Womens National Book Association-NYC Chapter Newsletter June 2010

JUNE @WNBA-NYC...
WNBA READS
Mind Candy for the Pool and Airport By Rachel Weiss-Feldman Summer means longer weekends and vacations by the pool, beach, lakeside or park. Unfortunately though, with all the travel curveballs and weather act-ups that occur these days, plans often include mind-numbing delays courtesy of traffic jams, delayed flights and trains, unexpected rainstorms and the new menace of Icelandic volcanic ash! Fortunately, a good, absorbing piece of literary mind candy in the form of a book, mp3 or e-reader is the perfect antidote for all of these situations. And provided you have a place to sit, cramped or otherwise, they can help pass the time and lighten your mood, even for a little while. The following books are three plot-driven personal recommendations. Picked from a very big pot (mixed several times), first is a sex-filled urban thriller, the second, a family epic, and the third, some biting chick lit. I hope they will help in making summertime a bit more enjoyable, whether you're doing something fun, or waiting until you're able to. For a sex and the city thriller, there is The Seduction Of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders (1984). Peter Scuro is a 35-year old unemployed actor in New York City. One late afternoon, after being told by yet another casting director that they're "looking for a younger type," Peter stops by a local dive bar to drown his sorrows. It is there that he meets Martha, a well-dressed, wealthy older woman who very bluntly offers him $50 to go home with her. An unusual proposition, but he agrees! And so begins his new profession-the oldest one in the world. Peter and Martha become involved in business as well as pleasure, eventually forming a members-only brothel for women. With his network of male actor/model/artist friends, Peter supplies the employees, Martha supplies the customers in the form of wealthy female socialites. However, as the business expands so does interest by law officials, and eventually the Mob. It was fun to read a story about a male brothel and its head 'madam-man.' This would make for a great movie, a decadent 80's period piece. Sanders, a popular commercial fiction writer, is best known for his McNally and Deadly Sin detective series. If you've never read him, and are not overly prudish, this stand-alone novel is a fun one. (Small note: the novel takes place before the onset of the AIDs epidemic, when concerns about safe sex did not exist.)

For the story of a wealthy patriarch and his large dysfunctional family, check out This Way Madness Lies by Thomas William Simpson (1992). Seventy year old William "Wild Bill" Winslow, a wealthy New Jersey patriarch, takes a fall down the stairs of his mansion. News of his hospitalization leads to a rare weekend reunion with his seven grown children, his estranged gold-digging second wife and his much younger caretaker/lover/mother of-two. Winslow's children include two failed actresses; a son who has assumed his dead twin brother's personality for 20 years; a historian who talks to her ancestors ghosts; an Aspen ski bum; and the off-kilter black sheep son who hides in the family's woods with a rifle. All have their own personal secrets, dramas and bones to pick with their father, and vice-versa. Add in foreshadowing tales of the Winslow family history going as far back as the 1700's, and this makes for an absorbing novel. Lastly, for a quick dose of chick lit with a bite, read This Is How It Happened: (Not A Love Story) by Jo Barrett (2007). Madeline Pietero is a woman scorned. We know this from the first chapter where we find her at her lowest point: jobless, kicked out of her condominium, and contemplating how to seriously, seriously, kill Carlton Conners, the lying, stealing, herpes-ridden, ex-fianc boyfriend who caused all this to happen to her. Chapter two takes us back four years, showing "How it Happened," beginning with their meeting in the MBA program at UT Austin where a one-night stand turns, with Carlton's encouragement and to Maddy's surprise, into a relationship. The chapters go from past to present, and we see how Maddy, in spite of herself, is roped into an incredibly poisonous relationship and then an even worse business partnership with Carlton's father. There are indeed numerous predictable chick lit elements, such as the doomed love relationship, the quirky best friend (who's personality and romantic luck is the complete opposite of the main character's), plus a fun twist at the end. Barrett's writing is funny and absorbing. Madeline is a strong, smart, caring woman who is, as we see coming, dangerously blinded by lust...love...lust. Rachel Weiss-Feldman was the Marketing Manager for the Association of American University Presses, Inc. from 1997 to 2009. She currently lives in NY, is doing community fundraising and writing a novel. Rachel is

currently reading Trust Me by Jeff Abbott.