I meant to get a lot of reading done, really I did, over the July 4th weekend. But it didn't quite happen. I was too distracted by the small-town Independence Day celebrations and the antics of my niece and nephew. I was talking to my nephew, age 6, and asked him if he was looking forward to seeing Toy Story 3 at the movies later this week. He was unenthusiastic, so I reminded him that the earlier Toy Story movies had been particular favorites of his. He haughtily informed me that he has a new favorite, specifically, Patton. Yes, that's right, the 1970-something film starring George C. Scott. Apparently, having sickened of the Disney channel, his parents have encouraged him and his 8-year-old sister to watch old movies on AMC and TCM instead. So now they've got a kid who prefers a charismatic/crazy WWII-era general to Hannah Montana. Works for me.
OK, enough of the cute kids. Over the weekend I did manage to finish Service Included by Phoebe Damrosch, who worked as a "captain" on the wait staff of Per Se, Thomas Keller's breathtakingly fabulous (and breathtakingly expensive) restaurant in the Time Warner Center. It had some amusing anecdotes, most notably an account of serving NYT restaurant reviewer Frank Bruni, but other than that didn't really live up to its subtitle: Four Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter. I also just wasn't that interested in Damrosch's personal life, including her affair with a sommelier; I wanted to know more about the restaurant, from front-of-the-house to the kitchen to the wine cellar.
I also followed the recommendation of my sister (mother of the Patton-loving nephew) and downloaded The Last Child by John Hart. I read about half of it on the train ride back to the city. It's a page-turner with a 13-year-old protagonist whose twin sister was abducted a year before, and who refuses to give up the search, eventually leading the lead police detective, still haunted by the case, to a critical clue.
Coming up next on my reading pile:
Lady Jane Grey by Eric Ives. I've never quite understood the whole Lady Jane Grey episode of English history, so decided to pick this up off the remainders table at a local shop.
How Did You Get This Number? by Sloane Crosley, another collection of essays by the author of I Was Told There'd Be Cake.
I LOVED In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff, so I downloaded the second in the series, A Curtain Falls, set in 1906 Manhattan. Fans of Caleb Carr will appreciate these books, I think.
One Day by David Nicholls. This novel follows characters Em and Dex over a period of twenty years, just one day per year, from their meeting right out of university to the brink of middle age. The reviews of this are most enthusiastic, so I may make it my next read.
Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, which caught my eye on the subway last week.