You Want a "Great British Bake Off" Type Book

Want to travel to the Old West or are waiting for Aaron Judge to hit his Next Home Run

Hi friends,

Hope you had a great weekend.

My brother, sister-in-law and I saw Elton John in concert. He was, as expected, amazing. He played all his hits and donned a bathrobe for his encore (iconic). I must take a moment to remind you his memoir Me is one of my favorite celebrity memoirs. We weren’t sure how many more farewell tours he could have, so we decided to go to this one and I’m so happy we did.

And, now, what to read if…

You Love “The Great British Bake Off”

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker

“The Great British Bake Off,” or technically, in the U.S., “The Great British Baking Show,” is back on Netflix and not a moment too soon. For the uninitiated, it is the warmest, most charming competition show there is. The contestants regularly help each other finish challenges and seem genuinely sad when one of their number is sent home.

The coveted Hollywood Handshake

For more baking show goodness, check out Lucy Parker’s Battle Royal, an enemies-to-lovers romance featuring a beloved “Operation Cake” contestant and the judge who eliminated her. Before the book begins, Sylvie Fairchild won over fans with her whimsical cakes. When a unicorn-themed dessert collapsed, icy Dominic voted to send her home. Now, the bakers each own wildly popular shops — and as the book opens, they learn they are both competing to bake a cake for a royal wedding. Over countless meetings with royal staff, sparks begin to fly, and Sylvie and Dominic consider putting aside their rivalry for a relationship.

I adored Parker’s London Celebrities series, so I went into this book with high expectations. Battle Royal met all of them. The banter — when they’re rivals and a couple — is pitch-perfect, and the side characters are fully fleshed out, making Sylvie and Dominic’s lives feel real. The one warning I’d offer is that this book will make you hungry. Consider reading it with a plate of cookies nearby.

You’re Ready to be Transported

Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine 

If you’re hunting for a book that will whisk you to the old American West, look no further than Woman of Light, an engrossing novel spanning five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family. 

Luz Lopez, called “Little Light” by her friends and family, can read others’ futures in tea leaves, though her own is murkier. She and her older brother Diego live with their aunt Maria Josie in depression-era Colorado. After Diego is run out of town by an angry white mob, Luz begins to have visions of her family’s past, going back generations to see the harsh lives her ancestors lived. She attempts to manage her revelations while working in a Denver law office and helping to plan her best friend’s wedding.

With Woman of Light, Fajardo-Anstine highlights the experiences of people of color in the Old West — a history that isn’t often highlighted in traditional Westerns. The world she depicts is vibrant and diverse. Even in the midst of the Depression, her characters find reasons and ways to celebrate. Even as darkness and fear lurk below the surface (in one devastating scene, the Ku Klux Klan marches through the city, destroying buildings and terrifying citizens), Luz, her friends and family maintain a sense of hope.

You’re Waiting for Aaron Judge to Break the Home Run Record

The Big Fella by Jane Leavy

After Babe Ruth hit his record 60th home run in a single season, he exclaimed, “Sixty! Count ’em, 60! Let’s see some other son of a bitch match that!” Well, Yankee slugger Aaron Judge has done just that — and is now on his way to breaking the 61-run record Roger Maris set in 1961. Even Astro fans I know are enjoying watching Judge’s quest. (I really loved this Defector piece about the joy of watching the home run chase and how it fits into the legacy of the steroids-fueled 1998 chase.)

If Judge’s historic run has you craving a baseball book, grab Jane Leavy’s The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created. Leavy, an award-winning sports writer, documents a three-week tour of the country Ruth took with fellow Yankee Lou Gehrig after the 1927 baseball season wrapped. Nicknamed the “Symphony of Swat,” the pair went to cities such as Trenton and Fresno and joined opposing local teams — including Negro League teams — for exhibition games. The ball games were so wild, 13 of the 21 ended early because of overexcited fans.

The Big Fella is more of a book about fame, celebrity and our connection to public figures than it is a traditional baseball book. She pays particular attention to Ruth’s partnership with Christy Walsh, his PR whiz and father figure. Leavy is an exceptional researcher, drawing on more than 250 interviews, hundreds of pages of new documents and family records, to bring the man behind the legend to life. Baseball fans — regardless of their allegiances — will find a lot to love with this one.

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This week, I also have a guest book recommendation from Andromeda Romano-Lax, a novelist and Ironman rookie is documenting her triathlon journey in a new newsletter.

Lately, on my exercise bike, I’ve been listening to inspiring narratives about sport—specifically, triathlon. Most of the books are written by men, not surprising given that events like the Ironman are extremely male-dominated. (Eighty percent of Ironman participants are male!) Finally, I found an uplifting and down-to-earth narrative by a woman: Dare to Tri: My Journey from the BBC Breakfast Sofa to Team GB Triathlete by Louise Minchin. Whether you’re trying to motivate yourself into doing more swimming, cycling, running, or all three, you’ll appreciate Minchin’s late-in-life embrace of her competitive side as well as the emotional side of endurance sport as a stress-coping mechanism. Starting with sprint triathlons, she details the difficulties of cramming sport into a schedule already packed with work and parenting. Her narration in the Audio edition is particularly good, no surprise given her daytime job as a TV presenter.

That’s it for me today. I’ll be back in your inboxes on Thursday with a Q&A featuring author Amy Tector. Not so coincidentally, Amy has an essay coming out on Notes From Three Pines on Wednesday.

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What to Read If is a free weekly book recommendation newsletter. Need a rec? Want to gush about a book? Reply to this email, leave a comment or find me on Twitter @elizabethheld.

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