Book Conversations
On this first day of spring, I marvel at how quickly the world outside my window has changed since February finally brought winter to my doorstep. The mounds of heavy, wet snow that left me housebound for almost a week have slowly melted with rising temperatures, feeding the roots of trees and plants that are now budding and abloom in a shoutout to spring.
On March 8th, Daylight Saving Time kicked in as clocks sprang ahead an hour. When out of habit Peekay wakes me with a paw to my nose at 4:45 a.m. that morning, I pull up the covers for another fifteen minutes before rising to begin my quiet morning of reading well before darkness is replaced by the first traces of soft morning light.
Peekay’s needs are attended to first. Next, my Nespresso machine and frother work their magic in the kitchen. Finally, with my café latte in hand, I cozy in on the couch alongside a long coffee table made from an old 1894 Missouri barn. Only a trace of its faded red paint is visible under the array of books that I spend my early mornings and evenings hours reading. Peekay and my Apple Watch remind me to stand up and stretch every hour.
A week ago, I asked friends of my blog a question that is central to one of my favorite books, The End of Your Life Book Club by publisher/author/editor Will Schwalbe. In Will’s memoir of his mother Mary Anne Schwalbe, he recalls their book conversations following her cancer diagnosis. When her chemotherapy sessions were scheduled, the question, "What are you reading?” always lead to ideas for what their book club of two might read next.
Now, a week later, some books friends have suggested I read in answer to that question have found their way to my barnwood coffee table. After reading my blog about his memoir, Will texted that he was reading Bernard Malamud’s 1957 novel, The Assistant—a book he’d never read. He described it as brilliant, while in a second breath warned, “It is very dark.”
Several friends recommended Virginia Evans’ epistolary novel, The Correspondent, and Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. I’ve read them both, liked them, and now appreciate them all the more after subscribing to Katie Couric’s Book Club launched in January 2026 to promote reading. It features monthly selections, author conversations, and interactive discussions available on Substack. Couric’s January conversation with Evans and February hour with Levi about their wildly popular bestselling novels are infectious, and I’ve shared them with numerous friends.
I’m also reading a twentieth anniversary edition of Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost at the recommendation of my artist friend Tim who is starting a new chapter in life after moving from St. Louis to the Pacific Northwest with his wife Phoebe. Larry, a dear high school friend and his wife Heather from Scotland, shared a copy of Learn Scots, for Beginners—a rich, historic sister language to English that was recently celebrated in National Geographic.
One recent addition to my coffee table, discovered at Grass Valley’s Hospice of the Hills Gift and Thrift Store, might interest serious wine lovers. Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and The Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine by George M. Taber is a fascinating tale of the legendary contest—a blind tasting—in which a panel of top French wine experts shocked the industry by choosing unknown California wines over France’s best. As the story unfolds, I’m finding it to be masterfully written as well as a terrific tutorial on the history and geography of various French wine regions.
Another treasure I couldn’t resist from the same thrift shop was a gorgeous copy of The Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rogers. In the preface, the author chronicles her remarkable culinary journey—one that began in 1974 when she spent a year at the Troisgros Brothers three-star restaurant in Roanne France. After years of gleaning culinary experience abroad—Rogers returned to CA and worked at Alice Waters’ legendary Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley and then with Marion Cunningham who introduced her to homey American recipes found in the historic Fanny Farmer Cookbook. In 1987, Rogers finally arrived at San Francisco’s Zuni Café, eager to share the bounty of all she had learned since arriving in her teens on the Troisgros family’s doorstep.
So again I ask, dear readers, “What are you reading?” I’d love to know what’s on your coffee table.