Galina's book shelf
a love story and a memoir unlike any other
If you know or follow me, then my love for books and reading is of no surprise to you. I can easily leave without the radio or tv, but time without books is torture to me, so even on the most exhausting of days I do find the time to read, even if for a short period of time. Like doing sports or movement of any kind, like drinking plenty of water through the day, like hugging or kissing those I love, reading is a non-negotiable must of my life and my daily selfcare. So here are the latest two books that I want to share with you!
Andre Aciman “Room On The Sea”
Andre Aciman is a NY Times best-selling author, known to many because he wrote “Call Me By Your Name” which was later made into a movie that touched very many around the world. His writing is pure magic, drawing you in and gently holding your hand, as you turn the pages. This book is no exception.
Quite compact - only 158 pages long - it is nevertheless very powerful and moving, but maybe not for those of you who are still very young .) This is a surprising love story between two older people, both of who seem to have given up on love, so their meeting catches both by them by surprise. The book cover caught my attention in the bookshop and I read it in a course of a few days. It accompanied me on tube journeys and kept me up for longer than usual into the night.
“Oh, if that’s where you’re headed, I’m no longer sure that someone might find anything to like about me, much less to tolerate. Sometimes I feel I’m done with having someone else in my life. Or that I have anything to offer. Or let’s say I can no longer understand why people want each other, or what others are for. Maybe, like our old Hungarian friend, better to be completely alone than to feel alone with someone.”
This is a book that will surprise and sadden, make you reflect on your own love stories and what love means to us all. It is also a lesson on never giving up on yourself or your life, because lovely surprises really do happen when we least expect them. I won’t reveal the ending, so not to spoil it for you, but this is a truly beautiful book that will also make a beautiful Valentine’s Day gift (too early?) or remind someone going through relationship troubles that not everything is lost in this world just yet.
Keith McNally memoir “I Regret Almost Everything”
Until recently one of my favourite memoir that I have ever read has been that of Matthew Perry called “Friend, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing”. I wrote about it here and even though I have first read it just as it was published in the UK in 2022, I still think of it often, simply because few celebrities ever speak about themselves and their life with such sincere yet brutal honesty. Reading his book was painful at times, yet he still managed to make you laugh and give hope a few pages later. A very rare and one of many gifts that the late actor had. Which brings me to the memoir of one of the most famous British restaurateurs who became and remains the toast of New York restaurant scene many years after launching his first restaurant - Keith McNally. His Balthazar restaurant continues to draw people in a way that very few restaurants do nowadays after being open for decades - unlike the branch of Balthazar in London, with which Mr McNally is no longer involved and which doesn’t have the same magic. I remember going there a few years ago and leaving if not disappointed, then most definitely confident I won’t be returning to it any time soon.
I first heard of Keith McNally from my dad, who when going to New York for work was highly complimentary about Pastis, Pravda and Balthazar - and my father was not only a foodie, he was particular about service and atmosphere as well. Nowadays restaurants come and go, so it really takes some inner magic to continue reinventing the restaurant scene through the decades. But that is by far not the only thing that makes Keith McNally special. And no, it’s not his rolodex of famous friends who recently came out in force to his NY restaurant to support the launch of his memoir. It is Mr McNally’s brutal honesty and self depreciation when talking not only about the failure of his two marriages, but the brutal blow that his stroke caused to body, physical abilities and speech. The honesty is searing, as is the self depreciation - and men are not easily swayed or confident to air their emotions in such an unpretentious way. It’s admirable actually to read a book by a men who reflects on his life and is honest about his human shortcomings. He deeply cares about his children and his restaurant staff, even if he gets things unintentionally wrong. He prides himself on making sure people really have the best experience when they come to the restaurant, so it’s not just the desire to make money. He is open and vulnerable when talking about his ex-wives, in a respectful, rather than ‘blame it on her, I did good’ kind of way. And the way he charts his recovery from the stroke, the origins of which are VERY surprising, makes you feel if not warmth, but definite human affinity with a men you have never met.
Unfortunately I have missed Mr McNally’s recent book signings in London, or rather book stampings, at Daunt in Marylebone and at Hatchards in Piccadilly, but if you get a chance to meet him, please tell him that this book has the potential to help & give hope to so many, as unfortunately so many people are affected by strokes in this country and all around the world. To write about it the way Keith McNally did is to do humankind a truly meaningful service. An imprint, a memory, an understanding that someone understands and cares snd you are not alone with your pain and fear in this world. He might regret almost everything, I certainly do not regret reading his memoir. In fact my life is better for having done so!
P.s next week an episode of podcast episode with Keith McNally will drop - and considering the impact the stroke had on his speech, it speaks volumes about the depth of trust and love for Ruthie Rogers that KM actually agreed to do a recording in the first place. Don’t miss out on listening to it, I am sure it will be golden.