April 8, 2026 • 41 mins
When was the last time you read a book without distraction? Too many people spend time scrolling on their phones and glancing at the screens without digesting the words. Books are a calming escape from the negative news and petty distractions of the day. An enthusiastic reader and public library devotee, Melane Young discusses the joy of reading and how to embrace your own reading style and personality. She discusses books she’s currently reading and how to make reading an easy daily practice.
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Fearless Fabulous You is broadcast live Wednesdays at 12 Noon ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
Fearless Fabulous You Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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(00:20):
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Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hello, and welcome to Fearless Fabulous You. I am your host,
Melanie Young. It is a beautiful spring day here in
New Orleans. It is April early April April eighth, twenty
twenty six, and we're going to talk about no guests today,
but a lot of interesting content. We're going to talk
about something that I app love doing particularly right now,
(01:02):
and that is reading. Not just you know, we're not
scrolling reading when I am under stress and would you
believe April is National Stress Awareness Month, but we're not
going there. We're going to talk about the joy of reading.
Why Because I think that reading is an important way
to relax, expand your knowledge, transport yourself somewhere and get
(01:29):
away from the noise, the constant noise and doomsdays strolling
that is taking over social media. I have had to
pull back on social media for that reason because I
find that you end up just scrolling and looking at
terrible things, and the more you look at them, you
like news, news or images that they keep coming back.
(01:53):
And so I have started reading more and also listening
to music is a way to relax. Now this is
nothing new. I started reading as a little girl. My
love of books began when I was not even in
grammar school. My mother was a speech therapist, my father
a CPA. They both loved to read. Later in life
(02:16):
they became authors. I would go to my mother's speech
therapy classes because she couldn't get a babysitter, and it
was at that time listening to her give lessons on
helping people with I said, children who were deaf learned fanetics.
I learned to read, and I started reading really young,
(02:41):
like maybe four, and my mother would take me to
the public library and we would pick out books. I
remember with pride, I got my library card and sometimes
she would leave me there with librarians where we would
watch over me while I read while she did errands.
My love of reading never stopped. I always was reading
(03:02):
at least one book. I remember crying once because I
checked out more books and I thought I could read
before the due date, and I thought I was going
to get in trouble. My mother, father and grandmother. Grandfather
assured me I wouldn't get in trouble, that I could
read it my own time and at my own skill.
That was then, and this is now. I've been reading
all my life. I later went on to become an author.
(03:24):
I have written two books, Getting Things Off my Chest,
A Survivor's Guide to staying Fearless and Fabulous in the
face of breast cancer and Fearless Fabulous You Lessons on
Living Life on Your Terms, which is a book of
helpful essays to deal with setbacks, and that actually was
the inspiration for this show, to help women deal with
changes in their life and move forward. As you know,
(03:47):
if you follow me, I interview a lot of authors
about their books, and I must be reading on average
two or three books at a time. So we're going
to talk about some of the books that I'm recommending
that maybe the authors are not going to be on
the show. We're also going to talk about interesting facts
about reading that are kind of fun, and I'm going
(04:08):
to really try to help you think about ways to
get more involved in reading as well. First of all,
support your local library. One of the first things I
did when I moved to New Orleans and when I
lived in New York in the Pudson Valley and also
in New York City is I got a library card. The
public libraries are a wealth of not only great books,
(04:30):
but also you can read magazine, so you don't have
to pay for a lot of magazine subscriptions. I went
to my library this morning to check out two books,
and they have seed libraries where you can go get
free seeds to plant your garden. I'm signed up for
a class, free class on how to update your will.
My library has a free notary, public free games and puzzles,
(04:54):
free sewing lessons. Some libraries even have cookwhere you can
check out. The libraries are not just about checking out books.
You've got videos, you've got audio, you've got supplies, really
a lot of things, and then there's activities beyond author's talk,
so it's free. One of the best things about the
(05:15):
library where I am here in New Orleans is they
have something called the Culture Pass where you can sign
up and get free passes to museums or the Louisiana Philharmonic,
the autom and zoo, and those cost money to go to.
So if you're on a budget like I am, take
advantage of your local free culture paths that your likeal
library has free a charge, and all you need to
(05:38):
do is get a library card. It's that simple. I
reserve books online. They let me know via email when
my books are ready, I go pick them up, so easy.
So that's the first way to get involved. Another is
many neighborhoods have lending libraries where people just swap out
books or book swaps. I swap out books with many
(05:59):
of my girlfriends who are reading and rather than you know.
I can also donate books to local charities for resale,
and many people resell their books. I just give my
books to people who I know will appreciate them even more,
and they do the same with me. Another thing that
maybe in your community is a book festival. I recently
(06:20):
attended a fantastic one that's hosted here in New Orleans.
It's called the New Orleans Book Festival. It's held at
two Lane University. Many local universities have book fairs, by
the way, that's another great way to get involved. The
book festival at two Lane. The New Orleans Book Festival
took place March eleventh to fourteen. Would you believe it
was free? So free is one of my favorite words days,
(06:43):
except that you want free advice, which is a whole
nother topic. But free to attend is great. Twenty thousand
a record twenty thousand people attended over three days, including
two thousand just for a dedicated day of families. About
forty three percent of people came from out of state,
so this is a destination for book lovers. And over
(07:07):
fifty seven hundred books were sold. One hundred and thirty
books had authors signings. There are one hundred and six sessions.
I attended one day. I wish I attended the whole time.
It really was fabulous, and there were two hundred and
fifty authors and other participants. I have to tell you
it was a great experience, and I feel so lucky
to live in a city that is so committed to
(07:27):
arts and literature. If you are interested in learning more,
you can actually go to YouTube now and go to
Nola book Fest at YouTube. Nola and Ola book Fests
at YouTube and see the sessions for free on YouTube,
as well as prior sessions on CSPAN dot org Live
event Nola BookFest, so you can. This festival lives online now,
(07:50):
but I can't wait to go back. My dream would
be one day to have a book and be able
to present it at the Nola Book Fest. There's also
the Tennessee Williams Festival here in New Orleans. I gotta
plug my city, Tennessee. Williams wrote much about the South
and New Orleans. Of course, I'm a big street car
named Desire Girl sweet Bird of Youth cat on the
(08:11):
hot tin roof. There are horror book if you if
you like certain genres, there are horror book festivals. There's
Southern book festivals, civil war book festivals, book fairs, not festivals.
So find something you like and maybe do some research
to see where there may be special events around those
(08:32):
or local meetups in your community. You can also join
a book group. A lot of people join reading clubs.
My university Tulane has a reading club. It's a great
way to socialize and get involved and embrace reading. Now,
I found something fun to share with you. You may
(08:53):
or may not agree with it. It's psychology today. So
first of all, I am the old school. I like
to read real books, like through the pages. I love
the feel of a library book. I have friends that
read and only read on kindle because it's a lot
easier when you're traveling, and I am going to eventually
break down and get a kindle. I do not like
(09:14):
reading on my phone. I don't like reading on my
computer books. I'll read the news on my computer. So
when publicists send me advance copies or PDF form offered
me to read and like Goodreads, which is a great
online source for reading books for free. It's great, but
there's nothing like holding a book. So you got to
find you know your personality. How do you like to
(09:37):
read your book an actual book, a kindle, your computer,
your phone? Do you go to good Reads? Do you
go to other online sources? Pick what you were most
comfortable with. Also, pick the time of the day that
you like to read. I have learned. I used to
be a night reader in bed, but I keep conking
out my eyes get tired, so now I tend to
(09:58):
read when I cut out in the afternoon. When I'm
done with work my workday, I'll take some time just
to sit and read. And I love to read on
the weekends. There is just nothing more relaxing than curling
up with the book, whether you're at the beach under
an umbrella, sitting out by the pool, curling up in
an armchair, whatever. I actually have a room here in
(10:19):
my house that has no TV and it's just books
and art, and it's my reading room or my writing room,
and I'll cool up there sometimes when my husband wants
to watch TV and I will just sit and read.
I have a great cheer for it, and I get
lost into it. So you got to find your reading personality,
the type of way you like to read, the time
of day, and don't pressure yourself to overdo it because
(10:41):
your eyes can't get tired. But you want it to
be joyful, not stressful. So psychology today says that reading
books reveal personality traits, emotional states, and intellectual interests. Your
choice of genre, from fantasy to mystery, reflects how you
process the world, with readers often demonstrating higher empathy and
(11:04):
analytical skills. So eh, I guess I have that. But
more importantly, think about your kids or your grandkids. Get
them to read, get them off their phones. It indicates
a desire for knowledge I couldn't agree more, or a
preference for structured, quiet mental engagement. Here here again, we've
(11:26):
got to get everyone, from kids to adults to seniors
off their phones and scrolling and better reading. I still
read newspapers. I cry every time I see a newspaper
go down them and they able to associated presses letting
people go. I hope that never happens with books. I
want authors to be successful. I want people to have voices.
(11:50):
So this is interesting again psychology today. Great magazine fiction
readers typically are empathetic and creative individuals who enjoy exploring
human nature and emotions. Well, I love fiction. I hope
you do too. It's a lot of fun. And when
you get a really good book and you can't put
it down, like I like to read on planes, it's
(12:11):
the best. You can't put it in. It's a page turner.
Fantasy readers, they're creative and idealistic world builders who use
reading to escape and engage their imagination. I'm probably less
of a fantasy reader than more of a fiction and
a memoir reader. Mystery thriller readers. My husband's a mystery
(12:31):
thriller reader. Analytical and detail oriented, really investigators who enjoy
logical problem solving. I debate that. I think sometimes mystery
readers are also just wanting to escape. Nonfiction biography readers me,
I love reading about history. I love reading kind of
(12:52):
biographical historical biographical books generally truth seekers who are curious, focused,
and enjoy learning concrete information. Well, yeah, on that person.
Romance readers, they're usually empathetic, optimistic, and highly attuned to
social relationships. I went through a phase where I read
a lot of romance novels. My favorite was Sweet Savage Love.
(13:17):
I don't do as much of that now. Horror readers,
I am not that person, but I have friends who
love scary movies. They're often thrill seekers who are emotionally
resilient and interested in the unknown. So what are your
reading habits say to you? Well, this is me Reading
multiple books at once suggests fun and random, a style
(13:39):
that includes high energy, curious personality, and values variety. While
they nailed me rereading favorites. Do you like to reread
favorite books? I do sometimes not. A lot indicates comfort,
emotional connection, and a preference for nostalgia. Reading fast and
constantly ooh, probably do that suggest goal oriented, focused and
(14:03):
analytical mindset. Reading habits can even hint at your emotional state,
with thriller readers often looking for intellectual challenges, while others
may use books to manage stress and improve emotional regulations. Well,
I can tell you, with all the cruddle on news
and crazy posts and tweets by people in power, I
(14:27):
have tuned all that out. I don't want to see
it retweeted. I don't want to see these repos I
would rather dive into a book or listen to music,
which we also love to do here at our house.
It's my form of escapism and I love it. The
only thing better is taking long walks without my phone,
(14:48):
disconnecting from everything and just listening to nature, which I
do quite a bit now and I highly recommend because
it's so great for you to move. Do not read
and drive, Do not read and walk. Reading should be
what you're doing nothing else. It's not really a multitasking thing.
To really read appropriately, you need to be focused on
the book. I am not a member of a book
(15:09):
group because I actually am not one of those book
discussion people. I love going to book festivals like the
Nola Book Festival, and I will go to other book
talks at local libraries or my local bookstore. And I've
signed up for all the local bookstores because I love
to support independent bookstores. But I'm not really a book
club person or a book group person. I have learned
(15:31):
it's a little too structure for me. I don't like
to follow rules. But I have some very good friends
who have book groups and that has become a mainstay
of their social life. So you've got to do what
makes sense for you. Okay, let me fix my camera
a little bit. There we go. So what am I
reading now? Well, I get a lot of books sent
to me by publicists who want their authors to be
(15:52):
on my show. They're not always great, so I do
for anyone who does want to send me a book,
I do read the book. I do like to get
the book to see the quality of the book and
the pages. I think self published books are great, but
sometimes they're poorly laid out, which is kind of a
turn off for me. Gosh, I have a lot of
(16:13):
friends who are self publishing, but the quality of the
book and the graphics and the font actually manner to me.
I want a fun I can read. I'm turning into
a large font girl. I like to see imagery that
is good. So that's me personally. Like I said, I
have very dear friends who are kindle all the way.
I may give it another try. When I was diagnosed
(16:35):
with breast cancer, my husband David gave me one of
those early candles that was purple, and he loaded it
with books, including The Velveteen Rabbit. I'm not sure why,
but it was sweet and I did try to read
on it, but I was having a lot of vision
issues during chemo, and I just found it difficult to
read on my kindle Again. You got to find your
reading pattern that matters to you and what you like
(16:57):
to read. Here's something you may not know about me.
I love to read poetry. April happens to be National
Poetry Month, and I actually subscribe to a daily poem delivery. Literally,
there are sites that will deliver you daily poems and
I actually read a daily poem. I enjoy it. I
find it calming. I think poetry is beautiful. It's a
creative way of illustrating an emotion, a situation, a time,
(17:23):
and a place. If you say you're not a poetry person.
There's so many genres. You will find one. And just
remember some of your favorite singers are poets first and foremost.
So give it a try. Go you know, a daily
poem or I don't know what. I just get them
delivered to me all the time. And I like reading poems.
(17:45):
They're short, it's fun. And I have friends who are
very good poetry and I love to support them. Just
so you know, I will recommend some books now that
i'm reading or have just finished. I may or may
not interview the author. It's just sometimes hard to book people.
But here we go. If you follow the show, you know.
(18:07):
I recently interviewed Betty Fussell, who is at ninety eight,
wrote a book called Out of cook a Coyote, and
we talked about her memoir My Kitchen Wars, which is
a really fantastic read. I just gave the book to
a very dear friend. It really chronicles Betty's life from
the twenties up through when she found her voice as
a successful writer. Highly recommend it. She also wrote a
(18:30):
book that I'm reading now. She is a brilliant essayist.
Let's see if I can get this up. It isn't.
This is called Betty Fussel's Eat, Live, Love Die kind
of morbid bit. Really, the death part is not part
of it. She's just in the in her nineties. She
published it, so she's a little focused on the end.
But it's basically the essay. Some of her best work
over the years, most have a food theme because she's
(18:53):
a food essays. It's easy to read and Alice Waters,
the restaurant tour in Chef from Chapanese wrote a beautiful
full introduction. I'm reading it now. What I like about
reading essays is you can They're like snacks. They're literally
like reading snacks. You can read a one, two, three
or four page essay and put it down and you
(19:13):
don't have you don't have to bend the page and
say I got to go back and reread to see
what's going to happen next. There is no next with
an essay, there's another essay. So that's a great way
if you're not a novel reader, go start with essays.
Really terrific and again, Eat Live, Love, Die beneficile. Betty
Fussle is a beautiful writer. I just read this book,
(19:37):
Recipe for Joy. The author is Monica Comas c M.
As the book just came out, I read the proof
and you can see this as an author's proof. Interesting book.
Why did it intrigue me because it's it's about two
sisters who grew up in a small area of the
(19:58):
Midwest and was by their grandmother. After the mother dies,
and they love their grandmother, and over time the two
sisters become estranged. One goes to New York and Mary
is a very wealthy man and becomes the New York Girl,
and the other also lived in New York but didn't
do so with her career and ends up going home
(20:19):
and eventually cares for her grandmother and has a strong connection.
The grandmother dies and the two sisters get in the
mail one day recipe book and stories with each recipe
and the grandmother Basically, well, they get a recipe book,
but what they really get recipes in the mail, and
(20:40):
the grandmother asks them to each cook each recipe and
tells a story about it and then ask the two
sisters to talk about the recipe and their memories. So
the recipes actually bring the sisters back together. Because the
two sisters Belle and her other sister, I can't remember name.
Belle is the main character. The sisters had grown apart,
(21:04):
but the recipes bring them back together and the familial
connection with the grandmother. Interestingly, the grandmother and her sister
also had a split and didn't speak for years, and
is only after the grandmother dies that her sister comes
back and reconnects with her grandnieces. It's a lovely book.
The recipes are in the back. It's about family connection
(21:27):
through the table, embracing family even after you have become estranged.
And it's an easy read. And in the back of
our recipes. So Grace and Annabelle are the older sisters,
and then Belle and Lexi are the younger sisters. The
(21:49):
lives parallel, they are a strange they come back together.
It's all through the beauty of these recipes and connection.
Recipe for joy. It just came out and I don't
know if this is Monica Comas's first book, but good
read and I'm actually going to try some of the recipes.
Another book I'm reading right now that author just came out.
(22:12):
That's why I have the advanced copy. It's called Service Ready.
It's by Mollie Irani who opened a restaurant in Asheville
called Chaipani, which a few years ago one Outstanding Restaurant
of the Year by the James Bear Foundation. Mollie and
her husband Marajwan literally had no restaurant experience and decided
(22:36):
to create a restaurant in Asheville that serves Indian street food,
which is what Marijuan grew up eating when he was
a boy growing up in India and he remembers from
his family. Molly goes into excruciating and agonizing detail about
what they had to do to open this restaurant. They
had really no experience and so it was kind of
(22:59):
a book about what to do and what not to do.
But along the way she learns to create a restaurant
that she feels defines hospitality. I'm still reading the book.
She shares her ten core principles that shape the path
that has made Chapane a success in Asheville and also
has created offshoots in other cities. I have not dined
(23:22):
at Chaipani. It's HII P A n I, which is
based in Nashville Asheville, not Nashville Asheville, North Carolina. But
David and I are hoping to go there because we
want to support the Asheville independent restaurant community and the
cultural community and the citizens of Asheville because they were
deeply affected by a major hurricane a few years ago
(23:45):
and it is a beautiful area. Marijuan Iranie has been
nominated for an Outstanding I think a Southeast Chef of
Ward for the James Bear Foundation. Eager to meet them
and well, but I'm reading it now. It just came
out service ready. It's really hard to do this on
(24:05):
the screen now. I just came back from the library
or I started this show, and I picked up two books.
I also have a library book in the car that
I forgot to bring in, so that library book is
called Sometimes I just read about books and I literally
(24:27):
go online and put them on hold on my library.
The book that I have in the car that I'm
sorry I don't have here is called All the Cool
Girls Get Fired. It is by two women who are
high level media executives, and they get fired because all
(24:47):
the cool girls get fired. The authors are Christina O'Neill
and Laura Brown. One worked at Conde Nast high level,
one worked at Wall Street Journal high level. And if
you know anything about the media, the higher up you
rise This is quicker and harder your fall, because eventually
you rise to the level, as I have been told myself,
you rise to the level where you're so senior inexpensive
(25:10):
that somebody's going to come in and cut, say it's
time to cut, and you will go and be replaced
by somebody less expensive. That's the state of the media industry.
It's a tough business. What I love about this book, though,
is the positive attitude it is all the cool Girls
Get Fired is a guide for women navigating job loss,
refaming it as a write of passage and I totally agree,
(25:31):
and an opportunity for career reinvention. Double agree. I have
reached out to these authors. I'd love to have them
on the show. What I love about this book and
I wish I had had when I got fired a
long time ago before I started my company, my former
company and Young Communications. It teaches you how to negotiate
a package when you were let go. Like with everything,
(25:52):
don't accept the first offer. Negotiate and if you really
are high up, get a lawyer to help. You will
be the best investment you have. Otherwise you may not
get the best end of the package. And you want
a good package when you have devoted a significant part
(26:13):
of your life to a job and a business. If
you're a freelancer, sorry, your shit out of luck. I
hate to say that, and I'd be like, but freelancers
don't get the benefits that people who are on have
a W, have a W two have and are on staff.
And I wish there were legal rights for freelancers. If
(26:37):
you know of anyone that offers legal advice for freelancers,
I'm knows some freelancers that could use some help right now. Anyway.
What I love about All the cool Girls get fired is,
in addition to this incredible advice from legal to how
to deal with health insurance, to how to figure out
what you want to do next, and how to retool
your resume and stay relevant in a job industry that's
(26:58):
constantly changing, particularly in the technology, and and you're constantly
being competing against people a lot younger than you, it
also tells you about very famous people who were fired.
And hey, you're not alone because guess who got fired.
Caryl Burnett, Mika Braginski, Katie Kurk, Deborah Norville, Oprah Winfy
(27:20):
many amazing women in media and other careers lost their
jobs for whatever reason and is a badge of at
this pace, It's just a badge of saying I did it,
because at some point, if you were working for someone else,
the likelihood is you will eventually be fired, downsized, dismissed, restructured,
(27:43):
moving in a new direction. You can call it whatever
it is. You're being fired. So just look out for
number one. You negotiate the best package, and do get
this book. It's really it's a good book. Again, all
the cool girls get fired, and hopefully I can have
the authors on this show sometime. I picked it up
at the library because where can you get free books
(28:04):
to read that are really awesome your local library. So
this is the book I just picked up. Again. I
read book reviews and then I go look at the
library to see if I can get them this one.
It just speaks to me immediately. I can't wait to
start it. Plumb Johnson wrote it, I don't know a
thing about her. It doesn't matter. What matters is the
(28:26):
books called. They left us everything. After almost twenty years
of caring for elderly parents, Plum Johnson and her three
brothers have fallen into their middle aged knees with conflicted
feelings of grief and relief. Now they must empty and
empty the house and sell beloved history, antiques, oxygen tanks,
(28:48):
and god knows what else. This book is about this experience. Well,
having just gone through this where I had to go
home to Tennessee to care for my mother for almost
two years and then help her transition into her afterlife
or wherever the hell she is, into her grave. I
had to clean out a five thousand square foot house.
(29:10):
It was filled with four generations of stuff, and you're like,
you got to be kidding. They kept all of this
and she left me everything. She didn't leave much cash,
but she left me the contents in the house, and
I had to learn how to empty it. But also
I learned how to monetize and do an estate sale
and deal with the emotional angst of all this stuff.
(29:33):
I can't wait to read this book. I don't know
what the emotional takeaway will be, but I'm looking forward
to reading it, and I love helping all my friends
who are now going through this. I still kind of
go to estate sales and then have a little trigger
situation because I remember, somebody died and you're looking all
their stuff and nobody wants it, and I went through
(29:54):
that myself. But if this book has any iota of humor, great,
because that's the book I want to write. Lavender Love
is so what I'm going to call mine about how
my mother left me a ton of purple stuff because
you love purple. And that included twenty five bathing suits,
dozens of purple umbrellas, more purple soran wrap than you
(30:14):
can ever imagine, and about one hundred platinum blonde wicks.
Don't even go there, and much much more so. Sometimes
I read books to inspire me to write. Because I
am working on I maybe reading three books. I'm also
writing three books. I just got to focus on one
maybe so I can hit the jackpod. But I keep
I sleep and write in my sleep. Literally when I sleep,
(30:38):
I write in my sleep, And unfortunately I have a
journal next to my bed. I'm big on journaling, and
I can write what I dreamt. But that's how much
I love writing, and that's how much books inspire me.
The other book that I picked up today, it was there.
I didn't have it on hold. I had the Plum Johnson.
They left everything on hold. This book was not a
(31:00):
whole that just popped out on the shelf and was available,
and I was like, I'll never interview this woman, but
I have an amazing respect for her. Never because she's
French and she probably didn't have time to you know,
there may be a language issue, but this is Gizelle Pelico.
Shame has to change sides. The book is called a
(31:21):
Hymn to life. You may know Gazelle Pellico as the
woman who was living in southern France and she had
this horrific husband that she trusted and loved for many
who they were married for years, and he drugged her.
He drugged her and invited like the neighborhood dude to
come have sex with her while she was in a
(31:42):
comatose state, and she started having numerous health issues because
she was being gang raped and didn't know what was
going on, and the guy, the dumb ass husband, videotaped it.
Well let's just talk about dumbass anyway, long story short,
there was a trial, he was convicted and this brave
woman faced her husband and testified, which must have been
(32:07):
very difficult. So she wrote this book. She is a
beautiful woman. You can't see the very beautiful woman. I
honor her by reading her book, and I'm looking forward
to reading that as well. I don't know which one
I'm going to readvers because I already have two i'm
still reading. But that was my library run today. I
(32:29):
get to the library once a week, maybe once every
two weeks to stock up on books. Now I also
have two books not by men, but not by women.
They're by men, excuse me, not by women, by win
but I'm excited to read them. The first one I
learned about at the Nola Book Festival at Tulane University.
(32:50):
It's called House of Smoke, House of Smoke. Oh, kids,
how's of smoke? There we go? House of Smoke. A
Southerner goes searching for home about the great writer John
t Edge, who He lives in Oxford, Mississippi. He hosts
a show on television about the South. He's an author,
He's won numerous awards. I know John t Edge from
(33:13):
my days running the James Beard Foundation Awards. He was
on the restaurant committee. He's a brilliant author. And the book.
He read the introduction of the book and it made
my you know, I got goosebumps just from the introduction
he read because like me, John, like me, had to
go home. He went home and he had to understand
(33:36):
what his family is like after living away, and his
mother was, you know, had some issues, and it resonated.
I really haven't even begun reading it except for the intro.
It resonated with me because I moved away from home
when I was eighteen nineteen. I went to college. So
I moved away from the South when I was about
(33:57):
twenty one. Nope, twenty four, twenty four, I moved from
the South and I moved to New York to have
another perspective of my life and pursue my career. It
was the first time I had lived the Deep South,
and for the next thirty five years I lived in
the North, so north of the Mason Dixon line, and
(34:20):
coming back home to where I was born in Channooga,
Tennessee to care for my mother and live in the
South was challenging in some ways because even though I
was a born and bred southernor I had changed. My
perspective had changed living north, and my mother had changed
in a very strange way. All I can say is
(34:42):
my liberal mother had developed a little bit of racism,
and that was awful. We totally disagreed about what the
purpose of the war between the States was about. In
the North, it's about it's about fighting and abolishing slavery,
but in the South it was about states rights and
keeping We got into some hot debates and I realized
(35:04):
that there are differences that still exist. And I don't know.
I'm looking forward to reading this book. John is a
brilliant writer. This is going to be one of those
books I'll probably take on a vacation to read because
I love reading really good books on vacation. I probably
take at least two or three books with me when
I go on vacation. We're not running around and I
(35:27):
love going to the lending libraries and perusing them and
stocking up on books. So I'm looking I'm excited about that.
The other book I just got that I'm looking forward
to just if this is again events reading. I don't
know when it's coming out, as that came out to September.
I know the chef Patrick O'Connell. He is the founder
(35:48):
and chef of In a Little Washington, a multi award
winning restaurant in Washington, Virginia. On the street is Middle
of Maine, and the name of this book is Middle Maine.
And gay, a chef finds his place in the world
against all odds. Well, that should be quite interesting to
hear from Chef O'Connell. He grew up gay in the
(36:10):
nineteen fifties, worked as a paper boy and a cook
and a hamburger joint, and he found his place with
other misfits in the addictive restaurant scene. I love reading
about chefs who worked their way up in restaurants because
I worked with a lot of them over the years
when I ran my company in New York, so have
a soft spot for them, and if you are really
(36:32):
into that, I do also highly recommend Drew Newpooran's fantastic
memoir I'm Not Trying to be Difficult. It'll take you
back to New York in the eighties and nineties and
two thousand's early two thousands, which I'm actually writing about
right now on my subsack Melanie Fabulous. I'm reading about
my life in New York in the nineteen nineties and
(36:53):
all the amazing chefs and restaurctors I work with. Terrific book.
It's called I'm Not Trying to be Difficult, So that's
what I'm reading right now. It sounds like a lot.
I remember, I'm pacing myself. I don't put any pressure
on myself when I read. I tell publicists all the time, hey,
give me time to read the book I read on
(37:15):
my own time. And like I said, I don't mind
reading different books the same as I'm writing three books
right now. You find a way to read that inspires you.
You find a genre that inspires you. And if you
want to read alone, that's great. If you want to
read with people, that's great. But I'm going to tell
(37:36):
you something. I think reading is really sexy. And there
is nothing I love more big reveal than seeing my
husband holding a book with his reading glasses down to
hear engross in a book. He does this a lot
when we're traveling, and I just love it. My heart melt.
(38:00):
She'd do it more because I can't stand it when
he's scrolling, and I know he hates it when I'm scrolling,
and we all spend way too much time scrolling on
our phones. But when he's reading, I think there's nothing
sexier than watching a man read. I just think it's
like awesome. And I love seeing people reading on trains,
on planes and airports and subways and they're lost in
(38:25):
a real book. I just think it's awesome. That's just me.
I love to see people writing in journals. I am
a big journaler. I love going to book talks. I
love going to libraries. I love the quiet that reading
brings you. It centers you. I don't like it when
(38:46):
people ban books. I don't like it when people judge
you based on what you're reading. Reading should be freedom
of speech and freedom to read. I don't agree with
everybody's freedom of speech these days, but I also don't
trying to silence people. If I don't like what they're
saying and then don't want to deal with it, I
just go another direction. So I hope this show inspires
(39:11):
you to read. Whether it's essays, poems, novels, memoirs, thrillers, mysteries,
how tos, self help, cookbooks, recipes, tell stories, poems, whatever
it is, go out there and pick up some books,
(39:34):
support some authors. It's hard ping an author. I want
to be. All I want left in life is to
be a best selling author. I don't want to do
anything but just be a best selling author. And it's
hard to discipline yourself to write. But when I read,
I am inspired to write and so when I speak,
I'm inspired to help people find ways to center and
(39:55):
be calm and expand their horizons. So today I hope
this show encourage you to center yourself and also expand
your horizons by reading. And of course, if you want
to support me, check out my book on Melanieong dot
(40:15):
com or you can go to Amazon. Of course, and
Fearless Fabulous You Lessons on living Life on Your Terms
by Melanie Young essays if you don't want a novel,
and of course, if you are a loved one have
been diagnosed with breast cancer early stage, getting things off
my chest. The Survivor's Guide to saying fearless and Fabulous
(40:39):
in the face of breast cancer is the Lonely Planet
guide to the trip you didn't want to take to
cancer Land, and I'm going to help you get through
it the best ways you can, furiously and fabulously. So
that's my shameless plug, but it's not shameless, it's awesome
fearless plug to read my books as well. Thank you
for joining me on this edition of Fearless Fabulous You.
(41:03):
Now let's get reading, and as always, you can choose
life on your terms, or you can choose to live
life the way other people want you to. Always choose
on your terms, and always choose fearless and fabulous. Thank you,
The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W four WN Radio It's employees or affiliates.
We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
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explicit or implied shall be extended to W four WN
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(00:20):
be directed to those show hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thank you for choosing W four WN Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hello, and welcome to Fearless Fabulous You. I am your host,
Melanie Young. It is a beautiful spring day here in
New Orleans. It is April early April April eighth, twenty
twenty six, and we're going to talk about no guests today,
but a lot of interesting content. We're going to talk
about something that I app love doing particularly right now,
(01:02):
and that is reading. Not just you know, we're not
scrolling reading when I am under stress and would you
believe April is National Stress Awareness Month, but we're not
going there. We're going to talk about the joy of reading.
Why Because I think that reading is an important way
to relax, expand your knowledge, transport yourself somewhere and get
(01:29):
away from the noise, the constant noise and doomsdays strolling
that is taking over social media. I have had to
pull back on social media for that reason because I
find that you end up just scrolling and looking at
terrible things, and the more you look at them, you
like news, news or images that they keep coming back.
(01:53):
And so I have started reading more and also listening
to music is a way to relax. Now this is
nothing new. I started reading as a little girl. My
love of books began when I was not even in
grammar school. My mother was a speech therapist, my father
a CPA. They both loved to read. Later in life
(02:16):
they became authors. I would go to my mother's speech
therapy classes because she couldn't get a babysitter, and it
was at that time listening to her give lessons on
helping people with I said, children who were deaf learned fanetics.
I learned to read, and I started reading really young,
(02:41):
like maybe four, and my mother would take me to
the public library and we would pick out books. I
remember with pride, I got my library card and sometimes
she would leave me there with librarians where we would
watch over me while I read while she did errands.
My love of reading never stopped. I always was reading
(03:02):
at least one book. I remember crying once because I
checked out more books and I thought I could read
before the due date, and I thought I was going
to get in trouble. My mother, father and grandmother. Grandfather
assured me I wouldn't get in trouble, that I could
read it my own time and at my own skill.
That was then, and this is now. I've been reading
all my life. I later went on to become an author.
(03:24):
I have written two books, Getting Things Off my Chest,
A Survivor's Guide to staying Fearless and Fabulous in the
face of breast cancer and Fearless Fabulous You Lessons on
Living Life on Your Terms, which is a book of
helpful essays to deal with setbacks, and that actually was
the inspiration for this show, to help women deal with
changes in their life and move forward. As you know,
(03:47):
if you follow me, I interview a lot of authors
about their books, and I must be reading on average
two or three books at a time. So we're going
to talk about some of the books that I'm recommending
that maybe the authors are not going to be on
the show. We're also going to talk about interesting facts
about reading that are kind of fun, and I'm going
(04:08):
to really try to help you think about ways to
get more involved in reading as well. First of all,
support your local library. One of the first things I
did when I moved to New Orleans and when I
lived in New York in the Pudson Valley and also
in New York City is I got a library card. The
public libraries are a wealth of not only great books,
(04:30):
but also you can read magazine, so you don't have
to pay for a lot of magazine subscriptions. I went
to my library this morning to check out two books,
and they have seed libraries where you can go get
free seeds to plant your garden. I'm signed up for
a class, free class on how to update your will.
My library has a free notary, public free games and puzzles,
(04:54):
free sewing lessons. Some libraries even have cookwhere you can
check out. The libraries are not just about checking out books.
You've got videos, you've got audio, you've got supplies, really
a lot of things, and then there's activities beyond author's talk,
so it's free. One of the best things about the
(05:15):
library where I am here in New Orleans is they
have something called the Culture Pass where you can sign
up and get free passes to museums or the Louisiana Philharmonic,
the autom and zoo, and those cost money to go to.
So if you're on a budget like I am, take
advantage of your local free culture paths that your likeal
library has free a charge, and all you need to
(05:38):
do is get a library card. It's that simple. I
reserve books online. They let me know via email when
my books are ready, I go pick them up, so easy.
So that's the first way to get involved. Another is
many neighborhoods have lending libraries where people just swap out
books or book swaps. I swap out books with many
(05:59):
of my girlfriends who are reading and rather than you know.
I can also donate books to local charities for resale,
and many people resell their books. I just give my
books to people who I know will appreciate them even more,
and they do the same with me. Another thing that
maybe in your community is a book festival. I recently
(06:20):
attended a fantastic one that's hosted here in New Orleans.
It's called the New Orleans Book Festival. It's held at
two Lane University. Many local universities have book fairs, by
the way, that's another great way to get involved. The
book festival at two Lane. The New Orleans Book Festival
took place March eleventh to fourteen. Would you believe it
was free? So free is one of my favorite words days,
(06:43):
except that you want free advice, which is a whole
nother topic. But free to attend is great. Twenty thousand
a record twenty thousand people attended over three days, including
two thousand just for a dedicated day of families. About
forty three percent of people came from out of state,
so this is a destination for book lovers. And over
(07:07):
fifty seven hundred books were sold. One hundred and thirty
books had authors signings. There are one hundred and six sessions.
I attended one day. I wish I attended the whole time.
It really was fabulous, and there were two hundred and
fifty authors and other participants. I have to tell you
it was a great experience, and I feel so lucky
to live in a city that is so committed to
(07:27):
arts and literature. If you are interested in learning more,
you can actually go to YouTube now and go to
Nola book Fest at YouTube. Nola and Ola book Fests
at YouTube and see the sessions for free on YouTube,
as well as prior sessions on CSPAN dot org Live
event Nola BookFest, so you can. This festival lives online now,
(07:50):
but I can't wait to go back. My dream would
be one day to have a book and be able
to present it at the Nola Book Fest. There's also
the Tennessee Williams Festival here in New Orleans. I gotta
plug my city, Tennessee. Williams wrote much about the South
and New Orleans. Of course, I'm a big street car
named Desire Girl sweet Bird of Youth cat on the
(08:11):
hot tin roof. There are horror book if you if
you like certain genres, there are horror book festivals. There's
Southern book festivals, civil war book festivals, book fairs, not festivals.
So find something you like and maybe do some research
to see where there may be special events around those
(08:32):
or local meetups in your community. You can also join
a book group. A lot of people join reading clubs.
My university Tulane has a reading club. It's a great
way to socialize and get involved and embrace reading. Now,
I found something fun to share with you. You may
(08:53):
or may not agree with it. It's psychology today. So
first of all, I am the old school. I like
to read real books, like through the pages. I love
the feel of a library book. I have friends that
read and only read on kindle because it's a lot
easier when you're traveling, and I am going to eventually
break down and get a kindle. I do not like
(09:14):
reading on my phone. I don't like reading on my
computer books. I'll read the news on my computer. So
when publicists send me advance copies or PDF form offered
me to read and like Goodreads, which is a great
online source for reading books for free. It's great, but
there's nothing like holding a book. So you got to
find you know your personality. How do you like to
(09:37):
read your book an actual book, a kindle, your computer,
your phone? Do you go to good Reads? Do you
go to other online sources? Pick what you were most
comfortable with. Also, pick the time of the day that
you like to read. I have learned. I used to
be a night reader in bed, but I keep conking
out my eyes get tired, so now I tend to
(09:58):
read when I cut out in the afternoon. When I'm
done with work my workday, I'll take some time just
to sit and read. And I love to read on
the weekends. There is just nothing more relaxing than curling
up with the book, whether you're at the beach under
an umbrella, sitting out by the pool, curling up in
an armchair, whatever. I actually have a room here in
(10:19):
my house that has no TV and it's just books
and art, and it's my reading room or my writing room,
and I'll cool up there sometimes when my husband wants
to watch TV and I will just sit and read.
I have a great cheer for it, and I get
lost into it. So you got to find your reading personality,
the type of way you like to read, the time
of day, and don't pressure yourself to overdo it because
(10:41):
your eyes can't get tired. But you want it to
be joyful, not stressful. So psychology today says that reading
books reveal personality traits, emotional states, and intellectual interests. Your
choice of genre, from fantasy to mystery, reflects how you
process the world, with readers often demonstrating higher empathy and
(11:04):
analytical skills. So eh, I guess I have that. But
more importantly, think about your kids or your grandkids. Get
them to read, get them off their phones. It indicates
a desire for knowledge I couldn't agree more, or a
preference for structured, quiet mental engagement. Here here again, we've
(11:26):
got to get everyone, from kids to adults to seniors
off their phones and scrolling and better reading. I still
read newspapers. I cry every time I see a newspaper
go down them and they able to associated presses letting
people go. I hope that never happens with books. I
want authors to be successful. I want people to have voices.
(11:50):
So this is interesting again psychology today. Great magazine fiction
readers typically are empathetic and creative individuals who enjoy exploring
human nature and emotions. Well, I love fiction. I hope
you do too. It's a lot of fun. And when
you get a really good book and you can't put
it down, like I like to read on planes, it's
(12:11):
the best. You can't put it in. It's a page turner.
Fantasy readers, they're creative and idealistic world builders who use
reading to escape and engage their imagination. I'm probably less
of a fantasy reader than more of a fiction and
a memoir reader. Mystery thriller readers. My husband's a mystery
(12:31):
thriller reader. Analytical and detail oriented, really investigators who enjoy
logical problem solving. I debate that. I think sometimes mystery
readers are also just wanting to escape. Nonfiction biography readers me,
I love reading about history. I love reading kind of
(12:52):
biographical historical biographical books generally truth seekers who are curious, focused,
and enjoy learning concrete information. Well, yeah, on that person.
Romance readers, they're usually empathetic, optimistic, and highly attuned to
social relationships. I went through a phase where I read
a lot of romance novels. My favorite was Sweet Savage Love.
(13:17):
I don't do as much of that now. Horror readers,
I am not that person, but I have friends who
love scary movies. They're often thrill seekers who are emotionally
resilient and interested in the unknown. So what are your
reading habits say to you? Well, this is me Reading
multiple books at once suggests fun and random, a style
(13:39):
that includes high energy, curious personality, and values variety. While
they nailed me rereading favorites. Do you like to reread
favorite books? I do sometimes not. A lot indicates comfort,
emotional connection, and a preference for nostalgia. Reading fast and
constantly ooh, probably do that suggest goal oriented, focused and
(14:03):
analytical mindset. Reading habits can even hint at your emotional state,
with thriller readers often looking for intellectual challenges, while others
may use books to manage stress and improve emotional regulations. Well,
I can tell you, with all the cruddle on news
and crazy posts and tweets by people in power, I
(14:27):
have tuned all that out. I don't want to see
it retweeted. I don't want to see these repos I
would rather dive into a book or listen to music,
which we also love to do here at our house.
It's my form of escapism and I love it. The
only thing better is taking long walks without my phone,
(14:48):
disconnecting from everything and just listening to nature, which I
do quite a bit now and I highly recommend because
it's so great for you to move. Do not read
and drive, Do not read and walk. Reading should be
what you're doing nothing else. It's not really a multitasking thing.
To really read appropriately, you need to be focused on
the book. I am not a member of a book
(15:09):
group because I actually am not one of those book
discussion people. I love going to book festivals like the
Nola Book Festival, and I will go to other book
talks at local libraries or my local bookstore. And I've
signed up for all the local bookstores because I love
to support independent bookstores. But I'm not really a book
club person or a book group person. I have learned
(15:31):
it's a little too structure for me. I don't like
to follow rules. But I have some very good friends
who have book groups and that has become a mainstay
of their social life. So you've got to do what
makes sense for you. Okay, let me fix my camera
a little bit. There we go. So what am I
reading now? Well, I get a lot of books sent
to me by publicists who want their authors to be
(15:52):
on my show. They're not always great, so I do
for anyone who does want to send me a book,
I do read the book. I do like to get
the book to see the quality of the book and
the pages. I think self published books are great, but
sometimes they're poorly laid out, which is kind of a
turn off for me. Gosh, I have a lot of
(16:13):
friends who are self publishing, but the quality of the
book and the graphics and the font actually manner to me.
I want a fun I can read. I'm turning into
a large font girl. I like to see imagery that
is good. So that's me personally. Like I said, I
have very dear friends who are kindle all the way.
I may give it another try. When I was diagnosed
(16:35):
with breast cancer, my husband David gave me one of
those early candles that was purple, and he loaded it
with books, including The Velveteen Rabbit. I'm not sure why,
but it was sweet and I did try to read
on it, but I was having a lot of vision
issues during chemo, and I just found it difficult to
read on my kindle Again. You got to find your
reading pattern that matters to you and what you like
(16:57):
to read. Here's something you may not know about me.
I love to read poetry. April happens to be National
Poetry Month, and I actually subscribe to a daily poem delivery. Literally,
there are sites that will deliver you daily poems and
I actually read a daily poem. I enjoy it. I
find it calming. I think poetry is beautiful. It's a
creative way of illustrating an emotion, a situation, a time,
(17:23):
and a place. If you say you're not a poetry person.
There's so many genres. You will find one. And just
remember some of your favorite singers are poets first and foremost.
So give it a try. Go you know, a daily
poem or I don't know what. I just get them
delivered to me all the time. And I like reading poems.
(17:45):
They're short, it's fun. And I have friends who are
very good poetry and I love to support them. Just
so you know, I will recommend some books now that
i'm reading or have just finished. I may or may
not interview the author. It's just sometimes hard to book people.
But here we go. If you follow the show, you know.
(18:07):
I recently interviewed Betty Fussell, who is at ninety eight,
wrote a book called Out of cook a Coyote, and
we talked about her memoir My Kitchen Wars, which is
a really fantastic read. I just gave the book to
a very dear friend. It really chronicles Betty's life from
the twenties up through when she found her voice as
a successful writer. Highly recommend it. She also wrote a
(18:30):
book that I'm reading now. She is a brilliant essayist.
Let's see if I can get this up. It isn't.
This is called Betty Fussel's Eat, Live, Love Die kind
of morbid bit. Really, the death part is not part
of it. She's just in the in her nineties. She
published it, so she's a little focused on the end.
But it's basically the essay. Some of her best work
over the years, most have a food theme because she's
(18:53):
a food essays. It's easy to read and Alice Waters,
the restaurant tour in Chef from Chapanese wrote a beautiful
full introduction. I'm reading it now. What I like about
reading essays is you can They're like snacks. They're literally
like reading snacks. You can read a one, two, three
or four page essay and put it down and you
(19:13):
don't have you don't have to bend the page and
say I got to go back and reread to see
what's going to happen next. There is no next with
an essay, there's another essay. So that's a great way
if you're not a novel reader, go start with essays.
Really terrific and again, Eat Live, Love, Die beneficile. Betty
Fussle is a beautiful writer. I just read this book,
(19:37):
Recipe for Joy. The author is Monica Comas c M.
As the book just came out, I read the proof
and you can see this as an author's proof. Interesting book.
Why did it intrigue me because it's it's about two
sisters who grew up in a small area of the
(19:58):
Midwest and was by their grandmother. After the mother dies,
and they love their grandmother, and over time the two
sisters become estranged. One goes to New York and Mary
is a very wealthy man and becomes the New York Girl,
and the other also lived in New York but didn't
do so with her career and ends up going home
(20:19):
and eventually cares for her grandmother and has a strong connection.
The grandmother dies and the two sisters get in the
mail one day recipe book and stories with each recipe
and the grandmother Basically, well, they get a recipe book,
but what they really get recipes in the mail, and
(20:40):
the grandmother asks them to each cook each recipe and
tells a story about it and then ask the two
sisters to talk about the recipe and their memories. So
the recipes actually bring the sisters back together. Because the
two sisters Belle and her other sister, I can't remember name.
Belle is the main character. The sisters had grown apart,
(21:04):
but the recipes bring them back together and the familial
connection with the grandmother. Interestingly, the grandmother and her sister
also had a split and didn't speak for years, and
is only after the grandmother dies that her sister comes
back and reconnects with her grandnieces. It's a lovely book.
The recipes are in the back. It's about family connection
(21:27):
through the table, embracing family even after you have become estranged.
And it's an easy read. And in the back of
our recipes. So Grace and Annabelle are the older sisters,
and then Belle and Lexi are the younger sisters. The
(21:49):
lives parallel, they are a strange they come back together.
It's all through the beauty of these recipes and connection.
Recipe for joy. It just came out and I don't
know if this is Monica Comas's first book, but good
read and I'm actually going to try some of the recipes.
Another book I'm reading right now that author just came out.
(22:12):
That's why I have the advanced copy. It's called Service Ready.
It's by Mollie Irani who opened a restaurant in Asheville
called Chaipani, which a few years ago one Outstanding Restaurant
of the Year by the James Bear Foundation. Mollie and
her husband Marajwan literally had no restaurant experience and decided
(22:36):
to create a restaurant in Asheville that serves Indian street food,
which is what Marijuan grew up eating when he was
a boy growing up in India and he remembers from
his family. Molly goes into excruciating and agonizing detail about
what they had to do to open this restaurant. They
had really no experience and so it was kind of
(22:59):
a book about what to do and what not to do.
But along the way she learns to create a restaurant
that she feels defines hospitality. I'm still reading the book.
She shares her ten core principles that shape the path
that has made Chapane a success in Asheville and also
has created offshoots in other cities. I have not dined
(23:22):
at Chaipani. It's HII P A n I, which is
based in Nashville Asheville, not Nashville Asheville, North Carolina. But
David and I are hoping to go there because we
want to support the Asheville independent restaurant community and the
cultural community and the citizens of Asheville because they were
deeply affected by a major hurricane a few years ago
(23:45):
and it is a beautiful area. Marijuan Iranie has been
nominated for an Outstanding I think a Southeast Chef of
Ward for the James Bear Foundation. Eager to meet them
and well, but I'm reading it now. It just came
out service ready. It's really hard to do this on
(24:05):
the screen now. I just came back from the library
or I started this show, and I picked up two books.
I also have a library book in the car that
I forgot to bring in, so that library book is
called Sometimes I just read about books and I literally
(24:27):
go online and put them on hold on my library.
The book that I have in the car that I'm
sorry I don't have here is called All the Cool
Girls Get Fired. It is by two women who are
high level media executives, and they get fired because all
(24:47):
the cool girls get fired. The authors are Christina O'Neill
and Laura Brown. One worked at Conde Nast high level,
one worked at Wall Street Journal high level. And if
you know anything about the media, the higher up you
rise This is quicker and harder your fall, because eventually
you rise to the level, as I have been told myself,
you rise to the level where you're so senior inexpensive
(25:10):
that somebody's going to come in and cut, say it's
time to cut, and you will go and be replaced
by somebody less expensive. That's the state of the media industry.
It's a tough business. What I love about this book, though,
is the positive attitude it is all the cool Girls
Get Fired is a guide for women navigating job loss,
refaming it as a write of passage and I totally agree,
(25:31):
and an opportunity for career reinvention. Double agree. I have
reached out to these authors. I'd love to have them
on the show. What I love about this book and
I wish I had had when I got fired a
long time ago before I started my company, my former
company and Young Communications. It teaches you how to negotiate
a package when you were let go. Like with everything,
(25:52):
don't accept the first offer. Negotiate and if you really
are high up, get a lawyer to help. You will
be the best investment you have. Otherwise you may not
get the best end of the package. And you want
a good package when you have devoted a significant part
(26:13):
of your life to a job and a business. If
you're a freelancer, sorry, your shit out of luck. I
hate to say that, and I'd be like, but freelancers
don't get the benefits that people who are on have
a W, have a W two have and are on staff.
And I wish there were legal rights for freelancers. If
(26:37):
you know of anyone that offers legal advice for freelancers,
I'm knows some freelancers that could use some help right now. Anyway.
What I love about All the cool Girls get fired is,
in addition to this incredible advice from legal to how
to deal with health insurance, to how to figure out
what you want to do next, and how to retool
your resume and stay relevant in a job industry that's
(26:58):
constantly changing, particularly in the technology, and and you're constantly
being competing against people a lot younger than you, it
also tells you about very famous people who were fired.
And hey, you're not alone because guess who got fired.
Caryl Burnett, Mika Braginski, Katie Kurk, Deborah Norville, Oprah Winfy
(27:20):
many amazing women in media and other careers lost their
jobs for whatever reason and is a badge of at
this pace, It's just a badge of saying I did it,
because at some point, if you were working for someone else,
the likelihood is you will eventually be fired, downsized, dismissed, restructured,
(27:43):
moving in a new direction. You can call it whatever
it is. You're being fired. So just look out for
number one. You negotiate the best package, and do get
this book. It's really it's a good book. Again, all
the cool girls get fired, and hopefully I can have
the authors on this show sometime. I picked it up
at the library because where can you get free books
(28:04):
to read that are really awesome your local library. So
this is the book I just picked up. Again. I
read book reviews and then I go look at the
library to see if I can get them this one.
It just speaks to me immediately. I can't wait to
start it. Plumb Johnson wrote it, I don't know a
thing about her. It doesn't matter. What matters is the
(28:26):
books called. They left us everything. After almost twenty years
of caring for elderly parents, Plum Johnson and her three
brothers have fallen into their middle aged knees with conflicted
feelings of grief and relief. Now they must empty and
empty the house and sell beloved history, antiques, oxygen tanks,
(28:48):
and god knows what else. This book is about this experience. Well,
having just gone through this where I had to go
home to Tennessee to care for my mother for almost
two years and then help her transition into her afterlife
or wherever the hell she is, into her grave. I
had to clean out a five thousand square foot house.
(29:10):
It was filled with four generations of stuff, and you're like,
you got to be kidding. They kept all of this
and she left me everything. She didn't leave much cash,
but she left me the contents in the house, and
I had to learn how to empty it. But also
I learned how to monetize and do an estate sale
and deal with the emotional angst of all this stuff.
(29:33):
I can't wait to read this book. I don't know
what the emotional takeaway will be, but I'm looking forward
to reading it, and I love helping all my friends
who are now going through this. I still kind of
go to estate sales and then have a little trigger
situation because I remember, somebody died and you're looking all
their stuff and nobody wants it, and I went through
(29:54):
that myself. But if this book has any iota of humor, great,
because that's the book I want to write. Lavender Love
is so what I'm going to call mine about how
my mother left me a ton of purple stuff because
you love purple. And that included twenty five bathing suits,
dozens of purple umbrellas, more purple soran wrap than you
(30:14):
can ever imagine, and about one hundred platinum blonde wicks.
Don't even go there, and much much more so. Sometimes
I read books to inspire me to write. Because I
am working on I maybe reading three books. I'm also
writing three books. I just got to focus on one
maybe so I can hit the jackpod. But I keep
I sleep and write in my sleep. Literally when I sleep,
(30:38):
I write in my sleep, And unfortunately I have a
journal next to my bed. I'm big on journaling, and
I can write what I dreamt. But that's how much
I love writing, and that's how much books inspire me.
The other book that I picked up today, it was there.
I didn't have it on hold. I had the Plum Johnson.
They left everything on hold. This book was not a
(31:00):
whole that just popped out on the shelf and was available,
and I was like, I'll never interview this woman, but
I have an amazing respect for her. Never because she's
French and she probably didn't have time to you know,
there may be a language issue, but this is Gizelle Pelico.
Shame has to change sides. The book is called a
(31:21):
Hymn to life. You may know Gazelle Pellico as the
woman who was living in southern France and she had
this horrific husband that she trusted and loved for many
who they were married for years, and he drugged her.
He drugged her and invited like the neighborhood dude to
come have sex with her while she was in a
(31:42):
comatose state, and she started having numerous health issues because
she was being gang raped and didn't know what was
going on, and the guy, the dumb ass husband, videotaped it.
Well let's just talk about dumbass anyway, long story short,
there was a trial, he was convicted and this brave
woman faced her husband and testified, which must have been
(32:07):
very difficult. So she wrote this book. She is a
beautiful woman. You can't see the very beautiful woman. I
honor her by reading her book, and I'm looking forward
to reading that as well. I don't know which one
I'm going to readvers because I already have two i'm
still reading. But that was my library run today. I
(32:29):
get to the library once a week, maybe once every
two weeks to stock up on books. Now I also
have two books not by men, but not by women.
They're by men, excuse me, not by women, by win
but I'm excited to read them. The first one I
learned about at the Nola Book Festival at Tulane University.
(32:50):
It's called House of Smoke, House of Smoke. Oh, kids,
how's of smoke? There we go? House of Smoke. A
Southerner goes searching for home about the great writer John
t Edge, who He lives in Oxford, Mississippi. He hosts
a show on television about the South. He's an author,
He's won numerous awards. I know John t Edge from
(33:13):
my days running the James Beard Foundation Awards. He was
on the restaurant committee. He's a brilliant author. And the book.
He read the introduction of the book and it made
my you know, I got goosebumps just from the introduction
he read because like me, John, like me, had to
go home. He went home and he had to understand
(33:36):
what his family is like after living away, and his
mother was, you know, had some issues, and it resonated.
I really haven't even begun reading it except for the intro.
It resonated with me because I moved away from home
when I was eighteen nineteen. I went to college. So
I moved away from the South when I was about
(33:57):
twenty one. Nope, twenty four, twenty four, I moved from
the South and I moved to New York to have
another perspective of my life and pursue my career. It
was the first time I had lived the Deep South,
and for the next thirty five years I lived in
the North, so north of the Mason Dixon line, and
(34:20):
coming back home to where I was born in Channooga,
Tennessee to care for my mother and live in the
South was challenging in some ways because even though I
was a born and bred southernor I had changed. My
perspective had changed living north, and my mother had changed
in a very strange way. All I can say is
(34:42):
my liberal mother had developed a little bit of racism,
and that was awful. We totally disagreed about what the
purpose of the war between the States was about. In
the North, it's about it's about fighting and abolishing slavery,
but in the South it was about states rights and
keeping We got into some hot debates and I realized
(35:04):
that there are differences that still exist. And I don't know.
I'm looking forward to reading this book. John is a
brilliant writer. This is going to be one of those
books I'll probably take on a vacation to read because
I love reading really good books on vacation. I probably
take at least two or three books with me when
I go on vacation. We're not running around and I
(35:27):
love going to the lending libraries and perusing them and
stocking up on books. So I'm looking I'm excited about that.
The other book I just got that I'm looking forward
to just if this is again events reading. I don't
know when it's coming out, as that came out to September.
I know the chef Patrick O'Connell. He is the founder
(35:48):
and chef of In a Little Washington, a multi award
winning restaurant in Washington, Virginia. On the street is Middle
of Maine, and the name of this book is Middle Maine.
And gay, a chef finds his place in the world
against all odds. Well, that should be quite interesting to
hear from Chef O'Connell. He grew up gay in the
(36:10):
nineteen fifties, worked as a paper boy and a cook
and a hamburger joint, and he found his place with
other misfits in the addictive restaurant scene. I love reading
about chefs who worked their way up in restaurants because
I worked with a lot of them over the years
when I ran my company in New York, so have
a soft spot for them, and if you are really
(36:32):
into that, I do also highly recommend Drew Newpooran's fantastic
memoir I'm Not Trying to be Difficult. It'll take you
back to New York in the eighties and nineties and
two thousand's early two thousands, which I'm actually writing about
right now on my subsack Melanie Fabulous. I'm reading about
my life in New York in the nineteen nineties and
(36:53):
all the amazing chefs and restaurctors I work with. Terrific book.
It's called I'm Not Trying to be Difficult, So that's
what I'm reading right now. It sounds like a lot.
I remember, I'm pacing myself. I don't put any pressure
on myself when I read. I tell publicists all the time, hey,
give me time to read the book I read on
(37:15):
my own time. And like I said, I don't mind
reading different books the same as I'm writing three books
right now. You find a way to read that inspires you.
You find a genre that inspires you. And if you
want to read alone, that's great. If you want to
read with people, that's great. But I'm going to tell
(37:36):
you something. I think reading is really sexy. And there
is nothing I love more big reveal than seeing my
husband holding a book with his reading glasses down to
hear engross in a book. He does this a lot
when we're traveling, and I just love it. My heart melt.
(38:00):
She'd do it more because I can't stand it when
he's scrolling, and I know he hates it when I'm scrolling,
and we all spend way too much time scrolling on
our phones. But when he's reading, I think there's nothing
sexier than watching a man read. I just think it's
like awesome. And I love seeing people reading on trains,
on planes and airports and subways and they're lost in
(38:25):
a real book. I just think it's awesome. That's just me.
I love to see people writing in journals. I am
a big journaler. I love going to book talks. I
love going to libraries. I love the quiet that reading
brings you. It centers you. I don't like it when
(38:46):
people ban books. I don't like it when people judge
you based on what you're reading. Reading should be freedom
of speech and freedom to read. I don't agree with
everybody's freedom of speech these days, but I also don't
trying to silence people. If I don't like what they're
saying and then don't want to deal with it, I
just go another direction. So I hope this show inspires
(39:11):
you to read. Whether it's essays, poems, novels, memoirs, thrillers, mysteries,
how tos, self help, cookbooks, recipes, tell stories, poems, whatever
it is, go out there and pick up some books,
(39:34):
support some authors. It's hard ping an author. I want
to be. All I want left in life is to
be a best selling author. I don't want to do
anything but just be a best selling author. And it's
hard to discipline yourself to write. But when I read,
I am inspired to write and so when I speak,
I'm inspired to help people find ways to center and
(39:55):
be calm and expand their horizons. So today I hope
this show encourage you to center yourself and also expand
your horizons by reading. And of course, if you want
to support me, check out my book on Melanieong dot
(40:15):
com or you can go to Amazon. Of course, and
Fearless Fabulous You Lessons on living Life on Your Terms
by Melanie Young essays if you don't want a novel,
and of course, if you are a loved one have
been diagnosed with breast cancer early stage, getting things off
my chest. The Survivor's Guide to saying fearless and Fabulous
(40:39):
in the face of breast cancer is the Lonely Planet
guide to the trip you didn't want to take to
cancer Land, and I'm going to help you get through
it the best ways you can, furiously and fabulously. So
that's my shameless plug, but it's not shameless, it's awesome
fearless plug to read my books as well. Thank you
for joining me on this edition of Fearless Fabulous You.
(41:03):
Now let's get reading, and as always, you can choose
life on your terms, or you can choose to live
life the way other people want you to. Always choose
on your terms, and always choose fearless and fabulous. Thank you,
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