Friday Five- Good Friday Edition

Welcome to the Friday Five, where I share five things that caught my attention this week.

1)  The flowers are finally in bloom in NYC. It made me smile to walk out of our apartment building and see these bright, beautiful tulips greeting me.

2)  My eyeglasses fell off a shelf and so I had to add a trip to Warby Parker to my errands to get them fixed. While I wasn't too thrilled with their customer service when I purchased my glasses, their customer service to get them repaired was quick and efficient. I waited less than five minutes for a optician to straighten those babies out. In the middle of their store is this huge round column, and at the top of the column are color-coordinated books, sans their dust jackets.

Warby Parker

3)  While I was walking the Upper East Side getting all my Easter items, I listened to the latest Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend podcast. This week's guest was Patton Oswalt, a comedian who right now is starring on NBC's comedy, A.P. Bio, which is hilarious. Oswalt has guested on so many TV shows (Parks & Recreation, Justified, Veep, the narrator on The Goldbergs), I can prett much guarantee you've seen him somewhere. I laughed so hard listening to him and Conan that my side literally hurt by the time I got home.

Conan O'Brien's podcast is https://teamcoco.com/podcasts

4)  The second episode of FX's limited series Fosse/Verdon aired this week. Sam Rockwell plays choreographer/director Bob Fosse and Michelle Williams plays Fosse's wife and partner, Gwen Verdon who inspired him, worked closely with him, and was betrayed by him, and they are both brilliant. This week's episode dealt with Fosse directing the movie Caberet, and we got deep into their relationship from the first meeting to their affair while he was married to someone else, and his affair while married to Gwen. Williams was amazing in a recreation of a dance sequence from the Broadway show Damn Yankees. Don't miss this one.  The link to the trailer for Fosse/Verdon is here.

5)  So many great books published on Tuesday, April 16th! Last week, I told you about Stephanie Evanovich's Under the Table (my review here) and Helen Ellis's Southern Lady Code (my review here). I read Irish novelist Sally Rooney's Normal People, which tells the story of two young people, a wealthy young lady and the son of her mother's housekeeper, who have an off-an-on relationship over the years. It's beautifully written, and it's hard to believe Rooney is just 28 years old.

I read Alafair Burke's The Better Sister in just a few hours because I could not put it down. When Chloe's lawyer husband is murdered, she and her estranged sister Nicky (and his previous wife) come together to protect Ethan, his son who the police believe to be a suspect. The are so many secrets here, and I gasped more than once as they were revealed. It's a great airplane/beach read .My reviews of the last two books will be up soon.

I wish you all a Happy Easter and Happy Passover.

Under the Table by Stephanie Evanovich

Under the Table by Stephanie Evanovich
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062887580
Hardcover, $26.99, 272 pages

Under the Table is a slight departure from Stephanie Evanovich's first three novels, which featured sports more prominently, and characters that appeared in all three books.

Her new novel, Under the Table, introduces us to Zoey, a young Midwestern woman who separated from her husband and moved to New York City to live with her sister Ruth.

Ruth has a good job and loves to go out at night, flitting from guy to guy. Zoey is trying to get her personal catering business off the ground when she meets Tristan, a shy, wealthy tech guy who appears to lack social skills.

Zoey falls in love with Tristan's state-of-the-art kitchen, and anyone who loves to cook will swoon as well as the description of his kitchen. (And as someone who lives in a moderately small NYC apartment, I definitely had kitchen envy!)

She befriends Tristan and after hearing the story of how he grew up with his grandparents, Zoey vows to help him become a little more hip. She takes him clothes shopping, and they enjoy each other's company.

Tristan, in return, takes Zoey golfing. Now I have to admit that I don't really think of golfing as sexy, but Evanovich is such a terrific writer, she makes a golf outing hot. (I tip my golf cap to her.)

Zoey doesn't want to fall for Tristan as her marriage situation is an issue, and Tristan doesn't want to fall for Zoey for the same reason, but of course they do as the course of love never runs smooth as they say.

I adored Under the Table! Nobody does sassy, sweet and sexy better than Stephanie Evanovich. You want to be friends with her characters, and my favorite one in this book is Phyllis, the truck driver who picks up a hitchhiking Zoey.

I also loved that Tristan was a big reader, and the shout-out to Jackie Collins made me smile. (I got to meet Collins at a book signing, and she was one of the loveliest people I have ever met.)

I always say that you should read Evanovich's books by the pool because there are always a few sex scenes in them that after you read them, you're gonna need to cool off a bit, and Under the Table is no exception. I highly recommend Under the Table, it will take you away for a few hours and boy do we need that nowadays.

Friday Five- April 12, 2019

The Friday Five rolls on with five things that caught my attention. This week was a two-part one as well- we went back home to central New York for the weekend and returned to NYC.

Dinosaur fossil

1) We attended a fundraiser for Catholic Charities, which was held at the American Museum of Natural History near Central Park. I'd never been to an evening event there, and it was pretty cool. The cocktail hour was held in the main foyer, where the huge dinosaur fossil stands guard. Then we descended the stairs where the dinner was held under the Great Blue Whale model suspended from the ceiling.

The tables under the Great Blue Whale

2) We made a quick trip home to Auburn, NY where we attended a very successful fundraiser for our sons' Catholic School, St. Joseph School. It was so wonderful to see family and friends! We began our visit with dinner at my husband's favorite area restaurant, Rosalie's Cucina in Skaneateles. We shared their delicious warm spinach salad, and my husband had his favorite veal dish, while I had the Farfalle Con Pollo, which is fabulous and filling. At the end, they brought out their Banana Budino dessert, which is heavenly for banana lovers. Our dinner companions were a joy as well.

Banana Budino

3) On Wedneday, I attended a matinee performance of Broadway's Hillary & Clinton, starring the always amazing Laurie Metcalf (The Conners) and John Lithgow (The Crown). The show takes places in 2008 in a hotel room in New Hampshire during the Democratic primary. It also takes place in an alternate universe, so things are slightly different. The show is fantastic, and the performances outstanding. It is hilarious one moment, and heartbreaking the next. At its core, it is about a marriage, and it's very poignant. I highly recommend it.

4) I watched Mrs. Wilson on PBS' Masterpiece. The story revolves around Alison who, while working as an typist for MI5 during WWII, meets the charismatic Alexander Wilson. They fall in love, marry and have two sons. Alex is a spy for Britain, so he is gone for long periods of time. When he dies at home in the early 1960's, Alison discovers that she is not his only wife. Her journey to find out the truth about his life drives this fascinating story. An interesting piece of the story is that Ruth Wilson (The Affair, Jane Eyre) plays her own grandmother Alison in this three-part series. Again, I highly recommend it.

5) There are two amazing books publishing on Tuesday, April 16th. I got to read  an early copy of Helen Ellis' essay collection, Southern Lady Code, which is laugh-out loud hilarious. While reading about her adventures in NYC, I felt like I was right there along with her, and I can hear her mother's Alabama voice in my head drawling "Helen Michelle" and then sharing her bits of Southern wisdom with her. If you need a laugh (or two or three), pick this up next Tuesday. 

The other book I read was Stephanie Evanovich's novel, Under the Table, about a private chef who left her husband behind in the midwest to move to NYC with her sister. Her newest client is a millionaire who knows technology but is socially clueless. Zoey offers to tutor Tristan, and their friendship turns into something much more. Evanovich's books are always sexy and sassy, and who knew that a game of golf could be so hot. If you need a spring break read, put this one in your tote bag. 

I hope you had a great week, let me know in comments what you found interesting.