Chugging along through the books as we close out another cold month! All the books this month were fun reads. We love a fun month rotation, especially when the weather is the antithesis of fun.
My Mess Is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety by Georgia Pritchett
Blurb: Jenny Lawson meets Nora Ephron in this joyful memoir-in-vignettes on living—and thriving—with anxiety from a multiple Emmy Award-winning comedy writer whose credits include Succession and Veep.
When Georgia Pritchett found herself lost for words—a bit of a predicament for a comedy writer—she turned to a therapist, who suggested she try writing down some of the things that worried her. But instead of a grocery list of concerns, Georgia wrote this book.
My thoughts: Georgia Pritchett is a sharp, witty writer, and I felt a kinship as someone who also suffers from anxiety. As I was reading, I kept thinking, ‘Oh, someone else also has crazy, absurd thoughts like I do?’ It was comforting. I sometimes think this is why I write and do comedy. It’s a good outlet for people like us who need a way to work through these crazy thoughts and emotions.
This was a book of essays, and it was fun to listen to during my winter walks. I think you need humor if you’re daring to walk outside this time of year.
Lost Tea Rooms of Downtown Cincinnati by Cynthia Kuhn Beischel
Blurb: It was a different time. Ladies wore gloves, hats, and nice attire to luncheons at the Woman’s Exchange. Shillito’s provided a cosmopolitan environment for its patrons, while Mullane’s was the perfect place to sip and socialize. The popular Good Morning Show radio program, hosted by charming Bob Braun and later Nick Clooney, was broadcast from McAlpin’s Tea Room. Women gathered at Pogue’s and Mabley & Carew tea rooms to celebrate birthdays, as well as wedding and baby showers, over dainty tea sandwiches.
Author Cynthia Kuhn Beischel brings the Queen City’s bygone downtown tea rooms back to life and shares more than one hundred beloved recipes.
My thoughts: I ADORED this book! I’ve been meaning to read it for awhile and thankfully it popped back into my crowded brain recently. My mom has always told me about the magic that was downtown Cincinnati back in the day. The department stores sounded like a fashion paradise, and it physically pains me that downtown no longer exists. I’m a proud child of the 90s, but this book really makes me wish I could have at least popped in about fifty decades sooner just to experience the tea rooms and shopping.
This book really satisfied all the things I’ve wondered about what dining downtown was like back then. Thankfully, there were a lot of pictures included. I love a picture to add some context to something so wonderful. I would have thrived in this bygone era of tea rooms and thoughtful shopping experiences. The second half of the book features actual recipes from these beloved tearooms. That was a fun surprise! My only wish is to bring back these lost tea rooms of downtown Cincinnati.
A Girl Like Us by Anna Sophia McLoughlin
Blurb: Succession meets Saltburn in a crackling locked-room thriller of inconceivable wealth, unchecked power, and the secrets poised to bring a powerful family down.
My thoughts: I liked this book, but I wouldn’t say I loved it. I was hoping for more with the ending, but maybe that’s just me. It felt a little long at times, but I loved that it was set in 2004 and the main character is a former reality star marrying into a wealthy British family. That was such a big time in pop culture, so I’m always intrigued by a story that takes place in that era!
Start Without Me by Gary Janetti
Blurb: Gary Janetti is bothered. By a lot of things. And thank God he’s here to tell us.
In Start Without Me, Gary returns with his acid tongue firmly in cheek to the moments and times that defined him. He takes us by the hand as we follow him through the summers he spends in his twenties, pursuing both the perfect tan and the perfect man to no avail and much regret. At his Catholic high school, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a nun who shares Gary’s love of soap operas, which becomes a salvation to them both. And don’t get him started on how a bad hotel room can ruin even the best vacation. This laugh-out-loud collection of true-life stories from the man “behind his generation’s greatest comedy” (The New York Times) is for anyone who has felt the joy in holding a decade-long grudge.
My thoughts: Another fun and easy Gary Janetti read! I listened to the audiobook because I think it adds a little something when the author is also the narrator. Just like his other work, this book had moments of sarcastic humor and just the right amount of moments where I started to get a little choked up.
