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Pinch Me book cover including the Italian countryside.

Pinch Me
By Barbara Boyle
She Writes Press, 9781647428327, Feb 2025, 216pp

The Short of It:

If you want to feel wonderful about the world again, pick this up. It’s a beautiful, feel-good memoir.

The Rest of It:

This book is wonderful. In its brief 216 pages, I lingered and made the recipes and scanned all the QR codes for photos. Yes, people! Delicious Italian food AND photo albums of the restoration process of this beautiful 300 year old farmhouse. Barn, really.

Barbara Boyle and her husband Kim visit a small Italian town for vacation and fall in love with the town, its people and the overall sense of place. So much so that when they return to their US home in San Francisco, they begin to dream about a possible home there. Could that work?

With the right realtor, a dedicated construction crew and lots of trips back and forth, they purchase what is essentially a barn and turn it into the most beautiful home, overlooking the hillsides and wildflowers and yes, grapevines too.

I am not a big RENO person. As soon as foundation talk enters the chat, I tune out but not in this case. Solving the foundation issues in a 300 year old relic, takes precision, care and creative solutions. I found this part to be fascinating. Also, how they started with the roof! I would never have even though to start with that when the walls are crumbling and held up by mud.

Construction aside, the relationships that this couple built there are admirable and the kindness of strangers, who eventually become neighbors was so comforting and sweet. I loved hearing about their interactions with the local businesses too. All of the delicious restaurants and pasta making experiences and the emphasis on fresh produce and simple ingredients.

Reading Pinch Me was a palate cleanser for my soul. Anyone in need of that needs to find a copy immediately. I will say this, there is a deeper topic introduced towards the end and also a COVID pandemic mention given how it affected that region. But, it was just what the doc ordered as far as escapism.

Highly recommend. It will be on my fave list at the end of the year. Would make a great gift too. I would include some photos of the house but I want you to get the book and scan those QR codes for the albums!

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

Evenings & Weekends
By Oisin McKenna
Mariner, 9780063319974, July 2924, 352 pp.

The Short of It:

Sharp. Poignant. Beautiful.

The Rest of It:

“Summer in London stops for no one. Not the half-naked drunks and stoners, the bachelorette parties glugging from bejewelled bottles, the drag queens puffing on hurried cigarettes. It’s June 2019, and everyone has converged on the city’s parks, beer gardens, and street corners to revel in the collective joys of being alive.” ~ the publisher

The above blurb might set the tone, but Evenings & Weekends is so much more than that raucous snippet. It’s about love, friendship, self-doubt and the longing we have for a happy life, but at what cost?

A group of friends meander their way through life. Living with each other, dating each other. This is a story of exploration. Men with men, women with men, women with women. But then, one of their inner circle finds herself pregnant at 30. Maggie is broke and faced with the prospect of moving back to a town she couldn’t wait to get away from. Her boyfriend Ed is there for her, but is he really? Ed is going through his own exploratory period, and their mutual friend Phil has everything to say about it.

These are complex characters faced with the fact that they aren’t young anymore. Their actions have consequences. The love they have for one another feels so genuine though. There is some darkness as they find their way but it’s so beautifully written that I didn’t mind the rough bits in between.

Evenings & Weekends has been described as “sexually charged.” I would agree with that statement but when it involves long time friends, it becomes more of a tender story of exploration. This is one of those ensemble cast reads. I can see it making its way to the big screen. Think, The Big Chill. I really liked this one. It will probably make my fave list at the end of the year.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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