You’re Thinking About the Pandemic Anniversary

Are a classical music fan or are stress baking

Mar 14, 2022

Hi friends,

This Monday — the day after Daylight Savings — historically hits me hard. For some reason, losing just a single hour of sleep throws me off for days. I warned my coworkers on Friday that I will likely be groggy and cranky today. I hope you’re up and running.

I wanted to share the Book Aid for Ukraine auction, a fundraiser for British-Ukrainian Aid, an organization helping those affected by the war and humanitarian crisis. Auction items include signed books, lunches with authors, original artwork and more. Everything is shipping internationally unless otherwise noted and the auction is open until March 21 — so get bidding!

And now, what to read if…

You’re Reflecting on the Past Two Years

These Precious Days by Ann Patchett

This week marks two years since lockdowns began across the United States. I remember thinking my time at home would be a great time to finally read Blood in the Water, Heather Thompson’s 800-page history of the Attica prison uprising. But, instead, I spent the first few weeks unable to read, binging mindless reality TV.

Patchett wrote These Precious Days during the pandemic when she found herself unable to write a long-form novel. She turned to essays and I’m so glad she did. The collection covers everything from Snoopy as a writerly role model to the magic of middle-grade author Kate DiCamillo to Patchett’s relationship with her three fathers. Each is a joy to read.

The title essay, published in Harper’s last year, focuses on Pattchet’s friendship with Sooki Raphael, Tom Hanks’s assistant. Raphael moved in with Patchett and her husband Karl VanDever in early 2020 participate in a clinical trial for pancreatic cancer treatment at the Nashville hospital where VanDever works. When Covid-19 hit and made it unsafe for Raphael to travel, she spent months in Pattchet’s home. The pair developed a beautiful, moving friendship. The essay is a meditation on all we lost during the pandemic and the things we unexpectedly found.

In the words of my friend Aya (who writes a newsletter on Victorian lit), These Precious Days is the book equivalent of lemonade — it goes down so smooth. I love this collection so much that after listening to it, I ordered a physical copy from Patchett’s bookstore, Parnassus Books. I knew I needed a copy that I could re-read, mark up and hug. When I discovered the book was signed, I almost cried with joy.

Reminder rec: Leigh Stein published What To Miss When, a poetry collection written in the early months of lockdown that includes poems about stress cleaning and watching “The Last Dance.”

You Have Tickets to the Symphony

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

If you’re a classical music fan — or love a coming-of-age story, Brendan Slocumb’s The Violin Conspiracy is your next read.

The Violin Conspiracy opens with Ray McMillan, a Black violin prodigy, discovering his prized Stradivarius violin has been stolen, just weeks before he’s set to compete in the Tchaikovsky Competition, the Olympics of classical music. The precious violin was his great-great-grandfather’s and Ray spent years practicing on it, thinking it was a beat-up old fiddle before discovering the truth. His family, already unsupportive of Ray’s musical ambitions, urges him to sell the violin for millions while descendants of the family who once enslaved his grandfather claim the violin is rightfully theirs. The violinist fears either family could be behind the theft and sets out to prove it.

The Violin Conspiracy is being marketed as a thriller, but I think it’s more accurate to think of it as a coming-of-age story/family saga combined with a behind-the-scenes look at the cutthroat world of elite classical music. I was more caught up in the scenes that focused on Ray’s relationships with his family and other musicians than I was in the mystery about who stole the violin.

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You’re Stressbaking

Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi

The world is a scary, stressful place right now. If you’re like me, baking is one of the ways you’re managing. My office recently re-opened, and I appreciate having a group of people to bake for instead of just leaving cookies on my neighbors’ stoops.

Snacking Cakes is the perfect stress baking cookbook. The recipes are all simple enough to not require too much concentration, but they are involved enough to give you a break from the news.

So what is a snacking cake, you might be asking? It’s a simple one-layer cake, often glazed, perfect for leaving out on the counter for a quick bite. The recipes in this book are fantastic and varied — including fruity cakes, chocolate cakes and vanilla cakes. My favorite — so far — is the vanilla spice cake. It makes the house smell warm and cozy whenever I bake it, and it’s perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

The best part of Snaking Cakes is that none of the recipes require anything more than the standard ingredients you have in your pantry, or more than 45 minutes’ baking time. This makes it the perfect cookbook for when you’re craving something sweet but don’t want to run to the grocery store.

Reminder rec: Sarah Keiffer’s 100 Cookies is another great stress baking option.

That’s it for me this week. You can catch up on last week’s recs here and read my Q&A with Jess Pryde here.

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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