Friday 5ive- June 16, 2023

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly post featuring five things that caught my attention this week.

1)  Monday evening I attended a book talk with Fiona Davis in conversation with Susie Orman Schnall at Rizzoli Bookstore. Fiona was there to launch the publication of her newest historical fiction 

The Spectacular. The book is set in 1956 New York City at Radio City Music Hall. Marion is a young dancer who becomes one of the famous Rockettes. She teams up with a psychiatrist who is helping the police in their search for the Big Apple Bomber. Fiona Davis has carved out an interesting niche for herself- she sets her novels in famous New York City buildings. (The Lions of Fifth Avenue was set in the New York Public Library main branch, Magnolia Palace was set in the Frick Museum.) She does an incredible amount of research for her novels, and for this one she interviewed Rockettes from the 1950s, two of whom were sitting in the audience. The discussion was fascinating and now I can't wait to read The Spectacular. (Side note- I got to meet Amy Poeppel, who is one of my most favorite authors, and tell her how much I love her books. The Sweet Spot is her current novel, and Limelight is my favorite. Do yourself a favor and read all of her books. They are full of humor and heart, and she was as lovely as I hoped she'd be.) 

Susie Orman Shnall and Fiona Davis

2) I continued my Tony Award-winning shows roundup with Good Night, Oscar. Sean Hayes (of the TV show Will & Grace and the podcast Smartless) won the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play on Sunday. He portrays Oscar Levant, a raconteur and brilliant classical composer and pianist, who made frequent appearances on the Tonight Show with Jack Paar in the 1950s and 60s. He also had a serious mental illness. In the play, Oscar's wife June helps his "escape" from the hospital where she had him committed to make an appearance with Jack Paar on The Tonight Show. Oscar is accompanied by an unwitting orderly who did not know where they were going, and Jack Paar did not know Oscar was in the hospital. I did not even recognize Sean Hayes, he looks so different and his voice was unrecognizeable. He becomes Oscar Levant before our very eyes. The show is filled with Levant's witticisms and cutting remarks that had the audience laughing out loud. The show ends with Hayes playing George Gershwin's jazz/classical masterpiece Rhapsody in Blue, a 7 1/2 minute song. It is as if Hayes was possessed by Levan's spirit as he plays and the audience jumped to their feet in applause when he finished. It is a virtuoso performance, one of the best I've seen and Hayes clearly deserved that Tony Award. The show is a limited run, so if you get to NYC soon, go see this one. 

Good Night, Oscar set

3) I made fried eggs for breakfast the other morning, and two of the eggs had double yolks. Is that like seeing two double rainbows? Should I have played the lottery that day?

4)  Speaking of Fiona Davis, she was a guest on Adriana Trigiani's Adriana Ink Facebook Live this week, talking about The Spectacular so if you didn't make it to Rizzoli, you can still hear Fiona speak about her book. Helen Ellis, another of my favorite authors, was on as well that day talking about her book, Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge: Intimate Confessions of a Happy Marriage  which I cannot stop
raving about. I was so happy to get my copy of the book this week so I can re-read it and read all the hilarious parts out loud to my husband. You can listen to the discussion here, and there are seven more (!) authors on that day's chat. 

5) I read a delightful novel this week- Matthew Norman's Charm City Rocks. Set in Baltimore, Billy is a single dad to high school senior Caleb, whom he shares custody with his former girlfriend Robyn. Billy teaches music to young people and lives over  Charm City Rocks, a music store. As he and Caleb watch a documentary on rock and roll of the 1990s, he admits to a crush on Margot, drummer for a popular all-female band who scored big and then imploded on live TV. Caleb does something crazy that brings Margot to Baltimore in the hopes that his Dad will tell Margot of his crush. Things don't go as planned. The story is wonderful, and the characters are good people. I always enjoy Matthew Norman's novels, going back to his debut Domestic Violets because his characters are so interesting and his books have heart and humor. My favorite scene is the car scene with Robyn and Lawson, Margot's former movie star husband. That scene was fabulous! If you liked Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones & the Six, but wished it was a little lighter, you'll love Charm City Rocks. 

Have a safe and healthy week, and Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there. I know a lot of them!

New in Paperback- Two Funny Books About Marriage

Reprinted from auburnpub.com:

With Valentine’s Day in the rear view mirror, it’s intriguing that two new releases deal with marriage and divorce in humorous novels- Matthew Norman’s Last Couple Standing and Gigi Levangie’s Been There, Married That. 

Matthew Norman’s previous novels, Domestic Violets and We’re All Damaged deal with men who are having difficult times in work and marriage. In his latest novel, Last Couple Standing, we get both the husband and wife’s stories. 

Mitch and Jessica met at college, and became one of the Core Four- four men and four women who were friends, and then all paired up and married. The group did everything together- got married, had children, lived in the same city. For nearly twenty years they were inseparable.

And then one of the couples got a divorce. It wasn’t a complete surprise, if they were all to be honest, they knew that Terry and Megan loved each other the least. Terry was cheating on his wife, so divorce was inevitable. 

After the first, came the second, which was more shocking because Sarah and Doug seemed the most in love- until Sarah reconnected with an old boyfriend on Instagram, and Doug became involved with his “work wife.”

Four months later, Amber and Alan got divorced after realizing they were never in love. All this shook Jessica and Mitch to the core. They became afraid that they would catch divorce from their friends, and wanted to find a way to avoid that disease.

Since most of the breakups seemed to be related to infidelity, Jessica and Mitch came up with a plan. They would each have sex with someone else, and get it out of their system to save their marriage. They came up with a set of strict rules, so what could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot it seems.

Norman writes characters that are so relatable, you feel like they are people you know. His dialogue seems like he has eavesdropped on people at the table next to him in a restaurant. He had me laughing out loud at some of his lines, and then in the next paragraph you feel sorry for the characters. Last Couple Standing is a cautionary tale for married adults, where you find that the grass isn’t always greener. I recommend it.

Gigi Levangie’s hilarious novel, Been There, Married That begins with Aggie, the wife of Hollywood uber-producer Trevor, at her 48th birthday party. Of course Trevor has gone all-out for the party, with the most expensive champagne at the hottest restaurant in town. He is excited to give Aggie her gift, which he makes a big production out of presenting to her in front of everyone- a Fitbit.  

And so begins their story. Aggie is a Hollywood wife who has written a novel she hopes will be made into a movie. Trevor is a classic Hollywood husband, who one day decides that he is putting his marriage in “turnaround”- which in Hollywood-speak means he wants a divorce.

Aggie is even more shocked than when he gave her the Fitbit. It appears that their assistant, who now wears her hair like Aggie’s and wears the same clothes as Aggie (wait, are those Aggie’s actual clothes?) is now sleeping in Trevor’s bed. But they just cuddle.

Aggie’s lawyer tells her not to move out of the house, so she is given a schedule of when she can use certain rooms in the house. Trevor does not want to bump into her when he is getting his breakfast.

Eventually Trevor gets nastier (if that is even possible). He sues for custody of their tweenage daughter, whom he never spends time with. Aggie gets even when her sister Fin shows up after a stint in prison. 

Fin is "the Solange to Aggie’s Beyonce"; she will not let Trevor get away with mistreating her sister. Trevor needs everything in its place, like the notepads next to the phone, which must be placed at a specific angle. Fin and Aggie move all of his furniture, and every item he owns in the house, two inches. It drove him nuts.

Been There, Married That is a hilarious novel, perfect for fans of any of the Real Housewives TV series (although I am not a fan of those and I enjoyed this book a great deal). Gigi Levangie knows how to write zinging dialogue, and having been previously married to producer Brian Glazer, she knows this Hollywood scene intimately. If you need a good laugh, pick this book up.

Last Couple Standing by Matthew Norman- A-

Published by Ballantine

Trade paperback, $17, 288 pages

Been There, Married That by Gigi Levangie- A

Published by St. Martin’s Press

Trade paperback, $17.99, 336 pages

Two Funny Books About Marriage

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

With Valentine’s Day in the rear view mirror, it’s intriguing that two new releases deal with marriage and divorce in humorous novels- Matthew Norman’s Last Couple Standing and Gigi Levangie’s Been There, Married That. 

Matthew Norman’s previous novels, Domestic Violets and We’re All Damaged deal with men who are having difficult times in work and marriage. In his latest novel, Last Couple Standing, we get both the husband and wife’s stories. 

Mitch and Jessica met at college, and became one of the Core Four- four men and four women who were friends, and then all paired up and married. The group did everything together- got married, had children, lived in the same city. For nearly twenty years they were inseparable.

And then one of the couples got a divorce. It wasn’t a complete surprise, if they were all to be honest, they knew that Terry and Megan loved each other the least. Terry was cheating on his wife, so divorce was inevitable. 

After the first, came the second, which was more shocking because Sarah and Doug seemed the most in love- until Sarah reconnected with an old boyfriend on Instagram, and Doug became involved with his “work wife.”

Four months later, Amber and Alan got divorced after realizing they were never in love. All this shook Jessica and Mitch to the core. They became afraid that they would catch divorce from their friends, and wanted to find a way to avoid that disease.

Since most of the breakups seemed to be related to infidelity, Jessica and Mitch came up with a plan. They would each have sex with someone else, and get it out of their system to save their marriage. They came up with a set of strict rules, so what could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot it seems.

Norman writes characters that are so relatable, you feel like they are people you know. His dialogue seems like he has eavesdropped on people at the table next to him in a restaurant. He had me laughing out loud at some of his lines, and then in the next paragraph you feel sorry for the characters. Last Couple Standing is a cautionary tale for married adults, where you find that the grass isn’t always greener. I recommend it.

Gigi Levangie’s hilarious novel, Been There, Married That begins with Aggie, the wife of Hollywood uber-producer Trevor, at her 48th birthday party. Of course Trevor has gone all-out for the party, with the most expensive champagne at the hottest restaurant in town. He is excited to give Aggie her gift, which he makes a big production out of presenting to her in front of everyone- a Fitbit.  

And so begins their story. Aggie is a Hollywood wife who has written a novel she hopes will be made into a movie. Trevor is a classic Hollywood husband, who one day decides that he is putting his marriage in “turnaround”- which in Hollywood-speak means he wants a divorce.

Aggie is even more shocked than when he gave her the Fitbit. It appears that their assistant, who now wears her hair like Aggie’s and wears the same clothes as Aggie (wait, are those Aggie’s actual clothes?) is now sleeping in Trevor’s bed. But they just cuddle.

Aggie’s lawyer tells her not to move out of the house, so she is given a schedule of when she can use certain rooms in the house. Trevor does not want to bump into her when he is getting his breakfast.

Eventually Trevor gets nastier (if that is even possible). He sues for custody of their tweenage daughter, whom he never spends time with. Aggie gets even when her sister Fin shows up after a stint in prison. 

Fin is "the Solange to Aggie’s Beyonce"; she will not let Trevor get away with mistreating her sister. Trevor needs everything in its place, like the notepads next to the phone, which must be placed at a specific angle. Fin and Aggie move all of his furniture, and every item he owns in the house, two inches. It drove him nuts.

Been There, Married That is a hilarious novel, perfect for fans of any of the Real Housewives TV series (although I am not a fan of those and I enjoyed this book a great deal). Gigi Levangie knows how to write zinging dialogue, and having been previously married to producer Brian Glazer, she knows this Hollywood scene intimately. If you need a good laugh, pick this book up.

Last Couple Standing by Matthew Norman- A-

Published by Ballantine

Hardcover, $27, 288 pages

Been There, Married That by Gigi Levangie- A

Published by St. Martin’s Press

Hardcover, $27.99, 336 pages

Friday 5ive- January 10, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention during the week. It's back to NYC and work for us this week, so it's been all about catching up- with mail, bills, taking down our Christmas tree and decorations- you know, the fun stuff.

1) Last year, our family all got Peleton bikes- between our family and friends, we have nine bikes! It's fun to ride together and it keeps everyone on their toes (if they are out of the saddle, as it's called.) This year, everyone got Nixplay digital photo frames. Years ago we had a digital photo frame that you had to put a memory card in. The new technology uses WiFi, and the great feature is that you can instantly send a photo to other people's Nixplay. It's fun to see a photo pop up from a family member, and we get so much enjoyment from watching ours and remembering all the good times. We got my mom one for Christmas and I had a blast loading up family photos- it's so easy too, just click on your desired photo on your Iphone and the option to send it to the Nixplay app pops right up. Our extended family now has ten of them. You can find more information at their website here.

A Nixplay photo from our son's wedding

2) A new year means setting new goals, and readers are big on doing that. TaviaReads (the host of the BookClubGirl podcast) on Instagram posted this graphic where people can share their #TBR2020 (To Be Read) goals, and mine is below. So far I have read 5 books, including the first Elena Ferrante Neapolitan series, My Brilliant Friend. I'm off to a good start, I'll keep you posted on my progress. You can go here to get your copy of it on Instagram, just follow the instructions.

3) The royal family of Great Britain is in the news this week, so I guess we may have been prescient when we created a royal family display at the Book Cellar two weeks ago. (Thanks to the people who donated the three beautiful royal family photo books.) Now I have to catch up on The Crown on Netflix, I'm only in the middle of season two.

4) My husband and I are big fans of CBS' Bob (Hearts) Abishola. It's a funny sitcom about a 50 year-old man who owns a family-run compression sock business. When he has a heart attack, his nurse is a younger Nigerian woman, Abishola. Bob (played by Billy Gardell from Mike & Molly) is smitten with Abishola (played by Folake Olowofoyeku, with a fabulous sense of timing and deadpan humor), and she likes him too. Their romance is sweet, and the supporting characters are wonderful, including the amazing Christine Ebersole as Bob's mother, a woman who speaks her mind. In trying times, it's good to have a little lightness. Give it a try, it's on Mondays. 

5) I finished two books this week- Matt Norman's Last Couple Standing, about a group of eight friends from college, who all paired up and married. Now years later, three of the couples are divorced, and Jessica and Mitch are the last couple standing. They fear for their marriage and decide that the best way to avoid divorce is to have sex with other people- with strict rules. You can imagine it doesn't work out quite the way they hoped. I liked Norman's novel, Domestic Violets, and had high hopes for this one that he more than lived up to. It publishes in March, I'll post a full review then. 

I also finished the first book in Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan series, My Brilliant Friend, the first of four books about a lifelong friendship between two women- Lila and Elena, in Naples, Italy. Everyone I know has read this series, so I thought I'd better catch up. It took me along time to get into this book, but about 100 pages in and I was hooked. The characters are indelible and the writing is superb. I hope to finish all four this year. (It's also an HBO series.)

One of the most highly promoted books at the Book Expo this past May was Jeanine Cummins' American Dirt, about a woman who has to leave her native Mexico for the United States with her young son after her family is killed by a drug cartel. Stephen King blurbed that "I defy anyone to read the first seven pages and not finish it" and he nailed it. The first chapter is so harrowing, and 100 pages in and it is heart-pounding and heartbreaking. This book lives up to the hype so far, I can't wait to finish it. It publishes January 21.

Have a good week, I hope your 2020 is off to a great start.

We're All Damaged by Matthew Norman

We're All Damaged by Matthew Norman
Published by Little A ISBN 9781503933385
Trade paperback, $14.95, 223 pages

A few years back I read Matthew Norman's hilarious novel, Domestic Violets, which made my list of the Most Compelling Books of 2011. It tells the story of a man stuck in a soulless copywriting job, the son of a Norman Mailer-like father, married to a woman he fears will leave him, father to a young daughter.

He is writing a novel, but he will always be compared to his successful father, an alcoholic with a wandering eye who comes to stay with his son. It is a family story, a workplace comedy (ala The Office), and so much more.

Norman's newest novel is We're All Damaged about Andy, a young man who has fled to NYC from Omaha after his wife tells him she wants a divorce. He is living in a hovel, working as a bartender, with a cat his only friend.

When Andy's mom calls him to tell him he must come home to Omaha because his beloved grandfather is dying, Andy reluctantly goes. He hasn't been home since his divorce and doesn't want to face his ex-wife, whom he still loves.

Once again the cast of characters is terrific. Andy's mom is a right-wing radio host whose latest rants against legalizing gay marriage have caught the attention of Fox News and may result in a gig on the network. Dad is a retired accountant who spends his day working on his motorcycle and shooting pesky squirrels with a paintgun.

Andy's brother Jim is a stereotypical finance guy who thinks he's Master of the Universe and every interaction with Andy is fraught with macho sibling brutality. Neal was Andy's best friend and is the twin brother of his ex-wife. Andy's ex-wife already has moved in her hunky paramedic boyfriend and wants nothing to do with Andy.

All this depresses Andy, and when he goes to see his grandpa, he meets a mysterious woman named Daisy who is passing herself off as his sibling so she can visit his grandpa. What is her story?

Daisy makes it her mission to bring Andy out of his funk, and she succeeds to some extent. She refuses to let Andy hide in his old bedroom, and forces him to face reality.

We're All Damaged has its humorous moments, like the three gay men who "prank" Andy's mom by throwing hundreds of Ken dolls on her lawn and glitterbombing her car. The leader of the group has a hilarious scene with Andy, who describes his meeting with them by saying he wonders "if this is what Tupac felt like right before the bullets started whizzing."

Andy constantly watches a YouTube video of an epic best-man fail that when explained later in the story is sad and funny at the same time. It becomes a crucial element of the story.

Norman is a somewhat more poignant this time around, as when he says maybe "all marriages end in a box in the basement" as he goes through all of the detritus of his former married life. His characters (Daisy, his mom, Neal) are multi-dimensional, not easy to put in a box and I appreciate that in a novel.

I love novels that give me insight into the male psyche and We're All Damaged certainly fills that bill. Andy has quickly become one of my favorite fictional characters, one I root for to get it together. I was also happy to see the shout-out to Curtis Violet from Domestic Violets. It made me smile so!

I highly recommend We're All Damaged, for the terrific characters and engrossing storyline. I also liked the setting of Omaha, we get a real sense of place there in this novel. If you are a fan of Jonathan Tropper, you'll love Matthew Norman.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Matthew Norman's tour. The rest of the tour stops are here:

Matthew Norman’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS

Wednesday, June 1st: Book Chatter

Thursday, June 2nd: Bookchikdi

Friday, June 3rd: Books a la Mode – author guest post

Monday, June 6th: 5 Minutes for Books

Tuesday, June 7th: Bewitched Bookworms

Wednesday, June 8th: Lavish Bookshelf

Thursday, June 8th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Monday, June 13th: A Bookish Affair

Monday, June 13th: Kahakai Kitchen

Tuesday, June 14th: Thought on This ‘n That

Wednesday, June 15th: Write Meg

Thursday, June 16th: Good Girl Gone Redneck

Monday, June 20th: Worth Getting In Bed For

Wednesday, June 22nd: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Matthew Norman's website is here.

Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman

Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman
Published by Harper Perennial, ISBN 978-0-06-206511-7
Trade paperback, $14.99

One of life's greatest pleasures is reading a debut novel and absolutely loving it. It's thrilling to discover a new talent and be able to proclaim to everyone you know- "You MUST read this book by this new author. It's fantastic!"

A lot of people have been talking about Matthew Norman's debut novel, Domestic Violets, and since they were people whose judgement I trust, I was hopeful. I opened the book and read the novel in two sittings. It lives up to the hype, a delightful surprise for me.

Tom Violet works for a soul-crushing corporation as a copywriter. He hates his job, except for the crush he has on a hot young copywriter that is veering toward the inappropriate.

He loves his wife, but is having problems in the bedroom department. She has been patient, but he fears that sooner or later, she may seek attention elsewhere. (It doesn't help that his young daughter has drawn a picture of Mommy, herself, her friend and her friend's Daddy, who is now Mommy's "friend").

His father, literary icon Curtis Violet, (who has sold millions of books and finally won the Pulitzer Prize) has come to stay with his son for awhile. Curtis is a great character, a Norman Mailer type figure. He drinks too much, and has cheated on every wife he has had.

The setting of the book is at the beginning of the financial crisis, and the company that Tom works for is in a constant state of laying off employees. Although Tom hates his job, he needs it. The funniest parts of the book take place in the office. Tom constantly needles Greg, the Director of Communications, who in response, files complaints about Tom with HR, including the following:

Dear HR: Tom Violet insists on smiling and saying hello to me every time he sees me, even in the men's room. However, I know that these sentiments are not sincere, and only succeed in undermining me in front of my team and fellow employees.

(Greg kind of sounds like Dwight Schrute from The Office.)

Tom has a manuscript for a novel, but he is too afraid to let anyone read it. He fears he cannot live up to his father's success. He hasn't even let his wife read it.

This sign of a good book is that I have so many pages noted for future reference; Domestic Violets has dozens of notes stuck in my book. It is uproariously funny and touching, with unforgettable characters and situations. Tom Violet has quickly become one of my favorite literary creations.

I really enjoyed the PS section at the end of the book. Norman talks about book signings, and he lists books that influenced him, including Justin Cronin's Mary and O'Neil, which I loved.

If you liked Jonathan Tropper's This Is Where I Leave You (and if you didn't, I'm not sure I want to know you), you will scream for Matthew Norman's Domestic Violets. It is one of the best books I have read this year; you MUST read it!

Norman also has a hilarious blog http://thenormannation.blogspot.com

rating 5 of 5