You’re Psyched for “The Life of the Showgirl”

Love the NYT Spelling Bee or want a trip to the English countryside

Hi friends,

Hope you all had a fav weekend. It was a double book club weekend for me. First, I met with my normal group to discuss Mia Sosa’s When Javi Dumped Mari (made me laugh!), and then I chatted with my cousin about The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (made me cry!).

And, now, what to read if …

You’re Psyched for “The Life of the Showgirl”

Heartbreak is the National Anthem by Rob Sheffield

Taylor Swift announced her 12^th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl” will be out later this year during an appearance on the New Heights podcast, co-hosted by her boyfriend/three-time Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce, last week. (Sidebar: That sentence sounds like something out of a novel.) The pop star’s legion of fans immediately began celebrating the only way they know how: Examining Swift’s entire canon for hints that she was planning this all along.

If you’re a fan of Taylor Swift — the singer-songwriter or the mastermind — or are curious about the cult of personality surrounding her, you’ll want to pick up Rob Sheffield’s Heartbreak is the National Anthem.

Sheffield, a Rolling Stone journalist and self-proclaimed Swiftie, chronicles the singer’s rise, from dropping of demos in Nashville to her Eras tour heyday. Sheffield is a fan and gives Swift her due as a songwriter and image guru, but is also clear-eyed about the singer’s flaws. It’s that tension that makes Swift such an interesting figure — and Heart Break is the National Anthem an interesting read.

I’m a casual Swift fan. I have a favorite album (Red, obviously) but, mostly, I find her obsessive fans fascinating. Sheffield’s book worked for me, and I’ve heard the same thing from Swift haters, diehard fans and people in between.

You Have a ‘Spelling Bee’ Routine

The Note by Alafair Burke

My mom (hi mom!) begins most days by hitting the highest level — genius — in the New York Times Spelling Bee, a game that has players search for words in letters arranged in a honeycomb structure. (I do the Spelling Bee daily too but it often takes me a few days to hit Genius on a given puzzle). My mom shares this hobby with the three main characters of Alafair Burke’s The Note, who have a running text thread dedicated to finding every word in the puzzle.

The three women — May, Lauren and Kelsey — at the center of the novel have something else in common: they were all at the center of internet pile-ons. Following the pandemic, they gathered for the first time in years for a weekend of fun and sun in the Hamptons. After one too many cocktails, Kelsey leaves a note reading “He’s cheating. He always does.” on the windshield of the couple who stole their parking space. The seemingly harmless prank backfires, though, when the man driving the car disappears, and the three friends end up at the center of a police investigation that has them questioning each other.

Alafair Burke knows how to keep readers turning pages, and The Note is no exception. It’s a unique premise that delivers on the twists while also offering a searing depiction of a complex female friendship. In short, it was catnip for me.

You’re Dreaming of the Cotswolds

Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess

The Washington Post informed me last week that the Cotswolds — “a picture-perfect stretch of England is famed for its rolling hills, countryside living, thatched roofs and cozy pubs” — has become the It vacation destination for the American elite. I had two book-related thoughts upon reading this: 1) Have these folks read the Agatha Raisin books and 2) I should recommend Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess, which takes place in another part of the English countryside, the Peak District.

Don’t let the title fool you: Welcome to Murder Week is not a murder mystery, but an exploration of grief and loss. When cleaning out her recently deceased, absentee mother’s things, Cath finds a set of tickets to a “murder week” a small English village has organized to attract tourists. On a whim, Cath decides to attend the festivities on our own.

There, she rooms with Wyatt, who is unhappily working in his husband’s bird store, and Amity, a romance novelist struggling with writer’s block. As the three team up to “solve” the crime behind murder week, Cath starts a tentative romance with a local artisanal gin maker and learns why the community had a special hold on her mother.

As Amy Poeppel described it, ““Full of intrigue and adventure, charm and heart, Welcome to Murder Week is downright enchanting! With characters you'll want to befriend and an irresistible setting you'll long to visit, this captivating story is as wise as it is fun. A double mystery, a touch of romance, and, above all, a truly perfect ending—I adored this book!”

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