Category: Books

Carolina Capers: “No Kings,” Fiction, & Food

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FLAG DAY 2025

Peaceful Protests Here & Across the U.S.

Yesterday was Flag Day, typically a time to celebrate the Stars and Stripes and the principles of freedom for which it stands.  The holiday commemorates the adoption of the American flag by the Second Continental Congress in 1777.  When I was growing up, my father, a Navy veteran, very purposefully hung a flag on the front of our house each year.  As did many of our neighbors.

Yesterday was Flag Day with a difference.  Yes, there was an event in D.C.  Many of us chose not to watch or celebrate it.  Instead, in large cities like Philadelphia and Chicago, in medium-sized ones like Atlanta and Tallahassee, and even in some of the smallest towns from Morrisville to Pittsboro to Seneca Falls, ordinary Americans gathered to protest the actions of the current administration.  Called “No Kings Day,” it was an opportunity to rally against the deportation of law-abiding individuals, to call out the unwarranted firing of public servants, and to stand against the brutal attacks on science, healthcare, and higher education.  These protests were peaceful ones.

The Chief Penguin and I participated in the “No Kings” demonstration here in Cary.  It was our first demonstration.  We carried our homemade signs and waved at the passing cars, appreciating the many drivers who tooted their horns in support.  When I had read that 800+ people had signed up to attend, I was a bit leery about what to expect.  I went prepared with my phone and ID cards and was happily surprised by how much larger the crowd was and impressed that everyone seemed to be enjoying the experience. 

Dressed in red or blue and white, some holding kids by the hand or pushing strollers, all ages were represented.  Yes, there were a few speeches, but most of the action took place at the intersection, extending well beyond the four corners of this heavily traveled thoroughfare.  

Some folks even chanted.  We were very glad to have been part of it all.  Power to the people and the power of the people!

POPULAR FICTION

Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Author Reid (amazon.ca)

Taylor Jenkins Reid is the author of several novels including the commercially and critically successful The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.  Her latest one, Atmosphere, is set in the 1980’s and features astronauts training for a mission on the space shuttle.  Joan Goodwin is a self-proclaimed nerd who has always loved the stars and dreamed of going into space.  Unappreciated by her sister and a loner, she is an astronaut when women were still a novelty.  Yet Joan becomes friends with both the men and women astronauts in her group.  In the process, she learns new things about herself and discovers love where she never expected it.   

Reid did her homework; the space program details, and the shuttle flight are realistic and gripping.  The characters are well drawn and fleshed out, especially Joan’s delightful young niece Frances.  Some of the philosophizing about God and the place of humans in the universe is a bit heavy-handed.  Nonetheless, the action is fast-paced, and I raced through the book in less than a day.  Just right for a beach vacation.

DINING DELIGHTS

Changing light installation at the Fenton

This was a week of dining treats.  The Fenton for dim sum, a nearby Indian restaurant, and a popular ice cream parlor.

Brewery Bhavana in Fenton

Last fall, we liked very much the lunch we had at Brewery Bhavana, a Chinese restaurant in Raleigh, and even sampled two of their beers.  This time, we made our first visit to the Fenton complex and the new branch of Brewery Bhavana.  

Outdoor seating at Brewery Bhavana

At 5:30, the restaurant was full of couples and families, and just two tables were free.  I was glad I’d made a reservation.

This dining room is smaller than the Raleigh one and the menu shorter, but we loved what we ordered. Refreshing cucumber salad with its hint of heat; light, almost fluffy buns filled with curried chicken; and pork and chive dumplings.  There are two chicken entrees and Peking duck if you reserve ahead for it.  Add in a cocktail or a glass of wine or beer and you’re set.  We will be back to dine but also to explore Fenton’s other dining options.  Not to mention being tempted by the goods in the Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn stores. 

Saffron in Cary

Saffron is in a nearby mall with both Harris Teeter and Walmart stores.  The Chief Penguin and I had poked our heads into Saffron one time but not eaten there before.  Lunch this week was the best Indian food we’ve had since moving to North Carolina!  We shared an order of samosas and rosemary naan and sampled the garlic naan.  

He ordered lamb vindaloo, and when it wasn’t quite spicy enough sent it back to up the spice level from medium to hot.  Success!  I ordered the chicken curry medium, and it was simply delicious.  The portions are very generous and come with jasmine rice.  We each took some of our entrees home to savor again.   

Andia’s Ice Cream

One of us is a big ice cream fan, the other an occasional indulger. We joined a group for the first round of an ice cream rating competition, Scoop of Approval.  Andia’s has several locations in the Research Triangle including the one in Cary we visited.  Smart tasters purchased the six-flavor sampler, while the Chief Penguin and I stuck with one scoop each, French vanilla for him, the prize-winning double dark chocolate for me.

Started and run by Andia and her family, Andia’s ice cream has won many awards.  Andia herself is the only female Grand Master Ice Cream Chef and one of just 15 of such chefs across the U.S.  As for the ice cream, the vanilla was excellent and the chocolate good, but not as deep dark as I would like.  Andia’s creates many more flavors besides these, including summertime options such as lemon poppy and lavender lemonade.  The perfect treat for a hot day.

Note: All unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.). Header photo is a view of some of the people participating in “No Kings” in Cary.

Summer Reading 2025

JWF 3 Comments

Introduction

Since moving to North Carolina, I’ve kept up with new fiction through the excellent library we have. Consequently, my summer reading list this year is a mix of new works and older ones including classics by Thomas Hardy and Edith Wharton that I’ve not previously read.  It’s a baker’s dozen and like previous years, I probably won’t read all of them but will be distracted by other books that catch my eye.  

Some of the titles on my summer list

Both of my granddaughters are avid and voracious readers which delights me no end! Hence the inclusion of a few photos of book lovers from years past.

Listening to Grandpa

The List (in alpha order by title)

Desperate Remedies by Thomas Hardy (Hardy’s first published novel that is partly a detective story)

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips (novel set in Russia and a best book of 2020)

The Dry by Jane Harper (crime novel set in Australia by one of my favorite mystery writers; re-read for book club meeting)

Deep in a book

Finding Freedom by Erin French (memoir by a Maine-based chef)

Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths (mystery, #7 in the archaeologist Ruth Galloway series)

The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton (romantic comedy set in the 1920’s)

Last House by Jessica Shattuck (family saga from WWII to Cold War, by the author of The Women in the Castle)

Reading in Maine

The Librarians of Lisbon by Suzanne Nelson (WWII fiction about librarian spies)

The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich (her latest novel, set in rural North Dakota)

The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard (historical novel with Edgar Alan Poe by the author of The Wildes)

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer (recent nonfiction about gratitude and community recommended by my friend Martha)

So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan (3 short stories by this Irish author)

Twist by Colum McCann (contemporary novel about underwater cables by a prize-winning author)

Storytime 2019

Note: All photos except for Storytime ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Capers: Pinehurst, Drama, & More

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ABROAD AT HOME

Outing to Pinehurst, NC

In the Japanese Garden

Most people think of golf when they hear Pinehurst as this small town, southwest of Cary, is considered the “Cradle of American Golf.”  There are more than a dozen area golf courses.  On the outskirts of Pinehurst is the Sandhills Horticultural Gardens, part of Sandhills Community College.  A group of us visited the gardens and then went on to the village of Pinehurst for lunch and shopping, but no golf. 

Covering 32 acres, the gardens are divided into a variety of types and settings, some woodsier, some with blooming flowers, and one, the Japanese Garden dotted with stone sculptures and perfect for contemplation.  My exploration of the gardens was brief, but it would be fun to spend more time there.

Stunning daylilies

Pinehurst proper is small with historic white frame buildings and an alleyway or two connecting the two main streets.  I lunched at the Drum and Quill pub with friends, and together we wandered in and out of shops.  Several clothing boutiques, gift shops, golf accessories (of course), an ice cream place, and a lovely large shop featuring home furnishings (ceramic lamps) and linens.  While there were other temptations (those lamps!), I only left with two packages of cocktail napkins.

POWERFUL THEATER FOR THESE TIMES

Good Night, and Good Luck (CNN Live)

Clooney as Murrow (nytimes.com)

In a first, CNN on June 7, presented live the next-to-last Broadway performance of Good Night, and Good Luck.  Perhaps you too were one of the fortunate folks who watched this compelling piece about CBS newscaster Edward R. Murrow’s conflict with Senator Joe McCarthy.  Good night, and good luck was Murrow’s sign-off from London when reporting there during the Second World War. It stuck.

This play is a revised version of the 2005 movie of the same name which starred George Clooney as producer Fred Friendly.  Here, George Clooney (who co-wrote the play) plays Mr. Murrow.  The stage play incorporates many of Murrow’s own words and includes vintage film footage of McCarthy and Murrow.  It’s a strong piece with stirring statements about truth and the media’s obligation to speak truth to those in power.  

The stage set is on multiple levels and was probably very effective in person.  On the TV screen, it was a bit diminished.  Clooney is superb as Murrow and is a nominee for a Tony Award for this performance.  It was gratifying to hear the live audience clap and cheer at key moments in the dialogue.  Kudos to CNN and Clooney for this eerily relevant presentation!

A NOVEL: RETURNING TO MAINE ROOTS

Welcome Home, Stranger by Kate Christensen

(themainers.com)

Welcome Home, Stranger, is Kate Christensen’s seventh novel.  After the death of her mother, environmental journalist Rachel reluctantly returns to her hometown near Portland.  Her childhood and youth were rough with a series of stepfathers and an addicted unbalanced mother.  Although she loves her job and is good at it, Rachel is divorced and unmoored in her personal life.  Somewhat resentful of her overly dramatic sister Celeste, she hopes to re-connect with David, her former lover.  To her surprise, David has recently married her sister’s neighbor Molly.  Add in a brother-in-law with a drinking problem and a house she’s inherited, and Rachel’s life is messy and complicated.

Christensen’s writing in this short book is razor sharp with staccato-like descriptions of sights, smells, sounds, and people’s physical characteristics.  Some reviewers found it witty.  I mostly found it poignant and painful.  

It also interested me that Rachel, rather than being a mixed up 30-something, is 54 and well established in her career.  Yet, she carries baggage from her emotionally stunted poverty-stricken upbringing.  I slogged through with her and was rewarded with a hopeful ending.  Recommended for the writing! (~JWFarrington)

Note: Photos taken at Sandhills Horticultural Gardens including the header photo ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Comments: Three Books & A Drama

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RECENT READING

FAMILY TIES, SISTERS, & CHINA

Rabbit Moon by Jennifer Haigh

Haigh (bu.edu)

American writer Jennifer Haigh’s novels often have a social issue at their heart.  They run the gamut from a rare disease in The Condition, to fracking in Heat and Light, to an abortion clinic in Mercy Street, to name just a few of them.  Her latest novel, Rabbit Moon, might be said to deal with a disjointed family, the ties that still bind them, and competing cultural issues.  

Claire and Aaron have been divorced for several years, but when their older daughter Lindsey is in a coma from a car accident in Shanghai, they separately rush to her bedside.  Lindsey has ostensibly been teaching in Beijing so why she is in Shanghai is a mystery.  To her surprise, Lindsey in some ways feels more at home in China than she ever did in the U.S.  Lindsey and Grace, her adopted Chinese sister, are very close and text daily, but Grace, away at summer camp, is kept unaware of the seriousness of Lindsey’s condition.

Lindsey saw Grace as the favored child and felt unseen by her parents.  Abroad, she has made a friend or two but gotten tangled up in a questionable business which only slowly is revealed to her folks.

I have mixed feelings about this novel.  Like all of Haigh’s works, it’s stylistically excellent, and you see and hear the sights and sounds of Shanghai.  On the other hand, I thought there was a diffuseness to it that seemed as if Haigh didn’t have firm control over what kind or which novel she was writing, one about Lindsey’s secret life, one about sibling love, or one about a family in pieces.  I finished the book but felt somewhat unsatisfied.  (~JWFarrington)

NOTEWORTHY MEMOIR

Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man’s Search for Home by Jonathan Capehart

Capehart (blackpast.org)

I often tune into to the PBS News Hour on Friday night for Jonathan Capehart’s articulate and thoughtful comments on the latest political news.  His recently published memoir, Yet Here I Am, offers up context and candor about his life journey and his career opportunities and challenges along the way.  

Growing up partly in the poor South (Durham, North Carolina) and later in New Jersey, he never met his father.  He experienced being the only Black in a white environment and being perceived as “too white” in a Black setting.  He survived living with an abusive stepfather, graduated from Carleton College, and worked for the New York Daily News before joining the Washington Post and eventually hosting his own show on MSNBC.

He describes racism, recognizing one’s own worth, learning to ask for what you really want to do, and finding acceptance and eventually love.  Capehart writes at one point that he admired Katharine Graham’s memoir, Personal History, for its transparency and wanted to achieve the same openness her book had.  From my perspective, he has succeeded masterfully.  

We may think we have made lots of progress in society in how we treat minorities and gays, but more is needed.  Kudos to Capehart for his bracing and engaging account of life and career! (~JWFarrington)

LOS ANGELES IN THE 60’S AND 70’S

L. A. Women by Ella Berman (forthcoming in August)

Berman (hastybooklist.com)

Set in the late 1960’s and up to the mid 1970’s, L. A. Women is a story of the intense, fractured friendship between two young women: Lane, a novelist, ultimately a wife and mother, and Gala, a party girl and sometime writer with an out-size personality.  The men in their lives are Charlie, party master and closeted gay, and straightforward upright Scotty, who marries Lane.  Lane’s childhood was particularly dysfunctional while Gala’s wasn’t wonderful either.  As so-called friends, these two women use and abuse and sometimes depend on each other.  Competition and compassion are at war in this back-and-forth relationship.

The opening chapters are full of sex and drug-laden parties, and I didn’t find any of the characters very appealing or ones I could identify with.  When Gala disappears and no one seems to know where she has gone, Lane feels compelled, even driven, to try to locate her.  

This search fuels the novel as the chapters alternate in time between past events and present day 1975.  Recommended for fans of Ella Berman and those looking for a graphic portrait of an earlier Hollywood/Los Angeles era. (A version of this review first appeared in Book Browse online.)

TV VIEWING

COMPLEX CRIME SERIES: EVERYONE HAS MOTIVE

I, Jack Wright (Britbox)

Jack Wright’s family members (thekillingtimestv.com)

When billionaire Jack Wright dies, it’s initially assumed to be an unexpected suicide.  But it isn’t.  He left behind a large complex family, and the reading of his will leaves many of them angered and unhappy. Principals include his third wife, Sally and their two children; his two sons John and Gray, one in the family publishing business one not; Rose, his second wife and the mother of those sons; plus his granddaughter Emily.  His remaining two wives are close, while his son Gray, a ne’er-do-well, has been estranged from his father for years.  Add in a housekeeper, the new lawyer Jack hired prior to his death unbeknownst to Sally, and on it goes.  Who stood to gain the most from his death as almost everyone had motive? How will detective Hector Morgan suss it all out?

The series contains six episodes.  I expected to find out who the murderer was but, no, I was left with a cliffhanger.  Another season must be in the works.  I, Jack Wright is more of a psychological drama than an action series, but the Chief Penguin and I were hooked.  

Next blog:  Summer reading list

Note: Header photo is of Mirror Labyrinth NY by Jeppe Hein at the North Carolina Museum of Art ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)