BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE

Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene that Transformed Rock by Jonathan Gould, 512 pgs. © 2025

Is it art? Is it music? For the Talking Heads it's probably both. This is a great book for music lovers. Probably the definitive book for the band but also a nice dive into the late 70's New York art scene and how influential it was for musicians trying to escape the old ways of traditional rock and roll, which was starting to become so bland that it was sometimes referred to as 'conservative' rock and roll. I live for this kind of nonfiction--it's well written organized, packed with great research. You come away with a greater understanding of how tight-knit the NY art community was and how this band come out of nowhere to carve their own unique niche in the new wave landscape. Gould did very well in this endeavor, even without interviewing anyone in the group today. Gave me a greater appreciate of Stop Making Sense, one of the greatest live concert docs of all time. 

The Poet X

 The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, 368 pages.

Xiomara Batista often feels like no one is on her side. She's Afro-Latina and in possession of a body that gets her more attention from men than either she or her traditional catholic Mami would like. Which is just one in a long list of things her Mami blames her for, a tension that would explode if she ever finds out Xiomara is questioning her faith. It feels like the only place she can feel safe being herself and expressing her true thoughts is in the poetry she writes in her journal. But Xiomara is not the type of girl who is content to live her life quietly forever. 

This was an astonishing young adult novel. I listened to the audiobook, which is read by the author and really makes this novel in verse come to life, which is exactly what I would expect for a book of poetry read by an award-winning slam poet. I found this book startlingly honest, tackling hard issues for young adults without ever feeling exaggerated or implausible. Xiomara's troubles are undoubtedly hard, and sometimes seem impossible to solve from inside, but they never seem even a little hard to believe. Their resolution feels similarly believable. I would recommend this very widely to teens, but also to anyone else.   

A Great Marriage

A Great Marriage by Frances Mayes (2024) 298 pages

Dara and Austin are set to be married in a short time. Dara and all of her family loves Austin—the Londoner is so much better for her than most of the guys Dara dated in her younger years, and her family and friends note the sparks between the couple are strong. Austin cannot believe his good fortune in his relationship with Dara, as well. When Austin gets unexpected news, it upends their relationship, and Dara won't tell her family and friends why.

The novel explores romantic relationships while showing us families with strong ties. The action is slow, but fitting for a story where the main characters, as well as some of the secondary characters, need to figure out what the way forward could be.

Dear Edna Sloane

Dear Edna Sloane by Amy Shearn (2024) 242 pages

Edna Sloane wrote a book which quickly became a classic after it was published some thirty years ago. When she was supposed to be meeting her agent to discuss her next novel, she never made it to her appointment, seemingly disappearing from the scene. Now, thirty years later, Seth, a few years out of college, is yearning to write something significant himself, but feels stuck in his mediocre job with a digital publication. His editor wants to do a series on great women writers of the 1980s, and suggests Seth look for Edna Sloane. Seth knows and loves her book and fixates on trying to find out what happened to her, contacting every group of writers he can think of, including those in chat rooms, hoping to get a lead on Enda's whereabouts. This story is told mostly via the emails and posts he sends, and later, through the letters he sends and receives. 

Seth has two goals: to find Edna and see if she is willing to be interviewed for their publication's feature story, hoping that such an interview would help his career which is floundering, and he also wants to see if Edna would be able to share with him writing strategies: how to create works which have meaning and will endure, and other concerns of the writer.

The letters which make up the story tell us much about the people, particularly Seth and Edna. We learn a lot about Edna's background, too: Her father came of age at Auschwitz, losing his entire family during the Holocaust. Her father's horrible experiences affected not just his own life, but they also had a significant, although indirect, effect on Edna's life as well. We also learn of Edna's life in college and as an adult. I found a lot of philosophical meat in this novel. While there is not a lot of action, the unfolding of Edna's story is fascinating to me.

Romantic Comedy

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (2023) 305 pages

It's no accident that the backdrop of this book reminds one of Saturday Night Live. In her acknowledgement section, Sittenfeld lists the most humongous list of materials related to the long-running show, which she drew upon to get the full flavor of The Night Owls (TNO). Sally is a writer for TNO, and although she reminds me a bit of Liz Lemon from Thirty Rock, Sally's character is deeper, with a better story line.

Sally had married young, but her husband was done with the marriage when she got her job at TNO. He'd never expected her to be successful in her attempts to get onboard. Since then, Sally has had only one relationship that she wished would have gone further, but ultimately, she's grateful for her career at TNO over these past 10 years, and for the close friends she has made at the show.

It's April 2018. A good-looking and talented musical guest, Noah Brewster, is also the host of the upcoming show. Sally works with him on the sketches, and she's not sure if he's feeling the sparks that she is, but she decides that if the feeling is real, that it won't last. She's just not as desirable as other women Noah has reportedly dated. Good-looking women will pair up with ordinary men, but the reverse just doesn't happen.

Sittenfeld leans into this concept and takes it two years into the future, during the Covid lockdown. Sally gets an email from Noah and starts corresponding with him. Their interactions are mostly fun, but also reveal their inner feelings. Could their relationship work in the real world, or is heartbreak inevitable?

The Dinner List

 

The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle (2018) 273 pages

Sabrina is celebrating her thirtieth birthday, meeting her best friend Jessica at a restaurant. But Sabrina is surprised: this is not an ordinary dinner, it's a party of six, some living and some dead, from a list Sabrina compiled in college (and later edited a bit). The list includes Audrey Hepburn, because (of course) everyone wants Audrey Hepburn on the roster at their imagined six people at dinner. Also included is Sabrina's father, who was an alcoholic whom her mother kicked out when Sabrina was five years old. Her philosophy teacher, Professor Conrad, is included, too. As is Tobias, a man that Sabrina first met at an art show on the beach at Santa Monica Pier when she was in college, and later found again by chance in New York City years later. Sabrina feels that she and Tobias were meant to be. Their relationship, as well as the relationship between Sabrina and her father and Sabrina and Jessica come under the microscope. The fatherly Professor Conrad and the surprisingly motherly Audrey Hepburn help move the process gently along. 

I thought this was a well-done quick read, as we learn about Sabrina's life and her relationships.

Change of Plans

Change of Plans by Dylan Newton (2023) 352 pages

Bryce was chosen by her brother and his wife to be the guardian of their children if the unthinkable happened. And then the unthinkable did happen. Bryce, who was a chef in Florida, immediately uprooted and came to the small town in New York where the children and their mother's parents live. She's finding that parenting three girls, aged 5, 8, and 11 is not easy, but she's determined to raise the girls, even though it means opposing the children's grandparents, who have more financial resources and who also want custody.

Meanwhile, Ryker is finding it hard to adjust to life outside the military, along with his prosthetic leg, even though it's been some years. His PTSD flares at times and his leg is causing him pain. He's running an auto shop while trying to avoid his extended family, not wanting them to worry about him.

When Bryce and Ryker meet, the attraction is immediate. Ryker likes the fact that Bryce asks about his missing leg, rather than ignores it. Bryce likes the fact that Ryker came to her rescue when one of her nieces got caught under a grocery store shelf in a bizarre mishap. But as is often the case, this romance is a "Will they get together or not?" kind of plot, where we wish that Ryker could just communicate better, but we understand that his wartime experience has put him in a tough place.

Ms. Demeanor

 

Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman (2023) 288 pages

Jane Morgan was a relatively new resident of her apartment building when she and a junior attorney from her firm decided one moonlit night to have sex on the rooftop of her building. A binoculars-wearing video-taping neighbor from a different building filmed them and called the police. The result: Jane's license to practice law is suspended and she is on home confinement for six months.

Jane's twin sister, a dermatologist, sends groceries. Jane loves to cook, and gets a couple of very old, late 1800s-era cookbooks that she is trying out. Her sister wants her to make cooking videos for TikTok. Meanwhile, the doorman to her building indicates that there is another person in the building who also has an ankle-monitor, as Jane does. Thus starts an interesting relationship – even though Perry is somewhat reserved, he and Jane find a kinship of sorts. He misses good meals and wants to pay her to cook for him a few nights per week.

Meanwhile, Jane learns that the woman who called the police on her has died, and there is a weird story behind her life and her death.

Elinor Lipman never disappoints me. Her characters are quirky and fun, in an understated way.

Charlotte Illes Is Not a Detective

Charlotte Illes Is Not a Detective by Katie Siegel (2023) 367 pages

Charlotte Illes was renowned as a child for the mysteries that she solved. As a teenager, she chose to leave behind her detective career and try something else. However, that "something else" didn't really thrill her, and at the beginning of this story, she's 25, out of work, living with her mother, and trying to find suitable women to date. Her success in the dating world is stymied by Google: each potential date she meets just wants to talk about her fame as a child detective, which she finds extremely off-putting.

Her brother and her best friend try to get her interested in detective work again since she was so good at it, and after resisting the impulse, Charlotte finally starts to look into a case for them: her brother's girlfriend works for a company that has some of its employees trying to join a union. One of the people has just disappeared. Not long ago, another was found dead. Charlotte works in conjunction with her brother's girlfriend, along with Charlotte's own childhood friends who had helped her solve mysteries years ago.

The camaraderie and banter of Charlotte and her friends is entertaining, as is watching Charlotte get back into her detective work – she's a bit rusty at it since it's been a while. She makes a few really cringey mistakes, but once she gets past them, it's smooth sailing. Or is it?!

Slaughterhouse Five

Slaughterhouse Five, or the Children's Crusade, A Duty Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut Jr (1969) 215 pages

I read this long ago, but needed a refresher. It's clear that many of the events that Vonnegut experienced in World War 2 were incorporated into this novel, especially when he and other American soldiers were captured by the Germans and shipped to Dresden to be used as labor in the beautiful, culturally significant city that was said to have no military value. Despite that, after a month, the Americans and English firebombed the city, killing 135,000 people and turning the city into an ashy moon-like wreck. The American prisoners of war survived only because they were based in an underground meat locker of a slaughterhouse, Slaughterhouse Five, to be exact.

The story revolves around a man named Billy Pilgrim, who, like Vonnegut, also fought in the war and experienced this horrific event. What's different about Billy is that long after the war, Billy says he was kidnapped by an alien people called Tralfamadorians, and taken to live in a zoo-like enclosure on their planet. This is when Billy becomes unstuck in time. When he isn't on Tralfamadore, he lives in Ilium, New York, as an optometrist, married to the daughter of the optometry's school's president. Lots of snippets of Billy's life unfold in a non-linear manner, indicative of the time travel he experiences, visiting and re-visiting times in both the past and future. He learns that the Tralfamadorians don't understand humans' concern with death. They think that that there are some bad moments, but there are a lot of other moments that are not bad. All moments have always existed, and there's nothing that can be done to change them. Billy is told that of all the inhabited planets Tralfamadorians have studied, only Earthlings believe in free will.

Terrible story about coping with war, told in an entertainingly wry way...

 

Lizzy and Jane

Lizzy and Jane by Katherine Reay (2014) 338 pages

Elizabeth (Lizzy) and Jane are sisters who have been at odds with each other since their mother died 15 years ago. The story is told from the point of view of Elizabeth, the younger daughter, who left home at 18, after her mother's death, to study under a chef. She has been living in New York for many years, running her own restaurant funded by a venture capitalist named Paul. She has had few visits back home. Jane, the older sister, lives in Seattle with her husband and children, and is undergoing treatments for breast cancer, which is what killed their mother. Their father, who lives in Oregon, cajoles Elizabeth to visit Jane, and after Paul suggests she take time off from the restaurant—which has fewer patrons these days—to see if she can get her mojo back while another chef steps in for a time, Elizabeth decides to spend a few days in Seattle.

Elizabeth notices that Jane can't keep food down easily while on chemo, and she works to develop recipes that take into account the metallic tastes that chemo causes, and works to counteract them, with some success. The sisters continue to spar often, but also find some common ground.

When Jane's husband needs to go on a business trip, Elizabeth ends up staying longer to get Jane to her chemotherapy treatments and to help with the kids. Nick, a friend and colleague of Jane's, catches Elizabeth's interest and she seems to be feeling real joy for the first time in a long time, but she still is set on returning to New York.

Elizabeth starts out as an unlovable character, and then develops into one I can relate to, but before the story ends, her behavior turns ugly. I struggled to decide whether the later crisis points were realistic or contrived. Overall, I'd say that the story is worth reading, but I preferred Katherine Reay's novel The Brontë Plot to this book.

Mr. Perfect on Paper

Mr. Perfect on Paper by Jean Meltzer (2022) 399 pages

Dara is a matchmaker: she has spent the better part of her 34 years coding matchmaking programs to help Jewish singles who want to marry other Jews. Dara, who is quite wealthy, would love to find and marry a Jewish man herself, but she has spent most of her life dealing with generalized anxiety disorder. She has strategies for handling it during work, but dating is another story.

Meanwhile, Chris is the host of a daytime television program that hasn't been doing so well. He already uprooted his 11-year-old daughter to move her to New York two years ago when his wife died, and he's feeling stressed about the prospect of another move if his show fails.

When Chris (who is not Jewish) and Dara meet, it's for a segment of his television program showcasing her successful matchmaking business. She has brought her grandmother Miriam along, and Miriam steals the show when she produces a sheet of paper on which Dara once wrote the qualities of a man she would like to find. Chris - who finds himself attracted to Dara - pitches the idea of his team finding her dates and filming them. It's a win-win, helping his television program and helping Dara, while also promoting her matchmaking business. Will Chris be able to find the perfect Jewish date for Dara, and will he hate it if he succeeds? Read this and find out!

The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder

The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder by Daniel Stashower, 326 pages

This historical true crime book is about the July 1841 murder of Mary Rogers, a well-known "cigar girl" in New York City. There was not yet a unified police force in the city, and so the murder went unsolved. A year later, Edgar Allan Poe decided to use his fictional detective C. Auguste Dupin to solve the mystery through his story, "The Mystery of Marie Roget."

I really enjoyed this book, as it combined a biography of one of my favorite authors and an overview of the murder of Mary Rogers and the subsequent investigations. Stashower also analyzes the aforementioned short story, and how Poe used the newspaper reports of the time to come to his conclusions. There is even some history of the newspapers in New York at this time. If you are an Edgar Allan Poe aficionado, a fan of true crime, or interested in early 1800s New York, this is the book for you! You will definitely learn something new.

Oh William!

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout (2021) 240 pages

I've enjoyed reading books with the character Lucy Barton, in spite of reading them out of order. In this novel, Lucy is in her late sixties and widowed. We learn much about her life, but not so much that I don't thirst for more. She speaks in a conversational style, offering slivers about many parts of her life: her early years, living in poverty with non-nurturing parents; her college scholarship, which was her passport out of poverty; her first and second marriages; her daughters.

William, the man of the book's title, was her first husband, a driven man, a parasitologist who had taught microbiology for many years. She and he had remained on cordial terms since their divorce, occasionally even using old pet names for each other. Sometime after Lucy's beloved second husband died, William asked Lucy to go a trip with him to Maine to learn more about his mother, and in particular, about a half sister he learned that he had. William first seemed to disbelieve that he'd really had a sister, a girl that his mother purportedly had abandoned when she left her first husband, but now he wants to know all about the woman, even though he's not sure he wants to meet her. Lucy goes along to support him.

Strout's characters are strong, yet vulnerable. And very believable. I first read Anything Is Possible and now Oh William. Next up: the first, My Name Is Lucy Barton. 

A Good Marriage

 

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight (2020) 390 pages

Lizzie's an attorney with a husband who drinks too much and who has gotten them into financial problems. Lizzie is torn between her love for Sam and her anger towards him. Meanwhile, Zach, a friend of Lizzie's from law school, calls her from Riker's, a notorious jail, where he was sent for assaulting a police officer who was among the responders when Zach found his wife, Amanda, dead at their home. Zach insists that Lizzie help him get out on bail, and also with the murder charge which soon follows. As Lizzie works to help Zach, against her better judgement, we see what was going on for Amanda in the time leading up to her death. Zach and Amanda had moved across the country with their 10-year-old son and had established him at the exclusive Brooklyn Country Day School. Zach is inattentive, immersed in his work, while Amanda tries to meet people‒mostly other parents whose children go to the same school. In particular, two other couples' relationships are examined, that of Sarah and Kerry and of Maude and Sebe. Maude and Sebe have been throwing an annual party which can include sex for those who are interested.

Who's got a good marriage? Read and see what you think. But also, who killed Amanda? The story, and its backstories, provide lots of twists. Very engrossing read!

A Lowcountry Bride

 

A Lowcountry Bride by Preslaysa Williams (2021) 343 pages

Maya Jackson is a wedding dress designer for a renowned New York bridal gown brand. She's overstressed trying to please her boss, the one and only Laura Whitcomb, but she now has a chance to become a senior designer, which would fulfill her mother's wishes for her. When her widowed father breaks his hip, she is forced to take unpaid time off to stay with him in South Carolina. In order to pay her her bills while she's with her father, she takes a temporary job at a small dress shop in Charleston, which is run by Derek Sullivan. Derek has his own problems. His beloved wife was killed in a church shooting a couple years prior and his mother, the owner of a bridal shop, has passed away too. He's in danger of losing the business. Can the dresses that Maya designed with a blend of design elements from her Filipino and West African ancestries—but which weren't acceptable to Laura Whitcomb—attract business to Derek's shop, or will he be forced to sell it? Meanwhile, can Derek make peace with his twelve-year-old daughter who's living with her own pain since the losses of her mother and grandmother? 

One Last Stop

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, 422 pages

New Orleans native August Landry is brand new to Brooklyn, not quite sure if she's going to finally find a place that works for her after striking out at various cities and colleges across the country. Once she finds a quirky set of roommates though, they quickly adopt her, despite her best attempts to stay aloof. Then there's a girl that August met on the Q line one morning, and she always seems to be there, no matter the time of day, and August has never seen her get off the subway. The girl, Jane, is a mystery to August, but one so beguiling that August can't help but be pulled in — and she hopes Jane's as attracted to her as she is to Jane.

Anyone who's read McQuiston's debut novel Red, White, and Royal Blue knows that she can write a steamy and emotionally gripping romance. While this book has those, it also allows her to branch out into science fiction and personal growth elements, both of which are woven in wonderfully. I love the celebration of queer culture and drag, and I always love a good found family. This is an enchanting novel and I totally get why there's a sizeable hold list. You should get on it too, if you're not already.

The Bride Will Keep Her Name

 The Bride Will Keep Her Name by Jan Goldstein (2009) 259 pages

Madison is within a week of her marriage to Colin Darcy, an investigative reporter for NBC, when she starts receiving communications from an unknown person, indicating that her fiancé isn't who she thinks he is. She enlists her two best friends, Abby and Kat, to help her find out if Colin really might really be implicated in the murder of a call-girl/artist in the past year. Kat's job as an assistant DA in New York is helpful. As the days–and wedding-related events–click by, they uncover evidence that doesn't look good. Madison struggles to decide what to believe, whether to trust her head or her heart. Fast read.

The Unwinding of the Miracle

 The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After, by Julie Yip-Williams (2019) 315 pages

Julie Yip-Williams was born blind to Chinese parents in Vietnam not long after the fall of Saigon in 1975. When her family was able to get out of Vietnam, they came to the United States where doctors were able to help Julie's vision somewhat by removing cataracts from the four-year-old child. She remained legally blind, though, and always tried to compensate for it by becoming a high-achiever, eventually graduating from Harvard Law School.

At age 37, married to another attorney and mother to two young daughters, she was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. This book traces her whole life, including her medical and psychological journey as she deals with cancer. She wasn't brought up with religion, but one sees hints of spiritual thinking intertwined with her realism. Being invited into her thinking sometimes felt intrusive and other times felt like a privilege. Gut-wrenchingly honest.

The Friend

 The Friend by Sigrid Nunez (2018) 212 pages

Longtime friend of a man who has committed suicide is asked by the man's wife if she'll take the man's dog. The dog is a Great Dane that the man had found alone and tagless in a park. The narrator (never named) reluctantly agrees, although the terms of her apartment lease specify that no dogs are allowed. 

What follows is an adjustment period for both the dog and the woman, who are both in mourning. It's hard to hide a Great Dane, even when he's a quiet dog, and the apartment manager sees her with the dog and eventually reports the infraction to the owners. This prompts a series of notices from the owners for the woman to remove the dog or to vacate the building.

Meanwhile, the woman continues to consider the life of her friend and conversations they'd had; it's apparent that she had strong feelings for him. Once upon a time, the man had been her professor. He became a well-known writer, a Romeo type who married three times and had a large number of girlfriends and lovers over the years. As the woman battles depression and the apartment owners, her relationship with the dog deepens. It's a good story, although it's not at all clear to me if the title refers to the woman, the man, or the dog. Perhaps all three.