currently reading: I’m am reading such good books right now. Are you looking for a Halloween cozy? Got you covered with Nine Lives and Alibis. Feeling like a screw-up and not sure what to do about it? Out Tuesday is Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k-Up, which is the basis for the tv comedy Not Dead Yet.. Nell decides to move back to London after her engagement blows up and her business fails. It’s hilarious so far, and I can’t wait to see what happens. Trying to get your mom out of an upcoming marriage to a cult leader? It’s Not a Cult is a funny take on dysfunctional family dynamics, with a side of Renaissance wench and a little romance. Want to move to Paris and study to be a ballerina? I’m listening to The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale. Find that you’ve fallen in love with a movie star? Got you covered with Nora Goes Off Script. Missing Ted Lasso? Get your game on, specifically The Long Game, also out Tuesday, about a disgraced soccer exec and a retired soccer star taking on a children’s team. I will have to take a break from watching all my favorite soccer games to read it.

See? I’ve got you taken care of, no matter where you are in your life.

Seriously though, there is a tsunami of amazing books coming out this month, so visit your favorite library or bookstore often. And don’t forget to look for great holiday gifts, because they are coming, starting with this Tuesday, when beloved Food Network Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli and her daughter Ava Clark are releasing their first cookbook together, Cook It Up. I have loved ICAG’s cookbooks in the past, and I look forward to seeing Clark’s contributions. She may still be a teenager, she’s really sharp, and she’s been around food and chefs all her life. Sadly, I did not get an early copy, so I haven’t had a chance to see inside it, but this is a cookbook I’ve been looking forward to since I first heard about it months ago. It will be a keeper.

And looking ahead just a little bit, if you a fan of Food Network Iron Chefs, Michael Symon has a new cookbook coming out September 12. Simply Symon Suppers is filled with recipes he featured on the home cooking show he started during the pandemic, to help people figure out what to eat for dinner. That’s going to be a great cookbook to have around as well. Or to put on a holiday gift list.