I brought finished books to the Bridge Ladies today. It felt momentous to me. It’s more than three years since I started sitting in on their game, interviewing them, learning bow to play. Somehow all those lunches and games and conversations with them became a book. About them. Us. THey didn’t say much beyond Thank you. They looked at the inscriptions I wrote to them, they read the acknowledgments. Completely in character, they were taciturn in the extreme. I played a few hands and left. On the way home, I stopped at Krauser’s and bought fistfuls of penny candy. 

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People are starting to ask how I feel about the book coming out. How do I feel about the dead skin between my fourth toe and pinky toe. How do feel about the lint trap, the time it takes to pluck a hair from my chin, the satisfaction of pulling a weed from its roots. How do I feel seeing myself in a tartan robe with coffee in a red mug wavery in the window, 5 am, back to the book, for three years my imaginary friend, my legal pads quilted, the cork board a crossword of index cards, the piles of books and drafts a pyre I tended with love. How do I feel? Sad, relieved, anxious, done.

What does it all mean?

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Hi Betsy,

I just read Food and Loathing, – the great title attracted me when I was nearby looking for books about other psychological problems – and I have a tiny question that I’m really curious about. I noticed that on page 46 you said you made a toasted peanut butter and chocolate chip concoction and on page 233 you said you nibbled around the walnuts in a brownie because you’re deathly allergic to nuts.

So I’m just wondering: did you develop the allergy in-between those two incidents or was one of them a matter of “poetic license”.

Thanks, NAME WITHHELD

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What’s better than Prozac, Five Guys, a hand job, and finding forty dollars in your pocket?

BOOKLIST starred Review

Growing up, Lerner (Food and Loathing, 2003) has memories of her mother’s bridge club, dressed in sweater sets, arriving on Mondays for lunch and a game. The five ladies, now in their eighties, are all Jewish, attended college, were full-time homemakers, and have played together for 50 years. Whe circumstances send Lerner back to her childhood home, she returns to all the unresolved issues between her and her mother. Lerner decides that by learning to play bridge and getting to know the club members better, she may be able to finally understand her mother (who still pushes her buttons). As she interviews the ladies, Lerner, used to the open sharing of her generation, is at first stymied by the bridge ladies’ reticence. But as she delves into their pasts (while honing her bridge game), she begins to reluctantly admire their generations’ strict code of conduct and steadfast bravery. Lerner is unfailingly honest in her comments, and her insights into mother-daughter relationship are poignant. Bridge aficionados or not, readers will be drawn into this touching tribute to a generation of women who had seemingly had their priorities straight and their lives in control, at a price. Lerner’s portraits may well help grown daughters facing similar struggles gain some perspective.— Candace Smith

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My mother gave me a four inch thick packet of aerograms tied with a ratty shoelace. They were all written by me when I was in London during a junior year abroad. I have no recollection of writing a single letter let alone this cache. My mother says she has read them all and she was “near tears.” Near tears for my mother is sobbing uncontrollably for most people. I read one letter and was sobbing uncontrollably. It was a pale blue window into a very unhappy girl pretending to be a happy girl.

Who were you?

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My client and friend Eli Gottlieb has created an unforgettable character in his latest novel, Best Boy. Todd is an autistic man who has been institutionalized for most of his life. He’s loosely based on Eli’s brother and this is a short film about them. It’s one of those rare occasions where you can see the life/art continuum.

New York Times Editor’s Choice People Magazine Pick of the Week A Washington Post Notable Book Library Journal Top Ten Books of 2015 BookPage Top Five Books of 2015 “Gottlieb merits praise for both the endearing eloquence of Todd’s voice and a deeply sympathetic parable that speaks to a time when rising autism rates and long-lived elders force many to weigh tough options.” – Kirkus, Starred Review

“Raw and beautiful… BEST BOY is an eventful novel with a mesmerizingly rhythmic narration…What rises and shines from the page is Todd Aaron, a hero of such singular character and clear spirit that you will follow him anywhere. You won’t just root for him, you will fight and push and pray for him to wrest control of his future. You will read this book in one sitting or maybe two, and, I promise, you will miss this man deeply when you are done.” – Ann Bauer, The Washington Post “ Amid the flood of books about autism in childhood comes this gripping novel about the fresher territory of autism in midlife. It is written with élan, wit, and great empathy, and it limns in fiction the crisis our nation faces in real life as we try to construct viable supports for this burgeoning population.” – Andrew Solomon “This astonishing story of goodness and resilience, about the adventure of loving and being loved, is a marvel of Wordsworthian perception, inviting us to behold existence through unclouded eyes, with an unguarded heart, as though we and the world had never grown apart. The music of consciousness playing in these pages will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading. A literary experience of piercing, invigorating, profound humanity. A homecoming that restores the mind and soul.” – Walter Kirn “In the way of all things happening for a reason, Gottlieb’s marvelous novel has happened so that readers may be in awe of all the universe’s creations.” – Booklist, Starred Review “BEST BOY is a remarkable achievement – an intimate and convincing portrayal of what the world looks like from inside the mind of a mentally handicapped but unusually sensitive, observant, and decent man.” – Alison Lurie “Gottlieb records the utterly confounding and inevitable plunge into adulthood with bold clarity. He depicts the spoken and unspoken language of cruelty and love in a family with confidence and poetry. But he is at his very best in the freshness of his imagery, creating a world so vivid and memorable the reader finds all five senses delightfully engaged in experiencing it.”– Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

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Let us know praise famous men. Please lift your glass to our good friend Vivian Swift on the publication of her third book, Gardens of Awe and Folly.  Full disclosure: I’ve been pissed at Vivian ever since she said she was a size two and her secret to dieting was learning how to be hungry. That aside, this book is gorgeous and soul-stirring and magical. Congratulations, Vivian!

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