Behind The Stack

Summer Book Vibes With Bernie Lombardi & Christopher Metts

• Brett Benner • Season 2 • Episode 38

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In this episode Brett is joined again by bookstagram favs Bernie Lombardi & Christopher Metts to discuss books that play with the idea of summer whether as a vibe, an escape, or something you just might not be able to put down. 

Christopher's instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/christophermetts/

Bernie's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/bernie.lombardi/


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Brett Benner:

Hey everybody. It's Brett Benner and welcome or welcome back to another episode of Behind the Stack. Before we get into today's episode, there are two books coming out today that I wanted to mention. The first is called Aftertaste by Daria, Lavelle, which says, what if you could have one last meal with someone you've loved, someone you've lost? Combining the magic of Under the Whispering Door with the high stakes culinary world of Sweet Bitter aftertaste is an epic love story, a dark comedy, and a synthetic adventure through food and grief, or as I like to say, it sounds like something between the bear. And ghost. So that is out today. The other book that I think sounds particularly interesting and is an author I really like is Chris Pavone, his new book, the Doorman, in this new novel On the worst night in the Greatest City on Earth, a doorman at the Tonys address in town is drawn into a web of intrigue, robbery, and murder. But now onto today's episode, I'm really happy to be joined again by my. bookstagram Pals, Bernie Lombardi and Christopher Metts to discuss some summer books and books that give a summer vibe. So please enjoy this episode of Behind the Stack. Welcome everybody. I, I am so excited to have back to the show. Bernie Lombardi and Christopher Metts, the darlings of Instagram for anybody who's on Instagram and follows them, they are beyond charming and with the reels, with their posts, they have incredible tastes in what they read and such an eclectic taste in what they read, which is one of the reasons I wanted to have them here today. As we're about to gear up into the summer months and summer readings. So I thought what better people to have on the show today to talk about some choice reads for summer? So thank you guys so much for being here. I'm so curious. I know you follow all of the book prizes, which takes up a big part of your year. Mm-hmm. So do you find the summer months you, you're reading changes in the summer?

Christopher Metts:

A hundred percent. This is like the downtime between prizes too. So it's kind of where it's nice to have this space between the prizes where we can dive back into our back list, look at some arcs that maybe didn't get, recognition just yet, and also explore our favorite authors. So it seems like an open-ended opportunity this summer on multiple levels, reading and traveling, and all the above.

Bernie Lombardi:

No, I mean the Booker prize long list announcement is always at the end of July, so it's only half the summer with two month I'm talking about are June and No, I know, but I would just, I would just say when I think of the summer, I think of the Booker prize long list, and so I would say the first half of the summer is kind of what Chris described for me at least, is what Chris described as like kind of like you're trying to like get to the stuff. That you'll then be distracted from Yeah. During the second half of the summer when we're reading the Booker prize long list. Yeah. And, and, and you're also like kind of in the back of your head trying to guess like what's gonna be on the Booker long list and trying not right to, trying not to read those things because then.'cause there's people who do that and then they just like disappoint themselves when those books don't get long listed. But yeah.

Brett Benner:

But isn't it also the greatest thing when the Booker prize list or any of these prize lists are announced and you've already read like three or four of them? Yes. Yeah. It is

Christopher Metts:

the best

Brett Benner:

game.

Bernie Lombardi:

Uh, the, the National Book Award, when that was announced in September. Last year I had read half the list and that was like amazing. That's, that's the only time anything like that has ever happened, but I know, and then you

Brett Benner:

can coast, I don't know that there's many people who approach the international booker and like, oh, I already read all of these. Yeah. Or like half of them, or even two of them. Yeah. So

Christopher Metts:

two is like big win.

Brett Benner:

Yeah. Yeah. Completely. Do you fine with the reading that you do over the summer? I mean before, so we'll say like launch off is Memorial Day weekend for you guys. Yeah, exactly. But does it change tonally? Is it lighter stuff? Is it stuff that you can breeze through or is it, does it matter? Is your reading? Your reading?

Bernie Lombardi:

I would say no for me. I don't know what you think.

Christopher Metts:

Yeah. I feel like Bernie's reading is pretty stable. Throughout. It's mostly depressing, so he'll just be depressed more in the summer. I think I tend to go a little lighter in the summer. Something that is maybe a little more, um, page turny, but I don't think I consciously do that. But I think that maybe I just tend to move towards the ones that are, are gonna give me that easy comfort on travels or on a plane or something that doesn't take too much time to like dig into. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. But Bernie is the same always.

Brett Benner:

And Bernie is consistently, he's consistently,

Bernie Lombardi:

I do, I do like a good like summer vibe, like, like a summer, like a hot, a atmosphere, like a hot Mediterranean, European atmosphere. Though I do feel like I, I, I'll, I'll read those like when it's not summer to like, make me think of summer.

Brett Benner:

But this sounds like the, the, this is the academic in you coming out. You know, completely. You know, so just, uh, yeah, I don't listen. I, there's, I don't know why, but lately I keep bagging on her and I don't mean to bag on her.'cause I've, I, I actually have read one and enjoyed it. But I was gonna say, I don't picture you reading like the latest Emily Henry. That's what I was gonna say.

Bernie Lombardi:

No, but actually I'm, I'm supposed to, I'm supposed to read one, supposed to this summer. This summer. Oh really? I'm supposed to read her in the summer if I'm gonna read her. Yeah.

Christopher Metts:

I think he, honestly though, I think he said that last summer. I, and I didn't, I think he said this last summer and we put a hold on the Libby book so you can listen to it on audio. And it's been,

Bernie Lombardi:

it's

Christopher Metts:

still like popped up and then

Bernie Lombardi:

we, and then I push it forward. We keep pushing it back. It's still there.

Brett Benner:

You're like, come back in 21 days when I'm ready for it. Give it to the next person. You know, I've done that too. Okay, so. Just for our viewers, our listeners, I told these guys that, it doesn't matter to me what their books are in terms of its front list or if it's back list. I'm more just interested in some titles that they're interested in, that they're gonna maybe get to this summer and that might peak or that they've already gotten to and feel they're great recommendations for somebody to read this summer. So, who wants to go first? Chris,

Christopher Metts:

what's the first question?

Brett Benner:

Give me a book that you would recommend for the this start Easy book. A book you'd recommend for the summer.

Christopher Metts:

A book I'd recommend for the summer, which it's kind of spring vibes, but Okay. I read it in the summer and I think that's why I associate it with the summer, but it would be Tom Lake by in Patchett. I read this in Mexico, in the pool. And so that's why I think fondly of it for the summer vibes, but it also kind of gives you that summer taste. You know, it's there by a lake on this, like camp where they're, you know, putting on a, on the play Our Town. And it's reflective with going back in time to the mom telling her kids this story and then going into the story. By the lake. It's very nostalgic, which I also think is very summer.'cause a lot of times when I think of the summer, I think of nostalgia.'cause I think of all like the fun times you have with your friends or with, when you go on camp or you know, go on vacation with your family. And I feel like that this book gives all of that. So that's why I, I think it's a good

Brett Benner:

Now did you read it or did you listen to it? I

Christopher Metts:

read it. I did the physical read.

Brett Benner:

Yeah, I read it too. And then I wished no. I read it too, and then halfway through. I got the audio because Meryl Streep did the audio.

Christopher Metts:

That's what I heard.

Brett Benner:

Interestingly, I saw Anne Patchett at this event here in Los Angeles talking about the book and she told the story of how she got Meryl Streep to do it, which, it was some kind of connection between, um, Emily Blunt, who she'd done the Devil Wars prato with. Mm-hmm. Her sister is married to Stanley Tucci and she is a, a book agent. Mm-hmm. And so,. I think Stanley got her somehow connected with the number and they said just email her. And and you know, true like Anne Patchett story, she was like, do you want to know how I got Meryl Streep to read the book? And the audience was like, yes. And she's like, I asked Meryl Streep to read my book and. And so she just emailed her and she said, I would love for you to read this. And it's about a mo, a mom who's an actress and a summer stock and blah, blah, blah. And Meryl Streep wrote back and said, I'd love to do it. And she said, do you wanna, do you wanna read it first? And she's like, no, I've read your other stuff. I trust you. It's fine. So I was like, that's so amazing. Right?

Christopher Metts:

Yeah. Did you, you listened to it though?

Bernie Lombardi:

No, I haven't. I haven't read it yet. You haven't read it?

Brett Benner:

I loved it. And I agree with you. It is like quintessential, like summer stock, that whole vibes of. All of it. And like picking cherries and the whole thing. Oh yeah, the cherries for sure.

Christopher Metts:

Yeah. You love cherries. That's your favorite pie. I do

Bernie Lombardi:

love cherries.

Christopher Metts:

Yeah, there's cherries in it. We'll definitely go do kinda fun.

Brett Benner:

What about you Bern

Bernie Lombardi:

Okay. I have two for this one. One's a, one's a funny one, and one's, they're

Christopher Metts:

both depressing.

Bernie Lombardi:

No, they're not. You

Christopher Metts:

read this? I mean, I thought it was

Bernie Lombardi:

No, what's not? Okay.

Christopher Metts:

Anyway, one is,

Bernie Lombardi:

Okay. So the first one is a funny one because it's a book that I read on a beach vacation and it ignited an obsession for me. So like, I just imagine me reading this on the, on the, the beach, just like Obsessed the Road by Corman McCarthy. And those just I what? Write it on vacation. This spark my, my obsession,

Brett Benner:

Christopher. Now I understand.

Bernie Lombardi:

I recommend that I, I'm not lying. We flew back to New York. We were on the subway oh, off of our flight, and that's where I finished it and I was like sobbing,

Christopher Metts:

crying on the, on the subway.

Bernie Lombardi:

So I wasn't crying on the beach, but I cried after. And then a better, a better choice would be hot milk by Deborah Levy. It was a finalist for the booker in like, I don't know, like 10 years ago, 15 years ago, some, somewhere around there. And it has like hot Mediterranean summer. Vacation vibes, like, you know, that, that they're from England. I think I actually, it's been so long that I've read this that I don't remember exactly. And her book Swimming Home also has the same like hot Mediterranean summer vacation kind of vibes. But this is about a, a, a mother and daughter. Um, and it's really good and I recommend it. And so this is, gives you smart, you know, good writing, but also like, we'll transport you to the beach.

Brett Benner:

In Europe, the Mediterranean. My God, I love that. Yeah. What about a book that transports you to somewhere else?

Bernie Lombardi:

So I'm gonna say, and this is one that I've read this year, and actually I would pair this with, you'll see with the second one, which I don't have with me right now, is on the calculation of volume, one and two, they're both transportive. Two is actually very, like, literally about like moving around. Um,

Brett Benner:

mm-hmm.

Bernie Lombardi:

I, I Have you read these yet?

Brett Benner:

I read the first.

Bernie Lombardi:

So, for those who don't know, this is about, this woman who is stuck on in a single day. So every time she wakes up, it's November 18. And so the second book, in the second book, she decides that she's kind of like over a. I dunno, over kind of like hoping that things will change and now decides to kind of like be proactive and she decides to chase the seasons and so she, she'll, you know, she, so she, she wants winter, so she, she travels to, to the north of Norway and then she wants, you know, summer, so she goes to the south of France and so she, so she's, she's literally transporting herself in the same day but ar around Europe in order to kind of like experience different still.

Brett Benner:

Okay, now I can't wait to start it.'cause when I finished the first one, my one thing is, how the hell is she doing this for? Like, right. Are we really doing literary Groundhog Day for seven volumes? Like I was like, how many, how many times did she wake up and be like, all right, he's still there. Whatever. So, no, this,

Bernie Lombardi:

the husband actually only like is mentioned like in like the beginning, once or twice. Yeah. He's not, he's not even like, he's not really in it. Not really in it. Wow. He became a CoStar,

Brett Benner:

like in Book CoStar gift

Christopher Metts:

that. Like maybe guest appearance.

Brett Benner:

Yeah, right. Also, yes. Special appearance. Buy or, you know, yes. Yeah. And credit. So, and for sure maybe with, and only had one day work.

Christopher Metts:

Mine is kind of the opposite of what you would typically want from the summer, but it's kind of more in the vein of what Bernie said where he flips between the opposite season. So he is like in the season that he. Is thinking about maybe a different season. So in the winter, he is thinking about summer, but this is kind of the opposite. So this one definitely will transport you, but to a very cold place. It's called Tology. Mm-hmm. So it's a three book. This is the compilation of the three books in the series. The other name I is another and a new name, and it's by Jan Fosse. It's translated from Norwegian, and he's in this very, very wintry cold town, but it just follows his, his day-to-day life. It's actually kind of similar to on a calculation of volume and that it's, varied. It doesn't expand. It's just, him kind of seeking. Something, and you don't necessarily know what it is, but he's exploring art, he's exploring his relationship with his neighbor, with maybe a doppelganger. And he's also reflecting on his memories of from childhood in this same little town near Christmas. And it's, it's quite lovely and it's very soft, but it's actually kind of propulsive. So you flip right through it and you wanna know what what's happening, but you also are like, feel the cold and you feel the place and the time and. It's magical, but it definitely doesn't give you summer vibes, but it it'll, it'll definitely transport you. Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner:

Yeah, I have that on my. You know, that bookstagram thing that some people do, which is like 12 books recommended by 12 friends. Mm-hmm. And that's on my list this year to read. Which of course I've, I don't think I've read one of the books yet, so I'm, I'm already failing miserably. And, we're almost half and we're almost halfway through the year. I just have to prioritize. I have to go more backlist. I really have to go more backlist.

Christopher Metts:

That one's admissible. If you break it down into three book. In the three books.'cause they're not too long as individual books.

Brett Benner:

This one, this is coming out in June. And I loved this because it is. Totally small little English town. It's actually a mystery. It's called Death at the White Heart by Chris Chibnall. Chris Chibnall created the show, broad Church. I don't know if you guys ever watched that, heard of that with Olivia Coleman. And also a very young Jonathan Bailey. And, um, but this takes place in this very small town where everyone knows each other and, a brand new young cop is driving through the town one night and he sees something on the road, which he thinks is a deer, and as he gets closer, he realizes it's, it's a man who's naked and tied to a chair with antlers planted on his head. And so the whole thing becomes in this very small town, who these people are, but it, it, it almost feels like an Agatha Christie novel, but. It's very contemporary in terms of characters. Like there's a character that's non-binary. There is a character who kind of works for like a UPS or like an Amazon delivery service, so they're very contemporary feeling characters. While in this kind of. Classic trope of small English town where everybody knows each other's name. And it's one of those places you'd probably love to go visit. It's really, really, really fun. And it's already been optioned. That's gonna be a series that's gonna start next year. So, and it reads like you get through it and you're like, okay, well clearly this is gonna be made into something, so. Mm-hmm. Um. Is there a book you guys want to get to this summer? Like what is your hope? Like if you had something that you were like, God, I really, really have to prioritize this.

Bernie Lombardi:

So because like the summer, I feel like as I was describing it earlier, is kind of like this buildup to the Booker prize long list. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I typically leading up to it, I'm like, oh, like, what about all those past booker winners that I haven't read yet? And, and so I start thinking about that and then I'll, I'll throw a few on the list. So, so these are. So I picked up three. I don't have to talk about them, but I'm just gonna show you three talking. The three former Booker winners, that I would like to get to. So we've got The Sea, the Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch.

Brett Benner:

Mm-hmm.

Bernie Lombardi:

Um, the narrow road to the Deep North. By Richard

Brett Benner:

Flanagan, and which is now is, do you know, that's now a, uh, sidebar, that's a series, right? Did you see on Amazon? Yeah. See, we saw the preview. We saw the trailer. Yeah, we

Bernie Lombardi:

saw the trailer. So that's partially why I wanna see it. And also because we're going to a literary festival while we're in Copenhagen and he's gonna be there, so, oh, wow. Okay. I wanna read this before that, and then the remains of the day, um, because I just haven't read it yet. I've read a bunch of Ishiguro books, but not his most famous one.

Brett Benner:

How about you, Chris?

Christopher Metts:

Mine are kind of into the idea of exploring the ocean. Through, a whale called Moby Dick. So I've put these three books together that I'm super excited to read. I don't know what order I'm gonna read them in, but it is, you know, Moby Dick by, Herman Melville. Also this book, which just came out in the uk. I don't know when it comes out here, but I think soon it's called Call Me Ishmail. By Z Lou Guo. And it's the retelling of Moby Dick from the female perspective, and the main character dresses as a boy to go about the Moby Dick Adventure.

Brett Benner:

I literally thought you were gonna say it from the point of view of Moby

Christopher Metts:

Moby, old Moby. No.

Brett Benner:

Right. I have to get him. Yes, I must kill him.

Christopher Metts:

And then also Melville, by Rodrigo. Reson, translated from Spanish by Will Vander Hayden. And that's kind of the, an imaginative biography of Herman Melville, but it's also got some like ghost story and magical realism elements. And I've seen a lot of people on bookstore love that one. Recently and it just won the Republic of Consciousness Prize for the US and Canada.

Bernie Lombardi:

And I'll probably join him. Yeah. On that one. I

Christopher Metts:

think Bernie liked the idea of this, this dick adventure.

Bernie Lombardi:

Well, I mean, I'm the one who wanted this one big dick adventure. Big. I wanted this one.

Christopher Metts:

I wanted. Yeah. Yeah. So Melville, I wanted to call me Ishmael, but then neither of us had read Moby Dick, so, so we were like, well, let's start There.

Brett Benner:

The one that I really wanna read that's coming out have you guys seen this new biography of Baldwin called Baldwin, A love story?

Bernie Lombardi:

Yes,

Christopher Metts:

I have not.

Bernie Lombardi:

Yes.

Brett Benner:

Oh my God, it looks so amazing. First of all, they said it's the first major biography of Baldwin in three decades, and it tells four overlapping stories about his relationships, the men in his life, which I didn't know any of this one is. The Black American painter beau for Delaney, his lover and Muse, the Swiss painter, Lucian Hop Hoppers Berger. Mm-hmm. His collaborators, the famed Turkish actor, gin Cesar, and the e iconoclastic French artist, Joran C. So it, it just, it's like a monster of a book, much like Moby Dick. And, it's coming out in August. I can't wait.

Bernie Lombardi:

Oh, I want that. Yeah. Who publish it?

Brett Benner:

FSG, but it looks beautiful. And it's this guy, Nicholas Boggs, who, who wrote it. And, um, it just, how, basically how all these relationships intersected with his work and influenced his work so much.

Bernie Lombardi:

I love that. I'm reading a Baldwin right now, so I'm excited. Yeah.

Brett Benner:

Yeah,, Chris said that, what are you reading?

Bernie Lombardi:

Just above my head. His novel, haven't read. It's his final novel and it's his big one. It's like 600, a little less than 600 pages. I read like most of his books, fiction nonfiction plays and whatnot, like when I was in grad school. But of course I always neglected his, his really, really long book. But I just decided that I was gonna do it and it's amazing. Yeah, I have like a hundred pages left. I love it.

Brett Benner:

And you guys may not have this, so that's fine. Tell me if a summer book for you, if there's anything that goes outside your normal genres at all.

Christopher Metts:

I will always pick up Riley Sagers book that it comes out in the summer and he's writes thriller, like suspense novels. And that'll be my, like one thriller or suspense book for the year.

Brett Benner:

I call'em Goosebumps for Adults.

Christopher Metts:

Yes, goosebumps for Adults. That's a perfect explanation and I do love. Love that book each summer. And I actually do read that during the summer, so that's a perfect one that isn't typical for my genre, but, but yeah, that's true. Yeah, I don't, I don't have, he has a new one coming out this summer. He does, he does a new one coming summer, like the same day every summer. Yeah,

Brett Benner:

I had one, I reviewed it today actually, and it just so surprised me'cause I used to read a lot of fantasy and I don't. Really anymore. But I used to love it. Like I loved, you know, I, I read way back, like Beyond the Game of Thrones, but all those Robert Jordan books, which are the Wheel of Time stories, and there's a series called the Red Rising Series, um, that I loved by Pierce Brown, but I was very much not into like, not, not, not into this like modern romantic thing, which people having sex with, like fairies or dragons or something. But, but I just, I just read this book, which was so good, and I. I could not believe how much I loved it and how smart it was. It's called The Devils by Joe Abercrombie and I, I got sent the audio of it and it's about this, you know, in some whatever land, this young street urchin, this woman who's found and she's this supposed heir to the throne of this kingdom and, but everyone is trying to kill her and so. The Pope puts this creat that says she needs to be escorted to the, throne. So they bring together this ragtag group of monsters who are going to take her there, and it's like a vampire, a werewolf, an elf a priest who's, you know, clearly not a monster and a saint, and then a necromancer. It is so funny. I mean, it is so funny. Like it very much feels like in the vein of like the boys that Amazon show because they're all such characters and so well drawn. I dunno, I love that. I couldn't believe I was sitting there. I'm like, I cannot believe I'm flipping out for this book like I am. And it's really been like one of my favorite books so far this year. Like I just, I love when it happens. Oh my God. And so completely unexpected and so surprising and just so funny.

Christopher Metts:

So is the idea like a full cast?

Brett Benner:

It's not. It's this one man and he's British and he's older. I looked him up and he does such an incredible job with all of these voices. It, and it's, it's a massive, like, you know, it's a adventure story and there's huge, it's like Lord of the Rings. It's, it's, it's really, really, really, really good.

Christopher Metts:

And it, it just came out, you said

Brett Benner:

it just came out, last Tuesday. Yeah. Is there a book you'd recommend for summer that once you start reading it you won't be able

Christopher Metts:

to stop? I think we kind of both. There's a claim author.

Bernie Lombardi:

Yeah. So different

Christopher Metts:

book.

Bernie Lombardi:

Yeah. So we, we. Recently became kind of obsessed with Sarah Waters. Um, and I've read Night Watch Chris read Finger Smith last summer. The, no, last winter. Winter. Like the end of the end of last year. And, um, we, we both like, just like couldn't stop reading them. We, we obsessed. We were obsessed. We loved them. Well,

Christopher Metts:

well actually I started reading Finger Smith Yeah. And became like obsessed and was flying through it. And I became obsessed with the pretty covers. Bernie was very obsessed with the idea of liking her because I love the Pretty covers because he wanted all of her new released editions in this artist who did the covers. Yes. So then he got very jealous and then picked up the night watch while I was still reading The Finger Smith. Finger Smith. Yes. So

Bernie Lombardi:

we're swapping,

Christopher Metts:

or we're swapping now I'm gonna read the Finger Smith and he's gonna

Brett Benner:

read the Night Watch. Okay. So tell me, is this I, because I kind of am familiar, I haven't read it yet with Finger Smith, but is this something ongoing character? Yes. Or, or, or no? No. They're all self-contained books. All, all, all

Christopher Metts:

individual. Yeah.

Brett Benner:

Okay.

Christopher Metts:

Yeah. Alright. She always, she explores like historical fiction, which isn't typically our genre. It's

Bernie Lombardi:

a different vibe.

Christopher Metts:

It's a

Bernie Lombardi:

different vibe. It's a d it's a different kind of historical fiction.

Christopher Metts:

It's very, um, sapphic It's very like, yeah, very lesbian. Yeah. I have to read it.

Bernie Lombardi:

And supposedly Finger Smith was inspiration for the Safe Keep, right?

Christopher Metts:

Yes. Yeah. Safe Keep was. Oh really? Yeah. Yale, Vander Wooten had said that Finger Smith inspired her.

Bernie Lombardi:

Yeah, in ways to

Christopher Metts:

write, in ways to write the Safe Keep and you can see it because I actually read, which one did I read first? Safe Keep. Safe Keep. But as I was reading Finger Smith, I was like, oh my gosh, I see it and I just read Safe Keep right before it. And I was like, I can see where she got inspiration from. Um, in so many ways. Oh wow. Um, they're very different books still, but you can see like the. It sparks

Brett Benner:

the thread. Yeah. Yeah, I, well, I was obsessed with the Save Keep too. It was like one of my favorite books that year. I just thought it was, so, yeah, it's so. So surprised me and blew me away, and I, I don't know, I maybe I'm an idiot. I never saw anything coming. I was just like, wait,

Bernie Lombardi:

what?

Brett Benner:

I,

Bernie Lombardi:

I ly the Europeans all saw it. Yeah. European saw we, we overhear it.

Brett Benner:

Yeah, I was a clueless, um, yeah. Clueless American. Mm-hmm. But I was just like, oh my God. Amazing. I read this book that's, it's coming out again in June that I love so much, and it is, so, it is this book that I couldn't put down. And it is, so do you remember those books where it's a, it's a, it's a dual thing of like, can't put it down, but also don't want it to end. Mm-hmm. And that's, that's for me with just above my head. Yeah. Okay. And I love when a book does that. I love it when you're like, I don't really, I, I don't really want the stand. I don't wanna get to the la I mean, I remember the first time that happened to me, I think it was a prayer for Rowan Meanie, and I just was like, I don't, I don't want to, I don't wanna leave these characters yet. But, um, it's this debut novel called The Slip, which is coming out and the beginning of June by Lucas Schafer. And. Oh my God, it is so good. And it's being comped right now to like Franzen and Nathan Hill. It's about this 16-year-old, um, Jewish kid who gets into a fight at school and his mom can't deal with him, so she sends him to her brother's house. In Austin, Texas for the summer, and when he's there, his uncle goes every day to a boxing gym to work out. So the kid starts to go with him and meets one of the trainers there, who's this Haitian man who kind of takes him under his wing? But then the kid disappears and the book starts 10 years later and he's never been found. And it's not a sign of foul play or anything like that. But the book slowly then goes back in time and it begins to piece together all the parts and all the people you've seen, most of whom have come through this gym. And what happened? It is great. So good. And it is such a great, like, I, I, first of all, I was so blown away that it was a debut, but I also, uh, it's just so crazy what he's playing with in terms of race and gender and there's so many things he's touching on that. At first, when I got into it, I was like, oh my God, he's gonna go there. He's really going there. But it all worked and it all made sense and it all made sense why he was doing what he's doing. And, uh. I don't know. I, I couldn't put it down. I was just, I finished it and I was like, holy shit. I got to the end of it and I was like, that was, I saw your, all your tabs. Is there a book that that makes you think of Summer?

Bernie Lombardi:

Yeah, I wanted an opportunity to be super basic.

Brett Benner:

Go be, be so basic. For our listeners, he's holding, call me by Your name. Aw, my names. And you read that with a peach Bellini.

Bernie Lombardi:

Yes, of course. A creamy peach Bellini. Yes. Dream. A

Christopher Metts:

dream. A dream. Evenings and weekends.

Brett Benner:

Evenings and weekends. Oh my God, I loved that book so much and I, I feel it got overlooked. I feel like so many people missed out on it.

Bernie Lombardi:

Yeah, they really did. I agree.

Christopher Metts:

And they can get it this summer because it screams summer. It's literally summer in England. On the tames, there's a whale washed up, four characters running amok. It's great. We picked it up when we, we bought it in London. It had come out there prior to coming out here, so we, we picked it up while we were there, um, in like November of last year.

Brett Benner:

Yeah. And I felt, it's funny, when I read that book, I thought there was a series there. Like I felt that that could be a limited series. Oh, totally. And they could make it an ongoing series called Evening and Weekends, and every season would be a different city. Yeah. You could do London the first year and you can move off to someplace else. You didn't have to keep following it. Oh yeah.

Christopher Metts:

It totally reads like that. cause like it's so propulsive and you just need to know, like, I mean, originally you're figuring out why they're all connected and how, and then you're figuring out what their dramas are and. They have such like realized characters in it. It's, it's great.

Brett Benner:

I just have to ask this, Bernie, are you someone who, like, when you go to the movies, are you someone who wants a comedy or does it have to be like, are you drama all the way?

Bernie Lombardi:

No, I'm not like that with movies, I don't think.

Christopher Metts:

No, but Bernie doesn't like comedy. I. No wait. Really? Like, you don't like, sorry? You don't like comedian?

Bernie Lombardi:

Uh, yeah. I like, I like comedic movies. I just don't like, like standup comedy. Standup. It's very specific.

Christopher Metts:

He said comedy,

Bernie Lombardi:

but I like funny things. Yeah.

Christopher Metts:

He's got a sense of humor, but he doesn't like, like I'm being funny in your face. Yeah. He likes, no, I get

Bernie Lombardi:

it. But wasn't the question

Brett Benner:

suddenly it gets very personal. We're like, we're gonna just take a break. Well this has been great guys. These are some great selections for people to think about that are not run of the mill. They are not Emily Henry. And again, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Bernie Lombardi:

I may read Emily Henry this year.

Brett Benner:

I think you should do it. I think you should do do it.

Christopher Metts:

That's gonna be on another 24 month loan.

Brett Benner:

Yeah. It's still coming in. Oh my God. I'm gonna get like a cease and desist from Emily Henry. Probably like Stop talking. Stop. Exactly. Stop. Yeah, exactly.

Christopher Metts:

She'll be, she'll be more than fine.

Brett Benner:

So thank you guys. This was awesome. I really appreciate it. And for all of our viewers, listeners, hopefully there'll be something in here to inspire you by the pool, by the mountain, by the beach, wherever you, wherever summer may take you this year. So thank you both.

Bernie Lombardi:

Thanks for having us. Blast.

Brett Benner:

Thanks again to Bernie Lombardi and Christopher Metts for joining me today, and I will link their Instagram handles below so you can definitely follow them. And if you liked what you heard today on this episode and are enjoying these, please do me a favor and like and subscribe. Also, if you have the time, the greatest thing and the most helpful thing would be for you to leave a review. I will be back next week with another author interview. Until then, have a great week, everybody.