How could you tell?
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Thanks for letting me in on the open secret
My dad didn’t read books or possess a library card and the only magazine he ever subscribed to was Playboy. I remember when it would arrive in the mail; each issue was wrapped in black plastic. I’m sure the Family Research Council demanded the opaque covering to preserve their own twisted version of “family values,” but in the end, it was that mysterious wrapping that inspired me to don my Nancy Drew hat and search for the publication in my dad’s nightstand. I just had to know what it was hiding. Alas, I was sorely disappointed to find images of naked women within the publication’s pages. I had expected the secret to be far more exciting.
It wasn’t until I was in college that I learned the magazine’s open secret. My boyfriend’s father had died and he’d inherited his dad’s porn collection. While sifting through the boxes together, I picked up a couple of “classic” issues of Playboy and perused the pages. Still didn’t see the huge allure. Then my boyfriend explained that the Playboy bunny logo was hidden on the front cover of each issue. From that moment on, every time I came across a Playboy, I’d search the cover until I found the bunny. Doing so reminded me of my youth, when I used to spend time in doctors’ waiting rooms doing the Hidden Pictures game in Highlights magazine.
My interest in cooking lead to another open secret discovery. Turns out that each issue of Cook’s Country magazine includes a hidden rooster. Find that tiny image amongst the recipes, taste tests and equipment reviews and you’ll be entered into a random drawing. Top prize is a year-long membership to the magazine’s website. Second and third prize winners receive the company’s latest cookbook. I’ve read this publication for years and to date, I’ve only found that damn cock once. Hat’s off to the page designer.
Writer/director/producer Chuck Lorre is known as the “King of Sitcoms.” It’s highly likely you’ve seen one of his many shows. “Grace Under Fire,” “Dharma & Greg,” “Roseanne,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “The Kominsky Method” are just a few in his portfolio. What I didn’t know was Chuck’s open secret: He includes a message in the vanity cards during the end credits. Some are funny, some are just odd and a few have apparently been known to cause a bit of controversy. M and I recently started watching the show “Mike and Molly” and we were probably five or six episodes in when we noticed these little gems. Now I’m going to be looking for them in every Chuck Lorre Production.
Perhaps you will too.
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The delayed satisfaction of gift certificates
My friends and family know that I love buying, borrowing, reading, sharing and discussing books yet they rarely purchase them for me. Since I read so much and so widely, they’re never sure if the book they’re considering for a gift is one I’ve already consumed. And so, in defeat, they often buy me gift certificates and apologize for doing so.
But I’m here to say that there’s no need to be sorry at all! Gift certificates are a boon. Why, there are few things I enjoy more than allowing myself to go wild in a bookstore, either online or in person. Which is why as soon as the holidays ended, I hopped online and indulged in the delayed satisfaction of post-birthday and Christmas receiving.
As a way to support small businesses, my employer gave each worker a $100 gift certificate. Although we could use it at one of several dozen stores, I opted to spend mine at Bookshop.org, a site that allows bibliophiles to shop online while also supporting local bookstores.
I picked up:
* “The Bookshop Hotel” by A.K. Klemm
* “Oddball, 4: A Sarah’s Scribbles Collection” by Sarah Andersen
* “Deliciously Foxtrot” by Bill Amend
* “You Are an Artist: Assignments to Spark Creation” by Sarah Urist Green
* “Bake with Anna Olson: More Than 125 Simple, Scrumptious and Sensational Recipes to Make You a Better Baker”
Total cost — including delivery — after the gift certificate? A whopping 67 cents. Best of all, I have hours of reading, laughter, creative pursuits and baking ahead of me.
That’s what I call a true gift.
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My top 10 favs of 2021: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories
During 2021, I consumed 61 books, 48 TV programs, 60 movies and many podcasts. These were my favorites:
(Note: Not all were released during the past 365 days.)
MY FAVORITE BOOKS – FICTION 
1. “Blacktop Wasteland” by S.A. Cosby2. “Bella Bella” by Harvey Fierstein
3. “The Last Flight” by Julie Clark
4. “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by V.E. Schwab
5. “Bottle Demon” by Stephen Blackmoore
6. “Fire Season” by Stephen Blackmoore
7. “Later” by Stephen King
8. “Billy Summers” by Stephen King
9. “The Last Bookshop in London” by Madeline Martin
10. “Unclean Spirits” by Chuck Wendig
(Honorable mentions: “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir, “Falling” by T.J. Newman, “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig and “Marigolds, Myrtle and Moles: A Gardener’s Bedside Book” by Alan Titchmarsh.)
MY FAVORITE BOOKS – NONFICTION 1.
“Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law” by Mary Roach2. “The Detective in the Dooryard: Reflections of a Maine Cop” by Timothy A. Cotton
3. “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President” by Candice Millard
4. “The Hotel: A Week In The Life Of The Plaza” by Sonny Kleinfield
5. “Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers Spill the Dirt” by Todd Harra and Ken McKenzie
6. “You’re Lucky You’re Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom” by Phil Rosenthal
7. “The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm” by Hilarie Burton Morgan
8. “When Women Invented Television: The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today” by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
9. “Books” by Larry McMurtry
10. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot
(Honorable mentions: “Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth’s Most Awesome Creatures” by Nick Pyenson, “Part of Our Lives: A People’s History of the American Public Library” by Wayne A. Wiegand, “Haunted Hillsborough County” by Eric Stanway, “What Fresh Hell Is This?: Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities, and You” by Heather Corinna, “The Experts’ Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do” by Samantha Ettus, “American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI” by Kate Winkler Dawson and “The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements” by Sam Kean)
Overall reading ratio: I read 18,452 pages — 65% fiction, 35% nonfiction; 53% male authors, 47% female authors.
MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS 
1. The Great British Baking Show
2. Gardeners’ World
3. Love Your Garden
4. Ted Lasso
5. The Repair Shop
6. Escape to the Country
7. America’s Test Kitchen — At Home
8. The Morning Show
9. Evil
10. Grow Your Own At Home With Alan Titchmarsh
(Honorable mentions: I’ll Be Gone In The Dark, Staged, Grand Designs, Active Shooter: America Under Fire, For All Mankind, Lovecraft Country, WandaVision, Travelers, Nadiya Bakes, Bridgerton, The Hot Zone, Punisher, Ghosts, Ghosts (UK version), Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Outsider, The Witcher, Altered Carbon, Chicago Med and Alpha Dogs.)
MY FAVORITE MOVIES 
1. Nomadland2. One Night In Miami
3. Love, Gilda
4. Gunpowder Milkshake
5. Four Hours at the Capitol
6. Studs Terkel: Listening to America
7. The Last Cruise
8. The Phone Call
9. The Aeronauts
10. Soul
(Honorable mentions: Dune, A Quiet Place Part II, Red Notice, Black Widow, Jungle Cruise, 76 Days, Shang Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings, Fear Street Part 3: 1666, Greenland, Luca, Fear Street: Part 2 – 1978, Fear Street: Part 1 – 1994, Verify Road Trip: Climate Skeptic Examines What Scientists Know And How They Know It.)
MY FAVORITE PODCASTS 2. Small Town Dicks
3. Against the Rules
4. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast
5. Lost At the Smithsonian with Aasif Mandvi
6. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
7. Backstory
8. Awards Chatter
9. Sidedoor
10. The Anthropocene Reviewed
(Honorable mentions: 99% Invisible, Radiolab, Christmas Past, Sue Perkins: An Hour Or So With…., David Tennant Does a Podcast With…, The Christmas Stocking, Fresh Air, Clear + Vivid With Alan Alda, The Daily, Beautiful/Anonymous, Dear Hank & John and Mobituaries With Mo Rocca.)
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“We read to know we’re not alone.”
One night, I sat in a bookstore and cried.
I was reading Jim DeFede’s wonderful book, “The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland,” and thinking about all of the people who wouldn’t make it home on September 11, 2001. I remembered attending the vigils for NYC firefighters in the years following the terrorist attacks. The sound of a bell tolling for the lost will always remind me of first responders and the dangers they faced. Then, I thought about the kind Canadians featured in the book, the ones who welcomed people from all over the world — scared and worried people, but still strangers — into their homes and schools. In the most trying of times, they offered food, clothing and showers.
That’s when I started to cry.
I could’ve felt ashamed or embarrassed to experience such emotion in public, but I did not. For I was in the company of my Silent Book Club chapter. My family of readers sat around a large table inside the cafe of our local Barnes & Noble, together yet lost in our own books. None of them would ever judge a fellow reader for having such a genuine response to a story. They understood.
For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, a Silent Book Club is an assembly of people who love books. They meet in person or online and discuss their latest reads. They chat about authors. They recommend novels and nonfiction tomes. They eat and drink and make merry. Eventually, the club’s members will settle down with a book of their choosing and simply read, together, in silence. Think of it as the adult version of quiet reading time from school.
Prior to the pandemic, these meetings required advanced reservations as well as the effort of blocking off time in the calendar. M and I would drive across town to attend and then return home as quickly as possible so that I could eat something before rushing to work. Now, due to the coronavirus pandemic, our group meets via Zoom.
I love how effortlessly our Silent Book Club chapter transitioned during such difficult times. Oh sure, we’ve encountered the odd technical glitch now and then. Instead of getting frustrated or mad, though, we laugh when someone’s screen freezes and adopt their strange and halted position so they can also enjoy the silliness of the moment when their connection clears. Book recommendations continue to fly fast and free at the beginning of each meeting and we always spend an hour reading together. Our individual rooms, separated by miles, joined by technology, are silent. Even the sounds of turning pages are muted. However, the connection to each other is tangible. We are still there for each other.
Our book club has been meeting for several years. When we first gathered, it was predictably awkward getting to know each other. Having a shared love of books and reading was a great unifier and always offered us a topic to discuss. Now, we also use these meetings to check in with each other. How’s the pregnancy going? Are you enjoying your art class? Have your migraines subsided? How is your new job? How are you holding up?
How are you holding up? This is a question asked with curiosity and without judgment. These men and women genuinely want to know. They care.
Over the last year and a half, I turned to gardening for a challenge and a way to create beauty in dark times. But it was in books — and with my Silent Book Club — that I truly found comfort.
–Title quote from William Nicholson.
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