First Quarter Favs with Renee from @itsbooktalk

In this chock full episode, Brett and returning guest Renee from @itsbooktalk  discuss some of their top reads from the first quarter of 2026 as well as six books we're looking forward to in quarter two. Get ready to fill up your TBRs! 

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https://www.instagram.com/itsbooktalk/

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Transcript

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Brett Benner 0:04

Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Behind the Stack, where today I am joined by my friend Renee from its book Talk, and it is so great to have her back. We always get into our very long discussions about so many good books, So thrilled to have you back.

Renee 0:21

Hi. Thank you for having me back. I've missed talking to you on the month in a while. I'm glad you invited me back. Thank you. As we were saying before we started recording or I was saying, I'm not even exactly sure what you've been reading, because I am a ghost on Instagram these days, and even though we talk behind the scenes, we're not always actually telling each other every single book we're reading, so I'm excited to hear what your favorites have been for the quarter. Also, I cannot believe. First quarter is almost over.

Brett Benner 0:56

And I, I, I vacillate somewhere between like, oh my God, I can't believe it's gone so quickly. And oh my God, I'm so glad it's gone so quickly.

Renee 1:03

Yeah, exactly. As we were talking about the weather, because I mean, I'm in Ohio, so I can't not talk about the weather.

Brett Benner 1:10

Oh my

Renee 1:11

God. Because it's such a. Such a factor. And this winter has been brutal and I am ready to just, let's move on. Not only let's move on with a little bit of spring reading. Let's move on with spring weather.

Brett Benner 1:25

Yeah. And see I have the opposite because it is suddenly gone from like beautiful, wonderful desert weather to suddenly it is hot. I mean, all of California is baking right now,

Renee 1:37

Well, you're not getting spring weather, Brett, unless you're gonna cool

Brett Benner 1:41

off. No, we got, we went. I, I think it is gonna cool off a little bit, but it's just too early. But speaking of hot, how cheesy is that? Alright, so what we're gonna do today is each, we have five, books that were tops for us for our, first quarter. And then at the end, we're gonna really quickly get into a few books that we're looking forward to in quarter two.

Renee 2:03

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 2:03

So why don't you kick it off?

Renee 2:05

Okay. I will. In no particular order as we didn't make it that challenging on ourselves. So I am gonna start with a backlist and if your audience remembers from our previous conversations, I'm a back lister and I am leaning into backlist again in 2026, although I do have a couple new releases in my top five. So I'm gonna start with the Half Moon by Mary Beth Keen, and I read this in January. I was having such a hard time in January after just sampling, sampling, sampling, I came across this one and this is right up my alley. It is a novel about a couple in a small town who must navigate the complexities of marriage, family, and longing. So in the story, we have Malcolm and Jess, and they've been married many years, and Malcolm runs their bar restaurant most more like a bar, a sports bar called The Half Moon. And Jess has devoted herself to her law career. So the story will take place over the course of one week when Malcolm learns a shocking. Kind of secret or shocking news about Jess. Also a patron of the bar goes missing and a blizzard hits the town of Gillum trapping everyone in place. So a lot of things happening, but it makes for very high stakes, high tension reading. And like I said, this is a story of complicated marriage. What I especially loved was her writing style. It was just the right amount of literary, which for me, when I say literary, I mean beautiful introspective sentences where I can stop and be like, Ooh, I wanna highlight that, or, yes, I I felt like that too. You know, a universal feeling she was able to capture, but she also structured the story in such a fast paced way that it was very hard to put down. So for this, I did a combo of print and audio. I thought the audio narration was excellent and. It was almost, almost five stars. The only thing that kept this from being five stars was some feelings I had towards the end about some actions that Malcolm took. Okay. And it's so nitpicky, but I flew through this book and I absolutely loved it. It's The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keen.

Brett Benner 4:46

It's a funny, I haven't read this one, but I read, ask Again. Yes. Okay. Which I loved.

Renee 4:50

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 4:51

And, and you know, she has a new one coming out in November. Yes.

Renee 4:54

I know.

Brett Benner 4:54

Which looks so good called Whale Harbor. Mm-hmm. And it's like a multi-generational story, which I love those so much. So same.

Renee 5:02

Yeah. I would,

Brett Benner 5:03

I am, I am all over this next book.

Renee 5:06

I don't even know if I've read a synopsis of that, but I did put Ask again. Yes. On my TBR. All right. What, what about you? What are you starting us off with?

Brett Benner 5:14

Okay, you know what, I'm gonna do the same thing you did, I'm gonna start with a backlist.

Renee 5:17

Okay.

Brett Benner 5:17

And one of the things that I am prioritizing for this year is more backlist for a number of reasons. One is because I feel like I am certainly one of those people that get all caught up in the sparkly new and want, you know, get the fomo, because I'm seeing everybody talking about these books and I'm like, I have to read that. And myself, like everybody else have so many damn books that are sitting there and I'm like, they're not going to just disappear. You have to read them and then make the decision what to do with them. So that's when I was like, I really have to prioritize these. And I've been doing that, first of all with the Instagram prompt of like 12 books recommended by 12 friends. Literally turfed it and read one. So I'm really trying to stick to that. And I'm really going to make a concerted effort that at least, you know, two or three books every month are gonna be backlist books. I just have to else, I'm never gonna get rid of these books.

Renee 6:11

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 6:11

So the first one that I picked is one of is on the international book or long list, and I wanted to read it last year. And so I, I had been picked, it was one of my 12 books for 12, recommended by 12 Friends. But when it also was on the long list, it was just another impetus to read it, which is The Remembered Soldier by any yet Danye. It's translated by David McKay. I'm not gonna lie, it is a beast. I mean, it's, it's about 560 pages and it's dense. But I fricking loved this book. First of all, the writing is absolutely exquisite and it has really made me. Have such incredible mad respect for translators and what they do. And this is translated from Dutch, but it's set in 1922. And a soldier in the Great War has lost his memory and has been living in a psychiatric asylum. And countless women who have been responding to a newspaper ad visit him in the hopes that it's their missing husband. And so one day, this woman, Julianne, she comes in and says, that's my husband. And she says, you know, he's a photographer. His name is Armand. We live together and against medical advice, she ends up taking him home and. This kind of reunion of the two of them doesn't necessarily turn out the way that she anticipates it's gonna be because he has no memory of anything that there's two children. And also he is burdened down by horrible PTSD these are his only memories of kind of the horrors of war. So this is the crazy part of it. You go through this book, not quite sure if he is in fact her husband.

Renee 8:06

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 8:07

And so it adds this level as you're going through it, of like, oh my god. Is this real? Did she just lie to get this man back, to get a man back who she could claim as a husband? And yet there's no reason necessarily not to believe it, but things begin to unpeel as the book is progressing and things that are being kept, both from characters and from the readers. And, but what the book really becomes to is a portrait of this marriage and this relationship. And it's written in a way that I can't, how do I describe it? It's almost, there's a kind of relentlessness to the prose, and their intensity towards each other. not to mention the fact that he starts to have violent dreams, and at one point she wakes up and he's choking her.

Renee 8:57

Oh, wow.

Brett Benner 8:57

And he has no recollection of doing any of this. So all of these things kind of crop up while they're trying to forge this new relationship. I tapped so many pages because of just like exquisite lines of prose. I had no idea where this book was going. And the ending completely turned my head around, like, in the best way. So for fans of lit fic, it is absolutely that. And it's gonna demand a little bit of you, but the payoff and the whole thing, it's, it's worth it. I mean, I'm really hoping that it ends up on the short list. I think it will. It's really great. So that's the remembered soldier by en yet danye.

Renee 9:37

Okay. I sampled that and Okay. It pulled me right in. And I didn't get as far though as the wife that you just mentioned. I didn't get very far at all, but I, I got the gist of what was happening and it was really stellar writing. And then I was like, I have so much going on that you're exactly right. Mm-hmm. It demands attention. And I first went to see if there was an audio book because I thought, if I'm gonna tackle something like this, I'd love to have an audio book. So I think Sure. There's not that I could find. Oh,

Brett Benner 10:18

interesting.

Renee 10:19

And so I set it aside because I wanna come back to it, but I don't have the, full focus for it right now to devote to that long of a book without. And, and audio perhaps with it. But

Brett Benner 10:31

yeah,

Renee 10:31

I'm curious about, and I got the feel for that where I knew the gist was somebody, there was gonna be a woman that came along to say, yes, this is my husband. And I, I already thought like, oh my gosh, like what if it's not, what if like what's going on in the story? What would be her motivation? Motive. Motive. Right. And what would be, what would happen. And so you have me even more curious.

Brett Benner 10:57

So it took me like a month to get through it. And I will say there were moments like in the, the middle part where I was like, okay, because there was this, kind of relentless thing about it. But I think that's also what is the intention of the writer.

Renee 11:10

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 11:10

And then the last 150 pages, I was like, oh my God, what is unspool? So I thought it was really. You know, one of those things where I was like, it was worth it to me, but again, I'm not gonna lie to people and be like, oh no, it's easy, it's great. It's, it's, and not because it has like big words or anything like that, but it is a mood, it is an intensity. Mm-hmm. And it is, you know, just about relationships and kind of, oh, even the relentlessness of a relationship, so,

11:42

okay.

Renee 11:43

Yeah. Oh,

Brett Benner 11:44

anyway.

Renee 11:44

Still on my TBR. Yeah. I'll pick that back up. That was a great review. I shuffled my books around a little bit here because I felt like you just talked a translated story and I thought, well, why don't I shuffle mine around and do that too? I, you might remember really had great success with, books in Translation last year, so I'm continuing that this year. And another book that I absolutely loved is A Long Pedal of the Sea by Isabelle, ie. I am slowly but surely going to be working my way through her backlist. Last year read the Japanese Lover, loved it this year. So this time a long pedal of the sea and this one is set in late 1930s. As Civil War grips, Spain, and on the one hand we have General Franco and his fascists who succeed in overthrowing the government, and as a result, there are hundreds of thousands of people who are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. And among those people is a character named Ro. She's a pregnant young widow, and she finds her life intertwined with that a victor. And he is an army doctor and just so happens to be the brother of her deceased love. Who's the father of her child. In order to survive these two must unite in a marriage, neither of them desires. And then together with 2000 other refugees attempt to make it to a new continent and possibly a new life, always with the whole of returning home. And I'm leaving that in there because that is very much a part of the story. Oh, my, I don't know how Isabel Allende does it, but she takes historical fiction and, and I really barely knew anything about this time period or the Spanish Civil War. But let me tell you, I. Could not turn the pages fast enough. And listen, I did a combo. The audio is great too, but I was in it from the get go. I worried about these characters, especially ro I just worried. And so that I was on this journey and, and I know how, how Isabel Allende, I, I went and looked at her research for this book. And so a lot of this is based on fact. Oh wow. And for me, that makes a historical fiction like really come alive because she made it so that I, as the reader could go along with 'em. And it was treacherous to go through the mountains. And, and I mean, they, when they, when I say they had to flee, they had to flee. They can't take hardly anything with 'em. So how are you gonna survive it? It was riveting. The settings came to life, the beauty of the settings, the destruction, I worried for the characters. I cried. And when that happens, I'm like, I have nothing else to say. I cried. I know. I loved it. This is like a five star note. I have no notes about it. There is absolutely nothing I didn't love I did make a note actually, one note in my story graph and it said, top read of the year Contender.

Brett Benner 15:16

Wow.

Renee 15:16

And I read this. Yeah, I read this in January and I already know that. So this one's a long Petal of the Sea by Isabelle ae.

Brett Benner 15:23

Wow. Okay. So then I'm gonna look, because we're doing like a tag thing here

Renee 15:28

and it's unintentional.

Brett Benner 15:29

Yeah. So I will do a history as well. I have two kind of history things, but I will do the first one, which we talked about before we started, which is something that was gonna be on both of our lists. Mm-hmm. So this is kind of a unison choice, but, we'll get a bonus one because Renee and I decided she'll like, well, I'll do something else and we'll, but we'll both kind of take this, which is the shock of the Light by Laurie Les Hall.

Renee 15:50

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 15:51

This is a historical novel, that reads like a thriller, effectively. So much of it, it's about a pair of siblings, tessa and Theo, and World War II has started. They were, these twins are kind of inseparable. Theo becomes a part of the,, Royal Air Force and, goes to serve. But the really kind of meat of the book is Tess's story, who gets enlisted to become a spy and is dropped into German occupied France and what happens? And, you know, it's no spoiler. It's in the beginning to know that. She disappears and kind of what happened, but also what is her whole story? But the book is also about secrets. Um, not only the secrets the siblings are holding from each other that kind of drive their own personal stories at times. But so much of this, and you know, again, not really a spoiler, but when Tessa is dropped into France, it gets completely messed up and she's completely turned upside down. What I loved so much about this book was, first of all, she's such a badass. Mm-hmm. And I loved that. I love this incredibly smart woman who is thinking on her feet where I would've pooped my pants and been killed immediately.

Renee 17:16

I wouldn't have been there. I I wouldn't have been able to do it in the first place. I, I

Brett Benner 17:18

know, like if someone approached me and said, this is what we want you to do, I'd be like, that is so nice. No, thank you. Um, yeah, so the fact that she even did it and to know all these, like historically there were these women that were enlisted to do this, and many of them, like, I think, you know, I had a conversation for my podcast with, with, with Lori, and she said, I think 11 women died in concentration camps who were captured in horrible ways. So the risks were. Immense. And you never knew who was on your side, who might be working against you, who were kind of the underground people that were planted to help you along the way or hide you or whatever. And she does an excellent job mm-hmm. Of putting you in that mind space, of driving you through it. Um, it's incredibly moving and, and I do think the book is bookended really well with Theo in the latter half of the book and kind of his story., Just to really, for anyone a who likes historical fiction, it's, it's a no-brainer. But even for people who have never picked up a book that's historical fiction, it is so, engaging and enthralling and like I said, reads like a thriller at times. I just thought it was great.

Renee 18:28

Okay. I agree with you. I'll, when you. We're talking about the people that Tessa came across the fact that she never knew who she could trust. And yes, we as the readers didn't either. That's where the thriller aspect Yes. Comes in and it, I don't know how she did it, honestly. It was brilliant. And I, I was listening to this one. I mostly listened to this. The audio narration. By Susie Riddell was fabulous. This was the audio book I was listening to and cleaning and walking Vinny and organizing my closet. And I was like, uh, I can't stop. I can't stop. It was, it was so tense. And also this was what I found interesting about this, and I thought it was like you said. We do get to shift to Theo at some point, and, but it, it takes a while. I didn't even, I had no idea really the structure of this book. So when that happens and we shift to Theo, I was like, oh no. how is this gonna work? Because I am a hundred percent in this story and I'm gonna need to know. I just, Tessa is such a great character, but she pulls it off in a way that is absolutely tremendous and brilliant. And I, I, she does it and I do think it was risky to do this type of structure, but I think she nailed it

Brett Benner 20:06

well, it's an interesting thing 'cause you would almost think. Going into it that you would have like alternating chapters between the twins, right? Showing their journeys and the fact that the, the lions portion of the book is really Tessa. I didn't even really think about Theo. I mean, every now only when, when I'd only think about Theo when Tessa would think about Theo, right? Mm-hmm. Because there was so much going on that I was just in it. So I was like, you when like suddenly reversed and we're in Theo, I was like, wait, what's gonna ha what's happening?

Renee 20:37

Right?

Brett Benner 20:37

So I was like, where's my girl? Where's my girl?

Renee 20:42

Exactly. But trust, that's what I would tell your, your audience listening and readers trust because yeah, it is worth it. It is fantastic. And also for readers who love like me, I, I love a book set over decades and I, and we get that. Yeah,

Brett Benner 21:02

me too.

Renee 21:03

And. I, again, this is another one that is, is a contender from my top, read of the Year, and you had such a great interview with her. I, I was, I was so excited to listen. You did. It was really great to hear because I ended up going and Googling her and, and just, I was fascinated by how she was able to pull off this type of story and what her background was, and, and I loved knowing that so much of it was based on truth.

Brett Benner 21:41

Yeah. I think this is gonna be one of those books as the year goes on, I think it's gonna grow. Because, I think this is gonna be a highly recommended book from reader to reader.

Renee 21:50

Yep.

Brett Benner 21:50

Uh, uh, so I think this is, I think this is gonna be one of these in 2026 that is gonna have stain power. You're gonna, you're gonna see it a lot.

Renee 21:57

I agree. I agree. Alright. Well that was our, mutual. Yes. I am shifting gears a bit for my next favorite, and this one I found doing one of my favorite things that I do, which is bookstore browsing and I love, and sometimes I have luck, and it had been a long time since I really landed on something or I, I hadn't heard of the book and I immediately got it and read it and loved it. And the book I'm talking about is the Award by Matthew Pearl. Mm. Never heard of this book. Apparently I haven't either. It came out last year in, I believe, may of 2025. I don't know how I missed this book. This is about a young writer trying to make his way through a cutthroat literary scene that turns deadly. So the publisher's blurb. On the jacket copy of this, it got me. And sometimes for better or worse, I, I can just, I can be got. It said that this book was a blend of the winner by Teddy Wayne and the plot by Gene Hemp Correlates.

Brett Benner 23:08

Oh wow.

Renee 23:08

And I immediately was like, what? I gave the winner five stars. I gave the plot four stars. So I, I was like, oh, I need to, I need to read this book. And I am happy to report that both of those comps are spot on and in the award, which I believe had a much faster plot than the plot. I think one of my criticisms about the plot was that it was a little slow at times, but this one. Is a little more short and sweet and it it's about David, an aspiring novelist who moves into a very strange Cambridge, Massachusetts apartment with his girlfriend and really kind of the first day they move in. He discovers that the very famous author, and that is in all caps, like super famous author, think Stephen King type of author, Silas Hale lives below him, and as they move in and get settled, things start happening. The consequences are pretty shocking. And I'm not saying anything else about this book because I was absolutely surprised and I, I want readers to be surprised. But I will say, if you love being immersed in the drama of the literary world, the sarcasm, the satire, I found it to be pretty realistic. If you like to be a fly on the wall of the literary world, this delivers on that. And I found this story to be very, very clever, very entertaining. I will add that the audio narration is also excellent. And again, this is on the shorter side. It's under 300 pages. I binged it. It is the award by Matthew Pearl.

Brett Benner 25:02

Okay, I have to take a PSA right here.

Renee 25:04

Okay.

Brett Benner 25:04

And say, what I've started to do as we're having these conversations is sit here with Pango books open on the app, and I'm literally going through and be like, oh, that's there. Oh, that's there. And putting it in my carts.

Renee 25:19

Oh

Brett Benner 25:19

my gosh. 'cause I have this huge thing of selling all these books. They have this huge cash of like credit money.

Renee 25:24

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 25:24

And it's public service announcing people. It's $10 on Pango. There's four copies. There might be three because I might get one, but I'm serious because I'm like, especially with this backlist stuff, you know, sometimes it's like library and stuff. But also this sounds fantastic. I've read the Dante Club by him. I had to look that up. Okay. Years ago. And he's great. Like for very smart thrillers.

25:47

I

Renee 25:47

dunno how so. This sounds

Brett Benner 25:48

great.

Renee 25:48

I dunno how I missed this. I absolutely have no idea. And, but Barnes and Noble had it on their main. Mystery thriller shelf, like forward facing. Interesting. And it came out in May. Yeah. And you just never know what you're gonna find when you take some time to, to browse the shelves. And I happen to have a lot of time and this one was a gem, so Yeah. If you read it, let me know.

Brett Benner 26:14

Yeah, no, I'm literally, I put it in my cart. Okay. So I'm switching gears a little bit. I was gonna do another historical, but I'll come back to that one. So my next one, it's interesting. You know what, it's kind of in line with you. I'm not switching gears because this is, could be classified as a thriller in one regard. But it's so many things. The book is Good. People by Pat Mina Sabi. This came out this year, I believe it was the Good Morning America Pick. I think

Renee 26:43

you're right

Brett Benner 26:43

and. I'd heard the premise of this book and really didn't know too much about it, and I'm not gonna give too much because I think it works better the less, you know. Mm-hmm. I will say, I started this on audio and it's a full cast, but then I came home one day, I just started it and I sat down to kind of catch up where I was in the book and I didn't put it down, I just kept going. This is about an Afghani family that, moves out of the country. They become immigrants when the,, Soviets invade. So it's a husband and wife, and at the time they have two little kids, a boy and a girl. They come to Virginia, which I had found out because I had patina on the podcast, that, Virginia is one of, if not the largest population of Afghani people in the US and a lot of it is because they come there for opportunities. There's government jobs that they could get into, however. The book starts and it's years later, and the husband of this couple is extremely ambitious. You know, as he says, he, you come to America and you expect to be a cab driver, and that's not what he wants to be. So he's extremely ambitious and works his way up and becomes a self-made man loaded. And so his children, by the time the book opens, they now have four kids. And the two that were little in the beginning are teenagers. His children have grown up with an incredible amount of wealth and privilege, but the book opens and something has happened. We don't know what it is. At first. The story slowly reveals what it was that took place. But the way the story reveals itself is by everyone around the family. The story is told almost in a Greek chorus, like way from. Family members, friends of the family, school administrators, teachers, neighbors, all of these people are part of the conversation that reveal first what happened when that is revealed. That was only like the halfway point of the book. And I was like, where the hell does this thing go now? And my mind was blown what she does with it.

Renee 28:53

Oh,

Brett Benner 28:53

it brings up so many questions about immigration, race, prejudice, and there's a lot I can't really talk about. And even when she was on the podcast, I had to do, and I'd never done this before, I did a spoiler section because I had to find out answers to questions that I had that. Wouldn't have come up. But I also love a book that introduces me to ideas and things es especially say culturally that I would've never been aware of. And it absolutely does that. This would be an amazing book for a book club because it brings up so many different thoughts that I would love to have conversations with people about to say, what did you think of this? And how did you feel about this? And not only that, but without telling you anything, what do you think actually happened? And that's all I'll say.

Renee 29:44

Oh, your, your review is excellent. I have not heard any bad things about this book in my substack, community. Everybody who has mentioned reading this has absolutely loved it. And I know I have to read this. I know it. I just have not, not picked it up yet, but I will.

Brett Benner 30:04

Yeah.

Renee 30:04

I think you're gonna love it. Your review is really, yeah. Your reviewed just. Killed it. I'm, I'm dying to know what happened.

Brett Benner 30:11

it's, it's great. It's great and interesting and I kept being like, oh my God, oh my God. Oh my God. And just when you think one thing, something, uh, it just makes you, it, it's, it's a mind fuck. So that's all I'll say. It's really good.

Renee 30:27

Did you say this is a debut?

Brett Benner 30:28

It is a debut. Wow. Yeah. And it's, it is an incredible, again, I'm having another year, like last year and, you know, one of the things that I try to focus on in a large way with the podcast is I love to have debut authors, not only because they think that they need the launch. Mm-hmm. It only helps them. But they, last year and the year before, many of my favorite books were debut authors.

Renee 30:52

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 30:52

Same. And um, so it always is so exciting to me to read something. And like, this is one of those ones where I said to her in the beginning. I said, I don't mean this with any condescension. I'm just so blown away. I cannot believe this is a debut. Mm-hmm. Like this is, you know, it's really exciting. So

Renee 31:09

anyway.

Brett Benner 31:09

Okay.

Renee 31:09

Alright. Ooh. All right. I'm excited to get to that one. Okay, my, now my next book is a new release and it's a memoir and it is a buzzy memoir. It's Strangers, a Memoir of Marriage by Bell Burden. Mm-hmm. Now, I had no intentions of reading this, not for any reason. But then again, I kept hearing wildly different opinions on this. Many people I know d nfd it. And then others were giving it five stars and absolutely loved it. And finally I was like, I need to find out for myself what I think. I was so curious. I downloaded the audio, she narrates from the jump. I was pulled in. There's something about her narration and there's definitely something stellar and compelling about her writing style. And it's from the beginning. So this is a story again, as I said about a marriage. It is about the sudden end to a seemingly happy marriage. And we, we started March of 2020. Bell burden and her family are safe and secure. It's her husband and two kids. They have three kids, but two of them were with their parents on their house on Martha's Vineyard. When the pandemic hit and like locked down, they left Manhattan and went to their house on Martha's Vineyard to well leave the city and just kind of, I guess, see how long lockdown was gonna take and be on Martha's Vineyard. They, she sets up the scene just brilliantly navigating the early days of the pandemic. They're building fires in the afternoon. They're drinking whiskey sours. They're making roast chicken. Then with no warning or explanation, her husband of 20 years announces that he's leaving. And oh, by the way, I don't want you, I don't want to be married and I will sign off on all custody out of the blue. And this is the story. And I don't, I really don't wanna say anything else, but this is the beginning. That is the beginning, what I'm telling you. And it would, when I say one of the things I love about memoirs, really good memoirs is getting a chance to be a fly on the wall, because

Brett Benner 33:46

yeah,

Renee 33:47

I cannot imagine being in SI. Was riveted to, to find out what happened or what's going to happen and all of the above. So in as we move on through strangers, bell Burden will revisit her marriage. She is searching for clues that her husband was not who she always thought he was. She is examining her relationship through different lenses. She's trying to reckon with her own family history. So her, she's a descendant of the Vanderbilts. There is. Oh, wow. Tremendous wealth we're talking about here. Brett, you might know her, her grandmother, but I didn't, her grandmother was Babe Paley from one of of the Swans who

Brett Benner 34:34

Yes, yes.

Renee 34:35

Was friends with, with Truman

Brett Benner 34:36

Capote

Renee 34:36

Burnes Truman. Yes.

Brett Benner 34:37

Yes.

Renee 34:38

So there is talk about. That as being part of her family history. So

Brett Benner 34:43

interesting.

Renee 34:44

It was re very interesting and I, I really actually didn't know that side of it. And that's, it's the story. It's what happened. That sounds

Brett Benner 34:52

amazing.

Renee 34:53

It is so good. It's, I gave it five stars. So that's where I landed on, you know, between people that I knew and those who loved it, those who d nfd it. There has been a lot of criticism that I'm seeing and what I was told by people who d nfd it was, they didn't think that she addressed her privilege. And my opinion on that is that she did, and my other, the other, she did address it and there, there were times when. She seemed clueless about it, but it, it all felt very real. You know, it's hard, it is hard to criticize a memoir like this is her story. Right. I thought she, I thought she did a great job with the privilege that is obviously there. And what I, what I will also say is what I was like grappling with as I was listening and trying to really, I was on the fence, like, what do I think, where do I land on this? I think it would've been really hard to, as a reader and a listener to listen to her pound me over the head with her privilege. You know what I mean? Right. And so I think she struck a pretty good balance of it. That's just my opinion. This book is something, it, it's just riveting. It's riveting.

Brett Benner 36:16

It sounds like they should make a movie out of it., I mean, having not read it, I, oh my

Renee 36:20

God. Yeah. I would love to know what you think and, um, okay. Yeah. So yeah, no, it sounds

Brett Benner 36:24

great.

Renee 36:24

That one is Strangers a Memoir of Marriage by Bell Burden.

Brett Benner 36:29

Speaking of marriage, Alright, so this is another debut. This is absolutely, like for me, it could be one of my favorite books of the year.

Renee 36:40

Ooh.

Brett Benner 36:41

And it's short, it gets you through it. It's called A Private Man, by Stephanie Akia. This is a book that is fiction based on fact. Stephanie Stasia's, grandparents met, when her grandfather was a Catholic priest, and her grandmother Came to work at the parish that, her grandfather was at, to teach young women basically about, being in the church and how to be a part of the church, and also just about maturation and becoming young women. They end up falling in love. So this is the interesting thing. I went into this thinking, okay, it's the thornbirds because I'm a child of the seventies, but it is not the thornbirds. In fact, this quote unquote relationship doesn't even really take part until like the final third of the book. What it's really about are these two people, but specifically the grandmother. About who she was, this brilliant, brilliant minded, strong-willed,, feminist who, ends up meeting this man who she kind of goes toe to toe with and really pushes him on all of his views and spirituality and just questions that come up about, you know, what is the purpose of the church? What is it really supposed to mean for leaders? And, people who are shepherding other people into a religious life, and what is the purpose of people who work in the church, whether it's, you know, priests or nuns or any of that. What is their role and what should it be? So there's a lot of questions that come up, but it's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful book. Absolutely exquisite writing. I mean, Stephanie Akia is a, was a poet and her, she has a book of published poems and it's no surprise to me, one of the people that blurbed the book is Sean Hewitt, who is a poet as well. And Sean Hewitt wrote this,, extraordinary book last year called Open Heaven. And it felt very much of that in terms of longing, in terms of, relationships. It is just truly. An exquisite novel. I I, I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. So, oh, anyway, that's a private man by Stephanie Akia.

Renee 39:14

Okay. Well you are the one that put that on my radar way back in the fall when you talked about Yeah. Being that, being an anticipated read for you. So I, I'm glad you loved it.

Brett Benner 39:25

I really did. And it comes out, April 14th So look for that. Really, really

Renee 39:31

good. Okay. Alright. Yes, I will definitely be reading that. Okay. I'm gonna jump, I, I'll jump on quickly with my, extra pick that. Sure, yeah. Since we had, since, we had Shock of the Light together. So another book I loved and almost would, it would've been very close to make my Top five, is Kin by Tiri Jones and this one. Her newest novel after many years, and American Marriage was what we probably so many of us read years ago, but this one is about Vernice and Annie. They are two motherless daughters raised in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, and they have been best friends and neighbors since their earliest childhood. But they are faded to live starkly different lives. One of them is raised by a fierce aunt, determined to give her a stable home in the wake of her mother's death. The other is raised by her grandma. One of them is gonna go off to Spelman College and the other is going to spend years searching for the mother who abandoned her. But through all of that, their friendship remains. They stay connected, and they stay a part of each other's lives. And again, so another tricky structure that worked to perfection, I absolutely felt connected to the both of these girls immediately. We do meet them as children, and I like how she took us pretty quickly through their younger years. I loved the side characters. They're in a fairly small community, so you, you get quite a few side characters. You get, you know, the aunt and the, and it's very immersive. And then as they grow up and they, and. One goes to college and the other makes a different journey. It was the way she chose to tell it was alternating perspectives, which sometimes is tricky, but in this situation, it was so good. I, I found myself equally invested in Bernice's perspective. And then we would go to Annie and I'd be like, oh, I can't wait to find out what's going on with Annie. And then, but also I can't wait to get back to Vernice. It. It was so good. Yeah. And that is, that is so hard to do. I would imagine. So I thought Terry Jones managed to capture the essence of these girls and then women, their friendship, what they wanted out of life, which was very different. The, the path that they took were so different. And I was there for the ride. This is a real, in my notes, I, I put, this is a real feelings story. Mm-hmm. I felt like they were real people and they were very flawed characters, which I love. And their stories just. Worked on every level. The, this is one of those books, I finished it in early February and I have liked it even more as time has went on because

Brett Benner 42:55

Oh, I love

Renee 42:56

that. Yeah. When I initially finished, I was like, absolutely. I'm like 4.25 was what I initially gave it, only because there was just some parts of it. I don't even wanna mention what it was now, 'cause I don't wanna give any sort of spoilers away. But as time has went on, I bumped it up. I bumped it up 4.5 to 4.75 because I haven't stopped thinking about Vernice and Annie and what the author chose to do with our stories. And those characters have really stayed with me so. I love when that happens though. I love, I mean, I just do, a star rating for myself right when I finish. But I love when a story has staying power and I think, I think this one does, so that one is kin by Ari Jones.

Brett Benner 43:45

Yeah. I, and I think books that have that staying power and make you keep thinking, that's when I always like, and I thought about that a lot last year, especially when I was compiling my best of the year.

Renee 43:54

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 43:55

And I thought, what are the books that are still sticking in in my head? What are the books that I still come back to and say, oh my God, or what were the characters that resonated with me? And those are the things that end up making that list because you know, we do read a lot and there's so much that falls by the wayside. And there's also some things that you remember general plot points, but you know, sometimes it's an emotional gut reaction. And the emotional gut reactions to characters or to the story are also those things that. And it sounds like what that was for you with this? Mm-hmm. Yes. So I can't wait to read it. And I've also just loved watching her on all the press tour for this because she's so charming. Mm-hmm. And she's so funny, and she's just such an accessible person to kind of tap into. So she seems like a lovely person. So it's like, again, not only is she an incredible writer, but you, you, you want her to succeed. Do you know what I mean?

Renee 44:53

Agree. I watched. One interview with her. I don't remember where it was. It wasn't Oprah's. I'm gonna listen to that. But I really loved, I thought she seemed so nice and I, yeah. And then the, the question was really good because it was about how she created, you know, such vivid setting details, which I didn't even mention, but it was absolutely true. And she talked about that because a lot of, a lot of what she incorporated were details from, the Jim Crow era. And gosh, it was, you know, little things and she talked about, yeah. How that was very purposeful, but also wow, did that bring the story to life even more

Brett Benner 45:32

Good. Okay, great. I'm excited.

Renee 45:34

Yes.

Brett Benner 45:35

Okay. So my last one of this group, totally surprised me. Not, not totally because I expected to like it. I, I loved it. And,, I started to read The book. And then I had the audio and listened to it on audio, so the book is the Complex by Koran Mahajan., this is a family epic. I read some of the book, but I listen to most of this on audio. The narrator, Neil Shaw is phenomenal. Again. There's a density to this book, and I don't mean it's not readable, it's immediately readable,, more than anything else. It's just a large cast because it's an extended family, but I never was lost at all. it runs between the seventies and the present, effectively the present day about a large family in Delhi that lives in this apartment complex together, they own this thing. There's, two uncles and then a nephew. All of them are trying to live, up to the reputation of the father who has passed, who is kind of a great man, and none of them really can. The nephew has moved to. America to try to become successful there. While the two uncles are still back in. Delhi, the nephew who goes to America, his wife, her name is Gita, comes back for a birthday party. I don't remember the exact celebration, but all this to say, the oldest uncle rapes her while they're at the party this kind of sets off, a chain of events that goes over years, between family members, partially because of how that affects her relationship with her husband and what that does. Also, setting up who this uncle is who becomes very politically ambitious, in terms of the whole, indian political system. These were a lot of things I did not know that were kind of informative to me. Going up through the assassination of Endear Gandhi. It's really good and reads almost like a soap opera at times because of the relationship between these siblings. For me, the book really hinged on all the wives. It was really their story. The brothers were boobs, like across the board. They were all kind of screw ups and fuck up and just complete toxic masculinity. But their wives and, and their choices and how they're living their life and, what they're forced to do and how they get through things was really compelling to me. This is one of those books that as I was going through it, I was thinking, I should be interviewing him, I should be interviewing him. And I just, I didn't do it, and I almost regret it. And there's nothing to say I couldn't at some point.

Renee 48:21

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 48:22

But there was so much to unpack with this book, and I want more people to read it because I really wanna have conversations with people about it. I do think, like, I know that there's been people, I've seen a few people on Instagram, like somebody who didn't like it much at all. So I don't know that it wouldn't be a polarizing book.

Renee 48:40

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 48:40

I don't know. I just, I absolutely loved it. It opened me up to a whole world And talking about the caste system, talking about immigration, it's, it's a really, really interesting book. That's the complex by Koran Mahajan.

Renee 48:57

Oh, I don't think I've heard of that. All right.

Brett Benner 49:01

So now we're gonna launch into three books that we're really looking forward to. I have to tell you, like, this was even harder for me than coming up with five to talk about. There's so much. I mean, honestly, I can do a whole episode just on June.

Renee 49:16

I I could too. And actually I'm excited, for next time too because there's a lot of July releases.

Brett Benner 49:23

Oh my gosh. This, this summer is. Crazy. It's, it's crazy. So,

Renee 49:29

yeah. It's gonna be good though it off, it's good. Crazy.

Brett Benner 49:32

Yeah.

Renee 49:33

Okay. I am gonna kick it off with a non-fiction, and it's called The Table Where We Meet. Lessons Learned From Dinner With 1000 Strangers by Jess Janz, and it comes out May 5th. And there's several things that caught my eye with this one. And Jen Janz is someone who found herself craving deeper conversations, but was trapped in a world of small talk. I'll tell you that, called right to me. So she decided to take a leap. And what started as a casual idea in a hair salon soon became dinner with strangers. A growing movement where guests gather around a table, introduce themselves without ever mentioning work. Share who they are beyond the job title. No scripts, no expectations, just curiosity, courage, and a seat at the table. And through these essays, Jess is gonna reflect on what she's learned from hosting dinners with more than a thousand strangers across North America. Essays that are tender, practical, looking at what it means to belong, how to ask better questions, which I love that. Mm, why connection requires us to risk being truly seen and more it is being described as funny, heartbreaking, deeply human, and an opportunity to reveal how. We all seem, we all have a lot more in common than what we initially probably think, if we can let our guard down. And I, so I really like the sound of this. I'm very curious. Wow. It really, it got me with the, the small talk because I can struggle with small talk especially, I don't know, do you find that as you get, especially as we get older. But I'm an introvert too, and the older I get, I have a hard, I hard time with small talk. I just,

Brett Benner 51:34

I, I, I

Renee 51:35

am with, I can do book, small talk if it's book small talk. Yes, please. But also I want, I just really like deeper conversations because it just, I feel like I get to know people better and. I'm not learning anything with small talk. I'm just, I'm not at that play place in life. And how many

Brett Benner 51:55

and how many conversations can you start with? What are you reading

Renee 51:58

exactly? I mean, I try, I kind of try to, but well, but yeah. Also as, as someone who for, for years was a stay at home mom that work, I, I saw so many people change. I, maybe not the people, but the course of the conversation change when I was asked, what do you do?

Brett Benner 52:21

Mm-hmm.

Renee 52:21

And to say, I'm a stay at home mom, which I personally think is a very hard job.

Brett Benner 52:28

Oh my God,

Renee 52:28

it's the hardest. I would see people the hardest be like, oh, you know, therefore I have nothing. I have nothing to contribute to a conversation because I, I'm a stay at home mom. It, I, I literally saw people shift and I became very uninteresting and. I have plenty of interesting things to talk about, you know what I mean? So the fact that this takes job titles off the table, I thought that was a really interesting take on setting up a dinner for conversation. So That was appealing to me. So that one is the table where we meet lessons learned from Dinner with 1000 Strangers by Jess Jan.

Brett Benner 53:11

That sounds great.

Renee 53:12

Yeah.

Brett Benner 53:13

It's so weird 'cause I'm looking at my choices and I feel like I'm literally dropping into Ireland, so I might have to change something up. We'll see how we go through these 'cause I have other changes, but I think I've talked about this before, my first one and it's been one of my most anticipated of the year. So I'm really excited that we're coming up to it. 'cause it comes up May 19th, it's called All Them Dogs by Jamal White. I think this sounds so incredible. It says, Tony Ward is back in Dublin after five years in England where he fled. After murdering a rival gang member, he returns to find that his mentor is dead and his best friend has gone straight keen to reestablish himself. He jumps at the chance to work for the enforcer of a local crime boss. But flute Walsh is a far cry from the boy. Tony once knew, drawn to flute in ways he never expected. Tony finds that the boundaries he thought he understood are breaking down. In a world where nothing stays buried and where retribution is just a bullet away by turns, savage, erotic, and unexpectedly tender, all them dogs is a gripping story of violence, lust, and greed that explores one man's struggle to find balance in an unsparing world. Um, I've been following this because I think it's The Guardian puts out every year their list of like 12 new writers to watch. And this was on that list and he just seems really interesting, 'cause he said he is worked in publishing. He was a youth activist and managed one of Ireland's leading tattoo shops. Oh yeah. Um, so it sounds like a really interesting guy. So. I'm really, really excited for this one. This, that again, is all them Dogs by Jamal White.

Renee 54:57

Okay. All right. Next, I'm changing it up a little bit. As we approach summer, I like to throw in, you know, some, some complicated romance if possible. And also, Brett, this one's kind of for you. I don't know if I, I'm curious to hear if you, if you know about this one, it's called The Mist Connection by Tia Williams. No. And it comes out June 16th. Okay. So in this story we have Sasha Cruz and she knows types. And guess what her job is? She is a booked and busy casting agent.

Brett Benner 55:35

Oh my God. Wow.

Renee 55:36

Yeah. So I thought I have to bring this for Rhet. She's always casting at happy hour, the grocery store everywhere. She's all about finding the perfect person to slot into the perfect role. What she doesn't do, however, is relationships. Too much energy, not enough time. She's not about it. But then on a flight to Paris for work, a chance encounter with her type changes everything. So Sasha is seated next to a attractive mystery man, and sparks fly, but they never end up exchanging contact information. So she is convinced she has lost out on her soulmate. And she ends up emailing her work friend for help, but accidentally writes the email to the entire company worldwide. And so what ends up transpiring is an international manhunt to find seat FI love, I don't know. Doesn't that sound fun?

Brett Benner 56:45

Yeah. It sounds completely wacky and funny and yes,

Renee 56:48

but Tia Williams is the author of Seven Days in June, which I loved many years ago. So I thought, okay, yeah, I, I, let's do this. I'm gonna give this a try. So that one is The Missed Connection by Tia Williams.

Brett Benner 57:05

Awesome. Okay. I am gonna switch it up because I will just say this., I was gonna go with a big book. One of my books, I was gonna go with one of the obvious big books that's coming up, and I'm not gonna do that. Because those books are gonna get enough of their own attention.

Renee 57:18

Uh, you

Brett Benner 57:18

know,

Renee 57:18

anyway, you know what I did? I did the same thing. That's why I didn't bring any of the big books. I, I decided to go with, um, kind of more under the radars.

Brett Benner 57:28

Yeah. Okay. So this next one was sent to me by a publicist who said this is one of her favorite books she's read this year.

Renee 57:35

Ooh.

Brett Benner 57:36

And I'm gonna read this to you. It sounds so crazy. It's called Canon by Paige Lewis. This is a debut. I will just read you. John Green does the front blurb and it says, A scorching brilliant, wildly funny, and deeply moving epic. So it says, Yara can't comprehend why God has chosen them to slay Dominic, the ruthless leader of the army of bad guys cast out by their family and reeling from a destructive relationship. Yara has never felt weaker, but with nothing left to lose, they strike a deal. Abandoning their solitary days of embroidery and obsessive cleaning. Yara reluctantly embarks on a perilous odyssey designed to prepare them for the daunting mission ahead. Meanwhile, aina dis a disillusioned prophet with a terrifying secret power is determined to become the hero of this story, desperately seeking the glory of God's approval on the promise of heaven, where she hopes to reunite with her. Beloved mother must first persuade Harpo the leader of the good guys, that her plan is God's will as their journeys unfold in a series of unforgettable adventures, Yara Andina are propelled towards each other and transformative revelations about life, death, and destiny, and this intensely captivating, irreverent epic from a singularly brilliant new voice in fiction. It just sounds so crazy. That sounds

Renee 59:00

wacky,

Brett Benner 59:01

wacky, and even like I just opened a page in this book and that it, it's all broken into like short chapters that seem to vary in terms of how it's set up, whether it's like Short Pros or whatever This one chapter is called, don't forget about our Beloved Newt. So I mean, another one's entitled some Mary Poppins Bullshit. So it seems like it's gonna be really funny. I have no idea. This is gonna be like Total Left Bank, book, but it's Canon by Paige Lewis. So we'll see.

Renee 59:35

Interesting. Okay. Report,

Brett Benner 59:37

oh, I should say that comes report

Renee 59:38

back.

Brett Benner 59:39

Yes. May 19th that comes out. Okay. So I'll report back.

Renee 59:42

Okay. I am heading into thriller territory, which is something I love. In the summer, more psychological thriller territory, also trusted author. This one is the Au Pair by Teddy Wayne. I just mentioned Teddy Wayne when I talked about the award because Teddy Wayne wrote the winner, which I absolutely loved, and the Au Pair comes out June 30th. This one is about the explosive impact of a beautiful Norwegian au pair on a celebrated novelist and his wife. Just seriously give me a novelist. Story, I am all about them. And in this story we have Stephen Hammer, who was once a literary star. Now his career is floundering, his marriage to a high powered woman is crumbling. And the only bright spot in his life is Astrid, the Norwegian o pair who cares for their children and thinks his neglected novels are great. But what begins as a secret infatuation soon spirals into a scandal that makes them both infamous. And I think I'm gonna leave the synopsis right there because I don't wanna know anything else. And I just don't wanna give anything else away. Cause I think that that is enough to tempt us. I really, really enjoy Teddy Wayne's writing, and like I said, I think the winner was hugely under the radar. And if you haven't read that and you want like a really fun summer pool, binge read, beach read, um, pick that up. This one is the au pair by Teddy Wayne, and it comes out June 30th.

Brett Benner 1:01:33

That sounds really fun.

Renee 1:01:34

I know.

Brett Benner 1:01:35

Okay, I'm gonna give you a choice. Do you want an Irish book or a debut?

Renee 1:01:39

Oh, that's tough. I, since it's March when we're recording here, let's go with Irish.

Brett Benner 1:01:47

Okay. Okay. So, this book is called Frida Sla as herself by Anna Kinsella. I, I, originally, I thought this was a debut, and then when I was reading it I was like, oh, it's, this is her second book. But it says, when Friis, Slattery and John on John Redden meet in a Dublin pub in 2006, neither can imagine how they will come to shape and define each other's lives. Frida is struggling to launch her acting career while John is already gaining a name for himself as a director. From the first they seen each other potential and the chance to create work that matters through the lines between collaboration and exploitation, friendship and desire will prove dangerously slippery. John decides to cast Frida as the lead in his next play, putting the pair on a path to success, fame, and critical acclaim with a financial crisis looming the next 15 years takes 'em from Dublin to London, New York, and Los Angeles, and through success and disappointment. Joy and heartbreak. Careers are built, marriage is made and destroyed, but over great distance and time, Frida and John can never quite shake the other through. Their connection is te though their connection is tested and stretched to the point of rupture, something remains that outlasts their work. And the social transformations of the period tracing the complex winding path of a relationship, Frida Slattery as herself, is an exhilarating, richly examined examination of art authorship, love, betrayal, and finding one's voice. I think this sounds so good.

Renee 1:03:18

Oh my

Brett Benner 1:03:19

gosh. I love, like we were talking about before, like a multi-year epic. So yeah, I, I don't know. I just think it sounds,

Renee 1:03:26

that sounds so good. I've never heard of it.

Brett Benner 1:03:30

Yeah. Never.

Renee 1:03:30

I'm glad I said Irish. Oh my, yeah. I need, I need to try to get that book. That sounds so good.

Brett Benner 1:03:37

Yeah. It comes out May 5th.

Renee 1:03:40

Okay. That's a big pub day. That's

Brett Benner 1:03:42

Frida Slattery as herself by Anna Kinsella. I also live a book about art and artists and there's so many things in this that just sound. Right up my alley and, you know, a relationship of be between a man and a woman over many years. And like, it's the whole, are they destined? Mm-hmm. You know, I, what I get from this is are they destined to be together? Is it that kind of thing. Are they,

Renee 1:04:02

yeah.

Brett Benner 1:04:03

So I kind of, that's why I said it seems like, it seems like something that like Paul Mescal would be in, in a movie.

Renee 1:04:10

Oh my gosh. You put some, some new ones on my, radar.

Brett Benner 1:04:13

Well, this is fantastic. I think first of all, I think we've given plenty of choices for people all over the spectrum of things to, generate towards. I'm, I'm so excited. Like I'm literally, I, as I said before, I have my Pango books cart ready to go.

Renee 1:04:28

I know I am

Brett Benner 1:04:29

too. From this back list. Again, I'm filling a PSA, I personally love Pango books, and get so much from there because you can get stuff really cheap. I don't know if you've ever get stuff from there, but you can get stuff cheap and I've, I've never had a bad experience where I got a book and I was like, well, this is crap. Because I think most of the people who are selling on there, a lot of them have such reverence for books that they take care of them. So

Renee 1:04:50

yes, I've ordered a few things from there, and I have had great, great luck fast shipping. Yeah. All yes, I agree with you. I think the readers and they take care of their books.

Brett Benner 1:05:02

But this is great. So we'll certainly be back, if not before we'll be back for a second quarter. And like you said, June is a crazy month.

Renee 1:05:10

Mm-hmm.

Brett Benner 1:05:11

May is a crazy month. So there's plenty of stuff to uh,

Renee 1:05:16

yeah. To

Brett Benner 1:05:16

choose from.

Renee 1:05:17

It'll be, it'll be fun, the next time we talk to see if we've read any of these and

Brett Benner 1:05:23

yeah.

Renee 1:05:24

If they're a favorite. And I'm always excited to talk books with you. So Thank you likewise for having me.

Brett Benner 1:05:31

Thank you for being here and, yeah, we'll talk soon.

Renee 1:05:35

Okay.