Friday 5ive- April 29, 2022

The Friday 5ive is back after a long hiatus. I've been away on Fridays for awhile so I have a lot to cover.

1)  I had a big birthday earlier this month, and the celebrations went on for a long time and all were lovely. My kids came over for dinner, and my husband ordered a fabulous chocolate peanut butter cake from 

We Take the Cake, bakery in Miami. He said he knew I secretly loved chocolate and peanut butter, but that is not a well-kept secret- everyone who knows me is aware of that. We all loved the cake, it tasted just like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. The next night we went to dinner at Ocean's Prime and I ordered the Deviled Eggs with Caviar on top. They were delicious, and I graciously shared them with my sons and husband. 

2)  Monday night I was awakened at 3am by loud explosions. It sounded like fireworks right outside my window, and when I opened the window blinds, that is exactly what I saw. It only lasted a few minutes, and the fireworks didn't travel very high, not even above the high rise across the street. There was a lot of chatter on the Nextdoor Neighbors website, with people not believing it was fireworks, but I saw it with my own eyes, and the next day my friend sent me a photo from the street that confirmed it. So there.

3) I am so glad that in-person book events are back! On  Monday night, Adriana Trigiani was in conversation with the charming Willie Geist talking about her fabulous new novel, The Good Left Undone, at the gorgeous Rizzoli Bookstore. (My rave review of the book is here.) Willie Geist started off by saying that interviewing Adriana is like lighting the fuse on a firework- just light it and she's off. (I wonder if Willie has an alibi for later that night....) The standing room-only crowd enjoyed hearing about the wedding that Adriana crashed in Scotland that led her to write the fictional story of the Cabrelli family in Tuscany. The Cabrellis have been gem cutters and designers for generations, and Trigiani told of taking a gemology class at Christie's auction house in New York that helped with her research. 

Adriana covered a lot of ground in this freewheeling discussion and we learned so many fun facts, such as 

1) Adriana had a mad crush on Orson Wells

2) St. Bernard of Clairvaux was not a handsome man

3) Adriana didn't know you could buy Sweet & Low in a store. Her grandmother would take the packets from the restaurant tables and put them in her purse. Her grandmother passed away in 1987 and they still have Sweet & Low packets from her stash.

4) Elizabeth Taylor had size 11 shoes. You never saw her feet in any of her movies.

Yes, the evening was filled with laughs, fascinating information about the creation of The Good Left Undone, and it was so great to see so many people I haven't seen in a long time. It was like the good old days. I even got to meet author Jane L. Rosen, whose terrific novel Eliza Starts A Rumor I sent as Christmas gifts two years ago. I'm looking forward to reading her upcoming novel, A Shoe Story, publishing in June. I can't wait to go to more in-person book events in the future. 

4)  I binge-watched season two of Bridgerton on Netflix, and I have to agree with my friends- season two was better than season one! Season one was all about the sexy with the Duke and Daphne, and season two was about the slow burn romance between Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma. We watched with bated breath as Anthony and Kate fought their mutual attraction as Anthony was to marry Kate's younger sister. Once again we had gorgeous costumes and jewelry (those tiaras!), beautiful scenery, and Queen Charlotte. I love how they deepened the family relationships, we really got to know the Bridgerton family and their friends and frienemies. I can't wait for season three. 

5)  I've read some terrific books. The first one is a true crime book, which is not a genre I normally read. Kathryn Miles' Trailed, about her investigation into the murders of two young women in Shenandoah National Park in 1996 had me riveted. Miles takes us through the missteps into the investigation, the arrest of a suspect whom she doesn't believe is guilty, and the lives of the two young women cut short by a brutal act. My full review is here. 

Jessica Anya Blau's novel, Mary Jane, comes out in paperback, and I loved this one. Mary Jane lives a sheltered life with her straightlaced parents in 1970s Baltimore. Mary Jane doesn't have many friends, sings in the church choir, and helps her mother cook dinner in order to learn how to be a good housewife. She gets a summer job babysitting for the precocious child of their neighbors, who are decidedly more progressive in their lifestyle. They wander around the house nearly naked, and don't cook meals for their daughter, subsisting on fast food and cereal. When a rock star and his famous singer/actress wife come to stay to be treated in secret by the father, a psychiatrist, Mary Jane is mesmerized by everything going on this household. Blau absolutely nails what it feels like to be a fourteen year-old girl in this wonderful novel, a perfect summer read. 

Next week, I'll share my visit to Boston. Stay safe and healthy all!

The Wonder Bread Summer by Jessica Anya Blau

The Wonder Bread Summer by Jessica Anya Blau
Published by Harper Perennial ISBN 978-0-06-219955-3
Trade paperback, $14.99,  260 pages

If Carl Hiaasen lived in California instead of Florida, he may have written a book like Jessica Anya Blau's The Wonder Bread Summer.

Set in 1983, when I was a few years older than the protagonist Allie Dodgson, the story takes place in Berkeley and Los Angeles. The story opens a bang, with 20 year-old Allie trapped in the back room of the clothing store she works in by the owner Jonas, who is trying to get Allie to snort some coke and take her clothes off. Yeah, it's that kind of book.

Jonas has not paid Allie the wages she is owed, and Allie needs the money or she will be thrown out of college, so Allie takes the Wonder Bread bag filled with coke and runs away. Maybe the coke she snorted altered her judgement, but she does not turn back. Her plan is to borrow her friend Beth's car, and sell enough coke to make the money Jonas owes her. Then she will return the rest of the coke to Jonas and all will be cool.

Well, that was the plan. She finds a surfer who wants to buy some of the coke, but she has no idea how much to sell it for. She goes home to her father's restaurant in LA, only to find it closed. Her mother is a groupie for a has-been rock band, and wants to share the coke with the band.

Allie goes on a double date with Beth and ends up almost overdosing her date- Roger, a paraplegic porn producer. Jonas has dispatched someone to kill Allie and get his coke back, but thank goodness Roger and his kindly minions are there to help her.

Oh yeah, and Allie meets 80s rocker Billy Idol and has a romantic sexual experience with him. (Blau's characterization of Idol is charming. He should sent her a nice gift basket as a thank you.)

There is a wacky premise, a chase across California, guns, drugs, sex, surfer dudes who want the coke, dysfunctional parenting, Allie's Chinese grandmother's wise sayings sprinkled in, and a very nice Hispanic family whom Allie contemplates moving in with permanently. If any of this sounds like something you find funny, then you will enjoy The Wonder Bread Summer.  It did remind me of Carl Hiaasen, with its cast of comic characters, some involved in criminal matters.

I laughed my way through this novel, and it's a great, quick beach read. I finished it in two days poolside. It's not a book for everyone, but if you are not easily offended, you'll laugh too. When you finish it, you'll want to listen to Billy Idol while craving some of Consuela's yummy pan de yema and hot chocolate.

rating 4 of 5

Jessica Anya Blau's website is here.