Book Review- Jessica Stone's Craving London: Confessions of an Incurable Romantic with an Insatiable Appetite

Thank you to Ripe Press for providing me with a copy of Jessica Stone’s memoir Craving London: Confessions of an Incurable Romantic with an Insatiable Appetite, in exchange for an honest review.

After a break-up in her twenties, New Yorker Jessica Stone took a leap of faith and without having an apartment (flat) or job, she moved to London. Failure was not an option as Stone literally pounded the pavement looking for openings at copy writing agencies and trying to navigate life in her new city. Soon, Stone finds herself settled into London life and although the dating scene is tricky, she finds love in London cuisine and other joys of city life.

One of the primary reasons that I wanted to review Craving London is because I am missing my favorite city. My husband is English and we usually visit England ( often including London) at least once a year. This year, the pandemic caused us to cancel our vacation. I was looking to Stone’s memoir to provide a bit of armchair travel to a city that we mutually adore, she did not disappoint.

In fact, one of her favorite places, is also mine: Borough Market. Borough Market is a culinary delight that I did not discover until a more recent trip to London. It’s a massive covered market with vendors selling food from around the world. It’s an overwhelming sensory experience. Stone is a huge food fanatic and budding chef. While in London, she took a patisserie course at the prestigious Cordon Bleu and she sought out both unique ingredients and food experiences in the city. Her memoir will make you hungry! It also made me keenly aware at how many amazing food experiences I have yet to try in London and despite having taken food tours of the city, nothing I experienced was repeated with Stones. I made a list of her recommendations!

Her memoir includes several recipes. I always think this is a nice touch when I see it in a book that is not specifically a cookbook, but I must admit that I never actually try the recipes. It did work with the themes in Craving London.

Stone’s primary struggle that is woven throughout her memoir is dating. She is a passionate woman who is living a very full and exciting life, including joining running and rowing clubs, yet her romantic life always seems to fizzle. She meets men who are not the right fit or as equally committed. Sometimes it seems to be due to cultural differences, but also it just seems to be that she is meeting jerks. I think it is common for people to worry about the aspects of their lives that seem incomplete, especially if it happens to be a romantic relationship, but from my perspective, Stone had quite a fabulous and enviable life. She had a solid ( mostly) career, plenty of friends, was engaged in many activities, well-traveled and she was living in one of the best cities in the world.

Craving London ended with Stone realizing this and she is quite an inspiration for all people to get out and enjoy life, whether or not romantic love comes your way. I’m writing this review on Valentine’s Day 2021 and although I am happily married, I can get behind this theme of living your best life, whatever that looks like for you. Thinking back to when I was single, I also lived my life like Stone, enjoying things that made me happy and never letting a lack of a partner prevent me for dining in a restaurant or trying something new. It’s human to struggle over feelings of disappointment or lack, but it is also important to hear that being single isn’t all doom and gloom. Stone didn’t learn this lesson over night either.

Craving London is the ideal memoir for both Valentine’s Day and these months that we’ve spent lock-inside due to the pandemic. I relished both Stone’s personal journey and her thoughts on life in London.

Book Review- Mikel Jollett's Hollywood Park

Thank you to Celadon Books for providing me with a copy of Mikel Jollett’s memoir, Hollywood Park, in exchange for an honest review.

For those unaware, Mikel Jollett is the frontman and lyricist for the Los Angeles rock band, The Airborne Toxic Event. I’m a massive fan who has had the joy of seeing them live many times. The energy and storytelling of The Airborne Toxic Event affects me in a way that is unlike anything else.

Music is a funny thing. Like poetry, sometimes it is difficult to nail down why it speaks to you. With The Airborne Toxic Event, the songs and rhythm feel personal, and unique in capturing my experience growing up in Los Angeles.

Reading Hollywood Park and learning about Jollett’s life, made me understand my own life. Our situations are vastly different, but some of the childhood trauma rings true. It also helped me understand some of my early relationship choices and dysfunction. Like Jollett, I’ve reached a place in my life where I feel at peace with my past and hopeful for my future.

Jollett’s Hollywood Park was released as a memoir with an accompanying album of the same title. It is a grand undertaking that has been many years in the making. Both are fabulous and deeply affecting.

In his memoir, Jollett dives into his early childhood years spent at Synanon, a commune in California. Synanon was original started as place for recovering addicts, but over time, the leadership and motivations shifted. Jollett’s parents, his father a former heroin addict, and his mother, a Berkeley idealist, joined at a time when the commune was changing, including new rules that separated parents from their children. Jollett, and his older brother Tony, spent several years in an orphanage type arrangement in Synanon.

Their mother escaped with them in the middle of the night, but leaving Synanon was not easy. They feared retribution, and Jollett witnessed the severe beating of their mother’s boyfriend, who had also escaped the commune. Jollett’s mother suffered from mental illness and struggled with poverty. She had unstable relationships, including one man who was very abusive. Jollett’s father also left the commune, marrying Bonnie, another former Synanon member, who happened to work at the child center on the compound. Bonnie had bonded to Jollett when he was young and remained a second mother to him.

In Hollywood Park, Jollett comes to terms with the effects of his difficult childhood, which created problems in his adulthood. He carried the weight of his family, including the history of Jollett men going to prison, and falling into addiction. Even though he escape this family pattern, he was waiting for the other shoe to fall, as he found success with college, writing, and The Airborne Toxic Event. He struggled with relationships, always finding excuses to run away. After seeking therapy, he discovered that he had attachment disorder. Through therapy, he was able to prepare himself for engaging in a lasting relationship, which he found, and is now married with two children. It also prepared him to deal with his mother’s erratic behavior and the death of his father.

The title refers to a former Los Angeles landmark, a racetrack called Hollywood Park. Hollywood Park is a place where Jollett’s father used to escape for an afternoon of gambling and where he spent time with Jollett. The once glamorous race track fell into disrepair prior to it being torn down to make way for a football stadium. Jollett writes beautifully about these places that now only exist in our memory, both the physical places and the memories that we have of people we have lost. I lost my mom in 2008, and I have my own memories with her at both Hollywood Park and Santa Anita Race Track.

Jollett doesn’t write much about The Airborne Toxic Event, but he does give insight to the origins of two of their early hits: “Wishing Well” and “Sometime Before Midnight.” This memoir isn’t really about the band, but more about the origins of the man who felt compelled to put his words into songs.

I was fortunate to attend a virtual book event for Hollywood Park that was hosted by Tattered Cover, a Denver based bookshop. The event was originally supposed to be live, but due to Covid-19, virtual was the next best option. It was actually great. Jollett joined us from his home and played several songs. He was gracious with answering questions and sharing intimate details of his life. A week after the event, I received a hardback copy with an autographed bookplate.

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Hollywood Park is a stunning memoir. It’s heartbreaking and uplifting. It is a must-read for fans of Jollett, but even if you’ve never heard of The Airborne Toxic Event, I highly recommend Hollywood Park. It is one of the most affecting and engaging memoirs that I have ever read.