My April Reading List 📖
Plus a must-listen podcast, a lovely take on a midwestern recipe, & my new favorite sunglasses.
My book slump is officially over! If you’re looking for something to add to your TBR list, here are four titles that did it for me. Plus: scroll down for a few other things I’m loving right now.
PS You can find my whole list of Hey Eleanor book recs here— and I urge you to do your online book shopping from bookshop.org. It supports local bookstores, not our ol-buddy-ol-pal Jeff over at Amazon. He doesn’t need any more of our money.
Care and Feeding by Laurie Woolever
I spent over a decade working for a celebrity chef, so a memoir “written by Anthony Bourdain’s assistant” piqued my interest. Part of me worried the book might feel gross and opportunistic, Bourdain having been America’s [Reluctant] Sweetheart, a man so beloved that anyone with ties to him could cash in. However, Woolever did a phenomenal job respecting Tony’s story, sharing just enough broad strokes to get the point across, while staying focused her own. She included many personal vulnerable and often unflattering moments fueled by drugs and alcohol, and I respect how much she really went there.
For me, reading Care and Feeding felt like joining a support group; just the thing I needed to cut my younger self some slack. You know, the naive and hopeful version of me that sometimes swapped my core values and self-worth for the allure of free meals at fancy restaurants, parties with “important people” who didn’t want to talk to me anyway, and working overtime in the pursuit of incredible opportunities that rarely panned out.
Read this if: You’ve ever worked in the culinary world. You appreciate Bourdain, and are also open to understanding that Bourdain was not Bourdain all on his own (and no “celebrity” gets to where they are without a lot of smart, hardworking, behind-the-scenes people). You’ve ever felt taken advantage of. You love a real and honest memoir. You’ve ever struggled with drugs and alcohol.
Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
I’d actually read my iPhone’s software license agreement if Curtis Sittenfeld wrote it. That’s how much I enjoy her work. Romantic Comedy takes place at a SNL-esque late night show, and kept me reading waaaay past my bedtime. I’m currently re-reading Rodham, the novelization of what Hilary’s life may have looked like if she hadn’t married Bill, for the second time.
Show Don’t Tell is Sittenfeld’s latest collection of short stories, something I’m not normally drawn to but fully enjoyed. Thematically, Show Don’t Tell examines the experience of women in middle age. Marriage, motherhood, empty nests, affairs, sex, sexuality, career, health, friendship. Many stories juxtapose the ambitions of youth against reality— who you thought you were going to be in, say, college, versus the life you actually have. Though I prefer a Sittenfeld novel, I found the stories deeply relatable.
Read this if: You’re a woman over 35. You’ve struggled with the tension of your ambitions versus what you’ve accomplished in you actual life— the one filled with other people’s needs and expectations. You’ve ever felt invisible. You’re seeking meaning, excitement, and purpose in middle age (and beyond).
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
What does it mean to be human? Extraterrestrial Adina Giorno gets shipped to Earth from a faraway planet to find out. Though born to a human mother, Adina faxes her home planet observations about Earth and the people who live there. Beautyland’s plot takes a backseat to astute and simple observations about what it means to be a person here on earth. It’s philosophy, wrapped in a charming novel, with many underlinable moments such as:
Human beings, Adina faxes, did not think their lives were challenging enough so they invented roller coasters. A roller coaster is a series of problems on a steel track. Upon encountering real problems, human beings compare their lives to riding a roller coaster, even though they invented roller coasters to be fun things to do on their days off.
― Marie-Helene Bertino, Beautyland
Read this if: You like an offbeat, original novel. You like a sprinkle of Sci-Fi. You enjoy a book about love, but not of the romantic variety.
Acid for the Children by Flea
I loved
’s essay, There are Only 3 Celebrity Memoirs Worth Reading.As someone who regularly reads (er… mostly listens) to celebrity memoirs, I’ve felt some stories are too surface level and lack voice (sorry, Britney). Others feel like an attempt to set the record straight (whether it’s via apologies, revenge, love letters— or all three in Elliot Page’s memoir). And some just seem to miss the point. After devoting 15 hours (on 1.5x speed, naturally) of my life to Prince Harry’s story, I walked away with more questions about a royal family that I realized I really don’t even care about.
However, Johnson said Acid for the Children by Flea delivers. So I listened. I didn’t know much about Flea other than he used to rock a tube sock (and nothing else) on his cockadoodledoo while laying down some excellent bass. But the man is also a jazz trumpet player; a scholar of great literature and philosophy; an emotional, deep thinker with an appreciation for nature. And he also did a fuckton of druggin’, drinkin’, stealin’, and lyin’. It’s a powerful juxtaposition.
The book chronicles his life right up until the formation of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Flea’s command of voice and story shine— he understands the power of blank space, telling just enough of the story and ending without over-explaining. There is something very jazz about it all. Short chapters that pack a punch. Often heavy, yet totally delightful.
Read this if: You love music. You love a story about so-called ne’er do well who is also always trying to do the right thing. You believe we can be many things at once.
Other things I loved this month:
This piece on what it would take to have another baby from
, though if I’m being honest, her #13 would do it for me all on its own.This episode of Search Engine (one of my favorite podcasts) about what teens are actually seeing on their phones. Essential listening for anyone with kids.
Attention Midwesterners: this Sloppy Joe Bowl recipe did it for me.
These retro but classic sunglasses.
I want to know: What are you reading? Any good podcast or show/movie recs? Share in the comments!
I’ve heard so may good things about Beautyland, it’s on my list!
Your reading lists are my reading list! You have a lovely way of describing books and it makes me want to read them all! I save the emails and plan to reference them when I get myself to start reading again 🙃 Thank you for sharing! My only content rec is A Man on the Inside - an easy, feel good watch.