Archives - Weekly Update

I had a great time last night at the Fairfield Public Library in Connecticut giving a talk to a very engaged audience about Great Book Group Books. I love getting out to meet readers and share with them the books that I am excited about. I always am surprised at how many books even avid readers are not familiar with. Over the course of 90 minutes, I shared background about books and anecdotes about authors. I drove home energized by the enthusiasm of the audience, and I have answered emails from a few of them today. The photo above is me with Claudia Silk (far left) and Mary Coe (far right) from the library staff who kindly invited me, along with another staffer, Linda Quinn.

We had a really nice weekend celebrating Easter and Tom’s birthday. On Friday night, after a very busy week, I realized I had not made a menu or any plan for the holiday dinner, beyond the idea that we were going to have lamb. So I sat down with my laptop with a new idea for organizing this. I searched online for the recipes that are in the cookbooks I own and cut and pasted them into an email. Then I went through those, and through the magic of cutting and pasting, which I am old enough to recognize to still be amazing, I made a menu, a shopping list, and a list of what I wanted to make and in what order.

Last weekend, I read three books, and one was better than the next. I love when that happens. I started out with a memoir called A BEAUTIFUL, TERRIBLE THING: A Memoir of Marriage and Betrayal by Jen Waite, which will be in stores on July 11th. Jen is married with a newborn daughter when her marriage begins unraveling. She learns it has been built on a web of lies. As she explores what happened to her, she realizes that her husband is a classic psychopath. After the marital abuse in "Big Little Lies," this gives readers insight into a story where abuse is psychological, not physical. It’s equally damaging and chilling.

Around our house this weekend, everything will revolve around Tom watching The Masters. One must whisper when you say those two words --- The Masters --- with proper golf reverence. Tom watches nonstop. I peek in, watch the end and make Pimento Cheese Sandwiches. This year, I am making the recipe in Mary Kay Andrews’ THE BEACH HOUSE COOKBOOK, which is coming on May 2nd. Her recipe was tested with Duke’s mayo, but we NYC metro area folks will have to make do with good old Hellmann’s. I fell in love with pimento cheese on one of our Outer Banks trips --- to me, the best part of The Masters. I know, irreverent.