When I decided this month’s reading list would be centered around the idea of beach reads I could not have foreseen the number of cooking memoirs my coworkers would suggest. In retrospect, I shouldn’t be too surprised given the number of recipe swaps that take place among TPM staff and the fact that we have a Slack channel simply entitled “food.”
Any book by Donna Tartt. You won’t be able to put it down.
OMG, cooking memoirs! Don’t get me started!! It’s one of my favorite genres!
Yes! Ruth Reichl comes to mind. So much fun.
The author isn’t anyone I’d care to have a meal with (Michael Farris is the founder of Patrick Henry College–think further out than Falwell’s diploma mill), but the book is worth a read today. Borrow it from a library rather than get Farris your royalty money.
The book is A Death in the Islands: The Unwritten Law and the Last Trial of Clarence Darrow. It is a retelling of the events around Terr of Hawaii vs Massie, et al. (the Massie trial). It is the story of racial discrimination and white privilege. It’s depressing to a guy born in the Territory of Hawaii, but it matches the sad history of race relations in paradise. Maybe things are better now in some respects, but maybe not. I can’t make up my mind. It’s definitely worth a read in light of today’s events.
WTF is “toxic masculinity”? Who coins these phrases? Does it refer to something palpable? Measurable? Observable? Quantifiable?
John Sandford’s “Masked Prey”, his new Lucas Davenport crime thriller. Lots of relevance for these times, in a good thriller that is set in and around D.C. Smart and fun.
Any of James Lee Burke’s David Robicheax novels. There are plenty of them so can suffice for a whole summer’s rental.
Jackie - thanks for an outstanding list. David Kurtz, thank you too! I thought the world of Tamar Adler’s ‘An Everlasting Meal’ and Bill Buford’s ‘Heat’. Here’s another wonderful book for you: it’s from Laurie Colwin, ‘Home Cooking’. She was a standout at Gourmet Magazine and so missed. Look for her books and articles.
I’ve just finished “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” by Susan Collins, and if you enjoyed “The Hunger Games” series, this one is a must. Sure, it’s “YA”, but I kind of like that genre, in that there’s less gratuitous sex and foul language. Your mileage may differ.
No “Harry Potter”? Well, that series is done, and J.K.Rowling has gotten herself demonized by the trans-human movement, because she keeps insisting that there actually are such beings as “biological women.” I recommend her (aka “Robert Galbraith”) new series, the Cormoran Strike detective stories. Four are out: “The Cuckoo Calling”, “The Silkworm”, “Career of Evil”, and “Lethal White”, with the latest due in September. Not an “anti-trans” word in any of 'em, in case you were wondering.
“toxic masculinity”
Heh. You know it when you see it. I suggest the “adult” works of Robert Heinlein and most Tucker Carlson broadcasts.
In the Old Days we called them loutish, boorish, uncouth, poorly socialized males – much like Trump.
Remember back when some female teachers wanted to label typical boy behaviour “attention-deficit/hyper-activity disorder” so the boys would be medicated to act like girls? Now that behaviour is called toxic masculinity. Anybody who tells me I’m exaggerating hasn’t seen the tweets I have. So, measurable: no, quantifiable: no, obsevable: in the eyes of the beholder. I suppose bullying would be called toxic masculity, but of course girls can be nastier bullies than boys.
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but as one who loves language, it disturbs me to see terms coined for disruptive behavior that has been around forever. That does not mean we need not try to curb it, but we don’t need new phrases that paint immature boys as suffering some kind of disease.
I and my friends were probably “toxic” at, say, age 12, but we grew out of it as do most kids.
Stand Facing the Stove (about Irma Rombauer and Marion Robauer Becker’s writing and updating of the Joy of Cooking) has long been a favorite of mine. Happy to recommend it to anyone who hasn’t yet read it.
Harbor City Kill for a summer read. Detective, pretty woman, corruption, murder. Good stuff. By Ric Gerace. I know, I know!
Strong recommendation here for Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City, by K.J. Parker. Fantasy novel in a pseudo-Roman empire. The head of the army’s Engineer Corp finds himself faced with fending off a massive army besieging the capital, with insufficient men, equipment and resources. (Higher-ups who might have ordinarily been tasked with the job have either already been killed or have jumped on a ship and escaped while they still could.) His one advantage: he’s a scoundrel at heart willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done and survive.
I’ve described it as like being the love child of Edward Ellsberg and George MacDonald Fraser’s Harry Flashman.
(Edward Ellsberg was a salvage marine specialist prior to and during WWII. In 1942, he was tasked with restoring the essential port of Massawa to functionality after Italian forces had withdrawn. On their way out, the Italians had blocked the harbor by scuttling and booby-trapping numerous ships, as well as destroying or vandalizing supplies and equipment on shore. Under The Red Sea Sun is Ellsberg’s book about how he accomplished the task with what seemed hopelessly insufficient men, equipment, or monetary support. If you prefer non-fiction, give Ellsberg a try.)
Why Did I Get A B? by Shannon Reed is a collection of essays and humor pieces (some published previously in McSweeneys or the New Yorker) about being a teacher. It’s wonderful and funny and perfect for reading in bite size pieces at the beach.