It’s summer! What better way to celebrate the season than with a good book, a cool drink and a lounge chair by the pool or beach? Jane Ubell-Meyer, Founder of Bedside Reading, shares July book selections.
‘A Cup of Redemption’ by Carole Bumpus
Like the braiding of three strands of brioche, the lives of three women—two French and one American—become inextricably intertwined as each struggles to resolve issues from past wars that have profoundly impacted their lives. Rising out of the collateral damage wrought by war, what emerges is a touching story about love, loss, and the powerful desire for wholeness through redemption.
‘The Blue Butterfly’ by Leslie Johansen Nack
New York 1915, Marion Davies is a shy eighteen-year-old beauty dancing on the Broadway stage when she meets William Randolph Hearst and finds herself captivated by his riches, passion, and desire to make her a movie star. Following a whirlwind courtship, she learns to live as Hearst’s mistress when a divorce from his wife proves impossible. In a burgeoning Hollywood scene, she works hard while living a lavish partying life that includes a secret love affair with Charlie Chaplin. In late 1937, at the height of the depression, Hearst wrestles with his debtors and failing health, when Marion loans him $1M when nobody else will. Together, they must confront the movie that threatens to invalidate all of Marion’s successes in the movie industry: Citizen Kane.
‘Where the Shadows Dance’ by Dana Killion
It would be easy to say Where the Shadows Dance is a memoir about a marriage―but marriage is simply the setting. Dana Killion dives deep into what we do for love, what we do because of love, how love can break us, how love can save us, and how the most important love is the love we feel for ourselves because, without it, no other kind can ever be as rich. A raw, vulnerable exploration of the damage that secrets and lies inflict, Where the Shadows Dance is a story for every woman who has set herself aside because someone else’s needs seemed greater.
‘French Holiday’ by Sarah Ready
Merry DeLuca has a big problem. Her sister just married her best friend and the only man she’s ever loved. Her life is rapidly spiraling down the drain and she doesn’t have an escape plan. So when Merry is offered a three-month holiday living in a romantic castle in the French countryside she leaps at the chance. Merry knows her French holiday will fix everything—Her holiday will be perfect…until she arrives and finds Noah Wright—the best man at her sister’s wedding and the worst man she’s ever known—staying in her castle. Famous travel documentarian by day and the arrogant devil by night, Noah refuses to leave the castle. This means that Merry and Noah are stuck together in France, in a crumbling castle, on a holiday where nothing goes right. Not for Merry and not for Noah. Until…
‘Lost in the Reflecting Pool’ by Diane Pomerantz
Lost in the Reflecting Pool, is a psychological “love story” that is at times tender and at times horrifying. It is the true story of a highly trained child psychologist who falls in love with a brilliant and charming psychiatrist and despite “noticing” things, she ignores all of the red flags of pathological narcissism which she has been trained to recognize. This will eventually come back to haunt her.
‘White House by the Sea’ by Kate Storey
The intimate, multi-generational story of the Kennedy family as seen through their Hyannis Port compound on Cape Cod—the iconic place where they’ve celebrated, mourned, and forged the closest of bonds—based on more than a hundred in-depth interviews. Anyone who has lived in, worked at, or visited the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port has had a front-row view to history. Featuring more than fifty rarely-seen images—journalist Kate Storey gives us a fascinating, engaging, and illuminating view. White House by the Sea provides a sweeping history of an American dynasty that has left an indelible mark on our nation’s politics and culture.
‘The Nine’ by Phil Simon
In The Nine: The Tectonic Forces Reshaping the Workplace, award-winning author and world-renowned workplace tech expert Phil Simon answers that question in spades. He peers into the dizzying and chaotic future of work. Simon slices through the hype surrounding nascent trends and newfangled technologies.
Insightful, timely, and essential, The Nine clearly explains what’s really happening, why, and how business leaders can navigate the dramatically different workplace of the future.
‘Child Bride’ by Jennifer Smith Turner
In the segregated South of the mid-1900s, fourteen-year-old Nell bears witness to a world that embraces the oppression of women. Married off when she turns sixteen, she journeys from the South to the city of Boston, where she must quickly learn first how to be a wife to a controlling and emotionally abusive husband, and then a mother.
After giving birth to three children, Nell’s body begins to fail her. Her husband, concerned for her health, pulls away from her physically. But this void of intimacy drives Nell into the arms of another man, Charles— an encounter that leads to another pregnancy, and another unanticipated adventure for Nell.
‘The Paradox of Debt’ by Richard Vague
When we talk about debt and its economic impact, we usually center on “government debt,” and overlook the debt owed by individuals and firms that is vital to truly understanding the economy. In this iconoclastic book, Richard Vague examines the assets, liabilities, and incomes of the American economy as a whole, not just of the government. The book shows that debt growth in excess of GDP growth is a feature of modern economic systems, not a bug—and thus ever-increasing leverage is built into the very structure of the economy. Vague uses the data presented in the book to show that rising debt is the primary source of economic growth, new money creation, and wealth creation—but that it also brings heightened inequality and can bring economic calamity when left unchecked. Vague also compares and contrasts the financial data of the U.S. to the world’s other largest economies. As an expert on the role of private debt in the global economy, Vague offers an innovative set of policies to try to manage this debt paradox.
‘A Delightful Little Book On Aging’ by Stephanie Raffelock
All around us, older women flourish in industry, entertainment, and politics. Do they know something that we don’t, or are we all just trying to figure it out? For so many of us, our hearts and minds still feel that we are twenty-something young women who can take on the world. But in our bodies, the flexibility and strength that were once taken for granted are far from how we remember them. Every day we have to rise above the creaky joints and achy knees to earn the opportunity of moving through the world with a modicum of grace. Yet we do rise, because it’s a privilege to grow old, and every single day is a gift. Peter Pan’s mantra was “never grow up”; our collective mantra should be “never stop growing.” This collection of user-friendly stories, essays, and philosophies invites readers to celebrate whatever age they are with a sense of joy and purpose and with a spirit of gratitude.