May Reads + An Ode to Ovum

Three Good Books + Green Egg Salad

Read

What I’m reading is usually reflective of my state of mind. If I’m somber I tend to lean in; feeling more joyous and I might reach for something nimbler, lighter. We spoke the other week about syncing books with the seasons. If this month’s readings are any indication of my state of mind, I might need to seek help: They’ve really run the gamut. Below, a synopsis of three wildly different books, plus a recipe I can’t stop making (good for Memorial Day gatherings and beyond). 

Vacuum in the Dark by Jen Beagin, pub. 2020
Buy: Bookshop.org or your local bookstore

I loved Beagin’s Big Swiss (2023), so when a friend tipped me onto her earlier novel I couldn’t wait to dive in. Vacuum feels like a fever dream. It’s in turns bizarre, hilarious, soulful and deep. Beagin has a way of pulling a thread of eccentricity that you can’t help but follow for the sheer thrill. Mona is a 20-something housecleaner living in New Mexico. We open on her accidentally washing her hands with a piece of human shit she’s mistaken for a bar of hippie soap, just one of many hysterical, humiliating experiences Mona lives through in an attempt to make money while trying to find and express herself as an artist. While she cleans, Mona conducts a running dialogue with an imaginary Terry Gross, a stand-in for a therapist or religious figure who weighs in on Mona’s various life circumstances. Despite having a difficult relationship with her mother, Mona travels to California for her wedding, facing a past she’s worked diligently to avoid: multiple sexual assaults, including one during childhood that her mother bore witness to. Like Melissa Broder, Beagin beckons you deep into wack-ville but keeps you afloat with humor and profundity. Read it if you’re up for a wild ride.

Grief is for People by Sloane Crosley, pub. 2024 [Not pictured above; apologies!]
Buy: Bookshop.org or your local bookstore

In order to restore balance and access reality after Vacuum, I delved into Crosley’s lauded memoir about grief and loss. This was my first foray in Crosley’s writing, and wow: She’s brilliant. I’ve read many a grief memoir, but so few people write them in a way that turns their experience into something bigger and more worldly; Crosley finds a way to weave the loss of her best friend Russell into a story about how to live and cope in a modern world. She’s also laugh-out-loud funny, which can be a relief when the subject matter is suicide with a side of burglary and the Pandemic. Multiple times throughout the reading process I stopped and thought to myself: “Damn, this bitch is smart!” Crosley takes her experience with loss, shrewdly interrogates it – its effects but also its origins – and then digs deeper, connecting it to other types of loss and loneliness and their echoes in her and others’ lives. I highly recommend this book for anyone, whether you’ve lost someone or just want to read something intelligent, funny and beautiful. 

The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan, pub. 2023
Buy: Bookshop.org or your local bookstore

Back again to faraway fiction after a foray into real life: The Queen of Dirt Island swept me away, just how I hoped it would. There is something about Irish authors – I adore them! Colm Toibin, Claire Keegan, Frank McCourt and Maggie O’Farrell, among many others. The writing is so lyrical (to me, an Irish accent sounds like dancing) yet the prose is grounded with humanity and hard work. I have to say I was genuinely shocked to learn that this novel was written by a man. It’s just so fiercely female! Ryan dedicates the book to his mom, and has mentioned his wife as a muse for his characters, so women obviously play a prominent role in the worlds he builds. This one revolves around a County Tipperary farmhouse and its inhabitants: Nana; her daughter-in-law, Eileen; Eileen’s daughter, Saoirse; and Saoirse’s daughter, Pearl. The book is divided into thematic vignettes (much like Kick the Latch), each roughly a page or two, a device I found thrilling after getting into the swing of it, as it propels you further into the story by way of daily intimacies. Nana and Eileen are bound by shared loss. They love hard and don’t shy away from laughter, oftentimes at the other’s expense (Irish people have a fantastic sense of humor and love to rib). Together the two women raise Saoirse, the novel’s protagonist, whom we follow from girlhood through trying adolescence and into young motherhood. Interspersed throughout the story of these hard-worn, brackish women are a few men – mostly drunks or imbeciles, not sorry – who cause the women pain or heartache. The women’s interactions and years of deeply woven support make for a solid, heartfelt read.

Eat

In an effort to undo childhood myths (anything creamy is off limits, egg yolks are evil), it’s not an understatement to say that I’ve built my adult life around the pleasures of aioli. Egg salad, however, is something I hadn’t dipped my toes into until recently, when I had my first-ever bite and pronounced it life-changing. This is my take on the staple everyone loves, made greener and crunchier with herbs and pickles, plus a secret (not really) ingredient from Botanica’s kitchen that takes it over the top. (I implore you to purchase it, not just for the recipe, but to make your pantry happier.) This version is less creamy than most, because I like to taste every element, but you can certainly add more aioli if you’d like. I’ve served it like gribiche (with grilled asparagus); piled on toast or endive; and, in a move one can only call brave, brought it on a recent flight (on a bed of spinach). Surprising no one, egg salad is one of the least offensive foods I’ve brought on a plane — you should’ve been there for the roasted cabbage and tinned fish! Whether you eat this in the privacy of your home or in a capsule in the sky filled with judgmental (jealous?) strangers, I hope you’ll enjoy.

My Kind of Green Egg Salad
Serves a small group for snacks, or four for toast

4 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
2 tablespoons aioli (or mayo if you’d rather not make aioli)
2 teaspoons grainy mustard
2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
½ cup cornichons, Castelvetrano olives or ¼ cup capers, finely chopped
2 green onions, finely sliced (white and green parts)
2 celery hearts, finely chopped
Juice from 1 lemon
1 teaspoon Botanica x CAP Magic Spice

In a medium bowl, add all of your ingredients and stir very well. Taste! It should be herby, salty, crunchy and delicious. Season with more Magic Spice if you fancy!