May books bloom rich reads

Nonfiction takes center stage this month with several excellent choices.

 

“Dilettante” by Dana Brown. The author was working in catering when he was plucked from behind a bar by Graydon Carter, then editor of Vanity Fair, to be his assistant. Odd choice as Brown had no degree, literary interest, or experience. But he was unparalleled at spending money on drugs, booze and parties, all essential skills at that time. Carter schooled him on the rest for 20 years during the heyday of Conde Nast. 

 

Also read Ruth Reichl’s “Leave Me the Plums,” which chronicles a similar demise of Gourmet magazine, another Conde Nast publication killed off, in part, by profligate expense accounts.

 

“Diamonds and Deadlines” by Betsy Prioleau. The subject of this book, Miriam Leslie, was a wildly successful publisher in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Rising from truly meager beginnings to Gilded Age wealth and the spending expected of the rich, her story is remarkable. Even better, she left her fortune to women’s suffrage. 

 

“Tell Me Everything” by Erika Krouse. The author was hired as a private investigator by a law firm to investigate the sexual abuse allegations in the football recruiting scandal at the University of Colorado in Boulder. A cautionary tale for parents and students as well as a deplorable exposé of the toxic culture in some sports.

 

“All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days” by Rebecca Donner. A must read book. This is the chronicle of an American woman, a professor of literature in Berlin, and her German husband. They recruited a loyal group of individuals to form a part of the German resistance.

Their cunning and fearless leadership is astounding, the details breathtaking. Their courage is humbling.

 

In fiction this month:

 

“Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus. The discrimination and relentless humiliation of women in STEM in the ’60s and ’70s pushes one woman to become the host of a TV cooking show. But her unorthodox approach emboldens women everywhere to fulfill their potential. I found the 4-year-old daughter to be intelligent, insightful, and eloquent beyond belief for, but the depiction of the treatment of women was exactly as I remember med school and residency in the ’70s.

 

“Cover Story” by Susan Rigetti. This story of a Russian scam artist in New York City feels a bit too similar to the Netflix series, “Inventing Anna.” But it is fun to read the backstory of working at a fashion magazine (very “Devil Wears Prada”) and how scammers somehow evade paying their bills. I still don’t understand how luxury hotels allow a guest to run up massive bills and continually give lame excuses. But Rigetti offers some ideas on how to do it!

 

“The Family Chao” by Lan Samantha Chang. This story of a Chinese family of three boys and the restaurant the father presides over, is reminiscent of The Brothers Karamazov. Family dynamics, filial love, passion, betrayal, and a murder trial. 

 

“Ocean State” by Stewart O’Nan. The travails of a working class family in a small town in Rhode Island. The murder of a high school girl is revealed with all its tragic adolescent rage.

 

“The Lost Village” by Camilla Sten. A Swedish mash-up of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and “Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple.” A filmmaker goes to an abandoned village to try and document why the villagers all disappeared.

 

“Very Cold People” by Sarah Manguso. A declining small town in New England and a young girl learning to cope with the sad truths of its inhabitants before finding her way forward.

 

For more reads, visit beckysbookclub.com.