Why Don’t You Write My Eulogy Now So I Can Correct It? A Mother’s Suggestions by Patricia Marx and Roz Chast

Is that the best book title or what? 

A book for all mothers - and sons and daughters of mothers - AND for fans of writer Patricia Marx and cartoonist Roz Chast, both longtime contributors to The New Yorker magazine, this is a small and wonderful book that will make you laugh at the crazy things mothers say to their children under the guise of giving advice and guidance.

Most of us have experienced moments of disbelief at what our mothers have passed on as sage advice or commentary on our lives and some of us have even experienced that (frightening) moment when we realize that those exact same words are coming out of our own mouths to our own children. 

Fortunately for some of us time and distance allows us to be less aghast and more amused by said comments and fortunately for all of us, Patricia Marx’ mother was in a league of her own and Roz Chast has the ability to perfectly illustrate the craziness with love and affection.

“When Daddy and I come up for Parents’ Weekend,” my mother wrote to me one summer I was at overnight camp (I was nine), “you are to stop whatever you ate doing and run up and hug us. Even if you are in the middle of a tennis match. It’s too embarrassing to be the only parents whose daughter doesn’t miss them.”

Happy Funny reading!

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Save Me The Plums by Ruth Reichl

I started buying Gourmet Magazine in 1998 when I moved to New York; the perfect epicurean magazine to match my new life in the big city, I thought, and I have loved it ever since. My first issues turned into a beloved and probably unnecessarily large collection that survived right until a couple of months ago when Marie Kondo ‘moved in’ and enticed me to give away about half.

Gourmet Magazine was the premier food magazine for decades. First published in 1941 it gained notoriety and a huge following with the arrival of Ruth Reichl as its editor in 1996. Ms Reichl had at that point been the food critic of The Los Angeles Times as well as the New York Times but trying her hand at editing a magazine she had loved since she first came across an issue in a used bookstore at the age of eight, turned out to be a very different job, with more ups and downs, joys and sorrows than she could ever have anticipated.

In her latest memoir, Save me the Plums, Ruth Reichl takes the reader on the journey that turned out to be the rise and fall of Gourmet Magazine, a magazine that under her leadership became THE magazine not just for food lovers, but also for travellers, adventurers and lovers of literature. The Paris, Rome, New York etc issues of Gourmet are legendary, as was her genius idea to invite well known authors to contribute in long form to the magazine’s content pages. Writers like David Foster Wallace who set out to write about The Maine Lobster Festival and ended up writing a now epic piece on human beings’ relationship to killing animals, in this case throwing live lobsters into boiling water. A piece that the editors and publisher feared would drive subscribers, readers and advertisers away in droves, but turned out to bring in merely two complaints and hundreds more readers.

The David Foster Wallace example is just one of many great pioneering stories in the book; tales of courage and doubt, of an ever changing and expanding food scene; of bringing together New York restaurants to feed emergency workers in the wake of 9/11. But more than anything Save me the Plums is full of stories of people for whom food, travel and striving for excellence was their guiding light and what made them love going to work every day. 

Save me the Plums also offers a view into Ruth Reichl’s own family history, growing up with a bipolar mother who was the source of much uncertainty in a little girl’s life and who longed for a life of fame and luxury to which she felt she had been born and a doting, and a loving father who designed books for a living and encouraged his daughter to follow her passion wherever that might take her.

Well, it took her to Gourmet and for that we will be forever grateful. As the cashier at the sandwich shop at New York’s JFK airport said when Ruth Reichl tried to pay for a sandwich the day after the magazine was suddenly and shockingly closed down in October of 2009: “This ones on me,” she said. “I loved that magazine. I’m really going to miss it.”

I still do, and I am grateful for the wonderful issues I cherish - and still use.

Happy Reading!

Reviewed by Isabella

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A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen

The book, “A Terrible Country” by Keith Gessen, is an impressive work of fiction that details the life of an immigrant Russian Andrei, whom moves back to Moscow to take care of his grandmother after almost 30 years in the US. The reader learns early on that the grandmother is struggling with dementia, a theme that runs through the entirety of the novel. The two main aspects of the book, are this [dementia] and the trials and tribulations of life in modern day Russia. 

 “A Terrible Country” is saying that refers to how Andrei’s grandmother describes Russia, after having spent the entirety of her life there, starting with the years of Stalin and total oppression. The irony in the novel is that the oppressive state worked better for the grandmother than the new more “democratic” and “liberalistic” regimes that Russia has had since Stalin. This is something Andrei also finds to have a strong resonance through the people he ends up spending his time with. The novel gives an impressive insight in how the daily lives are affected by Putin and the stronghold he also has on the country. Furthermore, Gessen does well to touch upon how the scholars in the country all are able to see how money is what makes the country sick, but still are afraid to leave the world of work and money behind. Even Andrei, we learn, becomes more of an anti-hero in this regard.

 The theme of dementia is also very well covered. Not only does Gessen manage to cover the sickness from both the perspective of Andrei as the family member, but in also in a very clear way from the perspective of the grandmother. The reader feels like Andrei’s experience in Moscow one big metaphor for how the early stages tend to affect the mind. Every time Andrei feels at home in Moscow, or as if the city is finally treating him well, an event occurs which will throw our main character back to square one. This draws clear parallels with the grandmother in the story. As Andrei begins to suspect that she is remembering him, his mother, the country, or in general improve her awareness, the next day will feel completely different. This allows for the reader to get lured into a sense of comfort, only to get shot back to reality, the same way the disease seems to affect the grandmother.

 Overall, a great read. This is especially for other readers fascinated with the current affairs in Russia, and how the people of Russia feel, being called “the puppets of Putin” by the media in the west. Moreover, a very well written intricate story, that will guide you through the life of Andrei.

Reviewed by Gustav Groot

Happy reading! 

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It’s easy to be cynical about memoirs in general and those of world leaders (and first ladies) in particular.  Did they write them themselves; how much can they truly reveal, how honest can they really be? I therefore embarked on Michelle Obama’s much hyped memoir Becoming with what I deemed to be a healthy dose of skepticism. 

After eight years in the White House we still knew little about Michelle Obama and reading Becoming makes it clear just how intentional that was. She was known to be a private person, a fierce protector of her family; there were rumors of her strong opinions and outspokenness. None of that was a surprise, really. Here was a strong, well-educated woman from the South Side of Chicago moving into the White House as the first African American first lady married to the first African American president. Nothing about that says quiet, shy and retiring.

Michelle Obama’s life is well known by now. How she and her brother grew up in a small upstairs apartment of a small house in Chicago with supportive, loving and, above all, hard working parents. How she arrived at Princeton where she experienced what it was like being the only black woman in the room; how she met Barack Obama at the law firm where she was working; how she soon realized the her husband’s destiny and drive were inevitable, and how he was meant for a different and inescapable kind of greatness that would soon dictate and change not only his but her life forever. 

Becoming feels like a very genuine book. It’s easy to hear Michelle Obama’s voice and to sense the struggles, doubts and major leaps of faith that at times are similar to those of any couple, such as work/life balance discussions, marriage counseling, infertility issues and at times are recognizable only to a very select group of people: those who get to inhabit the White House. While the problems facing Michelle Obama seem surreal at times, the solutions and her inner debate to solve them feels very real and relatable.

Reading Becoming confirmed everything I thought I knew about Michelle Obama. She is strong, she does have strong opinions, she will fight for what she believes in and she is fiercely protective of her family, especially her daughters. 

What I didn’t know and what was surprising was just how honest she was willing to be in her memoir. Also, how outgoing and social she is, how she loves hanging out with her friends and how it took some getting used to being married to a guy, whose idea of a fun Saturday night is to stay home and read a book!

Becoming is a fun, fascinating read about Michelle Obama’s journey from the South Side of Chicago to the White House - and beyond. Its full of fun facts and stories about the importance of family, the struggle to survive, the value of hard work, the beauty of sharing your life with a soul mate and the utter strangeness of being a first lady. 

More than anything the aptly named Becoming shows the strength of a value driven life; of how principles and moral standards instilled in you by your parents and your experiences - good and bad - growing up and making your way in the world shape you and help you become the person you were meant to be. And finally how those same values will guide you and serve as a touchstone when things don’t go as planned. Which as it turns out happens A LOT in politics.

Happy reading! 

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