Summer Book Club #1: Sandwich

Does it live up to the hype?

My highlight of last week. My 14-year-old son came home from his first afternoon at sailing camp with a GIGANTIC grin: “It was just so much fun. I had so much fun, mom. MOM, it was just so great.”

That made me so happy, like it would every mom who can breathe a sigh of relief when their kids are engaged all summer long. Not just occupied. My little one loves sailing camp, too, but she loves everything, so I would be shocked if she wasn’t smiling when I picked her up.

Last week, my husband was out at the beach with us for the entire week, and we tried to do something special every day. On Wednesday, we met up with close family friends Molly and Derek for dinner on the beach and it was the perfect summer night.

We have this favorite clam bar on the east end of Long Island called Southold Fish Market, and Molly and Derek were kind enough to pick our family up three grilled swordfish platters, sides of fries and cold slaw included. Our two families parked ourselves in this little beach town on the sparkly bay called New Suffolk where there are adult sailboat races every Wednesday night. My dad used to sail at these races when I was a kid, but my memory is hazy. It felt entirely new to me when we watched the colorful billow of myriad sails as the crews pressed out to Robin’s Island, a small inhabited circle of green, and raced back.

We also found ourselves talking about books while the kids played tag and badminton. The first book discussed was Sandwich by Catherine Newman, which my friend, Molly, was just about to finish. I had just finished it. Molly was underwhelmed. I loved parts of it. With the novel on everyone’s hype list, the question became: Is it worth reading?

Is Sandwich the Novel of the Summer?

Since I’m an author, I always come at books with a different lens. I’m always curious what a writer is trying to do in their stories and I try to understand why they chose the route that they did. Sandwich is set over a week-long vacation at the beach, and it centers around a dysfunctional (read: very relatable) family as they go to the beach, figure out dinner, watch the sun set and keep each other’s secrets.

What I loved about the novel is that nothing really happens in the book but it doesn’t matter because you’re completely drawn into one woman’s emotional journey at midlife. Her children are mostly grown; one is in college, and they don’t need her like they used to. She’s often lamenting they're fleeing the nest while celebrating their independence. The push and pull of holding on and letting go. There’s also the strain of a longterm, happy marriage in the book—what it really feels like to stay together and raise kids and make it as a couple. It’s captured with such poignancy.

I cried more than once. Catherine’s prose is just so moving, and the way she can see the subtle resentments, joys and regrets running through a family is impressive. My favorite quote of the novel hit me like a sucker punch: “And this may be the only reason we were put on this earth. To say to each other, I know how you feel. To say, Same. To say, I understand how hard it is to be a parent, a kid. To say, Your shell stank and you’re sad. I’ve been there.”

Isn’t that absolutely beautiful? Will some people find this novel slow? Certainly. Did I? Not at all. So yes. Yes, it’s the novel of the summer. Yes, you should read it.

Then tell me what you think of it.

Last week, I said that I would finish listening to The Ministry of Time and report back on that, too. But I didn’t get as much listening done as much as I did reading.

Two Summer Hobbies

My little one and I saw one of those cheesy dog-themed wooden plaques in Greenport last week that made us laugh so hard. It said something like “Warning. Wigglebutt lives here.” We immediately thought of our dog Luna with her always wiggly backside. Rather than buy it, we decided to make our own. We found a few pieces of discarded wood, sanded it smooth and painted it a base. Tomorrow we will use our stencils to paint a saying on each of ours.

While she will be painting about Wigglebutt, she came up with a great slogan for me: “Read. Write. Sleep. Repeat.” I thought that was pretty good for a 9-year-old. Either that or I take her to way too many beachside shops that stock these funny little signs.

My little girl and I are also going to a beginning knitting class this week. She really wants to learn and so do I. We’ve tried teaching ourselves from YouTube videos but honestly, we always end up practically throwing one of the needles. It’s hard! I need a real life person to sit with me and correct me. You see, this is why AI will not take over the world. We need human beings!

Lastly, Coolest Event Ever!

I have so many great book events coming up in Quogue and Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, but (BUT!) I’m so excited for the one this Saturday at this well curated and super stylish boutique called the North Fork Apothecary.

I’ve been lucky enough to meet the owner Stephanie Sack over the last couple of years — and she though it would be fun for me to talk about All the Summers in Between with photographer Deborah Feingold, who has taken numerous iconic portraits of celebrities like Keith Richards, Madonna, Michael J. Fox, among many others. We’ll be talking about our creative process, and here’s the fascinating part: Deborah and I had breakfast last week and there was so much to say, so much overlap and yet so many differences.

For example, setting. How do you decide where to set a book? How do you decide where to place the person you’re photographing? Pretty cool, right? I’ll report back on how it goes.

In the meantime, tell me about your summer. Did you do anything small (but special) like the sailboat races? What is your summer treasure so far?