Barack Obama and Joe Biden return to solving crimes in Hope Rides Again: An Obama Biden Mystery, the second in the series written by Andrew Shaffer and starring the former president and vice president.
“It’s a totally separate mystery from the first book,” says Shaffer while sitting at a table where a long line had formed waiting for him to autograph copies of his novel at a two-day book fair in Lexington, Kentucky. “The first was set in Wilmington, Delaware and this one is set in Chicago on Obama’s turf and takes place in the spring around St. Patrick’s Day which is certainly a holiday they take seriously there.”
Indeed, Shaffer,
who at one time lived in Chicago, says he revisited old haunts and new places for
background as the two BFFs hunt for Obama’s Blackberry and the murderer of the their
who originally stole it.
Though
the premise of the two joining together as detectives is somewhat zany, Shaffer
describes his book as dealing with serious topics as well.
“But I try to do it in a lighthearted way,” he says. Also, fun are the covers for both books including the first in the series, Hope Never Dies. Harkening back to the vivid colors of 1960s, the first shows Biden driving a convertible while Obama stands in the front seat pointing out the way as they chase their quarry. In the latest, Obama leans down from a swaying rope ladder tethered to a helicopter, his arm outstretched to help Biden up.
One person who thinks the mysteries
are fun is the former vice president. When Biden was campaigning in Kentucky
(Shaffer and his wife, a romance writer, live in Louisville), he was contacted
by the campaign who set up a meeting.
“I didn’t
know whether he liked the book or not or what he was going to say,” says Shaffer
adding that the Biden hadn’t read either book but signed his copies. “It was really
kind of different to have a character in your book sign your book. I found out later
that people have been bringing my books to his campaign stops and asking him to
sign them, so he was probably thinking who’s the guy who wrote this?”
It’s
tricky writing about people we know publicly but not in person says Shaffer.
“I think
in ways I know them too well because I know their history and what I think they
would do and say, because I’ve written about them and I’ve seen and read about
them for eight years,” he says. “When I heard Biden speak in Kentucky, I was
like my Biden wouldn’t say that.”
Shaffer’s
book might have garnered a few votes for the vice president.
“I met
one person who said I can’t wait to vote for them again because now they’re
detectives,” he says.
Cost: This event is free and open to the public. To join the
signing line, please purchase the author’s latest book, Hope Rides Again,
from Anderson’s Bookshop. To purchase, stop in or call Anderson’s Bookshop
Naperville.
After reading Martin Walker’s The Body in the Castle Well, the 14th book in the series about Chief of Police Bruno Courrèges, I Googled real estate listings in the Périgord, known for its castles, caves, gastronomy and lush landscape of rolling hills, woods and vineyards. From Walker’s description, this region in southwestern France seems like an ideal place to live even if you have to deal with the type such skullduggery as truffle fraud, archaeological vandalism, arson, drugs and even terrorists Bruno encounters on a regular basis.
“There’
so much inspiration and history here,” says Walker who, with his wife, splits
his time between Washington D.C. and Le Bugue, a small village in the Périgord
where they own a home. The home came about, says Walker who talks like he
writes, with many wonderful asides, when he was waiting in the Oval Office and
received a phone call from his wife.
“She said
I don’t care what you’re doing, get on the next plane and come here, I just
found our house,” he says, noting he explained to her he was meeting with the
president so it might have to wait just a while. Besides that, he didn’t even
know they were buying a house.
Of course,
they did and now live in an old farmhouse dating back to 1698 with several
newer outbuildings, if you consider the 1700s new and in France they do.
Of course,
there are always obstacles even in paradise.
“One of
the challenges for anyone writing crime stories is finding places for bodies,”
says Walker, who speaks French, Russian, English, Arabic, German and a just enough
of other languages to get himself in trouble. “I drive around with an eagle eye
looking for the perfect spot for a body. I was in Limeuil, a lovely village,
and there it was, the castle well.”
So that’s
where the body of Claudia, a young art student ends up, in what first looks
like an accident and turns out to be much more ominous.
“She’s
studying with Pierre de Bourdeille, one of the greatest art experts in the
world, a hero of the French Resistance,” says Walker. “She told Bruno a little
of her concerns about the attributions de Bourdeille made about his paintings
which drove up prices and then she turns up dead.”
Another suspect is a falconer (so we get to learn about the ancient art of hunting with falcons) who met Claudia the day after her got out of prison. As compelling as the mystery is, so is Bruno’s life. He’s a gourmet chef, has his own blog and a cookbook, written by Walker’s wife, which is a best seller in Germany where it’s sold 100,000 copies. But unless you read the language, don’t bother as it’s not published in English though Walker encourages people to call his publisher and demand that it be.
The Bruno
books are quite a segue for the Oxford educated Walker who served as bureau
chief in Moscow and the U.S. and as European Editor for The Guardian, a British
daily newspaper and wrote lengthy tomes (ponderous and boring he says, though
noting they won awards) like The Iraq War and The Makers of the
American Century.
“The 15th is already
done,” he says. “And I’m thinking of the next. They’re fun to write.”
Asked what his favorite is, he
replies, “my favorite is always the latest or the one I’m working on right now.”
Ifyougo:
What: Martin Walker: The Body in the Castle Well
When: Tuesday, June
Where: The Book Stall, 811 Elm St., Winnetka, IL
Cost: Free and open to the public, but The Book Stall asks
that you buy your books from them if you intend on entering the book-signing
queue.
While
other boys his age were reading Hardy Boy mysteries and articles about baseball,
Scott Pelley was riding his bike down to the public library in Lubbock, Texas
and checking out books on faraway places.
Pelley, a definite glass half full kind of guy, is thankful he’s been able to make his living for the last four decades covering stories around the globe.
I ask if
more than 40 years of travel has worn him out. But no, Pelley, an award-winning
60 Minutes correspondent, is always ready for the next assignment.
“I’m 61 and
by God, I still enjoy getting on a plane,” says Pelley though he does admit he gets
a little tired of going to the same place over and over. “But I never tire of
going someplace new, whether it’s nice or not.”
So where
hasn’t Pelley been that he’d like to see.
“Anyplace
that doesn’t have a pin stuck in it on my world map,” he says. “I’ve been to
both the Artic and Antarctica numerous times, but I’ve never made it to poles
though I’ve been just a few miles away, so I’d like to get there. And I’ve
never been to Portugal and I’ve heard it’s very pretty.”
Portugal?
From a man who is a multimillion mile flyer and has covered stories in the remote
jungles of Mexico, reported on the genocides in Darfur, was onsite when the
planes hit the World Trade Center and watched first responders’ stream into the
building, many to never come out, hoping to find survivors, He also was on the
ground during the Persian Gulf crisis of 1990 and the 1991 invasion of Iraq
(indeed, he’s seems to have visited Iraq as many times as most people go to the
grocery store) and joined, with his team, the U.S. Special Forces in
Afghanistan. Getting to Portugal, it would seem, would be a piece of cake.
But then
Pelley may be too busy. He’s won 37 Emmys—of course, he says it’s due to the
many wonderful and capable people who back him up and make him look good—and
despite his passion for action, likes to ponder as well.
“I called
my first chapter ‘Gallantry,’” he says about his book. “I was in Paris several
years ago shortly after ISIS’s terrorist
attack and I watched people holding a memorial on the cobblestone streets with
candles in their hands and it struck me that I had seen that same look before,
at the World Trade Center and in Oklahoma City after the bombing of the Murrah
Federal Building. It’s a look I’d seen it again and again throughout my entire
career, people wondering what the meaning of life is. I got to thinking, don’t
ask the meaning of life. Life is asking: ‘What’s the meaning of you?’ And that’s
what I went looking for in my book, people who have discovered how to get
meaning, people who are heroes.”
Maybe, in
a way, Pelley is a hero as well. He reveals in his book how he lost his long
time job as CBS Evening News anchor after complaining too vociferously about
the way men and, especially women were treated at the network. He took his
complaints all the way up to CBS Corporate Chairman Les Moonves, who spent over
an hour listening to Pelley’s concerns. Obviously, hoping to forestall any more
action on Pelley’s part, his contract wasn’t renewed despite his show’s high
ratings. Ironically, Moonves would be fired in turn, because of sexual
harassment allegations.
Losing
his job is okay now, says Pelley because he’s grateful for the direction CBS is
taking, how they cleaned house and are acting with integrity.
Yes, definitely half-full.
“I think
a sense of optimism is important for a reporter,” he says. “That and empathy. If
you have that empathy for that person you have emotional stake in their lives.”
Ifyougo:
What: Join in a conversation, Q&A, and book signing with
Scott Pelley
When: Monday, June 3 at 7 p.m.
Where: Community Christian Church, 1635 Emerson Lane,
Naperville, IL
Cost: Ticket for one
person costs $37.74 w/service fee and includes one copy of the Pelley’s new
book; the ticket package admits two and costs $42.99 w/service fee and includes
on copy of the book. Tickets can be purchased online at brownpapertickets.com/event/4243153
and entitles the holder to
meet and get a photograph with the author and a personalized
signature.
FYI: The event is hosted by Anderson’s Bookshops in Naperville, 630-355-2665; andersonsbookshop.com
There was a real sense of relief for Michael Koryta fans when the bestselling author finally killed off the evil Blackwell brothers several novels ago and so it’s with dread to see the son of one of the brothers appears in his latest mystery thriller, If She Wakes. Still a teen but already a perfect sociopath, Dax Blackwell is hunting down a missing cell phone and trying to eliminate anyone who stands in his way. That includes Tara Beckley, who was almost murdered by another competitor for the phone and now is a prisoner of locked-in syndrome, confined to a hospital bed, totally alert but unable to communicate in anyway. If Tara wakes, she can reveal the secrets of the phone. Those trying to protect her without fully understanding what is going on are former race and stunt car driver Abby Kaplan who is now working as an insurance investigator and Tara’s sister Shannon, an attorney who is sure her sister can understand what’s going on while others are urging that life support be turned off.
Michael Koryta took time to chat with Jane Ammeson about his latest book.
JA: How would you summarize If She Wakes for readers?
MK: A hit man, a disgraced stunt driver, and an alert
woman who is believed to be in a coma — and there’s a dog! What more do you
want?
JA: Do the Blackwells scare you as much as they do me?
MK: I
know what it says about me that I’d begun to miss the Blackwells after writing
about them first in Those Who Wish Me
Dead and then again when I was working on the script for that film. It was
while working on the script that I began to think about just how oddly
family-oriented they are for sociopaths. They care about nothing but one
another. The family bond is very deep. This came back to mind a few times, and
I wondered what it would be like to be the son of the LeBron James of contract
killers. What would that kid turn out like? What if he took on the family
business? I decided to try Dax for a chapter and see if I found him
interesting. Once he arrived on scene, he wasn’t leaving.
JA: How did you get up to speed (sorry about the pun)
about the type of driving Abby is capable of?
MK: A
combination of reading, research, and having a lot of experience being a very
bad driver. I totaled my mother’s car on a double-S curve within a few weeks of
getting my license, while testing my Abby-style reflexes. While I advocated
that it was really the car’s fault, and never would have happened in a vehicle
with more horsepower and better handling, no one seemed interested in
supporting me in that.
JA: How did you come up the idea of If She Wakes? And do you plot out
everything meticulously or does the story just flow once you start writing it?
MK: I can’t plot
to save my life. It’s all rewriting for me, getting a draft down and then
seeing the book and going back and revising, revising, revising until it begins
to take coherent shape. As for the idea, I really don’t understand enough at
the start of a book to claim that I ever had the full concept. But the starting
point came from reading a book about locked-in syndrome called Into the Gray Zone by Dr. Adrian Owen,
and in particular reading about testing that was done using a Hitchcock film
and an MRI.
JA: I read that you spend your time between Bloomington,
Indiana and Maine—is each place a different kind of incentive for writing?
Where to set your stories?
MK:
I seem drawn to writing about places farther away from my hometown in
Bloomington, for whatever reasons. The closest I’ve come was West Baden, in So Cold the River. And, of course, the
caves in Lost Words. Maine has
definitely become a place that I enjoy writing about, much as Montana did. I
suspect a difference is that no matter how much time I spend in Maine, I’ll
always have the perspective of being an outsider, or “from away” as
they say up there. I like stories where characters are outsiders, and I love
stories where the natural world can push back on a character’s goals, so Maine
is a very comfortable fit.
Ifyougo:
What: Michael Koryta talk and
book signing
Where: Anderson’s Bookshop, 123
West Jefferson Avenue, Naperville, IL
Taking us on a road trip that meanders from northern to southern California, James Beard award winner Janet Fletcher shows us how diverse the state’s growers and growing regions are in her latest book, The Wine Country Table: With Recipes that Celebrate California’s Sustainable Harvest. Accompanied by lush photographs by Robert Holmes and Sara Remington, the book was commissioned by the Wine Institute — a California wine advocacy group that received a grant to promote California’s specialty crops.
“What
really came home to me was that there are so many different climates here in
California,” says Fletcher who not only visited a plethora of wineries but also
cherry orchards and avocado farms. She also learned about the sustainable
practices that growers are incorporating in a state previously hit with a
long-running drought.
Her
recipes include suggested pairings with different wines and shows you how to
recreate this type of casual but delicious dining at home.
Golden Beet, Pomegranate, and Feta Salad
SERVES 4
WINE SUGGESTION: California Gewurztraminer or Pinot
Gris/Grigio
4 golden beets, about 1 1⁄2 pounds (750 g) total, greens
removed
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar 6 fresh thyme sprigs
3 allspice berries
1 whole clove
1 clove garlic, halved
DRESSING:
11⁄2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon finely minced shallot
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil Kosher or sea salt
1⁄4 head radicchio, 3 ounces, thinly sliced 1⁄2 cup chopped
toasted walnuts
12 fresh mint leaves, torn into smaller pieces
2 to 3 ounces Greek or French feta
1⁄3 cup pomegranate arils (seeds)
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Put the beets in a small baking dish and add water to a
depth of 1∕4 inch. Add the vinegar, thyme, allspice, clove, and garlic. Cover
and bake until the beets are tender when pierced, about 1 hour, depending on
size. Remove from the oven and peel when cool enough to handle. Let cool
completely, then slice thinly with a
sharp knife.
Make the dressing: In a small bowl, combine the wine vinegar
and shallot. Whisk in the olive oil. Season with salt and let stand for 15
minutes to allow the shallot flavor to mellow.
In a bowl, toss the beets and radicchio gently with enough
of the dressing to coat lightly; you may not need it all. Taste for salt and
vinegar and adjust as needed. Add the walnuts and half the mint leaves and toss
gently. Transfer to a wide serving platter. Crumble the feta on top, then
scatter the pomegranate arils and remaining mint leaves overall. Serve
immediately.
Little Gem Lettuces with Olive Oil–Poached Tuna
This dish requires a lot of olive oil for poaching, but you
won’t waste a drop. Use some of the flavorful poaching oil in the salad
dressing; strain and refrigerate the remainder for cooking greens or for
dressing future salads. The strained oil will keep for a month.
WINE SUGGESTION: California rose or Sauvignon Blanc
1 albacore tuna steak, about 10 ounces) and 3⁄4 to 1 inch
thick
3⁄4 teaspoon ground fennel seed
3⁄4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1 large fresh thyme sprig
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, halved
6 black peppercorns
1 3⁄4 to 2 cups extra virgin olive oil
DRESSING:
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (from the tuna baking
dish)
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
11⁄2 cups cooked chickpeas (drain and rinse if canned)
1⁄2 pound Little Gem lettuce or romaine hearts 1⁄4 pound
radicchio
1⁄2 red onion, shaved or very thinly sliced
3⁄4 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1⁄4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Remove the tuna from the
refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
Season the tuna on both sides with the fennel seed and salt.
Put the tuna in a deep ovenproof baking dish just large enough to hold it. Add
the thyme, bay leaf, garlic, and peppercorns. Pour in enough olive oil just to
cover the tuna.
Bake until a few white dots (coagulated protein) appear on
the surface of the fish and the flesh just begins to flake when probed with a
fork, 30 to 40 minutes. The tuna should still be slightly rosy inside. Remove
from the oven and let cool to room temperature in the oil.
Make the dressing: In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil,
vinegar, capers, oregano, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the
chickpeas and let them marinate for 30 minutes.
With a slotted spatula, lift the tuna out of the olive oil
and onto a plate.
Put the lettuce in a large salad bowl. Tear the larger outer
leaves in half, if desired, but leave the pretty inner leaves whole. Tear the
radicchio into bite-size pieces and add to the bowl along with the onion,
tomatoes, and parsley.
Using a slotted spoon, add the chickpeas, then add enough of
the dressing from the chickpea bowl to coat the salad lightly. By hand, flake the
tuna into the bowl. Toss, taste for salt and vinegar, and serve.
Seared Duck Breasts with Port and Cherry Sauce
SERVES 4
Cooking duck breasts slowly, skin side down, helps eliminate
almost every speck of fat. After about 20 minutes, the skin will be crisp and
the flesh as rosy and tender as a fine steak. Serve with wild rice.
Duck breasts vary tremendously in size; scale up the spice
rub if the breasts you buy are considerably larger.
WINE SUGGESTION: California Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot
SEASONING RUB:
8 juniper berries
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme 2 teaspoons kosher or sea
salt
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
4 boneless duck breasts, about 1⁄2 pound each
SAUCE:
1 cup Zinfandel Port or ruby port
1 shallot, minced
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 strip orange zest, removed with a vegetable peeler 1
tablespoon balsamic vinegar
24 cherries, pitted and halved
1⁄2 cup strong chicken broth, reduced from 1 cup
1⁄2 teaspoon sugar
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 1
tablespoon unsalted butter
Make the seasoning rub: Put the juniper berries, thyme,
salt, and peppercorns in a mortar or spice grinder and grind to a powder.
Slash the skin of each breast in a crosshatch pattern,
stopping short of the flesh. (The slashes help render the fat.) Sprinkle the
seasoning rub evenly onto both sides of each breast. Put the breasts on a flat
rack and set the rack inside a tray. Refrigerate uncovered for 24 to 36 hours.
Bring to room temperature before cooking.
Choose a heavy frying pan large enough to accommodate all
the duck breasts comfortably. (If necessary, to avoid crowding, use two frying
pans.) Put the breasts, skin side down, in the unheated frying pan and set over
medium- low heat. Cook until the skin is well browned and crisp, about 15
minutes, frequently pouring off the fat until the skin no longer renders much.
(Reserve the fat for frying potatoes, if you like.)
Turn the duck breasts and continue cooking flesh side down,
turning the breasts with tongs to sear all the exposed flesh, until the
internal temperature registers 125°F on an instant-read thermometer, about
3 minutes longer. Transfer the breasts to a cutting board
and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
While the duck cooks, make the sauce: In a small sauce- pan,
combine the port, shallot, thyme, orange zest, vinegar, and half of the
cherries. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer until reduced to 3∕4
cup. Add the broth and sugar and simmer until the liquid has again reduced to
3∕4 cup Remove from the heat and, with tongs, lift out the thyme sprigs and
orange zest and discard.
Puree the sauce in a blender. Set a very fine-mesh sieve
over the saucepan and pass the sauce through the sieve, pressing on the solids
with a rubber spatula. Return to medium heat, season with salt and pepper, and
simmer until reduced to 1∕2 cup. Stir in the remaining cherries and remove from
the heat. Add the butter and swirl the saucepan until the butter melts.
Slice the duck on the diagonal. Spoon some of the sauce on
each of four dinner plates, dividing it evenly. Top with the sliced duck. Serve
immediately.
The above recipes are Wine Country Table: With Recipes that Celebrate California’s Sustainable Harvest by Janet Fletcher in cooperation with the Wine Institute, Rizzoli, 2019.
Jane Ammeson can be
contacted via email at janeammeson@gmail.com or by writing to Focus, The Herald
Palladium, P.O. Box 128, St. Joseph, MI 49085.
Bestselling novelist Louis Bayard, author of the literary historical novel Courting Mr. Lincoln, has written about a fascinating story about the relationships between the future President and the two people who knew him best: his handsome and charming confidant (and roommate) Joshua Speed , the rich scion of the a wealthy hemp growing family in Louisville and sassy Lexington belle Mary Todd.
Bayard, who will be appearing at the Book Stall, book is reviewed by staffer Kara Gagliardi’s in the bookstore’s May newsletter:
“Louis Bayard’s new novel transports us by wagon to the soul of our country and lays bare the man who would become our 16th president. It is, in fact, the personal history behind our country’s history. The story starts small. In 1839, Mary Todd arrives in Springfield looking for a husband. Her mother is deceased, her father is remarried. She relies on the kindness (and lodging) of her older sister to launch her into society. She is an intellectual with a sharp wit, pleasing-albeit a little too round-an excellent dancer and dinner companion, a lover of politics. She is running out of time.
“Abe Lincoln, on the other hand, is the definition of rough. Tall and gangly, he doesn’t know how to open doors for women, approach a carriage, make small talk, or accept invitations. In other words, society overwhelms him. He knows heartache from the loss of his mother and stepmother, and compares the work his father inflicted upon him to slavery. He’s also a damn good lawyer with a gift for oratory.
“Central to the book is the character of Joshua Speed, who enables the courtship between Lincoln and Mary Todd and feels betrayed by it. Speed owns the dry goods store in town and rents a room to Lincoln above it. Good-looking and a bit of a womanizer, he takes it upon himself to teach Lincoln how to dress, behave, and move in polite circles. The two become inseparable. When he learns that Lincoln has met with Mary Todd in secret, he feels an emptiness that he cannot identify. Who is he without his best friend? Where does he belong if not by Lincoln’s side? This book portrays a match of dependency and tenderness, intellect and laughter. It will also make you remember when you left your peers for a person you set your future upon. The stakes are high. Love wins.”
Bayard, the author of Roosevelt’s Beast, Lucky Strikes, The Pale Blue Eye and The Black Tower, was described by the New York Times, as an author who “reinvigorates historical fiction,” rendering the past “as if he’d witnessed it firsthand.”
Take two cultural icons—William Shakespeare, the English
poet, playwright and actor who is considered one of the best writers in the
English language and the movie Mean Girls
which was released 15 years ago and stars Tina Fey, one of my favorite
comedians and you have tales of passion, toxic envy, back-stabbing (both
literal and figurative) and intense power struggles (for kingdoms or, in the
case of Mean Girls, to belong to the
most popular high school clique.
Doescher,
who earned a B.A. in Music from Yale University, a Master of Divinity from Yale
Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in Ethics from Union Theological Seminary, has
taken the Bard’s comedic play Much Ado
About Nothing (nothing signifying a great deal of fuss over something of
little importance) and Mean Girls
which tells the story of Cady Heron, a home-schooled child of anthropologists raised
in Africa who enrolls in an American high school.
Written
in iambic pentameter, the style of poetry favored by Shakespeare, the books are
in a play format. If you’re like me and forgot exactly what iambic pentameter
is, Doescher explains that it’s a line of poetry with a very specific syllabic
patter.
“The
iamb has two syllables and pentameter mean they are five iambs in a line,” he
says. “That means that iambic pentameter is a line of ten syllables.”
Think
da-Dum, da-Dum, da-Dum, da-Dum, da-Dum, da-Dum, he says. Or to make it easier, sing
the line from Simon and Garfunkel’s song that goes “I’d rather be a hammer than
a nail.”
At
first reading the books can be daunting but it only takes a short time to get
in the rhyme of the poetry and recognize scenarios and phrases from both Shakespeare
and Mean Girls and enjoy the humor.
A
natural to write these books which also includes William Shakespeare’s Star Wars, Doescher describes himself as having
been the high school nerd who memorized Shakespeare’s most famous soliloquys and
then felt compelled to repeat them for friends, family and even to perform them
while standing on his desk in English class. We have to agree with him about
the nerd thing, particularly after he says that he’s been practicing speaking in
iambic pentameter since high school.
FYI: To join the signing line, please
purchase one of the author’s latest books, William
Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Mean Girls and William Shakespeare’s Get Thee Back to the Future, from Anderson’s
Bookshop. To purchase please stop into or call Anderson’s Bookshop Naperville
(630) 355-2665 or order online at andersonsbookshop.com
A decade ago, out of all the food magazines published, the most famous was Gourmet, which offered a sophisticated look at culinary trends and cookery. And Ruth Reichl, who formerly had been the food critic for the New York Times, a job that entailed wearing disguises because her photo was plastered on a large number of kitchen walls in the city’s restaurants, was the editor-in-chief of the magazine. It’s a story she recounts in her latest book, Save Me the Plumst (Random House; 2019 $27). You don’t need to be a serious foodie to enjoy her take on what she calls “the golden age of magazines.”
Reichl
didn’t want the job and though she had collected Gourmet magazines starting
when she was eight, she saw it as old fashioned and stuffy and at first said no.
But the publisher wanted to take the magazine in a different direction and saw Reichl
as the person to be able to make that happened. So, she signed on to a job that
included a limousine service, first class airfare and a lavish expense account.
The selling point after turning it down the first time was that she would be
home in the evenings with her son, not critiquing restaurants.
“I
never wanted to become that person,” says Reichl about the luxuries and perks.
She recalls flying coach and seeing two of her colleagues boarding the same
flight as they were going to the same place and they looked at her in
wonderment as they headed to the first class section. She took the bus until a
limo driver shamed her into using his service on a regular basis.
Despite being the food editor and restaurant
critic at the Los Angeles Times, the experience of being Gourmet’s editor-in-chief
made Reichl quickly learned how much she didn’t know. She recalls freaking her
first day when the staff started talking about TOCs and she had to desperately
call a friend and ask what that meant as she didn’t want to look ignorant in
front of her employees.
“Table
of Contents,” she was told. How simple but it shows the type of learning curve
Reichl was encountering in her new career.
Being
Reichl, multiple James Beard-winning and bestselling author, she also includes
a few recipes in her book.
“All
of my books have recipes, so I had to have some,” she says. That includes the turkey
chili she and her staff used when the gathered in the Gourmet test kitchen on
9/11 and cooked for the first responders.
“I still love cooking and get an enormous amount
of pleasure from it,” she says. “And I like to cook for other people. Every
morning I ask my husband what he would like to eat.”
Indeed, for Reichl, food
is such a sensory experience that she often likes to eat alone so she can savor
every mouthful, letting it take her back to the source of what she’s consuming.
From
the magazine folded and everyone went home, Reichl knew she’d write a book
about her time at Gourmet and kept copious notes and saved emails. “But then my
editor had to torture me into actually writing it.”
She
wants readers to come along for the ride when reading her book.
“I
want them to get the sense of what it was like,” says Reichl. “I want them to
enjoy themselves as much as I did.”
Ifyougo:
What: Ruth Reichl in-conversation with
Louisa Chu, a Chicago based food writer.
When: Wednesday, April 24 at 6 pm
Where: 210 Design House, 210 West
Illinois, Chicago, IL
Cost: The cost of on ticket is $56
($58.95 w/service fee) and includes a copy of the book, wine, and tastes made
from Ruth’s book My Kitchen Year. 2 tickets
include one book, wine and tastes for $80 ($83.79 w/service fee). To purchase,
visit brownpapertickets.com/event/4102551
FYI: The event is sponsored by the Book Cellar.
For more information, (773) 293-2665.
Abby Wambach, the two-time Olympic gold medalist, FIFA World Cup champion and international soccer’s all-time leading scorer, is taking on a new game, that of empowering women—asking them not only to be thankful for what they have but also to demand what they deserve. And that’s the premise of her new book, Wolfpack: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game (Celadon 2019; $15.82 Amazon price).
To create a winning championship team, Wambach, who was co-captain,
helped forage the 2015 Women’s World Cup Champion Team into a wolfpack of
winners. Now she’d like women to ignore the old rules that help keep them down
and instead change the game.
Believing that there has never been a more important moment for women,
she talks about the “Power of the Wolf” and the “Strength of the Pack,” and her
book is rousing call to women outside of the sports world but employing the
techniques she used to create a championship team.
“We are the wolf,” she said in her keynote address to the Class of 2018
at Barnard’s 126th Commencement on Wednesday, May 16, 2018 at Radio City Music
Hall and her book reflects that stirring speech. Her concepts of “Power of
their Wolf” and the “Strength of their Pack” is her way to be a catalyst for
overcoming the obstacles that women face. As an example, she talks about the
pay gap where women in the U.S. still earn only 80 cents on the dollar compared
to men and black women make only 63 cents, while Latinas make 54 cents.
“What we need to talk about more is the aggregate and compounding effects
of the pay gap on women’s lives,” she says.
“Over time, the pay gap means women are able to invest less and save
less so they have to work longer. When we talk about what the pay gap costs us,
let’s be clear. It costs us our very lives. That’s why if we keep playing by
the old rules, we will never change game.”
Wambach offers some rules to overcome being Little Red Riding Hood and
instead become “the wolf.”
· Make failure your fuel: Transform failure to wisdom and
power.
· Lead from the bench: Lead from wherever you are.
· Champion each other: Claim each woman’s victory as your
own.
· Demand the effing ball: Don’t ask permission: take what
you’ve earned.
Ifyougo:
What: Celebrate the release of Abby Wambach’s book Wolfpack
When:
Thursday, April 11 at 7 pm
Where:
Community Christian Church, 1635 Emerson Lane, Naperville
Cost: Tickets cost $29.97 (with service fee) and include a pre-signed copy of the new book and admission for one person. You will receive your book when you arrive at the event. wolfpackandersons.brownpapertickets.com
FYI: For
more information, call Anderson’s Bookshops, 630-355-2665
Totally unexpectedly, Lori Gottlieb’s long term boyfriend, the man she
thought she’d marry, made a succinct and ultimately devastating statement,
saying he didn’t “want to live with a kid in the house for the next ten years” and
then he was gone.
Lori Gottlieb
Suddenly, Gottlieb, a psychotherapist who writes the weekly “Dear Therapist” advice column for The Atlantic, had to deal with her own issues as well as those of her clients, a process she chronicles in her very engagingMaybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2019; $28).
The clients include John, a married man with two children and a very
successful career as a television producer who pays Gottlieb in cash because he
doesn’t want his wife to know he’s in therapy.
“You’ll be like my mistress,” he tells her at the end of their first
therapy session. “Or, actually, more like my hooker. No offense, but you’re not
the kind of woman I’d choose as a mistress . . . if you know what I mean.”
Another patient, newly married, had achieved tenure at her university and
after years of hard work, was eager to become a parent.
“She was accomplished, generous, and adored by colleagues, friends, and
family. She was the kind of person who enjoyed running marathons and climbing
mountains and baking silly cakes for her nephew,” writes Gottlieb.
The client, Julie, overcomes cancer once and then six years later receives
the news it has reoccurred, and she has a year or so to live.
“One of the themes of the book is that our stories form the core of our
lives and give them deeper meaning,” says Gottlieb, whose book was recently optioned
for television by Eva Longoria for 20th TV. “Sharing these stories is
essentially about one person saying to another: This is who I am? Can you
understand me?”
But even for therapists, it’s scary to reveal ourselves to others and
that’s what Gottlieb, who speaks about relationships, parenting, and hot-button
mental health topics on such shows as The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS
This Morning, Dr. Phil, CNN, and NPR, discovered when she found a professional
to talk to about her fractured relationship. Despite her understanding that’s
it’s important to be truthful, she, like all of us, edit the truth.
“Clients make a choice about what to leave in, what to leave out as well
as how to frame the situation in the way they want me to hear it,” says
Gottlieb who found herself doing just the same. “One of the things with my therapist
that I did that my clients do to me, is I wanted him to like me, I want him to
like me better than others in the waiting room. That’s why we don’t always tell
our therapists our secrets. We don’t realize the ways we get in out way in the
therapy room is the way we get in the way in our own lives.”
Gottlieb describes people as emotionally hiding out.
“People carry out their pain, they think they can compartmentalize,” she
says. “I see so much loneliness in the people who come to see me, people are
really stressed out.”
Texting and social media sometimes stop us from being together and
communicating. That’s why therapy can help people change largely because as
they grow in connection with others in a way often lost in our fast-paced,
technology-driven culture.
But change is scary, both for Gottlieb in her personal therapy sessions that
she chronicles and for her clients who we follow as they come to grips with
their issues in her office.
“I thought it was important to put myself out there with this book,” says
Gottlieb, noting that the book was very difficult to write. “Therapists are
real people and we have our own struggles. We’re all members of the human race.”
Ifyougo:
What: Author
Lori Gottlieb and Amy Dickinson, who writes the syndicated advice column, Ask
Amy, discuss Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
When: Monday,
April 8 from 6-7:15pm
Where: Harold
Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St., Chicago IL
Gottlieb will also be interviewed by Dr. Alexandra Solomon of Northwestern University and author of Loving Bravely on Tuesday, April 9 at 7pm at New Trier High School, Cornog, 7 Happ Road, Winnetka, IL. Cost: Free. Sponsored by The Book Stall. 847-446-8880; thebookstall.com
Shelf Life 