Dinners With Ruth

Dinners With Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships by Nina Totenberg (2022) 304 pages

Nina Totenberg, Legal Affairs Correspondent for National Public Radio, weaves a riveting tale of her friendships with not only Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but with others on the court, too. It's quite interesting to see Justice Antonin Scalia shown from Totenberg's perspective, as well as Sandra Day O'Connor, John Paul Stevens, and others.

We see Totenberg's move from college (which she didn't finish) to her early journalism jobs and later to NPR. We see the strong friendships that bonded women together in male-dominated fields, whether it is putting together stories for the radio or researching and writing up opinions for the U.S. Supreme Court. Many of these friendships evolved over lunches out, or dinners shared at Totenberg's home. We learn about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's marriage and health issues, and also about Totenberg's marriages, as well. Totenberg isn't reticent about sharing her mistakes with us. I found the memoir quite good.

Just Haven't Met You Yet

 

Just Haven't Met You Yet by Sophie Cousens (2021) 371 pages

Laura works for a company called Love Life, a lifestyle website where she interviews people about how they met. Suki, her difficult boss (to put it mildly), wants to suck in viewers with feel good stories and get them to buy "stuff" in targeted ads, which helps keep the business afloat. Laura talks Suki into letting her travel from London to Jersey, an island in the English Channel, to see where her parents met and fell in love 30 years ago. Laura's father died when she was a small child, and her mother died a couple years ago. Suki gives Laura a long weekend to make a good story out of the trip.

Laura's wish is to find her own true love, and her hopes start to soar after she lands on the island and discovers at her hotel that she has picked up the wrong suitcase at the airport. The items in the suitcase show her a man that seems to meet all of her requirements on paper, and she tries to meet him, supposing that he has probably taken her suitcase. Laura enlists the help of Ted, a man who grew up on the island, who drives a cab part-time while he's helping his aging father.

Laura does some cringy things, a bit reminiscent of the "I Love Lucy" show, but she is also thoughtful and learning that the life she imagined her parents had together was not at all what she had been led to believe.

The story's character development and many subplots made it hard to put this book down.

The Paris Apartment

 

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley (2022) 360 pages

Jess has left London in a hurry after a bad incident with a boss who had harassed her one time too many. She's concerned that the police will be looking for her and she asks her brother, Ben, if she can stay with him in Paris for a bit. Ben agrees, but he isn't there when Jess arrives. All she has is a voice mail message from him, telling her that he'll let her in when she rings the buzzer. 

Jess wonders how Ben could even afford to stay in this massive building on his salary as a restaurant reviewer. The apartment building has 6 floors, one apartment on each floor. It's an old building with secret passages and "a cave" in the basement with a huge amount of wine. There's also a shack on the property that houses a scary old woman who serves as a concierge. 

Jess picks the lock to get into Ben's apartment. There are no towels in the apartment, and there is large section of lighter-colored wood and a strong smell of bleach on the floor near the door, quite troubling. Jess has no money and nowhere else to go, so she stays. She finds some clues that indicate Ben was investigating something big, trying to get a scoop on a story that could advance his career. Everyone in the building seems to be avoiding Jess or trying to get her to leave. Everyone has their secrets in this compelling and suspenseful story.

Paw and Order

Paw and Order by Spencer Quinn (2014) 304 pages

Chet is a 120 pound dog, a police academy dropout who is smart as a whip and totally dedicated to Bernie Little. Bernie is a former police officer and Army captain who'd been injured in Iraq. Now the two make up the Little Detective Agency. One of Chet's most endearing traits is how he hard he tries to translate what Bernie and other people say (often taking their words literally), and what Chet notices as he meets various people in the story and how he deciphers their gestures and smells.

After wrapping up a job in Louisiana, Bernie decides to aim his old Porsche towards Washington D.C., to surprise Susie, his girlfriend who now works for the Washington Post. When they arrive at Susie's, they see Eben St. John leaving Susie's place, which makes Bernie jealous, even though Susie says Eben is a source for a story she's working on. When Susie finds Eben dead in his office the next day, Bernie is a suspect for a time. As Bernie, Chet and Susie try to solve the murder, they need to piece together Washington D.C. presidential politics and foreign interest in the results. (Sound familiar?) This is a fast-moving story and it's a nice change of pace to hear it from Chet's point of view.