Friday 5ive- May 5, 2023

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly-ish post featuring five things that caught my attention recently.

It's hard to fathom that it's May already, and we've had enough April/May showers to last us for awhile.

1)  On a recent Tuesday while volunteering at the Book Cellar, we were surprised when nearly a dozen distinguished people in suits stopped by. It turns out the former president of the Dominican Republic was in town in his current position as President of United Nations Associations at the United Nations. Leonel Fernández was shopping for books to stock the Juan Bosch Library, a huge public library in Santo Domingo. He and his team picked out dozens of books about Hollywood films, current events, politics, and art. It was such a pleasure to speak with him, hear about his library, and share our story about the Book Cellar, a nonprofit bookstore staffed by volunteers who raise needed funds for the branch libraries of the New York Public Library. He was impressed that we have raised over $1 million in 19 years of existence. You never know who you'll meet at the Book Cellar. 

2)  Speaking of the Book Cellar, my fellow volunteers threw me a birthday luncheon recently. My friend and fellow book lover Allison gave me a plant, and I am proud that I have kept it not only alive but thriving thanks to the water globe she put in it.  (I have not always been successful with plants, so this is a big deal.) You fill the globe with water, turn it upside in the soil and it waters itself. I have named the plant Maisie in honor of Maisie Dobbs, the main character in Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs historical mystery series, a series of books Allison and I adore. 

3) There are some authors who I will wait (im)patiently for their next book, and Mary Beth Keane is tops on that list. Her newest book, The Half Moon, published this week and my preorder copy of the book arrived yesterday. I have read all of her novels, from The Walking People to Fever to Ask Again, Yes and now The Half Moon. Her latest tells the story of Malcolm and Jess, a married couple who are struggling with infertility, which has crushed them emotionally and financially. Malcolm has a chance to purchase the Half Moon,  the bar where he has worked for 24 years, but the bar business is difficult and he makes a decision that could lead to the end of his marriage. It's a beautifully rendered novel with gorgeous writing, and Keane creates characters that you root for to make it in this tough world. I give it my highest recoemmendation and a full review will be in my Book Report column on auburnpub.com on Sunday.

4) If you are a Broadway fan, and you Apple TV+, the second season of Schmigadoon should be on your list. This season Josh and Melissa (played to perfection by Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong) ,while looking for Schimadoon, wind up in Schimicago, where the 1970-ish Broadway musicals are a lot darker than they were in the sunny 1950s-1960s of Schimagadoon. Some of Broadway's most talented performers return, like Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tvevit, Jane Krakowski and Patrick Page. Ariana Debose's knockout performance of Over and Done in the last episode is a stunner, and Titus Burgess as the Narrator is fantastic. The songs are memorable and clever and I can't recommend this highly enough. A standing ovation from me. 

5) Circling back to my birthday gifts, my lovely daughter-in-law Anna not only organized and cooked my birthday luncheon at the Book Cellar, she also got me the best gift- a year's worth of Blind Date With A Book- Banned Book Edition. My first book was April and it is SOLD, a young adult novel by Patirica McCormick. It tells the story of Lakshmi, a 13 year-old girl from an impoverished Nepalese family who ends up working as a sex slave in a brothel. She and her family were led to believe that Lakshmi would be going to work as a maid. The story is told from Lakshmi's point of view in one page diary-like pieces. It's powerful and heartbreaking, it shows the strength of the human spirit, and I can see how it was a National Awards finalist. I can't wait for my May book, Jonathan Evison's Lawn Boy. 

Have a safe and healthy week, until next time.

Friday 5ive- October 21, 2022

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

1) Sunday was a beautiful day in NYC so we took a walk through Central Park. It was so good to see the park filled with people, and it seemed like everyone was celebrating a birthday, we ran into mutliple celebrations..

2) The Center for Fiction hosted a discussion between Silas House, about his book Lark Ascending, and one of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver, about her novel Demon Copperhead. I read an early copy of Demon Copperhead, and it is Kingsolver's best book yet, a contemporary retelling of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. Her young protagonist deals with a mother who is an addict, living in a broken foster care system, poverty and the beginnings of the opioid crisis in Appalachia. I haven't read Silas House's book yet, but it sounds fascinating. It's a dystopian story about a young man who leaves the United States for Ireland, seeking refuge from devastating fires and political persecution  where he walks across the country with a dog he finds. The discussion was fascinating about two epic books, and what it means to be a writer from Appalachia. I watched it on YouTube, but I wish I had been there in person.

3) I love getting book mail, and this week I received my Stories & Suspects box filled with fantastic mystery books from Bantam. It features the new book from Susan Elia MacNeal, Mother Daughter Traitor Spy, about a mother-daughter duo living in Los Angeles during WWII who end up spying on people involved in the Nazi movement for the US government. It has a lot of resonance for events happening today. It also has a new crime drama  by William Landay (I liked his Defending Jacob), a psychological suspense from Catherine Steadman (The Family Game- a Book of the Month selection for October), a locked room mystery by Jilly Gagnon (All Dressed Up), and their Buzz Pick, a debut novel from Erin E. Adams titled Jackal about missing girls in a Rust Belt town. The box was sponored by Tony's Chocolonely, one of my favorite chocolate treats.

4) Stanley Tucci's Searching for Italy is back on Sunday nights on CNN, and we are enjoying traveling to the different regions of Italy. The first few episodes took us Calabria, Sardinia and Puglia and we've seen a lot of seafood dishes this season. 

5)  I adore Mary Beth Keane's books, and her upcoming 2023 novel, The Half Moon, is wonderful. Malcolm and Jess are a happy couple living in Gillam, a small town a hour upstate from New York City. Jess desperately wants a baby, and after several expensive and emotionally draining IVF tries doesn't undertstand why Malcolm is willing to give up on their dream. Malcolm's dream is to own the Half Moon, a bar he has worked in for years. They are at a crossroads, and the novel explores how that came to be and where it is headed. It is  phenomenal, I read it a little bit at a time because I did not want this fantastic book to end. I wanted to stay with Malcolm and Jess forever. 

Have a great, safe, healthy week.