10 books for every April mood
and 3 cookbooks while we are at it. Because it is impossible for me not to include as I do read them like novels:)
April is looking busy right now with lots of out of town guests (my favorite!) and a zillion lacrosse games, meetings with college counselors etc. But I want to get some reading done. It makes me sane when life is crazy. It kind of bookends my day in the best way. I actually noticed it last night when I was pretty sick with the flu and couldn’t sleep….like at all. I ended up reading a few pages (ok maybe a page) of Curtis Sittenfeld’s last book of short stories Show Don't Tell. The stories are a bit ordinary in the best way. Real people figuring out real problems amongst all the things life is throwing at them. I love a good book of short stories!
I’m also in the middle of In a Human Voice by Carol Gilligan which is for a bookclub the head of school does about every 3 months. I really like her and go to all her bookclubs as she has some really interesting and insightful interpretations.
Anyway, these are all the books on my radar and the ones I am excited about! Honestly I get these from everywhere, book sites like Zibby Media, Sarah's Bookshelves, NYT What to Read Now (although they recommended All Fours which, try as I might I could not proceed after about 60% of the way through…it just gets too “out there” and normally I don’t mind a little out there but this goes way past a little:).
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy A thriller set on a remote island, a mysterious women washed ashore and a storm coming. I’m in. It has climate change vibes too I am hearing. 100% of people I have spoken to about this book literally cannot put it down.
When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter. I am SO excited to read this one. He became Editor in Chief of Vanity Fair in 1992, around the time I started working at the ad agency that did all of Levi’s advertising and I was knee deep in magazines. I loved it, love magazines and still do. We did a lot of advertising in Vanity Fair and they threw some amazing parties. It’s not like that anymore, well hardly any magazines are around anymore, but this will be a fun romp through that world, will be so fun to see what was “going on behind the scenes”.
Dare I Say It by Naomi Watts. Ok, here is the book no one is talking about but everyone should be talking about. Hooray, hooray Naomi! A few short years ago there was zero on the market if you wanted to read up on menopause, and many (including me) just slogged through. Why I will never know, was I trying to keep it quiet? Not complain? I guess I was. There was a brief offer of HRT but at the time it was associated with cancer and many doctors just glossed over it. I think it takes a lot of guts for a beautiful and successful actress to come forward about this, and I’m here for it!
Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. I love Joan Didion but haven’t read this one. The Year of Magical Thinking was my favorite, hoping this one can stand up to that one!
The Last Flight by Julie Clark. I read this last year, then my daughter just finished it and I was reminded how good it was by seeing her reading it everywhere just to get to the last page. A thriller of the best kind!
Rich AF by Vivian Tu—-Ok, I love this book, I love her podcast, I love her! She is so flipping smart about money and shares her wisdom in tidbits everywhere. She also has an amazing YouTube channel where she shares gold nuggets like this. Just smart, no nonsense advice, will be required reading for my daughters.
Careless People-A Cautionary tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams. “Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the wrenching but fun story of Facebook, mapping its rise from stumbling encounters with juntas to Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction when he learned of Facebook’s role in Trump’s election. She experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, all while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to “lean in.” I have heard all kinds of reviews on this book, some good, some kind of neutral. But I think it is at least partly true honestly and a worthy read if for no other reason than to expose yourself to what life was like, in her interpretation, for one women within Facebook. She has been banned from talking about it and just that fact alone speaks volumes. I can’t wait to read it!
Girl Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis. She has written a bunch of books and they are all whoppers. I don’t even put this in the self help bucket, more like the “inspiring you to change things that aren’t working” bucket. I read this one like five years ago, and it honestly inspired me to quit putting up with things I didn’t like, or at least some of them! At the time I had a big boss I loved and a direct boss I didn’t. I was always trying to make him like me, impress him, etc until I realized that nothing was going to do that. For whatever reason, he and I were not meant to get along. So I accepted that and just did the best job I could. The situation was the same but my attitude toward it was 100% different and it made me feel a lot more in control. I still think he is a major jerk by the way. Regardless, this book will empower you and make you look at things with a different lens. I loved it, please go read this one.
The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf. This is genius! I have not read this in a long time but someone brought it up the other day and I remember how much I loved it. This is how she describes it. It's the beauty myth, an obsession with physical perfection that traps the modern woman in an endless spiral of hope, self-consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfill society's impossible definition of "the flawless beauty." Honestly I don’t see this that much in this part of Southern California, but literally ten miles down the road I do. Teenagers wearing so much make-up you cannot see their faces. Older women the same. I don’t want to set that standard of beauty for my teenage daughters, I’d rather have them focus on themselves rather than who everyone else wants them to be.
I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself: One Woman's Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris by Glynnis MacNichol. Who does not want to imagine themselves in another country at the moment? For some reason Spain and Italy pull at me most but Paris is right up there.
On to the cookbooks!
Plenty More: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi. Worth is for the eggplant with black garlic alone, but there are so many more amazing recipes to try. This book, like all his others, is fabulous! You may have to hunt down an ingredient or two but it is all worth it!
Malai: Frozen Desserts Inspired by South Asian Flavors by Poova Bivishi. As many know, I have an Indian husband (never lived in India but his parents grew up there). As such I’ve had many amazing homemade Indian dinners and basically crave the food all of the time. But the desserts I am not as familiar with. Mango deserts are very popular and this book has a bunch to choose from, like mango and cream and mango lassi kulfi pops. Now this one doesn’t come out till April 8 so plenty of time to get ready to order this beauty.
Pastry Love by Joann Chang. She has another one called Flour that I love almost as much. So much goodness in this one. The strawberry slab pie is to die for. I promise!
Happy Reading, and cooking!
xo,
Lesli