No, it’s just my opinion. If you have never read any if his books I would start at the beginning and read them in order. Most of them are excellent.
I forgot that Flags on the Bayou was not part of the Robicheaux series so you can read it whenever you like. It’s last of his books I read.
Three actual books and New Yorker’s going back to January…
•The Glucose Revolution by Jessie Inchauspé (a slow read for me)
•What a Fool Believes, A Memoir by Michael McDonald (ditto)
• I just picked up Down and Out In Paradise, The Life of Anthony Bourdain
Lately, when I try to read in bed, I don’t get too far before dropping off to sleep.
Next up!
Alton Brown’s Food For Thought just landed on my night stand. It is a 14 day check out from the library. It looks like a fast read.
An incredibly well-written book review by Kathryn Schulz in the NYer’s 100th anniversary issue. As a fellow arachnophobe-adjacent person, I laughed out loud several times. Must find more of her stuff.
And the ending is truly beautiful:
“It’s humbling to see a creature I’ve always reviled rendered so beautifully; humbling, too, to be reminded of what none of us should ever forget, that reflexively hating anything alien to us is the beginning of evil. That is not just a lesson about spiders, of course. Whitman, in his unbounded adoration of everything, also managed to love humanity, both for our wonderful strangeness and in spite of our own infinite varieties of hideousness.”
Finally finished up Doris Kearns An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960’s. Interesting look back on that tumultuous decade seen through the eyes of her husband mainly who worked for JFK, LBJ and RFK. Presently reading Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night and working my way through a great Scottish mystery series by Marion Todd. Also just got Rick Steves On the Hippie Trail about his early days of traveling.
Those sound worthy!
I’ve been reading Henry James’ The Ambassadors, which is kind of difficult to follow (lots of archaic language and social norms/references), but I’m 75%+ in and not giving up. It’s about a middle-aged American man sent to retrieve his future son-in-law from his adventures in Paris, but who ends up falling in love with Europe and kind of siding with the young man. I’ll have to read more about it but a lot of it seems satirical.
Next up: Orbital by Samantha Harvey
A fascinating account of life in the 70s and 80s in the Soviet Union, told in short vignettes that are engaging, and often very funny. The author’s style is conversational, easy to read, and I can hear her voice in each little chapter — probably bc she is a good friend of mine who also organizes a local The Moth type event & is a wonderful story teller.
As a child of emotionally immature parents, this was an enlightening interview, and I think I may just have to get her book, too!
https://www.amazon.com/Adult-Children-Emotionally-Immature-Parents/dp/1626251703
Just got the audio for the Laurie Woolever book, Care and feeding. It’s a memoir of her time working for Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali. Should be interesting.
It has taken nearly 70 years to grow out of the ‘alcoholic/Jeckyll -Hyde and enabler’ parental units’ influence on my well being. I love me.I should write a book.
It’s a very lengthy, exhausting, and painful process. NPD comes in many shades.
Write that book!!!
I’m reading the owner’s manual to my new wheels. '16 Suby Outback.
Okay, that sounds fascinating! Putting it on my list
I’m enjoying Jacques Pepin’s memoir, The Apprentice–My Life in the Kitchen. I’ve been watching a lot of his PBS shows, and I can imagine his voice as I read his words.
I enjoyed reading his book. When I watch his videos I see how natural it is for him to chop chop, it’s just a part of him, he’s been doing it for so long. Sad that he no longer has Gloria to share meals with.