The Mother-Daughter Dish: June 2025
Good morning, and welcome to The Mother-Daughter Dish, where we get caught up on what’s keeping us educated and entertained these days.
The first Sunday of the month, we’ll be offering a deep dive on our Feature Book complete with the perfect pairings to accompany it (did you check out our last issue, One Italian Summer?). And on the third Sunday of every month, check in here for our Mother-Daughter Dish.
In June we’re bringing back a word we used A LOT in education (and life in general) during the COVID years - PIVOT. Sometimes life gets in the way and we need to grant ourselves some grace and implement a Plan B, C, or D. Syncing our schedules and collaborating on a bi-weekly newsletter remotely, across nation lines, can be challenging at times. So for this month alone, Julie is just dishing with herself, which has been known to happen before this instance. We hope you’re able to find something in this post that educates and entertains you.
What’s on my nightstand
Julie: I just devoured a couple of books - love when that happens.
Alone by Megan E. Freeman is a Middle Grade survival story written in free verse. What a wonderful parent/child/grandchild (age 10+) read aloud this would make, especially for fans of The Island of the Blue Dolphins! I read it in one day, and have Freeman’s new companion piece, Away, on my nightstand right now.
I think Katie has been waiting for my review of Clare Leslie Hall’s Broken Country. I found this Reese’s Book Club pick, and NYT bestseller, worth all the hype - 4.5 stars for me! Fully fleshed-out characters, a well-crafted mystery plot, a strong sense of time and place, a smoldering love story, and just overall exquisite writing. This would make a good book club choice, as there is plenty of fodder for conversation. From the publisher: “A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.”
Next up for me is my kick off to summer reading: Carley Fortune’s latest, One Golden Summer.
What I’m doing
Julie: Getting excited for summer! School countdown is on. I’m shelf-high in library inventory at school, and elbows-deep in garden soil at home. {Anyone else feeling so far behind in their outdoor projects?) It won’t be long before our family will be all together again and headed to our one-time home and favourite Ontario beach.
Speaking of beaches, I can personally recommend a few from this list: The 17 Best East Coast Beach Towns (Conde-Nast).
What’s in my podcast feed
Julie: Thank you to Katie for recommending the pod This is Ottawa, and specifically the episode “What happens during an all-nighter at the Elgin Street Diner?” Having spent our fair share of time in the ESD, this was such a fun peek into the typical goings-on in this popular 24-hour diner long after we’ve gone home.
This led me to listen to the episode, “Spat on, attacked and threatened: librarians on the frontlines”, which I think would be of interest to just about anyone, not just librarians. Public libraries are one of the last free public spaces. They are facing head on the societal challenges we are all noticing in the community at large. How are librarians, who view their professions as vocations for the most part, ensuring their own safety while still providing a necessary and welcoming service to all?
What I’m trying
Julie: I know we’re purposefully keeping this a nonpolitical space, but I picked up a new phrase when I read this opinion piece by Frank Bruni - “I joke to cope.” I suggest we all give it a try. The joking, and the coping.
What I’m recommending
Julie: Confession: I’m not a big YouTube consumer. I’ll turn to it to figure out how to collapse a very fancy stroller that needs to get into my hatchback - now. But generally, I think I’m too old, and yet, not old enough to spend much time on the platform. But with our word PIVOT in mind, I stumbled upon a channel about a couple of young travellers, Elliott and Jen ( Scho and Jo ) who, when forced to stay home in 2020, bought a boat, named it Pivot and cruised around America’s Great Loop. If you’ve ever had similar dreams, give a couple episodes a watch.
Worried I’ve made it this far in The Dish without mentioning food? When I read this piece in the NYT, I had to share. In honour of Father’s Day, a great tradition for dads and sons to spend time in the kitchen and cook together. What a perfect recipe for growing the kind of men we need in this world!
Thanks for reading, fellow BookStarrs! Join The Dish in the comments - let us know what’s on your nightstand, the last time you needed to pivot, and of course, the summer plans you just can’t wait for. As always, feel free to share our newsletter with fellow bookish people in your life.