Recent reads: all about the women

I am embarrassed to realize that my last post was months ago. I suppose the blog police could get after me, but the truth is I really needed a sabbatical. My broken wrist took longer than I expected to heal (which I’m sure says something about my age ) and the cough and cold virus that had plagued the area all fall eventually caught up with me, compounded by a mild case of Covid and another run at the cough. I was this close to being a “frequent flyer” at Urgent Care before the virus finally left. But…

I’m diving back into the blog with some recent reads.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes your reading seems to inadvertently fall into a pattern? Three recent reads by my neighborhood book club have done just that, and I don’t think it was at all planned.

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell starts with the unlikely meeting of plain, quiet Josie and effervescent podcaster Alix as they each celebrate their 45th birthday on the same day in the same restaurant. It seems at first as though Josie has a crush on the glamorous Alix. Despite their many differences, she works herself into Alix’s life, then conspires to be the subject of Alix’s next podcast series. As Alix struggles with her husband’s growing alcohol addiction, she also begins to question Josie’s murky family situation. But Josie is great material for Alix’s podcast — until she becomes physically threatening. Some of this storyline was increasingly hard to read, as violence and possible pedophilia worked their way into the story, but Jewell handles psychological thrillers well. I won’t reveal the stunning ending, which includes a series of crimes and revelations, but it was hard to stop reading.

Our next read was The Silent Wife by Kerry Fisher. This story is told from two points of view — Maggie and Lara — in alternating chapters. In some respects their lives are very similar. They are the second wives of brothers, each parenting a troubled child. But there are differences — Maggie is a working class woman married to Nico, who lost his first wife to cancer a few years ago. Maggie is struggling to develop a relationship with his still-grieving daughter and live up to his late wife’s reputation as “the perfect woman.” Massimo divorced his first wife who didn’t want a family to marry Lara, who is determined to be the perfect wife and mother. If this sounds a little soap-opera-ish, it should. Despite likable characters (especially Maggie’s plain-spoken “Mum”), the fact that they are neighbors living across the street from Nico and Massimo’s controlling mother (and able to jet off to an Italian villa for annual vacations), secrets like adultery, an illegitimate child, and financial hi-jinks make the storyline less than credible. I read to the end because I wanted to see how Fisher was going to resolve all this, but don’t confuse this with a critical success.

Trust by `Hernan Diaz tells the story — from four different points of view — of (1) the life of Andrew Bevel, a financial baron during the 1929 stock market crash, then (2) his attempt to write his own story, then (3) his secretary’s memoir, and finally, (4) the journal left by his deceased wife, Mildred. If this sounds a little confusing, it is until you get the narrators straight in your head. Each version puts a different spin on the story of Bevel’s great wealth: how he got i9t and how he used it. The title “Trust”implies a lot: financial stability, faith in financial markets, and, perhaps most importantly, trust as in truth. Each telling of the Bevel story peels back another layer of skin (and cover-up), leaving the reader in a totally different place at the end. Critics call this a literary and a financial mystery and it is. And the evolving role of Bevel’s wife is pivotal.

If Trust minimized a woman’s role to the point of erasing her history, The Women by Kristen Hannah celebrates the untold but harrowing story of army nurses in the Vietnam War. Let me start by saying I am not among the legions of Hannah’s fans. I read her WWII novel, The Nightingale, and I thought it was good but for me it had a bit of the “magical thinking” of a romance novel. (I freely admit that no one else I know agrees with this observation.) I also read The Four Winds about Elsa Martinelli and her two children escaping the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s and their harrowing travels to California. I realize Elsa was impossibly challenged by her missing husband and the masculine dominance of that world; I just think John Steinbeck wrote the ultimate Dust Bowl novel in The Grapes of Wrath. I’m not sure it needed to be re-told.

On the other hand, The Women, which begins with a young, painfully naive Frankie McGrath on the beach on Coronado Island (a romantic setting to be sure), then drops her into an army field hospital in Vietnam where she learns surgical nursing literally under fire. The unspeakable working conditions — including enemy fire and round-the-clock surgery sessions — along with the devastating injuries suffered by the soldiers, are just one part of her Vietnam story. There were also the nurses and surgeons she loved and lived with, the pilots who delivered casualty after casualty, and those who survived and those who died. And that’s just the first half of Frankie’s story.

After two tours in Vietnam she came home to a country — as did all the other vets — that was so tired and discouraged by the war, it simply turned its back. When crippling flashbacks and nightmares made work impossible and alcohol and drugs became her escape, Frankie looked to various veterans organizations for help only to learn that they insisted no women served in Vietnam. This is the heartbreaking story we have heard from Vietnam vets for decades, but I don’t think we have heard it from a female perspective. It is, however, the heart of this novel. Vietnam was a prelude. The second half of the book was tough to read. Despite her best efforts, Frankie’s life spiraled out of control more than once.

Hannah says she had the idea for this book years ago, but simply felt her writing was just not mature enough to tackle it.I believe her. Am I a convert to her fan club? I’m not sure. There were some elements reminiscent of the romance genre (i.e., rescues courtesy of a handsome doctor or pilot), but I it’s a good read — if you can get past the blood & guts. And it’s a heartbreaking up-close and personal look at a seminal time in American history, one we have yet to truly resolve. Hannah really did her research.

I’;d love to know if you have read any of these and if so what you thought. In the meantime, my to-be-read list continues to grow. I have added The Sweetness of Water, The Soul of America, and The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store to name a few. What about you? What’s on your list?

Thank you so much for stopping by and staying to read. I appreciate your support so much.

So many books & a break

Lately I’ve been holding on to the last glorious days of Fall before launching into the traditional holiday mayhem. I realize that commerce depends on sales depends on inspiring us to buy and make for the celebration ahead, but this has been — at least so far — a beautiful blue-sky November. And I for one love
Thanksgiving — just family and friends around the table. In fact, this year I could say I’m thankful for a month or more of good reads.

I recently finished Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake. What a great book! Read it when it comes your way. First, the obvious: Tom Lake is a place not a person. When Lara’s three adult daughters return to the family farm to wait out the pandemic, they convince Lara to tell them the story of her fling at Hollywood stardom, a run on Broadway, her romance with a handsome matinee idol and how she came to marry their father and live on an orchard in Michigan. As if those points of interest aren’t enough, Thornton Wilder’s classic play, Our Town, has a recurring role. Sound good? It is.

Ann Patchett never lets readers down. If you read The Dutch House (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize) you know how adept she is at crafting a family saga spanning decades. When I read Bel Canto (winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award) I was frustrated as the story began to drag — until I realized the hostages felt the same as their isolation dragged on .

After Tom Lake, I dove into Horse by Geraldine Brooks. This story moves between centuries, from pre-Civil War horse-racing in the slave-holding South to a paleontologist and an art historian at the Smithsonian today. So many moving parts but they are all fitting together (and I’m only about 80% done!). Geraldine Books draws on real people and events in the South to illustrate the world of wealthy, white landowners and enslaved African American trainers. In doing so she illustrates a new view — at least to me — of history and southern culture.

Along the way, I also read Beatriz Williams’ The Beach at Summerly, which starts out as a kind of rich boy/poor girl romance on an exclusive island, but then turns into a plot to capture a spy (who also happens to be a war widow and single mother) passing American military secrets to Russia. Set in the years just after World War II, Summerly is loosely based on real events as the Cold War was taking shape.

Williams is a thoughtful and entertaining author, who plucks a real life story from the past snd turns it into historical fiction. You may recall I read — and recommended — The Golden Hour here about a newly widowed writer sent to the Bahamas in 1941 to cover the Duke snd Duchess of Windsor. Williams is the bestselling author of Our Woman in Moscow, The Summer Wives, Her Last Flight, The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Hundred Summers. She has also written a handful of collaborations with Karen White and Lauren Willig. I’m looking forward to going back to her booklist sooner rather than later.

But wait, there’s more …

The neighborhood book group read Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer and with it I think I hit my limit on books about women behind the lines in World War II. It’s not that I’m just burned out on this topic (although so many current novels are set then), I just thought it was poorly written. The protagonist was way too naive to be believable as a teenager in Nazi-occupied Poland. Even the language seemed out of step with the time. For example, Rimmer describes the protagonist hurrying to a secret meeting with her beau, surrounded by the enemy, as “jogging” up a hill. Was “jogging” even a term in 1939 Poland? I certainly don’t think it describes how she would be moving. It just didn’t ring true to me and at least one other member of our group agreed. I actually gave myself permission to stop reading it and move on. Do you ever do that?

There is, however, a book selection lesson here. It’s fun to read something current, a book that has a buzz. And while I think the recommendations of Oprah, Reese and Jenna Bush Hager are often great, it pays at least sometimes to search out the reviews of literary critics and other authors. Should we limit our reading to what the talk is on social media or should we lean further into the world of publishing?

Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox and explain my reading binge.

I broke my wrist.

And this is so totally corny — I broke it playing pickleball! I was reaching for a backhand and toppled sideways. My husband pointed out that as falls go, it wasn’t much. I was a little rattled and sat down for a few minutes, but then I got back in for the next game. Fortunately, it was a quick game because I realized I could not get my fingers to work picking up the ball for serving. So the games broke up and we walked home and took a look at my arm which was now swelling — a lot. You can imagine what came next: Urgent Care, X-rays, a splint, an orthopedist, a soft cast and a lot of Tylenol.

The resulting temporary handicap explains why I have had so much time to read. I am a one-armed wonder, forbidden to drive with a cast on and unable to cook. In fact dressing myself and drying my hair take significant planning, not to mention wrapping my cast in a plastic bag so I can shower. And all of this is soooo booring.

Thanksgiving is looming and this one-handed blogger may not get another chance to wish you a happy and indeed very thankful day. Lately the news is grim and the headlines are bleak. This is the time to hug family and friends a little harder and count our blessings. And you, dear readers, are the best of blessings.

Thank you for reading along. See you again soon.

Extravagant welcomes and a follow-up

On the heels of my recent soapbox rant, I want to thank all of you who read and commented on my last post. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but although I am reluctant to engage in much political banter here (I am quite good at it in person), I think of gun control as a moral issue. It’s not politics; it’s just wrong to expose our children, families, neighbors and everyone else to this danger.

Following up

I should have offered some follow-up options and I failed to do so. Like me, you may live in a state or congressional district that does not support these efforts, but these organizations are working hard to make change. They deserve our support. You may want to consider offering even modest support to Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action or The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence .

Extravagant Welcomes

I recently joined a church I have been attending for several months. Along the way, one of the pastors had been assuring me that there was no pressure for me to join, but when I did she could promise an “extravagant welcome.” I joined recently with eight or so others and we were warmly, extravagantly, welcomed with hearty handshakes, words of welcome, and a reception (with cake!).

I love the term “extravagant welcome” which I interpret to mean sincere and heartfelt. It has nothing to do with money, and everything to do with a generous spirit. It should become a regular practice. Making people welcome goes beyond our home. As a newbie in my community, feeling welcome is something with which I am increasingly acquainted. We need to enthusiastically welcome the newcomer to our exercise class or book group, to our golf league or pickle ball team. Ask their name if you didn’t catch it (or worse, if it wasn’t offered), tell them you’re glad to see them, ask how they heard about this activity, etc. The day we moved into this house, our next door neighbors stopped by to say they were going to pick up sandwiches at Subway and what would we like? That was an extravagant welcome.

As I mulled over the importance of an extravagant welcome, I realized that it may be especially important after the isolation of the pandemic. A few weeks ago one of my book groups discussed Elizabeth Strout’s Lucy by the Sea. Strout has an engaging way of writing more than one book about a character. She has written about Lucy before and about Lucy’s former husband, William, who is also a main character in this book. Like many of us, Lucy initially views the pandemic as an inconvenience that she expects will last a few weeks or maybe a month. William is a scientist and understands from the beginning just how serious the threat is and how important it is to get Lucy and their adult daughters out of New York.

Our discussion bounced between our own experiences with the pandemic and how we viewed the book. Some readers felt the book was boring, but then others pointed out that the pandemic was boring and Strout really captured that in her writing. But the big take-away from the discussion was how fresh and even raw our feelings were about the pandemic. It’s still on many minds, it’s changed us in many ways, and the effects will linger.

And if we are all a little raw or bruised post pandemic, perhaps even coping with significant losses, extravagant welcomes are especially important right now.

What do you think? Am I on to something?

Thanks for stopping by; see you again soon.

March books, cooks and looks

You may remember this book stack. Yep, still working thru it. My personal reading life is often interrupted by what the book clubs are reading,

What do chicken stock, WWI spies and a place to hang your hat have in common? They’re all part of filling long winter days. But, hey, it’s officially spring on the calendar, so pour a cup of coffee or make a cup of tea and see what I’ve been up to lately.

Books to beat the cold

When we landed here in Ohio, I found two bookclubs! Rather than play favorites, I jumped into both. One is composed of residents in my over-55 community and the other is more well-established and draws its members from the senior community in New Albany. My husband thinks I may have bit off more than I can chew keeping up with two different book clubs, but both groups are reading such great material, it’s been worth the effort. And sometimes their interests collide:tast fall both clubs read Lessons in Chemistry, a bonus discussion for me.

Last week the New Albany group discussed The Lilac Girls. It’s been a book club favorite since its release a few years ago. I started it sometime back, then put it down. I’m so glad I had an incentive to get back to it. This is a powerful — sometimes gritty — true story of women spies in WWI. Sadly, it’s one of those chapters left out of most history books, but still so important to ur understanding of history. The books ahead are certainly promising: Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout in April and The Mosquito Bowl by Buzz Bissinger in May. My other book group will be discussing Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver at the end of the month. I read it and loved it, so I’m really looking forward to that too.

(If you’re new here or if you haven’t been a regular visitor, learn more about my recent reads here, here, and here.)

Making stock to fit the pot

Bonus points for the wonderful aroma of soup simmering on the stove.

If you have cooked any Ina Garten recipes, you know that if it calls for stock Ina always recommends homemade. Several years ago when I was trying to replicate a roasted squash soup, I decided to take Ina’s advice and make my own stock. It turns out that stock is pretty easy to make and really handy to have in the freezer. (By the way, I refer to it as stock because I use bones, but it may be just broth.)

I don’t have a huge stock pot; I use a multi-pot from Williams Sonoma and it holds eight quarts,. Frankly I’ve adapted the Barefoot Contessa recipe to fit my pot. I save and freeze the leftover bones or carcass from bone-in breasts or broasted chickens. (We eat a lot of chicken!) I just throw them into a plastic bag in the freezer until I’m ready to cook. To make the stock I start with the bones from the freezer, than add 3 or 4 carrots, halved with the ends trimmed, three or four stalks of celery trimmed the same way (the leafy heart of the celery is also a nice addition), then a parsnip with the ends trimmed like the carrots, a medium to large onion, unpeeled and halved, a head of unpeeled garlic cut crosswise, several sprigs each of fresh parsley, dill and thyme, and about a tablespoon of whole pepper corns and another tablespoon of kosher salt. (I try not to overdo the salt & pepper, since the broth will get seasoned again when it’s used in a recipe).

Here are the silicone soup cubes. Each piece holds four separate cups, for a total go two quarts. I also had two full quarts that I froze from this batch. I like the cubes so much I think I may buy more.

And that’s it, that’s what fits in my pot. If I don’t have enough bones I will add some uncooked chicken thighs, but then I discard the meat with the bones, because to me it’s really overcooked. Finally I add 4 to 6 quarts of water, really what my pot can hold, and bring it all to a boil before reducing it to simmer for a few hours. Wen it’s done, I take the pot off the heat and use tongs to transfer the solids to a colander set in a large bowl to drain. With the solids out of the way, I use a fine sieve to strain the broth into freezer containers.

This is so easy. It takes me about 10 minutes to assemble and after two hours of simmering another 20 minutes to strain and package for freezing. I feel totally virtuous when I have all this broth tucked away in the freezer. My daughter-in-law capitalized on that when she bought me these silicone “soup cubes.” Each cube holds a cup of stock, perfect for portioning smaller amounts for recipes. I freeze the stock in the silicone cubes, then pop the frozen stock cubes into a plastic bag to keep in the freezer.

Look what’s new at the Reset

This space works hard and looks really good.

One of my new neighbors asked one day if I was about “done ” here at the Reset. After all, we hung pictures, even painted a wall and installed all that trim. She doesn’t know me at all yet or she would know I never stop tweaking.

And, okay, it would be fine to stop there, but we haven’t. In fact, we recently finished two additional projects that we both thought added a lot to the house. First, this mudroom space inside the garage door was begging for some storage for hats and scarves, a place to put packages, and so much more. Plus, it’s open to the entry and the library. It needed a “look” instead of looking like an afterthought.

The solution: My husband added headboard against the wall and built a fairly simple bench and we love the result! This “built-in” was a builder option that was not added to our spec house. I know I could have ordered a piece of furniture to do the same thing, but this was pretty straightforward, and I’m sure it was much less expensive for the same look.

A custom closet has long been on my wish list (I think this is true for a lot of us), so when I realized we had received a substantial discount from The Container Store as part of a welcome packet from the builder, lights started going off in my head. Our master closet is pretty generous, but the interior was just a single shelf and clothes rod — a total of 19 feet — running around the closet perimeter. As my daughter said, “a lot of wasted space.”

So, we measured the space and talked to the closet designers at The Container Store, and in fact went back and forth with them a few times tweaking the plan. They were terrific.. We eventually landed on a really workable design, but then kind of sat on the plan. We were caught up in other, more pressing projects, and, frankly, even with the coupon it was still pricey. Then came an even better sale. So, yes, we did it, installing it ourselves. Here’s a quick look at how that turned out. We love it! Our clothes are neatly stored, the floor is clear (my goal!) and we have storage space to to spare! I’ll share more details on this in a later post too, since we learned a few important points in doing this.

Thanks for reading to the end of this meandering post. Waiting for spring to finally arrive is always a challenge for me. I’m always pushing the calendar. How about you? I’d love to hear how you are waiting on spring.

Thank you so much for stopping by. See you again soon!

Books lately: Histories, mysteries, Paris and politics

Sometimes you just run into a motherlode of good books, and that’s exactly what I hit upon in the last month our so. There’s real variety in these selections, from memoir to mystery and some quintessential fiction, as well as thoughtful themes on friendship and politics. Although I continue to highly recommend Louise Penny’s Six Pines mystery series, I’ve also included Janet Ivanovich’s latest Stephanie Plum (as well as this whole series), which is much lighter and pure fun, perfect for a gray, winter day.

Memoir or biography: Two compelling reads

History, biography, politics and Paris. Jacqueline in Paris by Ann Mah has it all and, yet, I was a little hesitant to read this Book of the Month selection. Would it be too much People Magazine and not enough biography? Using substantial research on post-war Europe and the ever-present threat of the communist party in 1948 in a city still trying to regain its footing after the German occupation as a backdrop, Mah vividly imagines Jacqueline Lee Bouvier’s junior year in the city of light. Although not totally factual — Ms Kennedy’s papers are not available — it’s easy to imagine her being schooled in French art and antiques by a countess who was part of the resistance, attending class at the Sorbonne with a variety of politically active fellow students, and socializing with an equally diverse group of American expats. It’s as interesting for the political and historical setting Mah creates as it is for the role of the future First Lady. Or maybe the former First Lady is the perfect vehicle to deliver this surprising post-war picture of Paris. I’ll let you decide

Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships by Nina Totenberg is the next title for my neighborhood book club. Although we are not meeting until late January, I jumped in and read it in December and have been recommending it ever since. As the New York Times review points out, four years before Totenberg began a prize-winning career at NPR and almost twenty years before Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court, Totenberg called Ginsberg after reading the latter’s brief in an important Civil Rights case. Their friendship was well established before their careers “took off.” Totenberg recounts not only some of the highs and lows of their professional journeys, but also their personal relationship as well as those of others around them, and how they mentored and encouraged each other along the way. If you like history or memoir, admire Totenberg and/or Ginsburg, or are a reader who appreciates their career climbs, you will love this book.

A good family saga

French Braid by Anne Tyler is the latest novel from an author that never lets her fans down. Tyler’s work always seems a little light to me, at least until you get 50 pages in and realize that while she is telling an entertaining story about everyday people leading everyday lives, she is also revealing an important truth about life and love and family. I’ve been reading her books for more than a decade. They never fail to make me chuckle out loud, tear up, and continue reading long after I should have turned out the light. French Braid starts in the present, then gently falls back a few generations to tell the story of the Garrett family (always from Baltimore) and how their polite but persistent lack of communication shaped their lives and loves.

Case closed: Two mystery winners

I am a devoted fan of two mystery series, one just for fun, Janet Ivanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, and the more cerebral Three Pines series by Louise Penny featuring the professional and personal lives of Chief Inspector Armand Ganache. I knew both series we releasing new books this fall and, as soon as I heard that these latest titles were available on Kindle, I shamelessly dowloaded them and dug in. (I consider this one of the hazards of owning an e-reader. Books on demand. Who knew?)

Louise Penny’s latest Armand Ganache mystery, A World of Curiosities, was available as I was finishing Dinners with Ruth and wondering what I could read next that would be half as enjoyable. (Do you do that? Worry about what you can read next that will be as good as what you are reading right now?) The book opens with the discovery of a secret room in one of the buildings in Three Pines. While Ganache and his fellow townspeople are trying to decipher the significance of the room, the Chief Inspector flashes back to his initial meeting with brash young Beauvoir and the beginning of their professional (and later personal) relationship. As always Penny deftly handles the lapses in time and diverse characters without ever losing her reader or the master plot. As with all of the Three Pines books, A World of Curiosities is a keeper.

Stephanie Plum saves the day yet again in Going Rogue. This series is my guilty pleasure, sure to perk me up when I need it and make me laugh out loud.( I think I have already shared with you that I re-read several of her titles when I readly needed to escape the pandemic.) Going Rogue brings the entire Plum cast together, including Lula, the spandex-wearing former ‘ho; Grandma Mazur, who never misses a viewing at the local funeral home and always carries her gun; and Morelli and Ranger, the two men in Plum’s life who could not be more different. This time around Stephanie’s boss Vincent (Vinnie) Plum plays a larger role as he and Stephanie search for office manager Connie Rosolli who has been kidnapped by one of Vinnie’s bail bonds clients. Like most books in a series, Plum’s mysteries are formulaic. But fun. And we can all use that, especially in the depths of January.

What’s on your bookshelf or e-reader? Please share in the comments. Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope we meet here again soon.

A handful of good reads

Not a new release but an engaging story.

I have been on a really good reading run lately, These titles aren’t new releases and have little relationship to each other. They do, however, reflect various times in history. With the exception of Strapless which I read for one of my book groups, I picked them up because they looked good or came highly recommended. Although it’s great fun to read the new release everyone is talking about, I sometimes worry that focusing my reading there eliminates way too many good books. I’m trying to mix it up.

The Golden Hours by Beatriz Williams is one title (and not a new one) in her long series of historical fiction, a genre I really enjoy. This book alternates between the early days of WWII, in the Bahamas, when the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were in residence (and they play a significant role in the WWII story) and twenty years before during WWI. Lots of romance and intrigue and — thanks to the Windsors — a fair amount of glam.

The Paris Library (and who even knew there was one) by Janet Skeslien Charles is another novel that moves between two distinct time periods — the Nazi occupation of Paris in WWII and a small Montana town in the early 1980’s. I found the Parisian story fascinating when it focused on the various subscribers to the library and how the staff and subscribers survived during the occupation, although I found the young heroine in Paris was maybe too naive. However, the intergenerational friendship between Lily and Odile in Montana was inspiring.

If you enjoyed watching The Empress on Netflix, you may really like reading more about Sisi.

After watching The Empress on Netflix, the story of Elisabeth “Sissi” von Wittelsbach, Princess of Bavaria who became Empress of Austria upon her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph, I picked up a copy of Siri: Empress on Her Own by Alison Pataki. A friend recommended it a few years ago and I just didn’t get around to it until now, but it picks up where The Empress left off. Despite its fairytale beginning, Sisi and the emperor did not enjoy a happy marriage, but she was beloved by her Austrian and Hungarian subjects and played an often pivotal role in the politics of the day.

I’m sure I shared with you earlier that my book group was reading Strapless by Debra Davis, about Virginie Gautreau, the subject of John Singer Sargent’s controversial painting, unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon. Both were relatively unheard of at the time, and hopeful that the painting would change that. Unfortunately Gautreau’s reputation did not assume the stardom of Sargent’s. In fact she was shunned socially, though Sargent, of course, eventually assumed a stellar reputation.

The story behind the story

At the beginning or end of a book do you read the writer’s notes on how they got the idea for the book, did the research, and/or perhaps struggled to get this particular story all on paper? Often these comments are thrown in with long lists of thank-you’s to publishers, editors, assistants, researchers, family and friends. In some respects that makes them somewhat forgettable to the average reader. We just want to dig into the story itself. But then there are the times they reveal so much. I don’t know how or when i started reading these notes, but this book had such interesting roots, I think they are worth sharing.

Davis happened onto the story when a friend compared a dress Davis wore to that of Madame X, AKA Gautreau.. Curious, Davis researched and discovered the woman, the painter and the painting. And then, of course, the story and the mounting research carried her along. This is more history than novel and unlike historical fiction there is almost no dialogue. In fact another member of the book club and I both wondered when the Preface would end and the story begin, until we realized it wasn’t the preface we were reading, but the book!

So much of this is so interesting to me: the way Davis discovered the story, the amount of research she did on both of the main characters as well as other, more minor characters, to flesh out Sergant’s artistic background and the world of artists and patrons in which he moved. The same is true of Madame Gautreau who was initially something of a sensation in Parisian society and then, after the painting, led an increasingly circumscribed life.

The most appealing bookstore

And while we’re talking about books, if you have not yet seen these pictures and many more of Beacon Hill Books and Cafe, You need to up your Instagram game. Recently opened on Boston ‘s Charles Street, photos of the charming, uber-stylish interior (which is apparently also available for private parties) are popping up everywhere. Or just visit the website for a closer look.

Looking ahead, one of my book groups has chosen Dinners with Ruth by Nina Totenberg as our next read. Totenberg is the legendary NPR correspondent and Ruth refers to her friend, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I just downloaded this to my Kindle and I can’t wait to read it! These two remarkable women were friends for nearly 50 years. I’ll also be catching up the the Book of the Month Club recommendations of my daughter and daughter-in-law.

What about you? Read any good books lately?

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. I’ll be back again soon!

The September miscellaneous file

Did you give summer a proper send-off last weekend? We did with a football theme, (see below). My miscellaneous file also includes a report of my summer without a garden as well as what I have been and will be reading. I hope you enjoy the this-and-that-ness of this post as I sink my teeth into September, one of my favorite months! (It’s those bluer than blue September skies that get me every year.)

Of books, book clubs, & good reads

After decades of participation in my Wheaton book club, I cannot tell you how many people have asked if I have found a new one. The short answer is yes. In fact, I found two. First, I joined one in our neighborhood. It limits participation to less than 10 people, a far cry from the twenty members, give-or-take another ten that I am used to. And while I am uncomfortable with the size limitation (who wants to tell someone they can’t come to the discussion?), I understand the reasoning. We met recently to discuss Richard Russo’s Empire Falls, had a great discussion, and the small group allows everyone to participate fully.

Our next read is Strapless by Debra Davis, about Virginie Gautreau, the subject of John Singer Sargent’s most famous painting, unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon. Both were relatively unheard of at the time, but of course that quickly changed. Unfortunately Gautreau’s reputation did not assume the stardom of Sargent’s. It’s one of those books that has a bit of a buzz, and the story along with the 19th century art world setting should be interesting.

I’ve also discovered a very informal book group in the New Albany community. They will meet in October to discuss Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus which I just read and loved. It’s a book that begs for a conversation so I’m looking forward to that.

I’ve decided the trick to finding a good book club is identifying one that likes to read the same material that you do, and maybe — hopefully — pushes you to read a bit beyond your comfort zone. It’s great if the books aren’t always current best sellers. Empire Falls was published in 2001, but there is so much depth and layering to the characters that the conversation just kept rolling. Not every book or author lends itself to that kind of examination. Some of my fellow readers in my last book group got me started on Louise Penny, and I devoured her mystery series. But I don’t think we would ever choose one for a book discussion. And I think the same is true of a lot of writers and not only of mysteries. What about you?

My summer without a garden

I’ve missed being able to go outside and cut some flowers for the table.

If you have followed my blog for long, you know I wrote often about my garden (for example here) and about cooking from the garden (as I did here and here), but at the Reset we are still waiting for irrigation, final grading and sod before we can plant much of anything. The front has been landscaped with boxwood, day lilies and a nice bed of mulch. I’m sure we’ll add to this scheme, but not until the builder finishes his work on the lot.

In the meantime I have a few mis-matched planters of annuals on the front porch. There is no rhyme or reason to them: one over-sized pink geranium, because it was in full bloom back in May (and has continued to be so most of the summer), a pot of assorted coleus that I have cut back several times and yet it is taking over its spot along with a Boston fern from my grandson’s school flower sale. It’s also out of control. However, they don’t all really work together and so I need a better plan for next year. Any ideas?

And what about the missing vegetable garden? I honestly haven’t missed canning tomatoes (though I will probably miss cooking with them this fall). I bought some beautiful basil at the farmers market to make pesto. I do have pots with rosemary, thyme and parsley on the patio. so I can still duck out and snip what I need for a recipe.

This is Big Ten football country

Meet Brutus, part OSU mascot, part OSU ambassador.

Columbus is the home of Ohio State University (my husband’s alma mater, but that’s another story) and you only have to be here once, on a fall Saturday, to grasp the football fever that grips Columbus. So, it should not have been a surprise to me — but it was — that when I attended a community event on September 1st — two days before kickoff against Notre Dame — the event had a bit of an OSU pep rally feel to it. EVERYONE — and I do mean EVERYONE — was dressed in some variation of an OSU shirt/hat/socks/shorts, etc. And in fact Brutus, pictured here, joined us for coffee. And that was just the beginning of kick-off weekend. We dropped by a community watch party in a park on Saturday night. It was fun – a huge screen streaming the game, food trucks, and more. Frankly, I am entertained by the fans as much as the game.

Thank you, as always, for stopping by to spend a little time with me. I hope you’re having a great week. And if you’re one of the millions experiencing our extreme weather, I hope the worst is behind you.

See you again soon!

June reading: history, mystery & gossip

Wow! How did it get to be almost-July already? For me, June begins like a sweet promise — long, sunny days strung out for months. Then that image is interrupted by the flash, sparkle, and bang of July. It’s hotter, and the beach seems like a really good idea, but if you don’t act fast August is here and summer is waning. It’s back-to-school time and hay fever. Yikes! I’m making myself older just sitting here on my laptop.

Forget the calendar, what I really meant to report on today are some books I’ve read over the last several weeks. My reading life has finally moved on from a seemingly endless stream of Stephanie Plum mysteries. I was just digging into London: The Novel by Edward Rutherford (a slow start but it does get better) when I was side-tracked by Tina Brown’s The Palace Papers. The hoopla surrounding the Queen’s Jubilee got me started on this. (I’m a sucker for the Queen, the rest of the royals not so much.) I’ll be honest — it begins with Camilla and Diana and ends with Kate and Megan. And the Queen is always at the center because, well, she is the Queen. Charles, Andrew, William and Harry play their respective parts, because no soap opera is complete without the men. There is definitely a soap opera quality to the book.

Brown draws from credible sources, though she rarely ever names them relying instead on her reputation as a journalist. What did I glean from this besides a lot of juicy gossip? First, power is everything in royal circles. If you have it, you need to keep it; if you have no power, you need to find some. It’s pretty simple. Second, a lot of this power is granted to secretaries, schedulers and PR teams (and, yes, everyone has one of them too). In fact it seems the royals often communicate via secretary to secretary. And if you have ever played telephone, you know how that goes. What a complicated life!

After that read I needed a bit of a palate-cleanser, so I picked up A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham. My daughter-in-law gave me this book for Christmas, along with a membership to the Book-of-the-Month Club, but then I got so focused on moving I put it aside. It was the perfect read! The story focuses on Chloe Davis, whose father was jailed 20 years earlier for a series of murders of young, teen-age girls. Now, after two decades and just as Chloe is about to marry, two more young women die in the same way. Chloe is oddly connected to these victims and forced to revisit the earlier murders to resolve the current ones and clear her own name. Solving the crime isn’t simple, and the mystery takes a number of twists and turns. I thought the unexpected ending was a stunner — when I finally got there. If you love a good mystery, this is for you.

Looking ahead, this is my to-be-read stack, above. I’m really looking forward to This Tender Land by William Kent Kruger. I read and loved his earlier novel, Ordinary Grace, more than a few years ago. It’s one of those books that just stays with you. Read it if you can. My daughter gave me The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. It’s one of her recent favorites. We both loved The Invention of Wings, also by Kidd. Finally, I’m looking forward to All That She Carried by Tiya Miles, a true story of an enslaved woman in 1850’s South Carolina and the bag she prepared for her nine-year-old daughter before they were separated. The bag continued to be shared thru subsequent generations. This may not be a “summer read,” but I’m looking forward to it.

And that’s my summer reading plan for now. How about you? Any recommendations?

I’m so glad you stopped by & wish you a star-spangled July 4th holiday.

See you again soon.

Putting our stamp on the Reset

Our second move — from rental to new house — has posed some interesting creative opportunities. This house is much more open with more flexible living spaces, making how we want to use them the challenge. We think we’re getting a handle on it, and Steve and I have dived in, unpacking boxes and making the Reset our own. For someone who loves tweaking and arranging as much as I do, this is the perfect project.

Once we saw the “flex room” under construction, Steve and I knew it would make a great library.

Those of you who visit Ivy & Ironstone regularly know I am a book lover and find it nearly impossible to part with many of my books. Add to that a shelf or two of books that I have kept from my parents, as well as Steve’s library and you can see why we moved 28 boxes of books. (Okay, some were partial boxes, with other items included. But still, 28 boxes!)

I have been saving images of library walls and bookshelves to a Pinterest page since long before we knew we were moving, so you can imagine I had plenty of ideas on how to stow my library. And this house has a “flex” room off the foyer that Steve and I both thought would be perfect for a wall of book shelves.

Sourcing the shelves

Now that we had the space, we had to find the shelves. Months ago i started looking into buying finished book shelves. That resulted in serious sticker shock. I knew it would be pricey, but yikes! I decided to search out other options just to see. Our realtor suggested her handyman, so after we moved in I asked him to come by and look at what I had in mind. Alas, I had a “furniture look” in mind and that was not at all what he was envisioning. So, I’m saving his talents for other tasks, but I still needed the shelves and a place for all those books.

Along the way, Steve and I had both been attracted to some Ikea hacks, including more than one involving their various bookshelf components. We made a few trips to Ikea checking out the options in person, coming home to measure again (and again!), and then finally purchasing three Hemnes bookcases in the black-brown finish. They’re made of solid pine with six shelves, five of them adjustable and one fixed for added stability. This was not a huge financial investment, so we thought we’d give it a try.

Originally, we assumed we’d use four bookshelves because that fit the length of wall perfectly, but the shelves are deeper than the adjacent wall. We didn’t think we’d like the idea of them extending five or six inches into the doorway. We also thought we would choose white, but decided it might be a little “blah” against the pale walls and all the white trim. I knew I was going to use these shelves to show off some of our collectibles, and the dark background is a great foil for the ironstone and transferware I’ve used there.

The shelves went together easily, but assembly definitely took time.

We used additional hardware to anchor the frames together and then to the wall.

Once the shelves were up and anchored, I literally flew into action unpacking books, collectibles and arranging. This was so much fun!

The shelves need some finishing touches: some trim top and bottom and perhaps some lighting. But we had to stop here and move on to other projects just to get the boxes unpacked. Here’s some of the styling I did with pitchers, baskets and candlesticks.

I had not started out thinking I would put my baskets on top of the bookshelves, but I think they really work!

I used to gang all these candlesticks on my dining room table (with candles of course) and I loved that look. So, I tried it here, I just couldn’t fit in the candles!

Lessons from moving a collection

One of the things I’ve learned in the moving process is that I need to let go of some of my ironstone and transferware collections. This is in part a space consideration. I just don’t have the display space I once did. But I’m also opting for a leaner, cleaner look. When the realtors finished staging our former home for sale, I wasn’t at all thrilled about what they kept and what they removed, but I really liked the cleaner look. And to tell you the truth the house was beginning to look a little too granny-ish. So my new mantra is “keep the best, let go of the rest. “

I know I said I left five pitchers on top here, but I “borrowed” one for flowers on the kitchen island. And I just noticed the crooked print hanging above. Oops!

When I was styling the bookshelf, I used four of my favorite ironstone pitchers. Then I put another five of the best and biggest ones atop another cabinet. But I still have eight of them on a shelf behind this cabinet door, along with assorted sugar bowls, sauce tureens, etc. I used to think that I could never have enough white ironstone; now I’m not so sure.

I have always loved collections — the bigger the better — and the character they lend to a space. And frankly I love the look of the blue and white transferware, the ironstone and the shelf of brass candlesticks on the library wall. I could “rotate my stock” from time to time or I could have a sale. What would you do?

Thank you so much for stopping by. It’s taken me a while to get my head out of the boxes and back into the blog. But there’s so much more to talk about, like what I’ve been reading (did you see my Instagram post of the Book Loft in German Village), what I’ve cooked now that my kitchen is open for business, and have you seen “Downton Abbey: A New Era” ?

See you again soon!

Reading lately: It’s (almost) all a mystery

It’s been awhile since I have shared recent reads, and in gathering the titles for this post it’s clear that mysteries are my current genre of choice. And why, you ask? Mysteries are my go-to when I have a lot on my mind (like moving to a new state). In a series they can be a bit addictive, individually they capture my imagination but don’t require a big mental investment from me.

Some, like the Stephanie Plum series below or Sue Grafton’s alphabet series (A is for Alibi) or Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series are addictive. They’re fun to read, and there’s always another title to tackle. They’re like binge-watching a favorite Netflix series.

As you know, I am a huge fan of Louise Penny and her Inspector Ganache series of mysteries, so I was intrigued when she left Three Pines long enough to team up with Hilary Rodham Clinton to write State of Terror, a page turner about a newly appointed female Secretary of State defusing an international crisis. This could have been a cliche, but not in their capable hands. I’m sure co-author Clinton is one of the few people who could provide the insight into international negotiations on which this plot hinged, as well as the behind-the-scenes life of a cabinet member. Penny is the ideal co-author to deftly maneuver the plot twists and turns the book into a true who-done-it. But one of the real joys in this story is how the Secretary of State and her best friend and confidante manage the crisis. It’s two women “making the world a safer place.” This is not great literature, but it is a really good read.

My daughter-in-law gave me The Neighbor’s Secret by L. Alison Heller. Much like Liane Moriarty, Heller has a breezy style writing about the residents of an upper class suburb and the female book club members in this novel that act as the unofficial communications/moral code police/leadership system for the community. Sound familiar? In addition to the book club, their paths intersect at school functions and social events. Their kids are friends or not. Rivalries come and go. The story begins with a handful of acts of vandalism. Who would do such a thing in this lovely community and why? And the mystery proceeds. This may not be as gripping as Louise Penny, but it has its moments. And you may find yourself reading more just to see what happens to the book club member that reminds you so much of your next-door-neighbor. Read this on the beach this summer, then pass it on to a member of your book club.

And while we’re on the subject of beach reads, I started reading Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, etc.) on the beach in South Carolina well over a dozen years ago. Plum is a hapless Trenton, New Jersey, bounty hunter who readily admits she captures her fugitives more by luck than skill. Her sidekicks include Lula, a former ‘ho, who consumes fried chicken and various donuts to calm herself, and Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur, who never misses a viewing at Stiva’s Funeral Home. Her back-ups include Ranger, a former military type with a profitable and mysterious protection business, and Morelli, a hunky Trenton cop and her on-again, off-again boyfriend. There are a host of other regular characters too, which makes this series at once fun and a little formulaic. I read several of these mysteries (and always laughed out loud at least twice in every one) before deciding that the stories were so similar I could not remember what I’d read. And I moved on.

But then we started this moving project and I needed a light, late night reading escape when I couldn’t sleep. I discovered the series had added several new titles. Stephanie Plum had moved all the way to Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight. So, for several weeks I was back in Trenton, catching up on Plum’s recent adventures, at least until they got a little too formulaic.

No mystery, just a fun read

Stanley Tucci’s latest book, Taste: My Life Through Food, is essentially a biography of his family’s love affair with cooking, the recipes handed down from his Italian grandparents to his parents to Tucci and his sisters. His focus moves from his mother’s cooking to other memorable meals — from comfort food to celebratory food. Much of it is Italian, but it’s also French, Asian, British and more. (Tucci is both well-traveled and an adventurous eater.) Some of these cooks have Michelin Stars, some are preparing their mother’s treasured recipes in their own kitchen. If you watched “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” on CNN, you got a taste (no pun intended) of his appreciation of food and culture. This was a fun read — Tucci writes like he talks in the CNN series. He drops just enough Hollywood and Broadway names to keep the reader waiting for more, and he includes a number of recipes, his own and others from the chefs in the book.

What’s next?

Here are a few on my short list:

London, the Novel by Edward Rutherford. You may recall I had a very slow start to his Paris book but then loved it, so I’m looking forward to London;
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. Erdrich is a favorite author and this book is also featured in a recent issue of “Shelf Awareness” by Page 1 Books;
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones, recommended by Modern Mrs. Darcy, among others. My book club loved his American Marriage; and
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham, a Book of the Month pick from my daughter-in-law.

What are you reading and/or recommending now? I’d love to hear!

Thanks for stopping by!