What We're Reading!

 LUCY BURDETTE: To launch the beginning of the summer season, we thought it would be only fair to talk about books! I’ve veered out of the mystery lane lately and tried some new things. OUTRUN by Amy Liptrot was an Ann Cleeves recommendation from several years ago. This is a memoir that takes place primarily on the Orkney islands. The opening chapters about the author struggling with her addiction are difficult to read, but it pays off beautifully and now I’m desperate to go back to Scotland. 

 I also read YESTERYEAR, which Hank mentioned a while back. The main character is a tradwife influencer with a gaggle of children she doesn’t enjoy and a staggering following. I did not like her but I was compelled to find out how the author could possibly wind this story up. I never could have come up with this plot in a million years! 

Now I’m reading Anna Quindlen’s MORE THAN ENOUGH about a woman struggling with infertility and a challenging mother and dementing father. Quindlen writes about families so well! I also read two romances that I won’t recommend. Looking forward to THEO OF GOLDEN, plus Rhys’s new standalone, and Jenn’s as well. Oh, in June, I’m going to hear Ann Patchett talk about her new book, Whistler. Can’t wait for that one!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I just finished Tana’s French’s THE KEEPER and  I am in awe. IN AWE! She is such an incredible writer that it's downright intimidating. It;s part 3 of a series, but such a terrific standalone that you can easily read it first.  I am also tearing through Gillian McAllister's CALLER UNKNOWN–she is one of my all time favorite authors, and speaking of in awe, I’m not sure how she manages to make her book all have that McAllister voice, but be so incredibly different. I’ve got Anthony Horowitz’s new one up next, which I know will be such a treat! (I am also a judge for a contest, and all I can say is

I sat next to a man on an airplane next to a blue-suited  businessman-type who  was reading Theo of Golden, and he was crying. SO–nope nope nope, you know me, I am not getting anywhere near that.

HALLIE EPHRON: I’m a wimp when it comes to tear jerkers, too. Anthony Horowitz is always safe in that respect. And so clever and funny, bonus points. And of course I finished reading my sister Amy Ephron’s new book, UNSEASONABLY COLD (late summer, 1939, and a New York heiress goes missing.)

I just started THE CALAMITY CLUB by Kathryn Stockett (author of THE HELP) and I’m enjoying it very much. The opening chapters are flagrantly Dickensian with a little girl getting abandoned in the so called “care” at an orphanage run by heartless nuns. I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes next. It’s got MOVIE written all over it, and I’m having fun imagining who’d play the lead.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have not been reading anything–not unusual for me towards the end of writing a book. I just don’t have the focus to sit down with the printed page. But I have been listening to audio books and Hank, your comment was very timely. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I had never read anything by Tana French. I know, right? Maybe I was intimidated. 

But I picked up the audio version of THE SEARCHER, the first of her three Cal Hooper books, and I was hooked. Now I am partway through the second book, THE HUNTER. Interestingly, the protagonist is an American, a retired Chicago cop who has resettled in an Irish village. These are not fast paced but I’m loving the language and the characters. 

Before that, the new Martha Wells Murderbot book, PLATFORM DECAY, which I loved so much I listened to it twice in a row. And before that, I listened to all but the last full cast audio versions of the Harry Potter books. These are unabridged and the casting is fabulous–I highly recommend!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm so glad there's another Murderbot fan here, Debs! 

JENN McKINLAY: I am reading nothing. Shocking, I know, but my every second has been taken up with a new writing venture (more on that at a later date) that is so far out of my comfort zone, I have no time for anything else. Hopefully, I will get back to reading soon as I have a towering TBR to get through.

JULIA: Right now, I'm hurrying to finish Jessica Everett's LAST SUMMER AT MAINE CHANCE because I'm passing it on to Celia when I next visit her. My non-fiction read is the highly recommended TYRANNY OF THE MINORITY: How to Reverse and Authoritarian Turn and Forge a Democracy for All by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. Well-written and extremely thought-provoking. 

I just got hold of PLATFORM DECAY and I can't believe Debs beat me to the punch. Though she's now known for SF, I can also highly recommend Well's fantasy novels. Next up: I'm super excited to read the ARC of Rhys's upcoming THE CASTLE IN THE GLEN. 

Which means I don't have a mystery in rotation! I'm working my way through the Poirot series on Hulu, and would love any recs anyone can share for some good old-fashioned whodunnits, bonus points if they're set in the 1920s or '30s. (I almost wrote "the '20s" but realized we're living there right now...) 

Red readers, what are you reading or looking forward to reading?

Summer Eating by Lucy Burdette

 LUCY BURDETTE: as you know, summer is creeping up on us and it’s not only a great time for reading (see tomorrow’s post for our reading recommendations), but it’s also a great time for eating! (Although for me, when is a bad time for eating? Never!) Here are some recipes and dishes that I am looking forward to making or eating, or are those that I’ve made recently and loved, and then I would love to hear yours.

First up, a recipe for potato salad with olives from The New York Times cooking app. I made this last summer because I was making a dish for our long time supper club. This skirted all the allergy issues and it turned out so good that everybody wanted the leftovers. I will make it again this weekend.

Lemon lime lavender scones were baked in the upcoming A DELICIOUS DECEPTION by Hayley Snow‘s mother who is catering a wedding for a mother of the bridezilla. So I had to bake them as well and they are lovely. Link on mystery lovers kitchen.

You will want this recipe when tomato season comes along. Luckily in Key West, John grew tomatoes on our deck so we were able to sample this before the summer season. The two of us ate all but once slice and then fought over that the next day. I will definitely make this tomato galette again. LINK on Mystery Lovers Kitchen.

This recipe came from Smitten Kitchen Keepers. I’m a sucker for gnocchi and almost always order it if I see it on a menu. So I wanted to try this new recipe for ricotta gnocchi with a pistachio arugula sauce. It was outstanding! Link to my version here.

I am crazy for jalapeño poppers, but I didn’t see how I would ever make them because I don’t deep fry anything. Then one of my fellow Friends of the Key West library board members  showed up with a tray of these poppers for a benefactor event. They are not fried, they are baked, and they look reasonably easy. I will post that recipe as soon as I make them!

OK, Reds, your turn! What will you be cooking or eating this summer? You do not have to actually make it in your own kitchen for this to count.

A Better Late than Never Tribute for Mother's Day by John Brady

LUCY BURDETTE: Last winter I convinced my hub John to take Hallie's class on narrative writing while she was in Key West. He was dubious, but he loved it! His essay about his mother turned out so well that I asked him if I could share it with you.

The Day My Mother Chose the Frying Pan by John Brady

 Mom, stirring her ersatz version of goulash, paused. In our Pennsylvania kitchen my older brother Bob was recounting what he had heard was going on behind Russia’s Iron Curtain: “Those kids have to report their parents to the police if they say something bad about the government.” Mom interrupted her cooking and looked at us: “They could put me in this frying pan before I turned in any of you.”

Dorothy Lindsay Brady - 1913-2015

The image of our mother squeezed into a pan, naked, seared into our young brains. We were stunned, and proud. Wow, she would do anything to protect us.

Both our mom and our dad were children of the Depression, with the emotional scars to prove it. Whereas Dad was a champion kidder, our mom’s personality had square corners. There wasn’t always a middle ground.

She always wanted the best for us. I think she only stopped begging me to “take a math class” after I got my first job out of graduate school. But if someone outside the family said something bad about one of her chicks, look out!

Mom was a natural teacher. “Down the ramp and you’ll be OK,” she coaxed, pushing the little blue bike we all learned on. Then, there I was, flying down Main Street on a two-wheeler!

We normally walked the mile to St. Titus School. But if it was raining, she stuffed the seven of us into our Pontiac station wagon. With her I had to be careful what I wished for. If I pretended to be sick to stay home from school, that might mean a day of licking S & H Green Stamps and pasting them into books.

Mom’s job was more mundane, and a lot harder than Dad’s. After my seventh sibling was born, she got terribly sick. A flotilla of casseroles and Jell-O concoctions arrived at our door. We were all scared; I thought she had polio. After that, Mom quit smoking those Pall Malls, and she got some household help.

Mom grew up on a large ranch in Oklahoma. She was a great horsewoman. She drove competently and fearlessly, so much more confident than most women of her time. She was also a natural athlete - good at tennis, and an amazing putter in golf. She had a hole-in-one in her 80s and came close to shooting her age.

After WWII she came back East to my father’s hometown with many important life skills. When confronted with a live chicken that was wanted on the dinner table, she promptly wrung its neck, which quickly impressed her new father-in-law.

There was only one time I remember seeing her cry. We were at her mother’s house in Oklahoma. Walking into the kitchen, I found her sobbing against her sister Tess’s shoulder. Today, I think she was overwhelmed with her responsibilities, and hated being so far away from her mother and family. At the time, it was frightening to see.

Mom tried to make time for all of us. When I was in the first grade, I complained that all the other kids’ mothers met them as they came out of school. Shortly thereafter, there she was, pushing Lewis or Lisa in a baby carriage up to the steps.

Dorothy had always wanted to have fun. She hated the idea of people just standing around at parties, so hers were memorable affairs that always featured a game, like charades. The passing of years softened her square corners, too. She became less serious… the sense of humor that had always been there emerged… she could laugh at herself as well as at others.

Her grandchildren loved her. No wonder, she knew them from their beginning. When a new grandchild was born, mom packed up her bags and arrived to “get that baby on a schedule.” Was that helpful? Yes! When mom left after getting our first child, Molly all set up, Jana wept.

One of the hardiest laughs I ever heard from her came shortly after she had a stroke at age 102. She had just heard that Donald Trump was running for President. Mom, a lifelong Democrat - she thought the idea preposterous!

Shortly thereafter, she went into a coma. But ever-protective, she wasn’t going anywhere until all of her chicks had arrived. Only then would she set out on her journey to the next world.

If you were telling a story about your mother, where would you start?

Follow John on his Substack