Birthday Book Recs 20-21/50 : Love, Work, Children and Morningside Heights by Cheryl Mendelson
Love, Work, Children i Morningside Heights by Cheryl Mendelson
Birthday Book Recs: 20-21/50
Love, Work, Children and Morningside Heights by Cheryl Mendelson
I wish you could have seen me trying to snap a pic of these two novels because it was akin to me trying to take a picture of some quicksilver and elusive sea life immediately below a boat deck. When we were on a whale watching jaunt in the San Juans this summer I kept regretting not getting some dorky lanyard to secure my phone around my neck. Now I guess I need a dorky lanyard to secure my phone around my neck while I take pictures of inanimate books on a bookshelf. Is this 50?! (For the record, I didn’t drop my phone, but I had a close call. And I couldn’t shoot from further back because there is a glass partition in the way…see slide 5. I suppose I could have moved the books to a different shelf, but that feels like #performativebookshelving)
But on to these two novels, which are actually parts 1 and 2 of a trilogy. (You can see the third novel, titled Anything for Jane, next to them below, but I sort of recall not liking it as much.)
Are you intrigued by the vibe of Morningside Heights, shaped by its proximity to and relationship with Columbia University? Do you consider yourself (or wish to consider yourself) an “intellectual, artistic soul”? Does a plot point that has a couple “contemplat[ing] the impossible — a move to the suburbs” thrill you? Would reading about “wealthy, mismatched” or “cultured and happily married” couples pique your interest? These books are domestic fiction at its finest, and while Mendelson does play with a bit of humor, these novels are not meant to be humorous per se. They’re funny because they are so incredibly on the nose, and the Upper (Upper) West Side provides a perfect setting for her to explore those evergreen themes of family, marriage, friendship, culture, community. It’s very, very niche, and very, very good.
You can find all my 50th Birthday Book Recommendations HERE.
originally published on instagram