Moms Like Us by Jordan Roter ’97 (Little A)
There’s plenty of striving and conniving among the four Los Angeles private school moms in Roter’s first adult novel. She’s the author of two young adult novels, Camp Rules and Girl in Development, but here we’ve entered the universe of the Palms School, where a year-end family and staff glamping trip to El Capitan Canyon is in the works, only someone might not make it back alive. Roter’s chatty narrator whisks readers between various points of view as it gradually becomes clear how far certain parents will go to protect their kids. A quick, comic read with affairs, tennis club snubs, sonic baths, paternity questions, and some very dangerous llamas.
How To Be Well: Navigating Our Self-Care Epidemic, One Dubious Cure at a Time by Amy Larocca ’97 (Knopf)
Despite the how-to title, this is more of a sprawling but engaging tour of the $5.6 trillion dollar wellness industry, shot through with history, interviews, and Larocca’s own adventures en route to becoming a “well woman.” Larocca spent two decades as a fashion journalist for New York Magazine and sees fashion and wellness as both deeply rooted in desire. In the wellness world this translates to maximizing your potential, whether through exercising or purchasing. Larocca touches on a vast span of topics, from Ozempic to seven day cleanses, not to mention body positivity, biohacking, and SoulCycle as a religion substitute. But she is also adept at highlighting how our culture’s insatiable quest for wellness is intertwined with an equally powerful quest for corporate profits.
Ferment: Simple Recipes from My Multicultural Kitchen by Kenji Morimoto ’11 (The Experiment)
If you’ve ever had the faintest desire to pickle a radish, this is a fine place to start. As a child in Chicago, when Morimoto’s family cooked, he was in charge of making pickles. So it seems like only a slight surprise that his debut would focus on fermentation. You’ll find plenty of background information, like the difference between dry and wet brining, plus all the safety tips and techniques needed to get started. You’ll also find bright takes on traditional fermented foods—like chili, orange, and coriander sauerkraut and Brussels sprout and cranberry kimchi. A generous selection of recipes, from mains to deserts, offer ways to serve your newly pickled creations. Fermenting can be a slow ride but, as Morimoto points out, the end results will probably expand both your palate and your microbiome.
