A little summer reading

What's a little romance among friends?

I do not think of myself as a romance novel fan. My reading taste runs towards nonfiction and the periodic dip into young adult fiction, which I fell in love with when my kids were in their teens and which, ironically, my Mom had studied in college. Give me a dystopian future or a magical world, and I’ll happily escape for a bit.

But I do like romance movies at one particular time of the year—right after I finish grading exams for the fall semester and with the start of the Christmas season looming, I like to plant myself on the couch in the living room with an endless bowl of popcorn for a few days and give myself over to the predictable comfort of Hallmark Christmas movies. They’re formulaic, and the familiarity and inevitable happy endings are just right for winding down from the stresses of the semester. It’s become an annual ritual of sorts for me, much to the amusement of my husband and kids who, it has to be said, have been known to taunt me during this induglence.

That leads me to Backstory Serial.

So, and certainly a step away from our usual fare here at Civil Discourse, I was delighted when my dear friends E. Jean Carroll, Jen Taub, and Mary Trump announced that they were writing a romance novel called the Italian Story. This week, they launched it on a Substack called Backstory Serial, with more of the story coming every week. Gentle reader: it’s a romance movie in the form of a serial novel on Substack. It’s set in Italy. It’s full of cliffhangers and fun (there’s a pet cow), and there are details tucked in to make the little band of writers friends happy (there’s a knitting shop!)

Even if you don’t think you’re a romance fan, you’re going to want to take a read because it’s so much fun. You can sign up to be included in it here:

The about page explains how the project will work (and includes great photos of everyone’s pets at the bottom). The story has already received a glowing report from the New York Times. And of course it’s good; the collaboration of a brilliant writer, America’s leading advice columnist, and a legal academic who understands international financial transactions in a way that’s sure to lead to exciting twists and turns in the plot. Whether it’s your beach read or whether, like me, you simply can’t put it down once you start reading and are left emailing Mary Trump to demand, “More! Now!” this is a fun one at a time where we all need a more of that to keep ourselves sane. I already mentioned there was a pet cow, right?

We’re in this together,

Joyce