Selected Things #5
Escape the Madness
Every couple weeks, I’ll send you a quick hit of books, articles, recipes, products, etc that are–in my humble opinion–worth your valuable time. I do this for you because life is short and we’re already wasting too much time doomscrolling on socials, right?
BOOKS
Duplicate Keys
Manhattan murder mystery
Jane Smiley is a legend — A Thousand Acres, her all-American King Lear, is the proof. But this mystery novel is a treat in its own right, and right now I think we all need the reassuring satisfaction of a mystery solved. (God knows we won’t be getting any tidy conclusions to the chaos and violence Trump has wrought in the world anytime soon.) An added treat–it was set in present-day NYC when it was written, about 30 years ago. Now it reads like historical fiction.
Raven Black
Cold discomfort
Scotland’s Shetland Islands are remote and forbidding. It requires a 90-minute flight from the mainland or a 13-hour overnight ferry ride (barf). I love settings like this. Cold, grey rocky shores, weather-beaten locals in claustrophobic small towns with secrets and preconceived attitudes about interlopers. Read this and you’ll see why Ann Cleeves is a legend in the mystery genre.
