Is it better to rent a car in Japan? Or is it better to just take the train? There are pros and cons to both, and the answer really depends on so many factors, like how many people are you travelling with; where are you going, what your budget is, etc. Here we break it down and hopefully you can see what’s the right option for you.
Very Nice by Marcy Dermansky
Smart, sexy, addictive. This book has Labor Day written all over it. It’s told through the perspective of several characters, including college-age Rachel Klein and her newly divorced mother, Becca, who are both attracted to the same man: acclaimed (broke) novelist and Rachel’s creative writing professor Zahid Azzam. Most of the characters in Very Nice have an inclination toward bad behavior, which is partly what makes it fun. And they bring together specific circles of Manhattan investment banking, Midwest MFA programs, and suburban Connecticut—poolside in the summer. As for the book’s ending…we really need more people to discuss it with. So: #goopbookclub.
The Expectations by Alexander Tilney
Set in the ’90s at a fictional boarding school called St. James (the author, Alex Tilney, went to St. Paul’s), this beautifully written coming-of-age novel is a subtle exploration of WASP culture and elite institutions: what it means to hail from them, the lengths we’ll go to to protect them, and what it means when they can’t keep up with the evolution of society.
