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.

Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams

Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062834782
Hardcover, $27.99, 400 pages

Many readers know Beatriz Williams' Schuyler Sisters series of novels, featuring generations of her fascinating fictitious family. Her last novel, The Golden Hour, took place in Bermuda during WWII, with the infamous Duke and Dutchess of Windsor as major characters.

Her newest novel, Her Last Flight, combines the real with the fictitious with the story of a pioneering female aviatrix inspired by the story of Amelia Earheart. Told in two different timelines, in 1948 we meet Janey Everett, a WWII war correspondent and photo journalist, who is writing a book about Sam Mallory, a famous pilot who was once stranded on a deserted Pacific Island with Irene Foster, the iconic female aviatrix, after their attempt to fly from the United States to Australia ended abruptly.

Foster and Mallory became a cause celebre, as the world breathlessly followed the attempts to find the downed airplane. When they are eventually rescued weeks later, people all over the world want to hear about their escape and what really happened while they were stranded together on the island. Foster becomes a celebrity, and Mallory returns home to his wife and young child.

In 1937, Irene Foster disappears during an around-the-world race, her plane thought to have gone down in the Sahara Desert.

Janey Everett ends up in Hawaii, convinced that the woman named Irene Lindquist is in fact Irene Foster, who did not die in 1937. Everett supposedly wants information about Sam Mallory for her book, and she won't give up until Irene confesses her true identity.

Her Last Flight zooms back and forth between Irene and Sam's story on the island, Janey's attempt to get information about Sam Mallory from Irene, and parts of the book that Janey actually ends up writing. Each storyline is equally intriguing on its own, and Williams' skillfully weaves them together as the novel reaches its surprising conclusion.

I was so invested in each character- Janey's hard exterior and quippy dialogue, Irene's ambition to be a pilot and her love for her family, Sam's ambivalence between what he wants and his responsibility- I felt for each one.

Williams puts in a few twists that had me literally gasping as I read them, I love when a book surprises me like that. I always enjoyed history class in high school, and when an author writes a historical novel that captures me as much as Her Last Flight did, I can only say "Bravo". This one is Beatriz Williams' best book yet. I highly recommend it, especially for fans of historical fiction and strong female characters.