Quick Lit June 2022 Archives

I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America

by Tyler Merritt

From the publisher: "As a 6'2" dreadlocked black man, Tyler Merritt knows what it feels like to be stereotyped as threatening, which can have dangerous consequences. But he also knows that proximity to people who are different from ourselves can be a cure for racism. Tyler Merritt's video 'Before You Call the Cops' has been viewed millions of times. He talks about growing up in a multi-cultural community and realizing that he wasn't always welcome, how he quit sports for musical theater (that's where the girls were) to how Jesus barged in uninvited and changed his life forever (it all started with a Triple F.A.T. Goose jacket) to how he ended up at a small Bible college in Santa Cruz because he thought they had a great theater program (they didn't). By turns witty, insightful, touching, and laugh-out-loud funny, I Take My Coffee Black paints a portrait of black manhood in America and enlightens, illuminates, and entertains—ultimately building the kind of empathy that might just be the antidote against the racial injustice in our society."

The Murder of Mr. Wickham

by Claudia Gray

From the publisher: "A summer house party turns into a thrilling whodunit when Jane Austen's Mr. Wickham—one of literature's most notorious villains—meets a sudden and suspicious end in this brilliantly imagined mystery featuring Austen’s leading literary characters. The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a party at their country estate, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances—characters beloved by Jane Austen fans. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it's clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst. Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery... In this tantalizing fusion of Austen and Christie, the unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is sentenced to hang."

Fly Girl: A Memoir

by Ann Hood

This caught my eye at the bookstore because I am both fascinated by and uneasy about flying. It also reminded me of a wonderful exhibit about the history of flight attendants I saw years ago at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. From a young age, novelist Ann Hood knew she wanted to be a writer. She also knew that writers needed material, and she intended to get hers by getting out of Rhode Island and out into the wider world. And so she landed a coveted job as a flight attendant for TWA Airlines, a position harder to secure at the time, statistically speaking, than admission to Harvard. Between 1978 and 1986, Hood crisscrossed the country and the world, tending to planes and their passengers in her iconic Ralph Lauren uniform. These pages outline the massive changes in the industry during that time, but they're mostly filled with Hood's stories of what she saw in the air.

Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me

by Ada Calhoun

Regular readers know I adore sagas of complicated families. This new nonfiction work from Why We Can't Sleep author Ada Calhoun delivers all that and more. Thanks to the book's pre-release publicity, I discovered Calhoun is the daughter of art critic Peter Schjeldahl, who I've been quoting for YEARS (especially in MMD Book Club) about his approach to works that aren't "immediately hospitable." Calhoun's new genre-bending book is a memoir-ish look at their complex relationship—and also a profile-of-sorts about poet Frank O'Hara. I couldn't resist, devoured it in 36 hours, and put it straight on my Best of the Year list. By the time I closed the last page I'd googled a hundred things about NYC history and requested ten books from my local library. Fascinating, devastating, vexing, illuminating. Heads up for a handful of content warnings that aren't obvious from the publisher's description or reviews.

Part of Your World

by Abby Jimenez

What does a city doctor have in common with a small town carpenter? Alexis is not expecting more than one night with Daniel but their chemistry is undeniable. The more time she spends in Daniel’s town, the more she learns what she wants in life but it’s not without cost. Daniel doesn’t belong in her world but she’s not sure she can give him up either. Abby Jimenez’s trademark sense of humor helps balance the moving exploration of intimate partner violence, making for one heartwarming read. I loved Julia Whelan and Zachary Webber’s dual narration.

Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays

by Minnie Driver

Aside from enjoying Return to Me and Good Will Hunting, I knew little about Driver's life or career. Her career is merely background to this memoir in essays, which is far more about the trajectory of her life than her professional highlights. In candid, lovingly-drawn, and often poignant essays, she discusses her hair, her childhood in London and Barbados, her struggle to gain traction as an actress, her relationships with her mother and sister, and her unexpected path to motherhood. I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook, narrated by the author.

Leadership: In Turbulent Times

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

From the publisher: "Doris Kearns Goodwin draws upon the four presidents she has studied most closely—Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson (in civil rights)—to show how they recognized leadership qualities within themselves and were recognized as leaders by others. By looking back to their first entries into public life, we encounter them at a time when their paths were filled with confusion, fear, and hope. Leadership tells the story of how they all collided with dramatic reversals that disrupted their lives and threatened to shatter forever their ambitions. Nonetheless, they all emerged fitted to confront the contours and dilemmas of their times. At their best, all four were guided by a sense of moral purpose. At moments of great challenge, they were able to summon their talents to enlarge the opportunities and lives of others. Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader?"

Flying Solo

by Linda Holmes

Holmes's warm-hearted sophomore novel is set, like her first, in the made-up harbor town of Calcasset, Maine. You could say this book was written with a vicarious visit in mind: Holmes says she wrote it in 2020 and 2021 when she was at home and "couldn’t go to any of the beautiful places I love in real life, Maine included." If you like the sound of a woman reevaluating what she really wants on the cusp of turning 40 (with plenty of When Harry Met Sally references), a second-chance romance with a sexy librarian, an older role model who lived an amazing life on her own terms, and a love story involving a beautiful and mysterious duck decoy, this smart second-chance romance is the book for you.

Search: A Novel

by Michelle Huneven

This book was an unexpected delight. It's a novel, written as a comic memoir (with recipes, even!), that opens with a fake premise to the second edition. The premise is this: successful food journalist and restaurant critic Dana Potowski has attended her progressive Unitarian Universalist church for more than two decades. Now the church needs a new pastor, and Dana is asked to serve on the search committee. She doesn't want to do it, because it sounds like a giant pain, plus lately she's been opting for sleeping in over attending service more often than not. But she does need an idea for her next book, and realizes that a memoir about her time on the search committee—including the recipes her readers expect from her—could be perfect. And so she says yes. Whether you're drawn to the possible religious factor here or concerned about it, you should know Dana's church prides itself on being neither religious nor particularly spiritual; more than anything this is a story of finding your path and your people, plus a close-up look at the delightfully maddening process of an all-too-human committee. I'm certain this is exactly the book some of you are searching for, right now.

Quick Lit June 2022