Greenlight Bookstore’s pick: “Save Me the Plums,” by Ruth Reichl
Ruth Reichl’s latest memoir is about her days at Gourmet magazine. It is fun and slightly frivolous; so it is a good beach book. I tried one of the recipes, for spicy noodles, and it actually turned out pretty good! Her first book, “Tender at the Bone” is one of my all-time favorite memoirs, and this was definitely on the lighter side and enjoyable, gossipy, and full of anecdotes about the magazine business and the food world. She lives a pretty charmed life, by all accounts.
— Marie Cloutier, Greenlight Bookstore [686 Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246–0200, www.greenlightbookstore.com].
Community Bookstore’s pick: “Stay and Fight,” by Madeline Ffitch
A story of family, land, and dispossession. Madeline Ffitch’s penetrating novel turns on a couple, Lily and Karen, who must leave their space on a Women’s Land Trust in Appalachia when they give birth to a son. Their evolving sense of relationships, home, and society are rendered with pathos and precision.
— Samuel Partal, Community Bookstore [43 Seventh Ave. between Carroll Street and Garfield Place in Park Slope, (718) 783–3075, www.communitybookstore.net].
Word’s picks: “The Chain,” by Adrian McKinty
What would you do if your child were taken? What if the only way you could get them back was to kidnap another child in exchange for your own? “The Chain” had me on edge the entire time, but I couldn’t find an excuse to put it down. Everything in McKinty’s novel is very real, from kidnapping to trauma and depression to the Dark Web. He somehow makes it feel very personal and much more uneasy — just the way I love my thrillers. Highly recommended for anyone looking for something different.
— Eve Guerrero, Word [126 Franklin St. at Milton Street in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096, www.wordbookstores.com].
