Another summer read, “SweetBitter,” was not what I had expected. I was drawn to the novel due to reviews on Amazon, and I also liked the pink cover, and that it was a book about a NY restaurant.  I am a big fan of NYC, I have been blessed to experience the fine dining and the wonderful electricity of the city. The blessing is going with my husband, who knows the ins and outs of the big city .

The story is about a young twenty-something girl, Tess, who decides to leave her midwestern town and drive to NYC in search of a job and a new life.  Tess does not know anyone in the City, she finds an apartment in Williamsburg, which is a neighborhood in Brooklyn.  She finds a job at an upscale restaurant in downtown Manhattan, and is hired as a back waiter.  Behind the scenes, this restaurant is bleak, the employees attend drug parties nightly after work, and it is like one big train wreck.  Tess turns to drugs, and snorts coke like there is no tomorrow. She falls for Jake, who is the bartender, is of course a druggie, and has a secret relationship with Simone, who runs the restaurant.  He is basically a liar and a male slut.

One of the positive points in the book is that the “heroine” does learn about wine and, after being promoted to a server, how to handle upscale regulars.

I am walking away knowing about the rat infestation in NYC and with a bad taste in my mouth about what goes on in the back of an upscale restaurant.  This is a sad depiction of the life of a twenty-year-old, naive and sensitive female.  This is just a novel, but it is a wake up call about our younger generation.  I am on my way to NYC next week and will pretend I never read this book.  The next book on my shelf is “Kitchen Confidential” by Anthony Bourdain (more depressing facts, I’m sure)!

I just finished reading “The Honeymoon,” a novel by Dinitia Smith. I was drawn to it by reading a review of it in the NY Times, and knowing it took place in Venice. I love Venice, one of the most romantic spots in the world, and I have been blessed to travel there with Keith.

The story is about George Eliot, who was a  famous, eighteen century English author.  Her real name was Marian Evans.  She was a private and shy woman, and due to her fame, took the name of George Eliot.

The book explores her two romantic relationships, one of them, out of wedlock,  with George Lewes, a love that Marian knew she would never experience again.  A love that was so strong between two people that it was almost like a dream.  Throughout the book, Marian is aware that it could not go on forever, and she is devastated when he dies. She takes to her bed for months, and refuses to have any visitors.

The second relationship was to a very strange man, who was twenty years younger than she. Her role was as his caretaker, as he had a serious drinking problem and they had separate boudoir’s.  It was deeply troubling to her, nothing like that one love she had experienced.

George Eliot was an incredible writer, the author of seven novels; one that resonated with me was “Middlemarch.”  I highly recommend this fictionalized account of her life. So beautifully written, and I learned many interesting tidbits!