Friday 5ive- October 25, 2019

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly post where I discuss five things that caught my attention this week. I was in Florida for a girls' weekend last week, so this post covers two weeks.

1) I attended the annual ArchCare Gala at Gotham Hall this week, hosted by my husband to benefit the ArchCare Foundation. Along with 500 other people, I saw former NY Yankee Tino Martinez speak a few words. He told a funny story about trying to get Yankees tickets for his former school principal, a nun, and her friends. It was sweet, and anyone who attended Catholic school would appreciate it. The entertainment for the evening was provided by the New York Tenors, who sang three songs and had the audience on their feet. This is a clip of them singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."

Tino Martinez

2) I saw a whimsical tea pot display at the Mackenzie Childs store in New York City. Look at the hands coming out of the wall holding the tea pots, so very clever.

3) This vibrant red sky over the East River greeted me this morning as I got up early to do laundry.

4) I watched the entire season 3 of The Handmaid's Tale last week. I stayed up until 1:30 in the morning to finish the last three episodes, and it was so intense that I could not sleep afterwards. My takeaway- the allusions to the Underground Railroad were terrifying, and those Marthas are badass women. 

5) It was a week for biographies about famous women. The first one I read is Janis by Holly George- Warren, which tells the entire life story of Janis Joplin, and I found the second half of the book more interesting than the first, after Janis starting becoming famous. She was a blazing talent, an addict, and a lonely woman.  I'll be downloading her music and writing a review of the book soon.

The second biography is also about a cultural icon- Carrie Fisher. Sheila Weller's  Carrie Fisher- A Life on the Edge  fully recounts Fisher's life from her childhood to her death in 2017, when she had a heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles. Fisher was bipolar and addicted to drugs. She spoke and wrote candidly about her struggles in both in her fiction and nonfiction books, as well as in her brilliant autobiographical stage piece, Wishful Drinking, which I was lucky enough to see on Broadway. (My blog post about that is here.) It's a compelling book, but Carrie's family has recently disavowed it, saying they did not contribute to it. It does make me want to read all of Carrie Fisher's novels and watch all of her Star Wars movies. My review will be up soon, and the book publishes on November 12th. 

I hope you had a great week too, let me know what you've been up to in comments.

Friday 5ive- June 21, 2019 edition

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

1) On Sunday, Father's Day, my husband wanted to go to the Mercado Little Spain a market located in the new Hudson Yards on the west side. The market is the Spanish version of Eataly, filled with small areas  and restaurants where you can get produce, fruit, meats, cheeses, churros, tapas, paella and delicious sangria. The big tourist attraction is the Vessel, a giant public sculpture that has 154 interconnecting flights of stairs where you have a beautiful view when you get to the top. I'll have a blog post about our visit to the market soon.

The Vessel

2) On Thursday I went to Book Culture, a lovely little book store on the Upper West Side to listen to Lisa Grunwald talk about her fabulous new book, Time After Time with author Betsy Carter. I absolutely loved Time After Time and the conversation was so fascinating. Carter and Grunwald are journalists as well as authors so they both knew their way around an interview. I'll have a post about the evening soon. I'm afraid I fangirled a bit when I met Lisa and I almost left without my books! Her daughter Elizabeth offered to take a photo of us. Seriously, read this book, it's one of the best ones I have read this year. My review is here.

Me and Lisa Grunwald

3) As I came out of my post office today I saw a Postal Police car outside. I'd heard of the postal police, but had never actually seen them until today. They're probably going to arrest all the people who continue to put their UPS and FedEx return packages in the USPS drop box. Apparently it's a serious problem. Book 'em Dano.

4) I started season three of The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu this week. I just finished episode three, Mary and Martha, which was a brilliant episode. Watching Bradley Whitford and Elisabeth Moss in their scenes together is just a master class in acting. As a huge West Wing fan, I enjoy seeing Josh Lyman and Zoe Bartlett spar. And no one can act better with just her face than Moss. Check out the last shot of the episode in the photo below. Better watch out Gilead.

Elisabeth Moss as June

5) I read Susan Page's biography of Barbara Bush, The Matriarch, this week. Page was able to interview Barbara Bush five times before she passed away, and the book is filled with insight into a woman that we may think we know because she had been in the public eye for so long, but there are surprises here. I found it illuminating, and Page's access to Mrs. Bush's journal entries was invaluable. I especially enjoyed her grandchildren's take on the strong woman they called Ganny. Her rules for visiting the family home in Kennebunkport had me shaking my head and saying, "Yes, you tell them Ganny!" The Matriarch is a must-read for American history and biography readers.

I hope you had a good week and happy summer!