Laura Gassner Otting, author of Wonderhell: Why Success Doesn’t Feel Like It Should … and What to Do about It, sends a weekly newsletter that I’ve mentioned a few times. I read it because it’s a valuable prompt for me to take action from time to time on things I should / need to take action on, like my goals or taking care of myself. It’s a motivator. In this week’s newsletter she sent out a request to readers asking them to share what’s in their book stacks. So, for Laura and for you, CRUSH Readers, here are my recent favorites and a few I just picked up and will be reading this summer.
Here’s my list, and why:
The Inevitability of Tragedy: Henry Kissinger and His World by Barry Gewen: I’m obsessed with Kissinger’s place in history.
Piglet by Lottie Hazell: This debut novel about a cookbook editor who can’t control her appetite in the run-up to her wedding is a masterful contemplation on women’s appetites writ large.
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg: Two chapters in and I’m already approaching every conversation more mindfully.
Wonderhell: Why Success Doesn’t Feel Like It Should … and What to Do about It by Laura Gassner Otting: Because if there’s any hope of me stepping out of my pattern of wanting—but then hating and resenting—success and admiration, this is the answer.
Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare: Because James Bond is a guilty pleasure, and this is as much about a fascinating man as it is about his period.
Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes: This will be the “It Girl” book of summer 2024, and I have a certain set of friends who are in fashion/adjacent fields who’ll be discussing it at every lunch. I’ll want to have an opinion.
Continue reading here
The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl: Because I loved all of Ruth Reichl’s memoirs, and she signed my copy at a book talk in Manhattan last month.
The Winner by Teddy Wayne: It’s about sex, power, money and status in an exclusive Cape Cod enclave. One of the most anticipated novels of the summer.
Judgment At Tokyo by Gary J. Bass: At the intersection of a few obsessions: Japanese history (I was born there), WWII and the current geopolitical landscape of Asia.
Once Upon A Time by Elizabeth Beller: I was never a Carolyn Bessette Kennedy obsessive, but I’m fascinated by transformation—and how she used fashion as a way to validate, attract and deflect the acute attention on her.
All Fours by Miranda July: Billed as a tour-de-force menopausal woman’s erotic novel by everyone including the WSJ. I’m menopausal and erotic, so check, check, check!
Love Life: How to Raise Your Standards, Find Your Person, and Live Happily (No Matter What) by Matthew Hussey: Always trying to learn about dating and relationships. And I did some workshops with the author Matthew Hussey a decade ago when I was first widowed. This book validates why dating now is so difficult.
Long Island by Colm Toibin: Another “most anticipated novel” of the summer, from a beloved Irish author. The set-up: a 40-something married Irish woman gets a knock on the door from a man informing her that his wife is pregnant with her husband’s child. Explosive.
The Women by Kristin Hannah: I got 5 texts this week end from friends raving about this novel focused on nurses who served in Vietnam. Like this one from my friend Deirdre: “Growing up with my POW bracelet and the music of that era, I found Hannah’s The Women to be a great tribute to the nurses who served in Vietnam and a view into the PTSD and aftermath if arriving gone after the war. Couldn’t put it down and read it in one day!”
The Crush Letter
The Crush Letter is a weekly newsletter from Dish Stanley curating articles & intelligence on everything love & connection - friendship, romance, self-love, sex. If you’d like to take a look at some of our best stories go to Read Us. Want the Dish?
