too provocatively for Parent's Night, and doesn't believe in celebrating class holidays, like Halloween and Christmas. Her idea of a class trip is to go to the city recycling center.

One of the dad's in the class is an old high school crush's of Jen's, separated from his child's mother. There is some fun sexual tension there, though Jen deeply loves her wonderful husband Ron.

Jen and Nina try to figure out who is the mysterious "out of office" mom (why has no one met her?) and what the deal is with Miss Ward, as well as work to keep Jen from getting fired from her volunteer class mom position.

You don't need to be a former class mom to enjoy Class Mom, but if you are, you will laugh until you cry with recognition reading this hilarious book. I gave my favorite class mom friend a copy and she agreed with me.

I give Class Mom my highest recommendation- an A+.

All the Time In The World by Caroline Angell

All The Time In The World by Caroline Angell
Published by Henry Holt ISBN 978-1-62779-401-5
Trade paperback, $15, 321 pages

There is nothing so exciting as discovering a debut novel.  Caroline Angell's first book, All The Time In The World, brings to life the world of the Upper East Side of New York City, as seen through the eyes of Charlotte, a young woman who is working as a nanny to the two young Maclean boys.

Charlotte is also a music composer who is trying to come to terms with why she is not working in the music business. She finds herself distancing herself from her college friends, and her friends and family worry that she is becoming too attached to the Maclean family and forgoing her own dreams.

She adores Matty and George, the two young boys she cares for. She and Gretchen, the mom, get along well, and she doesn't see Scotty, the dad who works long hours in the finance industry, very often.

When a tragic event occurs that threatens to tear the Maclean family apart, Charlotte is thrust into a different role; she becomes the glue that holds them together. It is up to her to get the boys to school, to deal with their teachers, run the household, and help them understand a world that no longer makes any sense to them.

Charlotte is very close to her sisters and they are becoming more worried for her, afraid that if she doesn't get out and begin her own life now that she never will. But Charlotte loves Matty and George and feels an obligation to them.

I loved the character of Charlotte, and even though I am years older than her, I related to her a great deal. Her sense of responsibility to the Macleans was something I understood in my heart. Her relationship with her sisters felt so true-to-life, I'm sure that Angell must have sisters of her own.

Her connection with Matty and George was so sweet, and yet frustrating as well. I have two sons of my own and I smiled with recognition, thrust right back to the days when they were little guys as I read of Charlotte trying to corral them in their everyday lives.

Charlotte also has a complicated relationship with Scotty, the boys' dad, and Patrick, Scotty's slightly irresponsible playboy brother.

Angell writes some powerful, emotional scenes, such as one set at a hospital that just tore my heart out. All The Time In The World is the kind of book that worms its way into your heart, and you will feel so many different emotions reading it. Charlotte is a woman you will not easily forget. I highly recommend All The Time In The World.

Caroline Angell's website is here.

BEA 15- Book Group Speed Dating with Publishers- Part 2

Continuing on with Part 2 of BEA's Book Group Speed Dating with publishers hosted by BookReporter.com, we have five more publishers who shared their favorite upcoming books with us.

Henry Holt had two books I liked:

• Tenacity by J.S. Law is psychological thriller set on a submarine. When there is a murder on the submarine, a tough female naval investigator must solve the case and bring the murderer to justice. There seems to be a theme this fall of strong female characters in books, and I like that. On sale November 3rd
• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande was a big book talked about at last year's BEA. Dr. Gawande shares his thoughts on how the medical community and society seems to avoid planning for the end of life, and to celebrate the fact that the book is still on the bestseller list, Henry Holt gave each participant a copy of this most important book that everyone should read. On sale now

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt presented three interesting books:

• Girl With A Gun by Amy Stewart was a big presence at BEA, with over 1000 advanced reader copies being handed out. Stewart, the author of The Drunken Botanist, based her novel on the true story of one of the first female deputy sheriffs, set in 1914 Hackensack. I'm very excited to read this one. On sale September 1st
• Dietland by Sarai Walker  is a provocative novel about an overweight woman saving up money for weight reduction surgery who gets involved with a "shadowy feminist guerilla group". They are calling this one "Bridget Jones meets Fight Club", which sounds too crazy to pass up, and Dietland received a rave review in Entertainment Weekly. On sale now
• How To Start A Fire by Lisa Lutz is not the next book in Lutz's hilarious The Spellman Files, but more of a traditional women's fiction book, about friendship and secrets, but still retaining Lutz's signature sense of humor. A friend of mine read this already and loved it. On sale now

Other Press had one book I was intrigued by:

• Couple Mechanics by Nelly Alard was described to us as a "yummy French novel". Who can resist that description? Based on a true scandalous story, Juliette and Oliver are a modern busy French couple, parents to two young children. Oliver confesses to an affair, and after a Fatal Attraction scenario, Juliette must decide whether to kill or help her husband. On sale January 19, 2016

Penguin shared two books with us that excited me:

• Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh was an Editor's Buzz Book. Eileen is a young woman working a dead-end job in a boy's prison in 1960's Boston area, supporting her father. When a glamorous woman joins the staff, she sweeps Eileen up in a crime scheme, and Eileen is both delighted and horrified. On sale August 18th
• Fates and Furies, by Lauren Groff and from their Riverhead Books imprint, tells the story of marriage, told from both the perspectives of husband and wife. It reveals how "the key to a great marriage is not in its truths, but in its secrets." I loved Groff's The Monsters of Templeton, and she writes so beautifully I know this one will be great. On sale September 15th

St. Martin's Press also had two books I wanted to hear more about:

• Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford was a book everyone was buzzing about at BEA. Clifford, a journalist at The New York Times takes on in hot topic- Upper East Side wives- in her debut novel. Her main character is a transplant from Maryland who does her best to fit in with the wealthy women in her new neighborhood. Called "a 21st century Bonfire of the Vanities mixed with Prep and Rules of Civility", this one is at the top of my TBR list. On sale August 18th
• Hemingway in Love by A.E. Hochner is one that fans of The Paris Wife will enjoy. Hochner, who was good friends with Hemingway, writes a lyrical, beautiful account of Hemingway's Paris affair that destroyed his marriage to first wife Hadley, the woman he called the love of his life. This is a great opportunity to hear about Ernest Hemingway from someone who knew him well. On sale October 20th

Again, I'd like to thank Carol Fitzgerald and her terrific team at BookReporter.com for putting together this fantastic opportunity for all of us to speak with the publishers and hear about what they think will be the big books of fall.

Part 1 is here.

The Whites by Richard Price

The Whites by Richard Price writing as Harry Brandt

Published by Henry Holt ISBN 9780805093995

Hardcover, $28, 352 pages

Reprinted from the Citizen

Last month I binge-watched “The Wire,” the HBO series that many people consider the greatest TV drama ever. After I finished the five fantastic seasons, I discovered that Richard Price, the novelist who wrote for the show, had a new crime novel publishing in March.

He wrote “The Whites” under the pseudonym Harry Brandt. Many famous writers write under pen names — Stephen King (Richard Bachman), Ruth Rendell (Barbara Vine) and Nora Roberts (J.D. Robb) among them. Price did it because he said he wanted to write a story different than what he usually writes.

The first thing you notice about “The Whites” is the striking cover. It is stark black and white, with four cops walking up steps, and under them is the skyline of New York City. The type is raised, giving it a rich feel, something not usually seen in crime novels.

“The Whites” is a literary reference to Moby-Dick, the great white whale that destroyed Captain Ahab’s ship and took off his leg. Ahab vows revenge, no matter what the price.

The whites in this story refer to criminals who got away with heinous crimes years ago. When Sgt. Billy Graves, who commands the Manhattan Night Watch detective unit that investigates overnight crimes then hands them off to the unit detectives in the morning, comes upon the murder of a man who was one of his old unit’s “whites,” it brings back bad memories.

Back in the 1990s, Graves was part of “The Wild Geese,” a tough anti-crime unit consisting of four cops: Billy; Yasmeen, the only woman in the unit, now head of security at a local college; Pavlicek, retired, who now owns apartment buildings; and Redman, who owns a funeral home.

Graves accidentally shot and killed a 10-year-old boy while trying to arrest a crazed drug addict, and the fallout from that created a media circus, complete with protests outside his home; that cost him his marriage and put his career in the dead zone, going from one lousy posting to another.

Graves is now married to a nurse, who has some sort of emotional/depression problems, and they have two rambunctious young sons. He does his best to be a good dad and husband, but he feels there is something behind his wife’s problems that he can’t get to.

When another of the Wild Geese’s four whales is killed, and then a third is seriously wounded, Graves becomes convinced something is going on with the members of his old unit.

But how does he get to the bottom of it without questioning his old partners? After all, they all stuck by him following the shooting, and when his wife was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown, they helped care for his sons.

A reporter from a local newspaper claimed she had information that Graves was high on cocaine when he shot the young boy, but she lost her job when her information was determined to be incorrect.

The reporter, who now writes a sex column for an online magazine and works as a private investigator, calls Graves to tell him she has some information he may might want about the shooting he is investigating.

While all this is happening, a man named Milton Ramos is plotting revenge against Graves’ family. He has something very personal against Graves and his family, and as the story progresses we find out what it is.

Ramos accosts Graves' son at school, leaving a red paint handprint on the boy’s coat. A stranger picks up Billy’s dad, who has dementia, and leaves the older man to wander the streets of Harlem. A bag of bloodied clothes and toys are thrown on his porch.

Graves must find out who is after his family and why, and if it has a connection to the whites or his old partners, who once again rally to help Graves when his family is in trouble.

“The Whites” is a crackling good crime novel, one that you will stay up all night to finish. Its themes of family, honesty and the price of loyalty are beautifully done, and give the reader much to contemplate. And the city of New York is a terrific character here as well.

I liked the relationships, especially between Billy and his father, and Billy and his wife, and the writing is superb, definitely a cut above most crime thrillers. Fans of “The Wire” should pick up “The Whites”; it’s a great follow-up.

rating 5 of 5

Short & Sweet Review: The Widow's Guide to Sex and Dating by Carole Radziwill

The Widow's Guide to Sex and Dating by Carole Radziwill
Published by Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 978-080509846
Hardcover, $25, 320 pages

Genre: Fiction

The Plot: Claire Byrne is married to Charlie, a reknowned sexologist, author of many books on the subject. One day, he is killed by a huge statue falling from a crane on Fifth Avenue in New York. Claire finds herself a widow in her 30s and completely lost as to what to do next.

She goes to two different therapists, visits psychics and even follows a griot, a storyteller who travels the city sharing stories about famous New York City dwellers, to try and find her way to a new life. Then she meets Jack Huxley, the notoriously heterosexual movie star whom every woman wants, and has some sort of relationship with him.

Throughout the novel, Claire shares the rules she is learning about sex and dating for widows, like 

Rule #34- "Never discourage anyone who continues to make progress, no matter how slow" (Plato)

Rule #29- A boy says, "Have a good trip", a man says "Call me when you land."

Short & Sweet Review: I loved Carole's emotional and moving memoir What Remains, about losing her young husband to cancer and her two best friends, John F. Kennedy and his wife Carolyn in a plane crash. It is a brilliant book, and so I was interested to see what her fiction would be like.

This is definitely a book for anyone who loves to immerse themselves in the wealthy NYC culture; those who religiously watch The Real Housewives of New York City will love it (and Radziwill is a cast member of that show). 

Claire is an interesting character, a little snarky, and her journey through widowhood (the depression, the setups with widowers forty years older) rings true. She is trying to find her place after being in the shadow of her famous husband, what her friend describes as "Charlie's Sundance to Claire's Butch Cassidy. "He cheats at poker and shoots up the room" Sasha liked to say, "while she collects the money and tidies up." That is a fantastic description of their marriage.

The best part of the book are the Jack Huxley sections. Huxley clearly is meant to be George Clooney, and Radziwill dated Clooney years ago, which makes this novel all the more delicious. I'm not sure Clooney will be thrilled though.

Fans of Gigi Levangie's books (The Starter Wife) will like this one; there is the same mix of humor and poignancy.

rating 4 of 5

Carole Radziwill's website is here.

Most Talkative by Andy Cohen

Most Talkative : Stories From the Front Lines of Pop Culture by Andy Cohen
Published by Henry Holt and Company ISBN 978-0-8050-9583-8
Hardcover, $25
Source- won on LibraryThing

I first saw Andy Cohen when he hosted the reunion show for Bravo TV's Flipping Out, a reality show about house flipper/designer Jeff Lewis. I wondered who this Cohen guy was and from where he came.

Cohen is an executive at Bravo TV, and besides foisting on the American people The Real Housewives of  (insert one of many cities here), he also hosts Bravo's Watch What Happens Live, a crazy nightly talk show that has counted among its guests Jerry Seinfeld, Ralph Fiennes, Holly Hunter and every real housewife. Oh and they frequently drink on that show, so it's hilarious.

I confess that I used watch the Housewives franchise (NY, NJ, Atlanta, Beverly Hills), but it began to consume me, so I gave it up. (I still like Flipping Out.) I won a copy of Cohen's memoir, Most Talkative: Stories From the Front Lines of Pop Culture, and I have to say I was utterly charmed by this book.

He begins by recounting his interview with Susan Lucci, (Erica Kane of All My Children, Cohen's and his mother Evelyn's favorite soap opera) while a student at Boston University at the time. He also ends his book with another Lucci encounter, and it is the perfect way to bookend his pop culture life story.

Cohen interned at CBS News, and ended up working on CBS This Morning for a decade. The show was  the lowest rated of the morning shows, but I found this section of the book the most interesting. His story about accompanying Dan Rather on a story about western wildfires was fascinating, although I recently read Rather's latest memoir and Cohen is sadly not in it.

There are lots of pop culture references here, including Cohen's obsession with Oprah Winfrey and the few times he got her to agree to interviews did not go well. He has his own Ah-ha moment when he learns that trying to trick Oprah is a big mistake.

Fans of the Housewives shows will be enthralled by his chapter on hosting the reunion shows. He gives the reader the inside scoop, and even though I swore off the Housewives, I admit to enjoying this chapter immensely.

Cohen's love for Battle of the Network Stars took me back to my childhood and love of the show. He even tried to emulate it with Bravo's version, Battle of the Reality Stars, which didn't take off (and that is probably a good thing.)

There are some serious moments here too, and Cohen struggling with telling his friends and family that he is gay really tugs at the heartstrings. I think anyone who is going through the same thing (or has gone through it) will get something from this book.

The only chapter that fell flat for me was the one about pulling pranks on his mother with his best friend; that was the only miss in this delightful book.

The book is very funny, reading it is like sitting down and listening to Cohen tell you his life story, warts and all. You can hear his distinctive voice and see his head tilting in your mind as you read of his  delightful walk through pop culture. I think the audio version of this book would be amazing.

rating 4 of 5