I barely remember July. We were reorganizing our business, repairing a lot of damage that we found, and trying to catch up on work that was due and wasn’t even started. Dean was still in PT…and then our air conditioner decided it would rather spit water at us than cool us down. (This during a record heatwave.) It was a saga and a half. Of course, I got behind on reading. I was barely sleeping. I look at the pile of recommendeds that I have sitting in my get-this-done spot and there are only 2 books, both of which I was reading in little chunks while I was doing things like picking up lunch. And a few articles from breakfast.
July was pure 2024 for us, too much work and too many (bad) discoveries, only to learn how wonderful life can be, as friends stepped in even when no one asked. It was good and hard and…well…not conducive to reading. Still, I have some things to recommend.
July, 2024
Bowen, Sarina, Bombshells, Tuxbury Publishing, LLC 2021. I adore this book. Some of Sarina Bowen’s hockey books are hit and miss for me. I like sports, but I’m not a die-hard hockey fan (even though I grew up around it). However, women’s sports fascinate me. The Bombshells of the title are her made-up women’s pro team, set in Brooklyn, dealing with the disparity with which two teams, owned by the same billionaire, are funded different. She throws a very good romance in the middle of this, but even better are the sports details. One of the best Brooklyn Bruisers novels. And I’ll note that she seems to have her ebooks available only through Amazon, which is a huge mistake, imho. You can get a paper version. That’s the cover I have here.
Huston, Caitlin, “Only Murders in the Building Musical Is a Twisty Tribute to the Theater,” The Hollywood Reporter, May 20, 2024. Apparently, this awards-edition of the Reporter repurposed this article, but this was the first time I had seen it. It’s a fascinating look at writing incidental music for a show that revolved around a murder on stage. They ended up writing the entire musical. A great piece on the creative process. And, oh, if you’re not watching Only Murders in the Building, you might want to. There’s so much about mysteries and cozies and writing (and TV and movies and theater) here. I have loved the show since it started. It’s a lot of fun.
Kuga, Mitchell, “Across The Aoikiverse,” Billboard, April 27, 2024. Fascinating interview with Steve Aoki. He first came to my attention when I moved to Las Vegas, and he was DJing everywhere or so it seemed to me. For years, I didn’t realize how many pies he had his fingers in. Then I realized how many people he worked with, but I had no idea exactly how many until I read this interview. There’s a long section in here about collaboration and about how it feeds the creative brain. Read this one.
Riedel, Michael, “Once More With Feeling,” Vanity Fair, April, 2024. Cabaret was the first musical that taught me the power of the book. By that, I mean the script for the musical. The book and the music together create a marvelous musical. I first saw Cabaret in production as a freshman at Beloit College, all by myself (one of my first forays in going to performances on my own). I thought the show was amazing, powerful, groundbreaking, and heartbreaking. I staggered out of that production feeling gutted and alone, unable to talk to anyone about it because I was the only one who had seen it.
Later, I saw the film of Cabaret. I have yet to see another version live. But when I saw the film (and a film of the production), I realized just how amateurish that production was. And still, it was powerful, because you can’t defeat the power of the book no matter how terrible the performers are.
I’m fascinated by Cabaret. A theater here will be performing it through February, and I’m trying to gird myself up to see it. Dunno if I will. It’s a tough show in good times…and these are not good times.
Michael Riedel’s piece, though, shows that Cabaret wasn’t ever designed for the good times. I learned so much about the history of the musical and the reaction to it. Fascinating stuff. I don’t know if you’re as interested in theater history as I am, but if you are, this is definitely worth your time.
Rose, Sarah, D-Day Girls, Broadway Books, 2019. I initially bought this book as a gift for a friend who was born on D-Day and loves reading D-Day material. (And bonus! Loves reading about strong women.) Then I looked at the book and thought I would like to read it too. Of course, I didn’t get to it right away…as in 5 years later I finally picked it up.
One of my favorite time periods to read about is WWII. I thought I knew a lot about D-Day, which is essential, but didn’t interest me much as a military operation. (I’m not that big on military history.) But D-Day Girls is spy non-fiction about amazingly courageous women. They risked life and limb to get everything ready. One woman actually had a child with a man who had no idea that she was a spy. (He was French Resistance.) He got captured, and later she did too, leaving the baby with the nanny, who finally had to turn the child in to a home for orphans. I can’t imagine what went through everyone’s minds, and how they survived (however imperfectly). There are stories like that throughout, many not told outside of letters and diaries.
I recommend this highly.
