You Recently Watched Eight Seasons of ‘Suits’

Attended a state fair or celebrated India’s moon landing

Hi friends,

Greetings from Upstate New York where my dog Ellie and I have decamped to for a break from D.C.’s humidity. We’re enjoying the bright blue skies and my parents’ blueberry bush.

The Books for Maui auction raised more than $170,000(!) for relief efforts. I got outbid on everything I tried to buy. Did you win anything?

Two programming notes:

• Summer Reading Bingo Cards are due NEXT FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. If you’re ready, submit here.

• Next week’s newsletter will go out on Tuesday due to the Labor Day holiday.

And, now, what to read if …

You Binged “Suits”

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

Want more proof the 2010s are having a resurgence (besides Laura Hankin’s fab novel The Daydreams)? “Suits,” the USA network’s legal drama starring a pre-royal Meghan Markle, is breaking all sorts of records on Netflix and Peacock. In a single week this month, viewers watched 3.1 billion minutes of the show — the equivalent of nearly 6000 years. It’s unclear what’s driving the drama’s sudden popularity, but if it has you craving a legal thriller, grab a copy of Angie Kim’s Miracle Creek.

Kim combines the best elements of family sagas, courtroom dramas and immigration stories to craft Miracle Creek. As the book opens, a hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber explodes, killing an adult caregiver and a child receiving treatment. Investigators quickly rule it was arson and after investigating the facility’s owner, Korean immigrant Pak Yoo, the mother of the murdered boy, Elizabeth Ward, is charged and brought to trial.

Miracle Creek is told from multiple perspectives, over three timelines — the day before the explosion, the day it occurred and during the trial. The plot could easily fall apart under the weight of so many storylines, but in Kim’s hands it soars. I listened to it while I was packing up my old apartment, and it actually made me want to pack, a remarkable feat for any book, and I immediately emailed Kim to set up an interview once I’d finished it. A great pick for anyone who loves Big Little Lies or John Grisham.

Bonus recommendation: If you’ve already read Miracle Creek and want more Angie Kim goodness, her new book, Happiness Falls, comes out tomorrow.

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You’re Enjoying State Fair Season

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

We visited the New York State Fair last week, where I viewed the butter and sand sculptures, caught a dinosaur exhibit and enjoyed a hot beef sundae (pot roast, mashed potatoes, shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream and a cherry tomato on top). While I mentioned many books on our trip (including Louise Penny’s Still Life — bonus points to anyone who can say why), I thought I’d recommend The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson’s seminal nonfiction work on the 1893 Chicago’s World Fair.

The Devil in the White City tells the stories of Daniel H. Burnham, who overcame significant obstacles to pull off the exposition, and Henry Howard Holmes, a doctor-turned-serial-killer who used the event to hunt for victims. Larson documents Burnham’s single-minded quest to create a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Fair visitors in just two years, despite political drama, labor unrest and an exceptionally rough Chicago winter. The exposition featured the world’s first Ferris Wheel, intended to be America’s response to the Eiffel tower introduced at the 1889 Paris World’s Fair. The book draws a sharp contrast between the spectacle Burnham built, and the evil Holmes committed.

I learned writing this blurb that The Devil in the White City is 20 years old. I was surprised because it’s a book that lives rent free in my head. It feels as though I read it recently - a testament to Larson’s skills as both a researcher and a storyteller.

You’re Excited India Landed on the Moon

The Astronaut and the Star by Jen Comfort

India became the fourth country to safely land a spacecraft on the moon last week. And, as The Wall Street Journal informs me, “the achievement, estimated to have cost about $70 million, was far cheaper than making the Hollywood sci-fi epic ‘Interstellar.’” If you want to celebrate the landing with a romance, look no further than The Astronaut and the Star by Jen Comfort.

Astronaut Reggie Hayes’ entire life is organized around one goal: becoming the first woman on the moon. Just as she’s on the cusp of achieving her dream, a PR disaster causes NASA to ground her. Reggie is given the chance to rehabilitate her image by teaching actor Jon Leo how to play the role of an astronaut in preparation for an upcoming movie. The two agree to live in a lunar simulator, and the close quarters cause sparks to fly. Reggie suggests they pursue a casual relationship, but Jon sets out to prove to her they could be something real.

I am an avowed space nerd, so I appreciated the science and space travel facts Comfort worked into a compelling love story. Reggie and Jon both help each other grow into better, stronger people, with Reggie learning to acknowledge her emotions and Jon beginning to trust his brain and his gut. A fun, fast read.

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That’s it for me today. You can catch up on last week’s recs and my Q&A with thriller writer Kat Rosenfield. I also wrote a story about D.C.’s Jane Austen film festival for 730 DC (come for the quotes from Pride and Protest author Nikki Payne, stay for the hand clench photo), if you’re interested.   

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