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I’m not sure that the multiple points of view add to the story. So far, so mediocre.

Feeling North Woods + Poltergeist vibes…

I love having a compelling audiobook for a long car trip - and this has held my attention for almost 6 hours straight.

“If someone values you only when you're about to walk out the door, you should definitely keep walking."

“Lower Bum Diddle, Indiana” made me guffaw out loud, in public. (While wearing ear buds so I probably look insane.)

I’m finally listening to Bourdain’s narration of the book that made him (in)famous. Includes a very good introduction written by and read by Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting) for its 25th anniversary.

“ Uva uvam vivendo varia fit". Painted by Gus McCray on the Hat Creek Cattle Company sign, it roughly translates to "A grape changes color by seeing another grape."

He thinks it is "a beautiful motto, whatever it meant."

The unofficial start of summer seems like a good time to jump into a 900 page book. Here goes…

9 hour car trip, let’s goooo

NB: Ch 2 Fundamentals of tasting

"One need never leave the confines of New York to get all the greenery one wishes—I can't even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there's a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life." — Frank O'Hara

Fun fact: how was Hitler more moderate than Trump? In 1933 he insisted cities and towns stop naming streets and town squares after him.

1933 Heinrich Himmler, Bavaria’s chief of police, opens first concentration camp in Dachau for Social Democrats and Communists, political foes

A quarter of the way into this and I’m reminded of a slightly more literary Emily Henry, but without the humor. If my Washington Post buddy Ron Charles hadn’t written glowingly of it I would have DNF this by now. Let’s see what happens next.

The things that we love tell us who we are

Selingo gets amazing access: when parents lamented their hs-age kids couldn’t get jobs at McKinsey if they didn’t go to a top school, Selingo contacted McKinsey’s “global leader of talent development” who hires btwn 500 and 750 undergraduates each year.More than 2/3 didn’t intern there.

“At an elite college, the competitive culture encourages the predators to view their undergraduate years as a zero-sum fight for status.” Other kids are rivals for internships and “spots in clubs.”

First fluffy, cozy winter break book

Oh darn, a few anachronisms: a Zeppelin fan wouldn’t also listen to Joni Mitchell, and Van Cleef didn’t have tennis bracelets in the 1950s; no one called them that until Chris Everett 20 years later.

Not finishing. Did anyone in 18th c New England say, “I’ll take it from here”? I don’t think so. Sucked me right out of the story.

“A woman was beautiful. An apartment full of plants was beautiful. A vegan quiche was beautiful. A child needed money for chemo. Time disappeared. The city ebbed and flowed like a tide.”
Latronico writes like he is peering over your shoulder to narrate as you scroll social media.

“An egg became more famous than the Pope. A highly contagious virus raged through West Africa. A fashion brand exploited East Asian sweatshop workers. A young woman recorded all the times she was catcalled. Two African Americans were killed by the police. A man went around filming first kisses. A plane vanished en route to Beijing.”

I remember those things, much like the scattershot way they are related here.

She visits Clamato and receives a hybrid French-American style of service when she asks about a “weird” white wine, which is exactly like my experiences when I have visited.

“[W]e wound up at the Atlanta Motel on Moreland Avenue. There were bullet holes in the walls and people knocking on our door all night looking to score, and I refused to sleep on the sheets, pulling clothes out of Ryan’s car to sleep on.”

Check out the Google reviews and pictures/videos. Rodell does not exaggerate.

“We stretched our WIC-subsidized groceries into meals that were delicious. One roast chicken became chicken stock and soup and casserole. We drank cheap wine and six-packs of PBR, and before you tell me we shouldn’t have been drinking when we were taking gov’t assistance, let me stop you and say: fuck you, poor people deserve pleasure, too.”

Amen, sister.

Quite obviously a retelling of the Odyssey and like a epic this story is heavy on the pontificating. It’s not supposed to be realistic but I’m not sure the author knows what he wants this to be.

“Nobody wants to get to Alabama.”
Amen.

I have a feeling Choi’s editor deserves praise for helping her unveil a crucial, unexpected revelation exactly at the midpoint of this story. What started off as a contemplative and at times sorrowful story from the POV of 3 characters now comes into focus through the most interesting character’s POV.

I don’t recall if I thought this on my first reading in 2009, but this is jazz, all dreamy, stony, and stream-of-consciousness about nothing in particular but summer on LI.

Picked up this frippery in Asheville, the mountain town near this story’s fictional setting. I can see where it’s going pretty immediately but I’m hoping to recognize this beloved part of the world in the story.