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/misguided women. 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?

On college admissions madness.

JAN: Please welcome Jennifer Delahunty to Jungle Red today. She is the dean of admissions at the prestigious Kenyon College in Ohio, and the author of a new collection of essays about the college admissions process.

Jennifer, a mother of two girls, has seen the madness from both sides of the application. Her essay for The New York Times about the torture of undergoing this process with her daughter. Entitled, "To All the Girls I rejected," was the most emailed article for weeks after publication and syndicated in major papers across the country.

Booklist has given the book rave reviews and says the essays, with include authors like Anna Quindlen, Jane Hamilton, Neil Pollack, the Neurotic Parent Blogger, and myself, range "from hilarious to painful," and are often revealing about what Jennifer calls, "The last dance of parenting."

There's also the "inside" perspective not just from Jennifer, but also from admissions director from Smith and Colby Colleges.

JAN: Why has college admissions become so stressful for parents?

JENNIFER: To parents, the college bumper sticker has almost become the report card on the first 18 years of parenting. When parents call me and ask why their son or daughter didn't get into Kenyon, I'm so struck by the fact that they want to blame themselves.

All of us, parents of this generation, have done too much for our kids and then we whack them over the head with the college search assignment and they have no idea what to do -- and thus the parents step in, once again, to rescue them..

JAN: I know from my own experience that my kids were made crazy by the process. Even before parents got involved. Why is that?

JENNIFER: It's ridiculous! Thirty-five years ago, students applied to three colleges, got into two and chose one. It seemed very manageable. But that's not how it goes today -- we've had students apply to Kenyon and 19 other colleges. Do you know how difficult it is to keep track of 19 different applications -- and to what end?

JAN: But because the process has become so selective?

JENNIFER: What percentage of students do you think get into their first choice college? 75%! You wouldn't think that by reading the mainstream press, which is all amped up over selectivity. The problem is that colleges and the press are both guilty of feeding the frenzy -- the press says "it's so hard to get in" and then the colleges get more applications and guess what? It IS harder to receive a fat envelope.

JAN: How you got the idea for the book?

JENNIFER: I read an essay by Gail Hudson (included in the book) which was in a collection of essays about raising teenagers. It made me laugh so hard -- and this was at the point when my own kids were going through the process. I thought, "I would read an entire collection of such essays."

JAN: Were there any particular anecdotes of crazy parenting that you saw as dean of admissions that inspired the book or that you'd like to share?

JENNIFER: There are too many! The mother who falsified her son's transcript, the mother who forged a threatening letter from Kenyon to her admitted son so that he would button up his work habits and not lose his offer of admission, the parents who write the essays, the parents who say, "We are English majors." You get the picture! This is not about the parent -- it has to be about the child.

JAN: How would you describe this collection?

JENNIFER: The essays are from parents and for parents of college-going students. It's not a "how to" book, but rather, a "how I survived" collection of essays. Parenting a kid through the college search process is confusing, exhausting, frustrating and hopefully, exhilarating. But the ride is a wild one! Each essay illustrates a particular journey of parent and child -- and each one is a unique experience.

JAN: I connected with Jennifer in a global sort of way. I was at a dinner party in Aix-en-Provence, France, where we were trading war stories about our own experiences with our kids. And one of the friends I made there, Cathleen Keenan Church, retold my story to her friend Jennifer, in Ohio. But how did you reach so many high profile authors in gathering these essays?

JENNIFER: Some of the high-profile essays were borne of friendship (Anna, Jane) and some through accident (Neil Pollack, Joe Queenan). Two of the essays I had read before in one form or another. It was very organic, how the essays found their way to me.

JAN: Were there any big surprises?

JENNIFER: I wrote an essay about my daughter's college search and when she read it, she said very politely, "Mom, the writing is good and your concluding point is perfect, but I sound like an idiot." "What's our solution?" I asked, using my best counseling tone. "Let me write what I was really thinking." And she did! And she was hilarious and profound. I was so glad to have her perspective in the book. She translates what many students think for the parents.

JAN: Any last advice for parents or students?

JENNIFER: My basic approach has been to tell everyone to take a deep breath and repeat after me: "It will all be fine in the end." And it will be!

I'm Going To College Not You, will hit the book shelves September first and is available now to preorder at Amazon.com and the on-line independent bookstore, Powells.com

There will be readings across the country: September 4, in Gambier Ohio (home of Kenyon College) October 2nd in Los Angeles and October 12 in New York City. For times and venues contact: ImGoingToCollegeNotYou@Gmail.com or visit "I'm Going To College Not You" on Facebook.

And please come back to Jungle Red Writers tomorrow, when I'll be talking to a Yoga experts about what postures are the best to unlock your creativity. That's right. Pretty soon you'll be on all fours unleashing your blocked energies before you sit down to write.