What to Read Summer 2023

Book blogger Susan Matheson stops by the podcast to talk about her favourite reads for summer. Her selections range from a cozy mystery to a contemporary memoir.

Books and Resources discussed:

Go as a River by Shelley Read
The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell
All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bingley
Darling by India Knight
The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
The House of Lincoln by Nancy Horan
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
March by Geraldine Brooks
The African Samurai by Craig Shreve
One Night in Mississippi by Craig Shreve

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Transcript

Unknown: 0:11

Hi, icwsm Hello, welcome back to the Red Fern book review. I am your host, Amy Mair. And today I am joined by one of my favorite people to have on the podcast, Susan Matheson. And there's a couple things that are really great about having Susan on. And I usually have her on at the end of the season, which is, this is the very last episode that I'm doing until the fall, because it's a nice thing for people to check back in over the summer. Because she always does a round up with me about in this time, we're gonna do roundup for what to read over the summer. And also, I really don't have to do any work on this podcast. So this is really lovely. I just, I know what she's going to talk about, but I don't I know the books we're going to cover. But other than that, we're just I'm winging it. I'm sure she's done some prep, but it's a nice little kind of break for me. Thank you, Susan, for being so good at what you do, I wouldn't count yourself out, I came to you with a list of about 35 books that I'd edited to 12. And you managed to get it down to seven. And now we've settled on six. So there's some work involved. Okay, okay. That we have so much to say, I think she just dive right in. And what we're going to do is, Susan, if you're a regular listener, she will pick six books, we pick six books, and then she has her own. She has a really great blog on books called bedside table books. And when this drops, and this is coming out on May 26, she's also going to drop her own blog, so of corresponding blog with another six books. And also the other thing to note, I would say you don't usually pick the hot, hottest books, because that's easy for anyone to find. I think you've done a little more digging. And kind of maybe those books that are not the everyone, the first thing people would think of, and kind of, I guess, give them a little bit of a support or recognition. Yeah, so I always love to know more about the author's before I read a book. And there's certainly lots of mainstream books that are absolutely wonderful. And I was, I do find the delight in digging around and finding something it might seem a little obscure, but brings great joy I love I love supporting the writers, but also finding a book that's kind of not out there that everybody else is reading. However, having said that, I was so excited to come to you with this book that I've had bookmarked for some time. And it was the cutting for stone author Abraham Berkey seas book, the covenant of water, and the day that you and I spoke to set this up, Oprah, Oprah sized it up. So I have removed that from the list. However, it's actually holding my computer up right now it's we're on Zoom, because it's so big. But I am very much looking forward to getting into that one. Because I think a number of us really enjoyed cutting for stone. So that's a bonus book, but we aren't going to go forth without any Oprah picks as far as I know, or any other ones and choose our own. So our first one that I it is getting some traction, but I was quite excited about this one. And it's called go as a river. And it's written by Shelley Reed. And if you know me, you know my taste in books. I love a book that has a setting that you feel immersed in. And this one is set in Colorado and the writer Shelley is a fifth generation Coloradan I guess you call them a person from Colorado. So she's lived there all this time. And this story is actually set on a true story of a little tiny town that in the 1960s was destroyed. And you know, in our own news, I love when there's this sort of a current contemporary tie in. When we think of cache Creek and Merritt, our own little interior towns, they've had their own devastation. So this starts in that sort of a setting. Little Town. Really going through tough times, beautifully set. All the reviews say the scenery is breathtaking. It's gorgeously described, and so you really feel like you're there. But the big part of this is the character. She's one of these very resilient and memorable young women that faces some tough times and, and carries forth and so go as a river is indicating that she flows through some tough times and moves along. So the reviews I've seen make this historical fiction with a contemporary feel about it only because these little towns are still going through these big challenges now, but I know we all share a delight in a really strong woman character, or man, but in this case of women, who we can really get engaged with. So this one while it's a quiet book has a beautiful cover in every iteration, whether it's the US or the UK, or Canada, and we've talked about that before I truly confess to being smitten by a good cover. Anyway, this one, every little independent bookstore I've been in, in the last little while is singing the praises of this one. So let's get a board. I think it's going to be a good one. And I, I read comparisons to where the crawdads sings, and I think they're definitely trying to tap into that with the cover looks a little similar. And I guess the whole idea of the natural world. Yes. And I think there is the tie in there, as well as that the main character is young, like the character and where the crawdads she's, she's not. She's more, I don't know if she's teen or if she's young 20s. But she's certainly in the same timeframe, Aries frame, and she also sets off into the wilderness on her own and faces challenges, natural challenges there as well. Okay, what's the next book? Well, I can't have a list without one of these juicy mysteries. Now, I don't get into them quite as often. And yet, every time I do, I'm absolutely delighted. So I'm not sure why I don't. But this one looks like one it's definitely worth jumping into, especially in this summer. And it combines a number of again, really current interests. So it's called the golden spoon by Jessa Maxwell, and she's a debut author. And what it does is, well, I loved the fact that it was described as a brilliant puzzle. And it's a mystery, but it's set with this kind of crazy host of a baking show. And she hosts the baking show, like we're all used to watching the great British or great Canadian Bake Off is so similar to that. And she hosted in her family childhood home, which is an impressive estate, I think it was in Vermont. And so the setting again, is really its own character. And then while all of this is going on, she's having this show. There are all these eccentric characters who as we often see on these shows, I think that's probably part of it is all these eccentric characters get together and she even though she's sort of presented as you know, grandmother, America, the Miss, you know, sweet baking queen, she has a bit of a dark side. So there's a mystery. There's a murderer, I gather, there's something big that goes down. And there's all sorts of competitive high jinks and what a great idea. I just think it's terrific, and light and fun, something we can all envision, but very twisty and turny. From what I gather. So sounds like a cozy mystery. Yes, there you go. Yes. I think the first time I heard about cozy mysteries was on your podcast. And I wonder if there's a cat so I had someone on talk about what's in a cozy mystery. And apparently some people say there always has to be cat and oh, well, we'll have to keep an eye out for the cat then because it sounds like it's got the big old house that could warrant having a cat aboard. Okay, what's the next one? Okay, I think both you and I are super excited about this one. And then I actually gave a copy to my mom for Mother's Day. It's out now and it's called all the beauty in the world. And it's by Patrick Brinkley. Now it's another debut. And this one is a nonfiction or it's memoir, his story of the Met Museum in New York City. And many of us have been lucky enough to go through the hallways of the Met. We can do it again with Patrick because he was a writer for The New Yorker. So that establishes his street cred there for the writing element. But he had kind of a tough time and older brother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. And he needed to sort of step out of his writing life and go do something completely different. And he always loved the map museum. So he ended up getting a job there as a guard. And he worked for 10 years in the Met museum. And it's over 2 million square feet. And through this book, you get to see every corner of the museum. You get to meet all of the wonderful people he worked with, and sort of see the inner workings of a big museum and the big museum. It's It's an incredible and lively glimpse into all the behind the scenes goings on. So I think it's I'm just so excited about this one. It's not a huge book, but it's, I think, quite well annotated. Like every, you know, there are references and, and in the back, there's a whole kind of connection to all the pieces mentioned. So he talks about the art. But I think the heart of the book is in the community of this little subculture of workers who are in the in the museum behind the scenes that make it all come to life for all of us, when we pop into, check it out for a couple of hours. I really would love to read this book. I just think it sounds so fun, so much fun. And interesting, too, because I haven't you often looked at a garden, someone like that and thought, what are they thinking about? Like, we know what's really funny in some of these things. So there's two things remind me two things to talk about here. One is that it was probably a month ago, or maybe a little bit longer, because I've known about this book for over a month. But a little while ago, I came across an article in the Smithsonian, which is a great magazine to read, I read it online, and it was how they have an event. So these museums have an event where the guards get to put on their own artwork, they bring their own art, and they show it and they have their own little art show. And I read this article, I thought how fantastic that's like flipping the script and, and you know, I'm sure all these guards, they're exposed to this incredible art in the world, I'm sure they're inspired, many of them are probably there because they love art. And I thought that was such a great, it just sort of, you know, those things that kind of stick in your brain. And then I came across this biography or memoir, and I thought, oh, that's an interesting kind of connection there. And then the other one, and I think you blogged about this not long ago, was the behind the scenes of the waiter? And was he in France or in New York? Oh, that's a good book. I just finished that. Yeah. It was in New York. Okay, your table is ready, right. And there's one that's also set in France, same sort of situations in American going to France and works as a waiter behind the scenes in France. So these ones, you know, there's all that kind of behind the scenes, you know, the curtain gets moved, and we get that glimpse into these other worlds. And that's what reading is all about. It's so much fun. But when you can do it with an expert like that, in memoir, it's super exciting. There's another book that when I was reading about this book that came out a few years ago, that's supposed to be good, called metropolitan stories by an author Christine Colson, who I believe also worked for the Mets for 25 years in different capacities. And I think what she's doing is she picks her favorite objects. And it's a small book, right? Not necessarily the most famous objects, but the ones that she liked. And then I have to I also, I know this probably was one of your favorite books. Growing up was the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil. What's her name? Basil? I don't know. Oh, do you know about this? Okay, I'm writing a kid's book. And what happened was, they got trapped in the mat overnight. Okay. And so then they basically kind of party in the mat. Like, they're, you know, they're like, 10 years old. And they're like, jumping up and down. With kids. Down, yeah, jumping and fountains jumping on the bed and all that it's really cute book. But it was kind of a love letter to the mat as well. Isn't that great? Mixed Up Files of Mrs. I'll look it up while we're talking. But yeah, we'll have to link there's another one I'm thinking of, because when my kids were little we were living in London. And of course we go to the American Museum of History, not we wouldn't actually go to the American one would we, we would go to the Museum of Natural History in London. And there's a wonderful book to a little girl who goes and visits the museum and have to remember what that one is and share it with you. But anyway, it's obviously inspiration that's been followed before, but I think this one all the beauty in the world is going to be a particularly good one. So this is called from the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Franken Weiler, and it won like a cow, the cod or one of the big Oh, wonderful. That's old. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, but okay. All right. Well, I think we both have to read that and chat. Well, and you know, you bring up another kind of cool thing. It's I did have a few children's books I was going to add and then I thought, You know what, they're kind of worth their own blog post unto themselves or so many fantastic children's books coming out. And gosh, they're so creative and colorful and and they explore all sorts of really interesting topics now. So anyway, that's it That's a little aside. Okay, well, let's next one, okay, this one's called darling, by India night. Now. This is I first came across India night when I was living in London. She was a columnist in the British newspapers. And she's a lifestyle writer, she was sort of got her kickoff in the air around the same time as Bridget Jones's Diary. So, she was known for whatever books was called My Life on a plate. And she was always is always she continues to write now, sort of no nonsense, but obviously hilarious, very honest, commentary. So she's sort of the kickoff of all of that type of thing. This book, she's her novel, she's written tons in them, but they're sort of they were the original chick lit like Bridget Jones. And not always well reviewed. She's had some kind of stingers sent her way. But this one is getting great reviews. And what she's done is she's taken the story of the pursuit of love, which is written by Nancy Mitford. And the Mitford sisters were all kind of the, you know, hoity toity ease of England. And they put they, they were writers, but they all lived this very, you know, special life, it sort of gives you the feeling of The Great Gatsby kind of vibe. Anyway, she, Indian Knight has written this book called darling. And it is based on the pursuit of love, which was published in 1945. And was very, very popular at the time. And it features again, this strong main character, she's kind of She's very beautiful. She's young, she's high strung, she's flighty. She's, as I said, kind of wealthy, reminds you of The Great Gatsby set. And there's actually a movie, the pursuit of love. It's on I think it's on Prime starring Lily James. And it's, you know, the gorgeous costumes and everything else. Now, Indian Knight has taken that story. And she's brought in cell phones and Instagram and, you know, all sorts of, you know, trips on the Eurostar and really modernized it in the same setting, but in a modern day. So she has the same strong character. And this character is just always in search of love and gets herself into all sorts of quandaries. And so it's quite a neat glimpse into this other world, certainly for mine. And it is, it has a playful element, but a little bit darkly comic too. So that's, and then, you know, talking about all our book club friends, this is one where you could actually read the two books, I don't think they're dying. You could tie the two in and bit of a challenge, but it could be kind of fun to, to read the one that was from 1945. And then see what India night has done with it. Now. I did that for a book club years ago. And what we did we did the hours, and then we did yeah, this is Dalloway, which is what it's based on. And what we did was we said, Read whichever one you want. And for Keeners, or people that just love reading all read both of them. That was kind of cool. And then everyone just sort of shared. But that was that same idea like that idea. Have you heard of the Mitford affair? Here's a copy of it. Oh, yes, I have heard well, Marie Benedict, she's such a great writer. And she's so good at tying in these prominent stories of people that are basing stories on these prominent people. It's, she does it very well. Yeah. So I just read that. And it's about the Mitford sisters and one of the sisters had an affair with Hitler. Oh, charming. Crazy. So the novelist, so there's six of them. And to have an what's interesting about that family, it was they were fascists and communists on opposite sides of spectrum. But they were it was weird. They were very wealthy. But it was that time where they had this interest in, you know, I guess a different type of politics. And so two of those sisters go over to Germany. And the novelist Nancy is the only one who can kind of reach them kind of going back and forth. Trying to bring them home. And anyway, so she plays this role. And so that's, that'll be interesting to see. Oh, well, you're well set then to launch into this book, because it's, um, it's very much. I think it involves sisters in the story itself as well because it's based on their lives or has been themes that are in their lives. That sounds cool. Okay, what's the next one? All right, we're on to number five. Okay, super excited about this one. I think we're gonna let you LOL Get on a scoop before it actually hits the mainstream book clubs. This one is written by Nancy Horne. And if that sounds familiar, it's because Nancy wrote loving Frank, which was the Frank Lloyd Wright, fictionalized memoir. And it was huge when it came out. And remember the bright yellow cover and with a gorgeous, I haven't met anyone that didn't love that book that read it. It was such a surprise because I think it was so well researched. And I think very few of us actually knew Frank Lloyd Wright's story and his story read more dramatically than any novel like it was just fascinating. So Nancy Horan had done the research so well, and had created this loving Frank. Now. So coming out on June 6, is her new release. And it's the house of Lincoln. So we are she's gone deep into the world of Abraham Lincoln. So the setting is again back in time. And she follows three families. One is a Blinken and his family, but most specifically, it's the voice of Mary Todd Lincoln, his wife. And there are all sorts of tie ins to Mary Todd Lincoln, there are a number of books that have been written about her. She, at the time, had what now we would call bipolar. She had three of her four children died, she had a very dramatic life. And so she is one of the three voices in this book. The other is a Portuguese theory. Let's try that again. Portuguese immigrant family. And so it's a Portuguese house girl who works in the Lincoln household. And she narrates and then the third person to narrate is a fried black family from Kentucky. And the father of the family is a minister and a barber to a blink him. And he has ties to the Underground Railroad. So this whole thing all gets woven together. And I mean, all you had to say me was Nancy Horan. And I would read it because I was so impressed by her research as well as her writing. And so that's that'll be kind of the Civil War and its aftermath. So a literal time travel. So that's a good one for the summer, too. I think, Oh, I really want to I want to read that I am. It was interesting. With loving Frank, I went to Frank Lloyd Wright's home in Oak Park to visit it and they don't talk like So Frank Lloyd Wright wasn't the greatest guy, at least personally. They don't talk about any of that. We know it feels very polished. Like I was shocked when I read that her book. And most people were to find out, you know, sort of all of this, I guess, word I don't know, maybe sinister comes to mind. But this very dark background to his life that yes, when I googled it all afterwards was like, Okay, it's there to see but certainly not the image that is portrayed with him in general. The other book that comes to mind, I was thinking is March by Geraldine Brooks. I was looking so that's a really cool book. It's set. It came out it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2006. And it's it's historical fiction. Well, no, no, that's not I don't know if you call that what do you call that? It took little women? Yes. And then it takes the character. So in Little Women, the father doesn't appear. And so this is sort of about what he's off at war and what's happening, but in that same time period, sort of Lincoln Yeah. And it's funny with the terminology, because I think that is historical fiction, that historical fiction. I think the other thing that Nancy Horan does well, is this fictionalized memoir. So she's telling the story as if it's actually happening, the person is narrating their story. But it's not really their story. It's based on her research. So she's imagining what the person would say. So I think it's called fictionalized memoir, but who's to know? Or you could also maybe, maybe call it wolf with Mark, it could be called fanfiction potentially. I don't know. Yeah, we're taking a book and then doing like a. There's so much of this lately. I know. So you just read now I've not read it. So you have to forgive me, but you just read romantic comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld? I did. Yeah. Excuse me. And so she has written books about Hillary Clinton if I'm right, yeah. And also the what American wife with Oh, Bush, Laura Bush. The exceptional. I like that better than Hillary. Yeah, well, the Hillary would have felt a bit. I don't know, maybe too close. But anyway, she's so she takes these modern, interesting people who have interesting stories, and she creates her own narrative out of it all. And I think it's quite interesting. So the one tell us about romantic comedy there. What was that? Oh, yeah, it's so good. It's, um, well, I've read, I think I've read all of her books, which is almost all of her books. And it just, it takes some, it's about late night television. So it's a take off on SNL. And as you know, on SNL, particularly Pete Davidson, who's not attractive, just gonna say, that gets all the hottest women in the world. And so she flips the script on that script on that, and has a kind of average looking woman who's a writer on the show, attracts a famous man. And so without the flipping of the script, and also very realistic, it seems like life of what it's like to work for one of these shows, which is crazy. Yeah, basically, you don't sleep. You're, it's, you're up all night. You're, you're you're under huge pressure. But it also sounds like a lot of fun, I think. Yeah, I think it's a young person's game. But yeah, I really like what a great glimpse into that. And I'm going to apologize because somebody just started up their lawnmower. So that's just our summer theme, background noise for you. Okay, look better than my coughing fits. So is that we just that we are actually, we didn't record this a few months ago, this is no. Okay, well, I'll move on then to our last one here. And this is one again, I am, I'm having it recorded here. That this, I believe is going to be a huge book. And the great thing about it is that it is written by Canadian writer. And this is called the African samurai. And it's written by Craig Shrieve, who is Canadian. This is also following a theme here based on the true life of a person, this person's name is yassky. And he was the first foreign born samurai in history. So there are actually I think there's a series I looked it up on Netflix, it's an anime series. There's also a documentary that was done a few years ago about this person. So he started off, he was born in Africa. And then he became a slave. And he was taken in by the Portuguese. And he's just to make it really multicultural. He is charged with protecting a high ranking Italian priest. So he's a big guy, and he was picked up as a child and in Africa became a slave then becomes this guard. And he's on this ship that arrives in Japan. And while he's there protecting this high ranking Italian priest, he somehow gets in mired in the civil war that's going on in Japan at the time. And it leads to an encounter with a warlord Nobunaga. And they somehow develop kind of a trusting and respectful relationship with one another. And he gets brought into Nova Nagas world and Nobunaga is like the big cheese, he's brought into his world and is granted samurai status. And it's worth I don't know if you've ever read show goon. But if you go back and read about the samurai culture, this is astounding that a foreigner and someone that's African or African is brought into this world and it feels like it's got that epic like Pachinko or Washington black kind of or horse I just read Geraldine Brooks, book horse. And it it brings this whole feeling of like this big international journey and and this incredible journey of cultures. So I really think this will be an exciting one. This is also I'm very conscious. I often choose all these books that women might like, but I have a good friend that I always want to make sure I have one or two on the list for him because it's it's good to have ones that the men in our lives like as well. This sounds sounds really interesting. It sounds like the author. read a bit about him. He he has he's part African himself. Yes, yeah. And he has some interesting history and Canon I forget, but his almost like famous parents in some way I can't remember. But he's he has one other book, it's called one night in Mississippi, and the little town where he lives, I believe was the end point for the Underground Railroad. So he's kind of sounds like has, he doesn't seem like he's very old fellow, but he's grown up in this environment where those stories were being told about the African experience and the slavery and that sort of thing. And he, he was shocked, he didn't know this story. And as he came across it, he thought, well, this is a story that needs to be told. And so there is that personal connection for him. And, you know, the little bit that I've read about him, he seems like a very good writer as well, which makes for a good combination. That's great. Well, that I think we've got a lot of choices for people to choose from. And then people can tune into your or subscribe to your blog, or check out your blog, which I'll put links in the show notes. And so they can get 12 More books, not 12, six, six, a bit much. Come up with there's so many good books, it's it's an exciting time, I feel like and you know, I've follow a lot of these independent bookstores. And there's certainly a good feeling emerging of people that are opening new bookstores and engaging and reading and it seems like we've kind of come back where people are tossing out their e readers and coming back to real books. And there's great marketing being done with writers and their books. And I mean, you and I can sit here and chat. But gosh, there's so much information that we're able to access to have these conversations. And it's so anyway, it makes me feel optimistic about reading in general. But there's nothing better either than a nice long, hot summer coming and great big books to read. And few little ones to get in there as our palate cleansers and, and lots of different directions to like, if you look at this list, you know, we're all over the map, literally, in different places, and from Colorado to Japan. And it's a great way to travel if we're not out traveling ourselves. Well, thanks so much, Susan. That was a lot of fun as always, and enjoy it, too. Okay, I'll talk to you soon. Perfect. Take care. Happy reading. Thanks so much to Susan Matheson for coming back on the podcast. And I'm super excited about all the choices that she has presented. And I think I'm going to start with all the beauty of the world by Patrick Bingley about them that I just think that sounds really interesting to me. And then I'm probably going to check out the African samurai i think that sounds really cool. So thanks so much for listening and have a great summer. And please follow me on Instagram at Red Fern book review and send me your suggestions. You can message me or send me a voicemail about what you'd like to like to see in the fall. I'm going to start a whole new lineup in the fall and talk to different authors to talk to Jeff and I'm only lineup so I will thank you so much for listening and I will talk to you later. Have a great summer