Ever find yourself snuggled under a blanket, yearning for a good book to transport you to another world? Or facing a rainy winter weekend? That's where Ellen and Tish beckon you to join them as they share their top five cozy winter reads perfect for the year ahead.
The podcast takes you from the comfort of your earbuds, discussing how audiobooks have become Tish's go to and a savior on tedious long work drives, and her new book club to a chat so cozy you can practically feel the fireplace crackling. Ellen shares what her book group is up to and why book groups from ones at the library to small ones with friends are a midlife lifeline.
Tish and Ellen unwrap "Erasure" by Alex Thompson and its film "American Fiction," dissecting Monk Ellison's riveting narrative. Tish shares the latest book by Kristin Hannah called the women. As the pages turn, our conversation wades through the emotional depth of a novel set amidst the Vietnam War, following the transformation of an Army nurse, and Ellen examines the reflection of society in the mirror of Anne Patchett's "Tom Lake," a tale rooted in the pandemic era.
The discussion of the Girl in the Stilt House heats up with audiobook narrations that can make or break the experience, and we debate the merits of authentic Southern accents. We venture into the historical tapestry of the early 1900s with The Girl in the Stilt House, drawing parallels with "Where the Crawdads Sing," and cap off the episode with Bodie Monroe's mystery "I Have Some Questions for You," which leaves us pondering the elusive nature of memory and truth.
So, if you're itching for a story that sticks or a discussion that digs deep, pull up a chair and join our circle—you won't want to miss where these winter reads take us.
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Welcome back to the Positively Midlife Podcast, a podcast that celebrates the joyous challenges and surprises of our wonderful midlife years. I'm Ellen, your co-host, and we are ready to dive into the world of books with you today, and I'm Tish.
Speaker 2:
You know, ellen, there's nothing quite like finding that perfect winter read. It's too cozy up with, you know, these nights are so cold and so long, and so it's just nothing like having a good book, but it's also a great way to keep yourself company if you have a long drive, right? So today we are so excited to share our top picks for great winter reads for 2024.
Speaker 1:
Tish, I know you have been listening to books now that your job has you on the road quite a bit right.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and I'm loving it, you know, and I've even joined a book club, woohoo, yay.
Speaker 1:
Oh my goodness, I am just loving it that you've joined a book group. You know how much I love my book group and you've even come to it before, so I am so glad you've joined one close to home, and I cannot wait to dig in to the reasons behind this as we get into the episode and to find out what you're reading. But first, you know I love this part of the show. Let's get to our weekly obsessions. What do you got for me, Tish?
Speaker 2:
You know I've got kind of a crazy one. Ellen, did you even know that you could purchase a three bedroom home off of Amazon? It comes all like. It's like it's. It's the walls yeah, it's prefab, but the walls pull out and it's movable and it's affordable. You can buy one of these prefabs, put up yourself, and there's a, and when we put the link in here, you're going to see a little video to show you how easy it is to put the walls up and expand this little place, but it's $25,000. Three bedroom, one bath portable home. That's crazy.
Speaker 1:
That's some little, tiny little house. You could just park somewhere on your property, right?
Speaker 2:
You know I'm foreseeing our girl tribe getting getting a whole bunch of these somewhere all together. But you know you can just buy about anything off of Amazon.
Speaker 1:
Including a house. That is crazy, crazy. Well, we will put a link to that.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
I'm telling you, probably you and I can't put that together, but I'm sure some handy people can put that together.
Speaker 2:
Wait till you see the video. I'm telling you. It's like lifting up a tape. You know how? Those folding tables yes, it's like the same concept, oh my goodness, wait till, you see it. The guy does it very simply on his own.
Speaker 1:
That's pretty crazy.
Speaker 2:
All right, I will look at the video and we will put the video in our show notes.
Speaker 1:
So any of our mid-lifers out there looking for a portable home. We got ya, we got your back this week.
Speaker 2:
Okay, ellen. What about you? What is your obsession this week?
Speaker 1:
You know, I always love how different our obsessions are. Rarely in almost 100 episodes have our obsessions crossed in any conceivable way. So this week I have an obsession, which are these CRZ yoga pants. But these pants are wide leg, they have pockets and the leg is 30 inches long, so they're a bit flowy, like you know. This style now is coming into the spring Are these wider leg?
Speaker 1:
They look amazing. They come in eight colors. I got them in like an olive green. I'm wearing them with a white tee and a crop jean jacket to my office with sneakers. It's the ultimate, you know, casual workplace vibe going on with these pants and they look better than sweat pants or yoga pants. But they feel like yoga pants, you know.
Speaker 2:
So all the feel of the yoga pants, but the a little bit more stylish so you can wear it other places.
Speaker 1:
Love that you could wear them out on the road on a date with friends or just, you know, popping around doing errands. But I wore them to the office last week and everybody told me how cute they were. So CRZ yoga four-way stretch. We will have a link in our show notes.
Speaker 2:
Loved them. You know what I think is so funny, though? We never share what our obsessions are with each other until we're on the recording right, so we never coordinate it. So and you can tell, I think.
Speaker 1:
You can tell. You can tell. I think that's so funny, all right. Well, let's start and dive right into our books, because we have a lot now that you are being a big reader.
Speaker 1:
I love it, you're bringing a couple great reads to the table tonight. So we're going to start with a book that my book group decided to read this month and it's a book that's creating quite a buzz. It's Erasure by Alex Thompson, and the book is almost 20 years old. But there is an academy-nominated film called American Fiction, which is amazing If you have not seen it. It's based on this book and I think there's two or three academy-award actors within this movie and I can say it was one of the best movies I saw in 2023. So my book group we were just discussing the film after talking about our last book last time we were going to read another book, but we all said let's go back and read this book because the movie was so good. So, tish, have you seen the movie or heard of the book?
Speaker 2:
I haven't even heard of either, to be honest. So I am excited to kind of, because it sounds so interesting. So just give us a summary of what the story is all about.
Speaker 1:
OK, well, it is more of like an. Already it wasn't one of those big mainstream blockbuster kind of books but Thelonious or Monk his name is Monk.
Speaker 1:
Ellison's literary career he is the main protagonist is in decline. His latest book, which was super boring, was rejected by 17 publishers, even though he had had critical acclaim in the past. And he watches with a ton of frustration as a novel about life in the ghetto by a barely experienced author played by Issa Rae, but not in the book. She gains rapid success and he's having challenges everywhere in his personal life, in his love life, in his career and his mother is deteriorating from Alzheimer's and his dad had killed himself. And it is just a family and cultural saga.
Speaker 2:
Wow, I mean that just sounds like such a deep journey into the life of this protagonist. And you know, struggling with your identity in a world that is constantly trying to like whether it's label you or define you, can be such a challenge.
Speaker 1:
Totally, and you know, I think that this is a book about self-exploration, his fight to remain true against, you know, financial and societal pressures. I'm only halfway through the book and I'm loving it. It is not a big book either for some of us who you know some people like to read 600 pages, some others like a couple hundred.
Speaker 1:
It's an easy read. You can't put it down because the book is old. I got mine at the library Super easy and I think the movie seeing the movie first has not taken anything away from me from the experience of reading this book. So I'm going to highly recommend it.
Speaker 2:
Well, I'm definitely going to put it on my list and I think when they're making movies now of books, I think they're trying to stay true to the stories, because people get so disappointed when it's so different and stuff like that. So it's good to hear that it's pretty on track for the. If you've seen the movie, still worth reading the book.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and you know, film is art, just the same way a book is. So if you don't want to read it, go see the movie. I mean we can put it either way. All right, tish, I have to say I am so excited to move on to your first pick of the night now that you're a book club member. So what do you got for us?
Speaker 2:
here. Well, this was our March book club book and I'm already finished with it, and it's the Women by Kristen Hannah.
Speaker 1:
Oh, I've seen this, it's everywhere.
Speaker 2:
I see it Right, it's exploding everywhere, and it is such a totally captivating book about, let alone, vietnam right, wow Not something I would normally pick up right.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
But of course, when you know I think that's the beauty of a book club you read things you wouldn't normally pick for yourself, right? So the point of view revolves around this main character who volunteers to go to Vietnam very early on, before all the controversy, as an Army nurse. And I'm going to tell you this is a must read book.
Speaker 1:
Wow, you know, I just have to go back to that point you made. One of the reasons I left my book group is they push me to read things I wouldn't choose myself and I love that aspect. But you know, tish, we were both born in 1965. I'm putting it out there for everyone that was the year the US entered the Vietnam War and we were only 10, or not even 10, when it ended. So there's a lot about that war that we were too young to understand when it was happening, really the deep implications and really how it divided our country.
Speaker 2:
You know, I know we learn later about what Vietnam was, but I don't think I really fully appreciated the emotional nuances until I read this book.
Speaker 2:
So Frankie, who was our main character, went over as a very innocent, idealistic kid and her idea was she was going to follow her brother over to Vietnam because he had enlisted and she was just going to serve her country, right? And then she witnesses such atrocities that she barely knows how to process them. And once they return, the vets were treated like pariah people, yelling and screaming at them, calling them baby killers. She finds out her parents had lied and said she was studying abroad.
Speaker 2:
Oh, my goodness, her own parents were embarrassed to tell people she was there, that she had risked her life to be there. And she comes back and people are spitting on her.
Speaker 1:
What a horrific experience. First of all, that happened obviously to many, many people who served our country and came back during Vietnam, but what a confusing time for both our country and for the folks that served. And this book sounds amazing, Tish.
Speaker 2:
You know, the struggle is made personal as we watch our main character, this good girl, Frankie McGrath. She is raised in this idealistic Southern California I mean, she lives off the beach, you know Right and she then has to come to terms with who she becomes after her experience in time in Vietnam.
Speaker 1:
You know, I had a feeling you were going to say she was from California and I was thinking she was kind of maybe from some more hippie kind of parents, right, no, and the others that may know. Okay, well, very conservative. I mean, this book sounds fascinating and like it has a lot of layers to it and I think her struggles are really common for many vets, male and female, but there's even less known like about the struggles of the 10,000, I think it was women who served in Vietnam. I mean, this is really new material for me, I think, you know, with Forrest Gump and a lot of things we've seen in media, in film, but not a lot that I've known of about women.
Speaker 2:
So this story is going to give you that personal insight, and it is sprinkled with some love interest as well.
Speaker 1:
So Ooh, okay, okay. You know what they say. There's got to be a little bit of that to really give a spice.
Speaker 2:
Right.
Speaker 1:
The za za zoo. We want the za za zoo.
Speaker 2:
But it brings everything. So I can't, I can't recommend this book enough. This was amazing.
Speaker 1:
Okay, Kristen, Hannah the women, I have to say when you told me about this book, I of course went right on my library online and I think I'm like number 210 on the waiting list for you know, eight or 10 copies in Marin County. So I may have to give in and buy this one because it sounds so good, Tish.
Speaker 2:
And for those again because I drive so much. I did listen to it on tape and somebody else in my book group who does the on you know listening to it on Audible said that the reader of this one is like one of the top readers, so that part of it was great for me as well.
Speaker 1:
I love that, I know. Last year, when we both read Viola Davis's autobiography, the, the narration really made it.
Speaker 1:
Right, it can really make or break an Audible book, so that's even better. All right. Well, I am going to bring up my second book here, and it's a bit different than that. This book is called Tom Lake, by Anne Patchett, and it's her 13th novel. I cannot believe it. She is one of my favorite authors. I've read, I think, everything she's written, but this was one of the first books I've read that was set during the pandemic and it's about a family on a cherry farm in Michigan.
Speaker 2:
Oh, wow, you know the idea of what. You know. I think this book, what I've heard a lot about because I have not had a chance to read it, but I had heard that it it's this idea of what it means to be happy even when the rest of the world is falling apart. You know so, these ideas of hearing about, like, how people made the best out of the time during the pandemic. You know so I love that. That. That that's, you know, the whole theme of the book.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's really one of the prevalent themes and I'm going to tell you, this book did not disappoint. Again, not a huge book, so for those of, for those of you out there that don't want to read for 600 pages, it seemed pretty idyllic to me to be secluded on a farm during the pandemic with your family. You know, before I read the book, I was like, hmm, that's like a pretty good, pretty good way to spend the pandemic.
Speaker 2:
Right, and I think we were all, like you know, sequestered in a way you know, but but yes, how nice to have a big farm to do it on right.
Speaker 1:
Exactly.
Speaker 2:
And again kind of share with us an overview about what this story is about.
Speaker 1:
Okay. So as I said in the in, during the pandemic in Northern Michigan and I guess I must be one of the only people in the world that don't know that cherries and sweet cherries come from Michigan that it's a huge thing so I learned that. But in the book it's the spring of 2020 and our main character, lara, her three daughters, are back at the farm. The family, orchard One, lives there to have come home and while picking cherries because a lot of their help, you know, is unavailable. So the family dives in to help the dad, you know, the three daughters and Lara, and they beg her to tell them the story of this famous movie actor, peter Duke, that she shared a stage in like a you know kind of summer theater and a romance before she married their dad, and the theater company name and town was called Tom Lake.
Speaker 2:
Oh, okay, so Tom Lake is not a person. No, okay.
Speaker 1:
So I mean she recalls the past for them and her daughters kind of compare their own lives and relationships to her and really everyone kind of reconsider the world. I mean it was such a heavy time for all of us, right Tish, and they thought they knew the story about her and this actor and at least you know I was envisioning him as George Clooney or Brad Pitt or Tom Cruz, you know a mega star in my mind right, and so it was really a great book.
Speaker 2:
Oh, I love that. So you know, this idea that we're starting to see the pandemic used in stories. I think this is so important because it was so impactful and stuff. But I also love the idea of this story of sharing our past with our children and you know I would. I wish I have my mom around now to ask her about like her early on romances. I don't ever remember hearing her talk about it and I can't even see my sons even wanting to hear about my past, maybe my daughter, maybe my daughter. But yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
But I do sharing the story, the family story. I think that storytelling has lost a lot, but during the pandemic, when we had to kind of really look in at our family unit and depend on our family unit more and more, maybe that's going to reignite the telling of the stories.
Speaker 1:
I know I love family lore and family stories and, like you, my mom is gone. I wish I had been at a point in my life to to savor it more and to question her more. But what's interesting here? Unlike us, she has dated a mega movie star, which makes her story so intriguing for her daughters and for me.
Speaker 1:
The way the book is written. It's so interesting to see what she shares with them, how she picks and chooses, how she edits some things out. And even you know what happened. Her husband knew. You know the big actor, Duke.
Speaker 2:
But you know she edits because some of it is just private, some of it's just personal, you know, I think I think in just all of our stories and all of our lives that little jewel that you keep just to yourself, because that's what makes it a little special too. No, I love that idea.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so highly recommend it. And, tish, I want you to share your next read with us.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so this is my last month book club book and this was the girl in the still house by Ada Jenkins, and it's a story about two young women from very vastly different backgrounds who form a very unlikely quasi friendship. There's, there's a dependency slash friendship, but you know it's it's, it's set in the swamps of the deep south.
Speaker 2:
You know, in a time when it wasn't really acceptable for white and black to interact socially, right? So so you know, we have a main white character and a main black character and they really need to depend on each other, but there's always that that line that can't be crossed in terms of friendship. But it's, it's really a compelling narrative about this the start of overcoming prejudice, the start of overcoming, you know, inequalities and where they can find that common ground in very unexpected places it is.
Speaker 2:
It is beautifully written. This is one of those that again I did this one on audible did not like the reader of the story necessarily. I wish they had had a true southern accent. Oh, reader reading it, it wasn't. It wasn't so it didn't read authentic and, living in the south, that read very true to me and so and this is the funny part about it I had to listen to it at 1.5 speed because she exaggerated the slowness of the speech that it was driving me crazy. But anybody who read the book loved it.
Speaker 1:
Isn't that interesting Again, how the narration of an audible book is so different. And I'm going to tell you you know I can't stand slow talkers, so I probably would have had to go one, you'd be at 2.0.
Speaker 2:
Exactly.
Speaker 1:
Now I probably would not know the authenticity of the southern you know accent and all of that. But a couple of questions here. When did this book take place? Was it the 1920s, 30s, 40s, do you know, or is it kind of unknown?
Speaker 2:
You know this is right at the time where it's early 1900s, right, and it's at the time where sharecropping so you know it's after the Civil War on everything but now the anyone who worked the fields is now sharecropping and anyone who's read anything about that, it's barely a step up from slavery, right? So you hear about the struggles and that's an important piece because one of our main characters, she, is born out of this. So yeah, it was. It's enlightening on a social, you can see, you know the onset of Civil rights Right Happening.
Speaker 1:
You know I love books set in historical times I don't know much about and this is a time, like you were saying, between the Civil War and between some other things. Right, world War I and what happened back in that period. You know, it reminds me just a little bit about where the craw dad sing tish, just because it's set in the South and there's a lot of poverty. But now that I'm hearing more, it's a completely different, a completely different time.
Speaker 2:
Yes and no, it's very similar to where the craw dad sings and if you like that one, you will enjoy this story as well. If I had to pick one where the craw dad sings was, I think I enjoyed that more. I, that was one I actually read. Like I said, the people who read it, I enjoyed it more than the people who had listened to it on a ball yeah, but once. But what was also really great about this book, and what we did in our book club, is the book has subject has questions for your book club.
Speaker 2:
And we did those, we went over those and so there was so much great discussion. So if you're in a new book club or you don't have people who are really good at creating the discussion because you know we had a lot of people at our book club to discuss it and I think without the questions, the direct questions it would have lost something. So I love when authors take that step and put that in there.
Speaker 1:
That's great, Tish. I mean, my book club is small, so I think we can stay pretty focused. But it sounds like yours. How many you have you?
Speaker 2:
also have a very sophisticated book club. You know, you guys are kind of at a different level and you've been doing it for a long time. But this was great when when it had all those questions in the back and I think the whole group appreciated and loved that and I think I realized I liked the story more than I thought I did once we went and discussed it.
Speaker 1:
Interesting, isn't that great. I love hearing that. Do you think in the future you'll go audible for your book club or or physical book, or will it?
Speaker 2:
depend? I think it's going to depend. You know, again, for me, audible, I like to do both, right, but audible, since I couldn't be in the car for five, six hours a day. You know, I feel like audible is a great way to kind of just get me through long drives that I have to do, while also getting me, you know, to read, you know, hear more stories, even if it's if it's just listening.
Speaker 1:
I love that. I love that.
Speaker 2:
So happy that you're reading so much so, Alan, what is the last book?
Speaker 1:
OK, we're finishing it up with kind of a page turner. You know we've had some historical books on here, one that you know was inspired by seeing a movie. But this book called I have Some Questions For you by Bodie Munro. It was recommended by my friend Molly from my book group. I literally could not put this book down. It was one of those ones where you're like, ok, just one more chapter, one more chapter. My, my hands were kind of falling asleep and it was like a late at night.
Speaker 2:
So so good. Oh, you know, I just love those. Can't put it down the next thing you know it's two, three o'clock in the morning because it's such a good story, but tell us why it's so captivating.
Speaker 1:
All right. So the story here it's part mystery, part coming of age, and the protagonist revisits a boarding school that she went to 20 years previous and she is like a guest lecturer for a January term there and she kind of inadvertently starts to solve a long, cold case that happened at the school when she was there. Someone was murdered a student and it's a fascinating dive into our memory, asking the right questions, looking at something with 20 years of knowledge kind of coming forward and really what is the truth? You don't know. I mean, you keep thinking you know and then you don't.
Speaker 2:
So was it a surprise ending.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I mean, I think was a cliffhanger ending.
Speaker 1:
It's kind of a cliffhanger ending. But this book, you know you, you see young students. She's engaged with the current students and you know really, kind of how innocent they are, how young they are and how how much they want to take the world by storm. She feels a little bit, you know, weathered by life, even though by all means and all things she is successful. But it really goes to someone was imprisoned for this murder that she does not believe was the person who committed the murder. So this person who had worked at the school, has had been, has been imprisoned for 18 or 20 years and she teaches a class on podcasting and a couple one of the students meant to want to investigate this murder and through a podcast kind of this true crime genre, they uncover a whole bunch of things that could could really set this person free, and you just don't know until the very end. So I felt like it was just different than any book I've read lately and I really enjoyed that aspect, that one I might have to pick up to read read.
Speaker 2:
Yes, yes, but. But you bring up a really interesting point of what is, what is the truth, and I think that's a really interesting point. And the truth when we see it when we're young is different than the truth when we see it through more mature eyes. That's right. Does it make it any less or any more truth? No, right, but truth, and I think what we see that is not always black and white.
Speaker 1:
Well, exactly, and you know, you hear about the Innocence Project taking up cases and so many people either being, you know, cases being overturned because of DNA evidence Now that they didn't have 10 or 15 or 20 years ago, or these cases that are solved due to familial DNA like you know, my 23 and me you're able to do this, and so it kind of takes a bit of that kind of current, you know, current event, current thinking and brings it back and I love her, her really thinking about where she was 20 years ago and what kids said to investigators and how they positioned things. And there are some other students that were her you know her, her in her cohort, in her class, that also end up coming back and being like did we? Was that the right thing? So I think really a really good book and you do just want to get to the end of it. I love it, yeah.
Speaker 2:
So I definitely have to. I have some questions for you. I love it. I'm going to have to pick that one up. We can see that each of these books that we've talked about tonight, you know they all offer their own unique escape from winter, right, yes, from mysteries to heartwarming tales of friendship, to self-discovery, to historical, you know based, you know stories. But, ellen, any final thoughts as we wrap up on today's episode.
Speaker 1:
Well, first of all, I have probably 10 more books that I can recommend and I will put a few others in the show notes, because you know I'm such a crazy, crazy big reader. It is truly my addiction. But I think this time of year it's hard because we really want spring and we really want to be outdoors doing a lot of things, but it's still as cold, you know, it's still as winter. So I just say, if you're looking for adventure, mystery, historical fiction, self-exploration, tap this great winter reads list that we have and we'll put in the show notes. There is truly something for everyone, and I say there's nothing better here at Midlife than to slow it down and to lose yourself in a good book. Tish.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely, ellen, you know. And to our listeners, we hope you find warmth, comfort and inspiration in the pages of all of these books and we can't thank you enough for joining us on Positively Midlife, stay cozy, stay curious and, as always, happy reading.
Speaker 1:
I love that, and make sure to use the links in the show. Notes are on our website to order your copy of any of these books we've talked about tonight, or some of the others that I'm going to put in there to support our show. And don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Until next week, midlifers, keep embracing the beauty and wisdom of midlife.