Roni's August Recs: Read - Watch - Listen

Well…it’s been a month, y’all. I’ve never been so happy to see September 1.

First, all three of us (me, hubs, and the 13 year old) got symptomatic Covid at the start of the month. (All of us were fully vaccinated.) Hubs had it the worst, ending up with double pneumonia, but none of us had to go to the hospital—though we did make lots of visits to Urgent Care *waves at Beverly*. I’m so glad things didn’t get serious, but getting Covid did wipe out all the exciting things we had planned for August—vacations, a Foo Fighters concert, Brenda Novak coming to visit in person to interview me for her book club, my husband’s band’s first show since Covid started, and kidlet’s first few days of school. But we’re okay and that’s what counts. We’re all doing much better now.

Then this week hit. Many of y’all know I’m originally from Louisiana. Well, most of my family still lives there, and my parents live in Laplace. If you’ve watched the news at all, you’ve probably seen Laplace on all the news stations as they took a direct hit from Hurricane Ida. (My husband’s hometown of Houma was also directly hit.) My parents still live in Laplace and thankfully evacuated, but their house is in one of those neighborhoods they keep showing on TV with all the flooding and roof damage. They can’t get back yet to assess. So, August has been a rough go.

However, while convalescing from Covid and taking care of the fam, I did get some time to read, watch, and listen to things. That’s the beauty of stories, right? We can escape into them for a little while when reality is stressful. So I’m here to tell you my favorites of the month.

Read

In My Dreams, I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

About the book:

Six friends.
One college reunion.
One unsolved murder.

Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has planned her triumphant return to her southern, elite Duquette University, down to the envious whispers that are sure to follow in her wake. Everyone is going to see the girl she wants them to see—confident, beautiful, indifferent. Not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather Shelby's murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she'd been closest to since freshman year.

But not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone left Duquette ten years ago, and not everyone can let Heather's murder go unsolved. Someone is determined to trap the real killer, to make the guilty pay. When the six friends are reunited, they will be forced to confront what happened that night—and the years' worth of secrets each of them would do anything to keep hidden.

Told in racing dual timelines, with a dark campus setting and a darker look at friendship, love, obsession, and ambition, In My Dreams I Hold A Knife is an addictive, propulsive read you won't be able to put down.

My thoughts:

This was my favorite read of the month. Y’all know that I’m a huge fan of campus novels—particularly ones with a dark edge—so this hit that sweet spot. (Want more campus novel recs? Check out this list.)

This novel was everything I wanted it to be. Even though I’m prone to like a campus novel, I'm pretty picky about mysteries. I need them to be at least somewhat character-driven and not plot only. This one had both. It's not an easy thing to have a cast of seven important characters and make them all feel distinct. I didn't have to flip back once to see--wait, which character is this again? And I loved the dual timelines of their years in college and then ten years later at homecoming. It kept me turning the pages and trying to figure out who the killer was. I didn't guess. There were lots of red herrings that worked.

If you need your characters lovable, then this might not be for you. These characters were all flawed, but the author did a good job of showing why they were the way they were and that made them (most of them) sympathetic. (And as someone who was salutatorian twice--both in middle school and high school--I resonated with Jessica's salutatorian "always second place" frustration, lol.) Also, there's a tiny bit of a love story mixed in, which did my romance writer heart good.

I don't give out 5 star ratings easily, but this one was an easy one to rate. :) My one caveat is if the opening chapters (before the flashback to the past starts) don’t capture you, keep reading. I wasn’t sure when I first started reading if it was going to be for me, but once I hit those flashback chapters, I was in.

Disclosure: I was provided an ARC by Sourcebooks for an honest review and Sourcebooks is my publisher.

Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach

About the book:

Jenny Rosenstrach, and her husband, Andy, regularly, some might say pathologically, cook dinner for their family every night. Even when they work long days. Even when their kids' schedules pull them in eighteen different directions. They are not superhuman. They are not from another planet.

With simple strategies and common sense, Jenny figured out how to break down dinner—the food, the timing, the anxiety, from prep to cleanup—so that her family could enjoy good food, time to unwind, and simply be together.

Using the same straight-up, inspiring voice that readers of her award-winning blog, Dinner: A Love Story, have come to count on, Jenny never judges and never preaches. Every meal she dishes up is a real meal, one that has been cooked and eaten and enjoyed at least a half dozen times by someone in Jenny's house. With inspiration and game plans for any home cook at any level, Dinner: A Love Story is as much for the novice who doesn't know where to start as it is for the gourmand who doesn't know how to start over when she finds herself feeding an intractable toddler or for the person who never thought about home-cooked meals until he or she became a parent. This book is, in fact, for anyone interested in learning how to make a meal to be shared with someone they love, and about how so many good, happy things happen when we do.

My thoughts:

I picked this one up on a complete whim. It’s on Hoopla, so if your library has that, you can grab it there. Food memoirs are comfort reads for me, so when I was recovering from Covid (and had lost all smell and most of my taste, so couldn’t enjoy anything but kale salads and fruit), reading about this author’s dinner evolution somehow helped.

This is an easy read and technically listed as a cookbook, but I felt like this was much more memoir than cookbook. I loved reading about the author’s journey through making dinner from her early years when she was first married and then through motherhood. A lot of it mirrored my own journey, and it felt nostalgic to read about those days when she was first married and learning to cook.

I came into my marriage knowing how to cook three things—red beans & rice (like a good New Orleans girl), beef roast in a crock pot, and French bread pizza. Now, I own literally hundreds of cookbooks and consider myself a pretty savvy and adventurous cook. And I can look at my cookbook collection and see my own evolution from newlywed, to new mom, to mom of a foodie teen. I didn’t have the picky eater issue Rosentrach talked about when her kids were little, but everything else in the book felt like I’d been there too.

So, if you’re looking for an easy comfort read about food, this one might hit the spot. Plus, there are lots of recipes if you’re looking for that.

Watch

Modern Family (Hulu)

I know I am sooooo late to the boat on this one. When this premiered, my kiddo wasn’t even two yet. I didn’t have much time to watch grownup TV—or you know, brush my hair—so this one flew by me. I’d heard great things and had put it on my “one day” list, but when I was looking for a new show for my whole family to watch together, I decided to see if this one would be a good fit.

I’ve discovered that it is VERY hard to find a show that will entertain both me and the hubs AND also the 13-year old AND be age-appropriate for a young teen. Things are either too silly/kiddie or they jump to full out dirty humor. Not as much falls into the space in between. * puts on my Gen X back-in-my-day hat for a second * Back when I was growing up, sitcoms (and movies) were really good at innuendo that would entertain parents but went over kids heads and still had humor that kids could enjoy too. Those are so much harder to find now. * takes off hat * So I’m so thrilled to have found this one.

Yes, Modern Family has some sexual references, but they handle it in a way that I don’t feel awkward watching it with my 13 year old and he doesn’t feel awkward watching with us. And the show is SO FUNNY. We all regularly belly laugh to the point of losing our breath (which was a bit of a problem when we were still wheezy from Covid!) and it’s just straight up fun to watch. I don’t laugh aloud all that easily, but this one gets me on a regular basis. And it’s just a joy to hear both my husband and kiddo laughing just as hard. Family fun for all.

I’m already sad that we will one day get to the end and we’re only in the second season.

This is Pop (Netflix)

We are a music-loving family over here, so when I saw the description for this show, we decided to try it out. Each episode is a standalone documentary about a particular thing in pop music. For instance, there’s an episode about Boyz II Men, an episode about the rise of autotune, one on how Sweden played a huge role in pop music, another on the Brill Building.

The whole thing was fascinating and I learned so much. For instance, I now can’t NOT hear when a singer is autotuned—and realize that it’s kind of ruined pop music in a lot of ways. I also now can’t stop noticing nonsense lyrics from 90s/00s pop songs—lyrics I’ve sang over and over and never thought, “what does that even mean?” I want it that way. What way? What it do you want? The Backstreet Boys don’t even know. Lol.

The fam enjoyed the episodes too. You can hop around and don’t have to watch them in order if one topic interest you more than another. If you like music, I highly recommend checking these out—but be prepared to have the curtain peeled back on a few things.

Listen

Open Book by Jessica Simpson

About the book:

Jessica reveals for the first time her inner monologue and most intimate struggles. Guided by the journals she's kept since age 15, and brimming with her unique humor and down-to-earth humanity, Open Book is as inspiring as it is entertaining.

This was supposed to be a very different book. Five years ago, Jessica Simpson was approached to write a motivational guide to living your best life. She walked away from the offer, and nobody understood why. The truth is that she didn’t want to lie. 

Jessica couldn’t be authentic with her listeners if she wasn’t fully honest with herself first. 

Now, America’s Sweetheart, preacher’s daughter, pop phenomenon, reality TV pioneer, and the billion-dollar fashion mogul invites listeners on a remarkable journey, examining a life that blessed her with the compassion to help others but also burdened her with an almost crippling need to please. Open Book is Jessica Simpson using her voice, heart, soul, and humor to share things she’s never shared before.

First celebrated for her voice, she became one of the most talked-about women in the world, whether for music and fashion, her relationship struggles, or as a walking blonde joke. But now, instead of being talked about, Jessica is doing the talking. Her audiobook shares the wisdom and inspirations she’s learned and shows the real woman behind all the pop-culture clichés - "chicken or fish", "Daisy Duke", "football jinx", "mom jeans", "sexual napalm..." and more. Open Book is an opportunity to laugh and cry with a close friend, one that will inspire you to live your best, most authentic life, now that she is finally living hers.

My thoughts:

If y’all haven’t caught on to the pattern yet, I love a celebrity memoir audiobook narrated by the celebrity. This one took me a little longer to get through than Busy Phillips’ memoir that I read (and loved) in July. I think maybe because this one had less humor and tackled a number of heavy topics (TW: sexual abuse, alcoholism.) However, it was a good listen and I really did feel like she was being very open and vulnerable.

My favorite parts were when she was describing the years of trying out for the Mickey Mouse Club at the same time as Britney, Justin, Ryan Gosling, and Christina, and how not being part of that group kind of followed her (being the outsider.) I also enjoyed hearing the behind the scenes stuff about her and Nick Lachey’s reality show Newlyweds—which I most definitely watched every episode of when it was on, lol. (We’re close in age so I was only two years into my marriage when the show was on.)

She talks a lot about her faith and growing up with a pastor father. She gives dirt on people—looking at you, John Mayer. And unlike a lot of memoirs that feel very “I’ve been through these things and now I’m on the other side and have all this distance and perspective”, I feel like she’s still living through a lot of things. So, she has perspective on some but is still working through others.

And I had no idea that she was billionaire—yes, with a B—mogul because of her fashion company. Go on, Jessica.

Overall, a worthwhile listen but beware the heavy parts. Not one to listen to while your kids are in the car.

Alright, that’s it for this month’s round-up! What have you read/watched/listened to this month that was great?

Roni's June Recs: Read - Watch - Listen

Hey there! It’s summer!

The heat has been blazing here in Texas, so it’s felt like summer for a while, but I know it just became official yesterday. However, I hope you’re already enjoying all those summery things so many of us look forward to.

For me, summer is about vacations, slower days, piles of books to read, escapist TV shows, and listening to great audiobooks and podcasts in the car as I bring the kiddo back and forth to all the summer things.

So I thought today, I’d share some of my favorite finds so far this month!

READ

People have varying ideas of what constitutes a “summer read”. The most classic definition is a frothy, escapist book that is often set on or near a beach and has a cover of bright, summery colors or photos of aforementioned beach. I can definitely be down with that kind of read. However, I don’t limit my summer reading to that.

For me, a summer read means a book that sweeps me away, that I can get lost in. For instance, the first read below is decidedly NOT a summer setting. However, I read almost the whole thing at a NASCAR race when I was hiding underneath the stands from the absolutely boil-your-organs heat. If I can get lost in a book while I’m that hot and while listening to the deafening sound of race cars, that is a book that is truly escapist.

I also tend to reach for “juicy” books during the summer. Over the top reads that are just a little too much but in the best way.

So here we go!

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

About the book:

Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike―particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.

Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.

Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything―including her own life.

My thoughts:

This was a Book of the Month pick and pushed one of my big reader buttons—my love of a campus novel. (Want more campus novel recs? Check out this post.) I haven’t read The Silent Patient (though I own it and plan to) but the concept of this one called to me, so I picked it up first. Sometimes when it’s hot outside, there’s nothing like escaping into a some place cooler. A prestigious university in England fit the bill. There are lots of twists and turns to keep the pages flipping and enough characterization that my character-driven heart was satisfied.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

About the book:

Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold―a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic not even she knew she possessed.

Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country’s magical military elite―and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift.

As the threat to the kingdom mounts and Alina unlocks the secrets of her past, she will make a dangerous discovery that could threaten all she loves and the very future of a nation.

Welcome to Ravka . . . a world of science and superstition where nothing is what it seems.

My thoughts:

I read Ninth House by Leigh Badugo a while back and I LOVED it. So when I realized I’d missed her popular GrishaVerse series (and that it was about to become a Netflix show), I knew I needed to remedy this immediately. I’m not always in the mood for a fantasy-type read. I tend to have a love/hate relationship with the genre. When I read a fantasy book, it either becomes one of my favorites of the year or I can’t get though it. I rarely have middling feelings about them.

However, I’m happy to report that Shadow and Bone, which is based on a Russian type mythology, totally hooked me. Really, anything that has a character named The Darkling probably had my name on it. I do love a darkly charming is he/isn’t he a villain type character. I raced through the whole trilogy and promptly bought the spinoffs. Since then, I’ve read Six of Crows (which I liked but didn’t love quite as much since it’s more of a heist-based plot) and have taken a break from the series just because I don’t like to stay in one zone for too long. I will go back though. Choose this if you want to binge a series.

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

About the book:

Frances is a coolheaded and darkly observant young woman, vaguely pursuing a career in writing while studying in Dublin. Her best friend is the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi. At a local poetry performance one night, they meet a well-known photographer, and as the girls are then gradually drawn into her world, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman’s sophisticated home and handsome husband, Nick. But however amusing Frances and Nick’s flirtation seems at first, it begins to give way to a strange—and then painful—intimacy.

Written with gemlike precision and marked by a sly sense of humor, Conversations with Friends is wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth, and the messy edges of female friendship.

My thoughts:

Last year, one of my favorite reads was Normal People by Sally Rooney. It was far outside of what I normally read—her books are often labeled grim millennial literary fiction. But for some reason, it grabbed me. I watched the TV show first though, so I thought that may have been why. So I picked up Conversations with Friends with a bit of trepidation because I didn’t know if I’d still enjoy the writing as much if I hadn’t formed images of the characters first from a TV show.

I shouldn’t have worried. I can’t exactly pinpoint WHY Rooney’s writing works for me, but it does. As a writer, I tend to write very open, talk-about-their-feelings kinds of characters. (I think this comes from my former therapist background.) So, a book like this where everyone is SO EMOTIONALLY REPRESSED should drive me nuts. And on one level, it does. I want to shake them and tell them, “Just tell people how you feel, dammit!” But but but, I can’t stop reading lol.

This book is grim and literary and there isn’t a ton of plot. (I’m really selling it, eh?) But it’s deeply character-driven, and I’m a junkie for characterization. So…your mileage may vary if you don’t read much lit fic, but I’ll definitely be picking up Rooney’s next novel because her books seem to scratch some itch I didn’t know I had.

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

About the book:

With her disarming, intimate, completely accessible voice, and dry sense of humor, Nora Ephron shares with us her ups and downs in I Feel Bad About My Neck, a candid, hilarious look at women who are getting older and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself.

Ephron chronicles her life as an obsessed cook, passionate city dweller, and hapless parent. But mostly she speaks frankly and uproariously about life as a woman of a certain age. Utterly courageous, uproariously funny, and unexpectedly moving in its truth telling, I Feel Bad About My Neck is a scrumptious, irresistible treat of a book, full of truths, laugh out loud moments that will appeal to readers of all ages.

My thoughts:

Do I really have to sell you on Nora Ephron? Probably not. If you’re looking for something to make you laugh but that also has some poignant and thought-provoking parts, this is for you. Ephron writes in a way that makes it feel like you’re having drinks will a really wry and entertaining friend. I raced through this one and highlighted a lot of passages. The sections toward the end made me a little sad, knowing she’s not with us anymore, but I’m so glad I read it. Just her thoughts on raising adolescents made me feel better because I’m in the thick of that phase of parenting right now, lol.

WATCH

When it comes to TV watching, I have shows I watch with my whole family, ones I watch just with the kiddo (age 13), ones I watch just with the hubs, and ones I watch alone. I’m looking for different criteria in each category, but here are a few that I’m loving right now.

Show I’m Watching with the Fam

The Good Place (Netflix)

I had watched some of this series on my own when it first came out but then I lost track of it. However, when I was looking for a new show to watch with the whole family, it came up as a suggestion. I’m so glad I went back to it! All three of us are fully enjoying it and truly do laugh aloud. It’s so freaking clever.

The basic premise is that Eleanor (Kristen Bell) has died and finds herself in The Good Place (aka heaven) but it isn’t what she’d thought it be and she realizes quickly that she’s not supposed to be there…because she was actually a really crappy person on earth. But she can’t let anyone find out because then she’ll be sent to the bad place. Antics ensue.

Please don’t look for spoilers—just dive in and enjoy. Also note that even though I’m listing this as a family watch, I wouldn’t recommend it for younger kids. They can’t curse in the good place (it changes curse words to substitutes—go fork yourself) but there are some sexual jokes and situations.

Shows I Watch Solo

Cruel Summer (Hulu)

Admission: I love a soapy, over-the-top or overly angsty teen or college show. I grew up on Dawson’s Creek and Felicity and My So-Called Life. I don’t care that I’m in my 40s, these kinds of shows are still like candy to me. So, when I saw that Cruel Summer was going to be about high school students, a kidnapped teen, and that it was set in the 90s, I was all in.

The premise is unique—each episode covers the same day on each of three different years. So you see parts of the story from the year before/when the kidnapping took place, the year while the girl was missing, and the year of aftermath. The triple timeline really keeps you guessing and there are lots of twists along the way. I finished it this week and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. And fun bonus, it was taped nearby, so I recognized a lot of the locations.

Shadow & Bone (Netflix)

As I mentioned above, I loved the books, so I definitely was interested in the show. I’m only a few episodes in, but so far, they seem to be doing a good job translating the book to screen. I will note, however, that though it’s called Shadow and Bone, they also weaved in the Six of Crows book. So, if you’re someone who wants to read the books before the show, you’ll need to read Shadow & Bone and Six of Crows not to be spoiled.

Elite (Netflix)

I am brand new to this one, so I can’t necessarily recommend it yet, but I’ve watched two episodes so far and I’m intrigued. Warning, this is a show from Spain, so you either have to pick dubbed dialogue or read subtitles. I tried the dubbed, but it sounded weird to me. I’m liking the subtitles better.

As I mentioned above, I love a campus novel, so hearing that this show was set at an elite high school where three not-so-elite outsiders have gotten scholarships pushed my campus novel button. Mean girls, entitled boys, too much money and hormones and not enough parental supervision? Yes, please. If that’s your thing, maybe check it out. I will note that this is about teens but NOT a teen show. There is nudity/sex.

What I’m Watching with the Teen

Big Bang Theory

I missed this show the first time around, but the kiddo and I are enjoying the heck out of working our way through these. I love a show that is both clever and makes you genuinely laugh out loud. And it can be kind of tough to find something that both me and the thirteen year old can enjoy together, so this is perfect.

LISTEN

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

I’m not all the way through this, but it’s been so entertaining so far. I love listening to a memoir as an audiobook because I think it just adds so much to hear a person tell their own story. And Matthew is a storyteller. He’s that guy you’d buy a beer, and he’d just weave tales about “this one time.” His stories are funny and entertaining. He intersperses “bumper sticker” lessons and some poetry. He laughs at his own stories. It’s just a fun ride.

Whew! That was a lot. I hope you found something to add to your summer! Happy reading and watching and listening, y’all. :)

What’s been your favorite read, watch, or listen so far this summer season?