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PINEAPPLE STREET

by Jenny Jackson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 7, 2023

A remarkably enjoyable visit with the annoying one percent, as close to crazy rich WASPs as WASPs can get.

Money makes the world go round, particularly the world of an elite Brooklyn family.

"On good days, Sasha could acknowledge how incredibly lucky she was to live in her house. It was a four-story Brooklyn limestone, a massive, formal palace that could have held ten of the one-bedroom apartments Sasha had lived in before. But on bad days...." As Sasha finally admits in a gloves-off monologue following a gender reveal party gone awry, on bad days, it's "a janky Grey Gardens full of old toothbrushes and moldy baskets." A wealthier cousin of Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's The Nest , Knopf editor Jackson's fiction debut is a comedy of manners charting the fates of the Stockton siblings and their spouses, circling around the house where they grew up in Brooklyn Heights, now inhabited by Cord and his wife, Sasha, who is referred to as the Gold Digger by Cord's sisters, Darley and Georgiana. That's unfair, though: Sasha signed a prenup. Meanwhile, Darley and her husband, Malcolm, a Korean American aviation-industry analyst who did not sign a prenup, are living off their own money as Darley fights the tedium of the entitled mommy lifestyle. Georgiana, much younger than her siblings, still single, is considered the do-gooder of the family because she works for a nonprofit, where she becomes involved in a passionate and very ill-advised relationship. From the opening scene, where Sasha's mother-in-law shows up to dinner with an entire replacement menu and a revised "tablescape," Jackson has a deft hand with all the passive-aggressive interactions that are so common in family life, perhaps particularly in this socio-economic stratum. She knows her party themes, her tennis clubs, her silent auctions, and her WASP family dynamics. Rich-people jokes, cultural acuity, and entertaining banter keep this novel moving at a sprightly pace as the characters learn their lessons about money and morals, though some of the virtuous reform seems a little much.

Pub Date: March 7, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-59-349069-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023

LITERARY FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | GENERAL FICTION

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SEEN & HEARD

BY ANY OTHER NAME

by Jodi Picoult ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 20, 2024

A vibrant tale of a remarkable woman.

Who was Shakespeare?

Move over, Earl of Oxford and Francis Bacon: There’s another contender for the true author of plays attributed to the bard of Stratford—Emilia Bassano, a clever, outspoken, educated woman who takes center stage in Picoult’s spirited novel. Of Italian heritage, from a family of court musicians, Emilia was a hidden Jew and the courtesan of a much older nobleman who vetted plays to be performed for Queen Elizabeth. She was well traveled—unlike Shakespeare, she visited Italy and Denmark, where, Picoult imagines, she may have met Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—and was familiar with court intrigue and English law. “Every gap in Shakespeare’s life or knowledge that has had to be explained away by scholars, she somehow fills,” Picoult writes. Encouraged by her lover, Emilia wrote plays and poetry, but 16th-century England was not ready for a female writer. Picoult interweaves Emilia’s story with that of her descendant Melina Green, an aspiring playwright, who encounters the same sexist barriers to making herself heard that Emilia faced. In alternating chapters, Picoult follows Melina’s frustrated efforts to get a play produced—a play about Emilia, who Melina is certain sold her work to Shakespeare. Melina’s play, By Any Other Name , “wasn’t meant to be a fiction; it was meant to be the resurrection of an erasure.” Picoult creates a richly detailed portrait of daily life in Elizabethan England, from sumptuous castles to seedy hovels. Melina’s story is less vivid: Where Emilia found support from the witty Christopher Marlowe, Melina has a fashion-loving gay roommate; where Emilia faces the ravages of repeated outbreaks of plague, for Melina, Covid-19 occurs largely offstage; where Emilia has a passionate affair with the adoring Earl of Southampton, Melina’s lover is an awkward New York Times theater critic. It’s Emilia’s story, and Picoult lovingly brings her to life.

Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024

ISBN: 9780593497210

Page Count: 544

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024

LITERARY FICTION | GENERAL FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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BOOK REVIEW

by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan

by Jodi Picoult

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.

When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781250178633

Page Count: 480

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | GENERAL FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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by Kristin Hannah

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Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, pineapple street.

PINEAPPLE STREET, a smart first novel from publishing executive Jenny Jackson, takes readers into the exclusive world of the one-percent through the lives of one wealthy family living in Brooklyn Heights.

The Stocktons are a living example of generational wealth in America today. Tilda and Chip raised their family in a gilded limestone on Pineapple Street, one of the many “fruit streets” in their Brooklyn neighborhood. Eldest daughter Darley is married to a banker named Malcolm. When they wed, she declined her trust fund (thereby foregoing the standard prenup that each Stockton spouse is expected to sign) in favor of letting her husband be the breadwinner for their family of four.

"PINEAPPLE STREET is an engaging and absorbing read, with a supremely satisfying conclusion, perfect for book groups or to pass along to a good friend."

Darley’s brother, Cord, works for their father’s real estate investment firm. His wife, Sasha, is the most unlike the rest of the family in more ways than one. She was raised solidly middle class in a seaport town in Rhode Island and has never felt fully accepted into Cord’s family, especially among his sisters. She and Malcolm have a tenuous bond, being the two outsiders, and silently mouth “NMF” (“not my family”) to each other when one of the Stocktons makes a clueless comment about trust funds or flying private. Georgiana is the youngest of the Stockton brood at 26. She has never really thought about their enormous wealth until she suffers a great loss.

The Stockton children never had to worry about money or their financial futures. But when Malcolm is fired from his prestigious banking job --- a secret that Darley keeps from her family --- she starts questioning her decision to turn down her trust fund when they married: “She thought about her own prenup for the millionth time. Maybe she had made a stupid mistake when she gave up her trust, sure. But her biggest mistake had been giving money so much power over her life. By keeping Malcolm’s secret she was buying into the idea that her world was a club only available to those with a seven-figure income.”

Cord and Sasha have moved into the family’s home on Pineapple Street when Tilda and Chip decided to “downsize” to a smaller yet stately apartment on nearby Orange Street. As grateful as Sasha is to her in-laws, the palatial mansion feels a bit staid and outdated for her tastes. She tries to make the place a home for them, but her mother-in-law dissuades her whenever she attempts any alterations: “The more Sasha thought about it, the angrier she felt. She was stuck in a lose-lose situation, a member of a family in which she had no voice, she had no vote, where doors were closed and envelopes remained sealed and money was a string that tied them all together and kept them bound and gagged.” Sasha feels even more distanced from the Stocktons when she overhears Darley and Georgiana call her a “gold digger” at a family wedding. She’s had enough.

Georgiana divides her twenty-something time between her job at a local non-profit and her family’s private tennis club. When she begins an ill-advised affair with a married coworker, she begins to question not only her own morals but also her place in the world. An impromptu meeting with school friend Curtis McCoy, a wealthy nepo baby who wants to rid himself of his family’s fortune (gained through military manufacturing), rattles Georgiana to her core. He informs her, “Income inequality is the most shameful issue of our time. I’m worried that my kids will look back and see a country that completely abandoned morality, that let people die of hunger while the wealthy took tax breaks.” Georgiana has an epiphany: “It was the money that made her so horrible. It had made her coddled and spoiled and ruined, and she had no idea what to do about it.”

Jenny Jackson’s deft debut takes on the topic of generational wealth with a keen Austenian eye, but she refrains from harshly judging her characters. She leaves it up to her readers to make up their own minds. As an inhabitant of Brooklyn Heights herself, Jackson lives among families like the Stocktons, making her a perceptive observer of their kind. PINEAPPLE STREET is an engaging and absorbing read, with a supremely satisfying conclusion, perfect for book groups or to pass along to a good friend.

Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller on April 6, 2023

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

• Publication Date: March 12, 2024
• Genres: Fiction , Women's Fiction
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• ISBN-10: 0593490711
• ISBN-13: 9780593490716

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Book review: Pineapple Street is a witty debut about old money with a hasty ending

Pineapple Street By Jenny Jackson Fiction/Cornerstone/Paperback/342 pages/$25.92/Books Kinokuniya 3 stars

In the prelude of editor Jenny Jackson’s debut novel Pineapple Street, a character rushes out of a coffee house after uttering the line: “Oh, no! I left my Cartier bracelet in Lena’s BMW and she’s leaving soon for her grandmother’s house in Southampton!”

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BOOK REVIEW: Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

Take a trip to brooklyn heights where old money and family drama prevail..

I enjoy reading about family and the drama that families engage in behind closed doors, and Pineapple Street was a perfect combination of drama and extravagance. After I finished the book, I looked at some reviews, which I do sometimes, just to see what others thought of it while I process my own thoughts. I read one that said the reader didn’t like this book because “nothing happened.” I will always respect people’s personal opinions on books as long as they are not rude to the author, but I found this to be an interesting thought.

If you are looking for action/adventure or serial killers or even ghosts or zombies, you will definitely not find them on Pineapple Street. What will you find on Pineapple Street you may ask? You will find a slightly dysfunctional family that ebbs and flows through life under the protection and influence of having generational wealth on their side. However, money doesn’t solve all problems, can’t cure grief, and hasn’t yet countered ignorance.

The plot is driven by the characters, which again could be why some don’t feel like anything happened, but I’m going to argue that there are some very poignant and powerful moments that occur in these characters’ lives. The Stockton family comes from old money and consists of aging parents, Tilda (who is obsessed with tennis and probably should have been an interior designer or event planner in a middle class life) and her husband Chip (who, you know, runs a New York empire like all rich people in books do). The majority of the focus revolves around their three adult children, Cord, Darley and Georgiana.

There were things you could do with family that you just couldn’t do with friends: You could let them see you wearing the same outfit three days in a row. You could invite them over for lunch and then mostly ignore them as you finally got off hold with the internet provider. You could have an entire conversation while wearing Crest Whitestrips.

Multiple points of view help to jump between Darley and Georgiana, but instead of Cord, it is his new wife Sasha who gets her own chapters. This was a very important element in the global perspective of the book. Why, you ask? Well, because Sasha doesn’t come from the privilege and money that Cord’s family does. There are things she doesn't understand when it comes to behaviors and priorities of the others, and she has to contend with the idea that she is a “Gold Digger” and judged by her sisters-in-law while she fights to be accepted. Cord , of course, is completely oblivious to the actions of his family, because wealth is his life and his family has always been this way. 

While we get to follow Sasha’s struggles to fit in and be accepted, we also follow Darley who has also married someone not of old money. There are aspects of this relationship that are different from that of Sasha and Cord, and I really enjoyed watching the similarities, differences and how their experiences parallel. Darley and her husband, Malcolm, have the only children in the group and their two kids are totally the comic relief. Kids don’t understand society’s class systems, expectations and what it means to be privileged when they are young. They are simply spunky, sassy, no-filtered kids obsessed with death, and I loved their authenticity. When they got kicked out of the pool, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

As all the characters are dealing with marital and family relationship struggles, it is Georgiana that suffers the most throughout the story. As the youngest of the three Stockton children and the one still single, she is the one who makes some not great decisions, but also suffers the most. All the characters’ lives intertwine with each other to different degrees and at different levels. When Georgiana suffers a traumatic loss, her inability to cope and a family that isn’t very in tune to emotions struggle to know what is going on. It is a powerful element to the story. So yes, stuff happens in this book, but it is how the characters individually react to the most mundane to the traumatic that propel it forward.

There is nothing quite like family, and clearly money doesn’t buy happiness. Those thematic notions are clear throughout. However, the importance of “keeping up appearances” and the “wealthy should marry the wealthy” are ideals that are so ingrained in the family that it’s hard to change that mindset.

There is also plenty of tennis which fits with the notion that “competition was their family love language.” 

Where does this land on my bookshelf?

I’d place it on the middle shelf…but at the top of it. I really liked this book and reading about families always intrigues me. With this one, there is a societal element as well in how people are perceived and perceive others when it comes to wealth. Social status is important and “family infiltration” is a real thing. This is a perfect summer read, even though there are a few heartbreaking moments, but that’s life, right? It’s not all unicorns and rainbows - no matter how much money you have. If you haven’t read it yet, definitely add it to your TBR!

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Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

• Publication Date: March 12, 2024
• Genres: Fiction , Women's Fiction
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• ISBN-10: 0593490711
• ISBN-13: 9780593490716
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book review: Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

Overview: The Stockton family has long called the fruit streets of Brooklyn home, and even as their children grew up and moved out, they stayed nearby. Pineapple Street  looks at a period in the wealthy family's life from three distinct perspectives. We experience the events of the story through youngest daughter, Georgiana, who's in her early twenties and the baby of the family, Darley, the oldest of the daughters, and Sasha, the brother's new wife who sees all the happenings of the Stockton's lavish lifestyle as a bewildered outsider. Overall: 5

Characters: 5 While we only have 3 point of view characters, all of the Stocktons get rich portraits drawn over the course of the book. Having these three different vantage points is also what makes the story so fascinating. It seems intentional and is impactful that Jackson chose to tell the story through the points of view of the three younger women in the family, and they do exhibit the most growth as the book progresses. 

Sasha always feels like the outsider. She grew up middle class in Rhode Island and often feels like she came from a different planet entirely than the Stockton household where each kid inherited tens of millions of dollars when their grandparents died and high society is their second language. She's the grounding force that puts into perspective the outlandish issues the family creates. Sasha also quickly bonds with Darley's husband Malcom as the only other outsider who doesn't understand the strange intricacies of their life. Sasha runs up against many pain points as she strives to find allies within the family as Darley and Georgiana are convinced that she's just a gold digger. As Sasha starts her new life with her husband, Cord, including moving into the Stockton's family home on Pineapple Street, she'll have to figure out how to claim her own space is a family devoted to keeping things the same.

Darley is a few years older than Sasha and has two kids. Much of Darley's story centers around her struggles as a stay at home mom questioning her loss of identity and income potential. The question of inheritance is also centered in Darley's story as she's chosen to forgo access to her trust and pass it directly to her children so that her husband, Malcom, didn't have to sign a prenup. Because she became a stay at home mom after her second child, though, that leaves her in the tough position of not having an income of her own. While Darley has grown up in her parents' New York society world, she still doesn't have an effortless experience navigating the politics of private elementary school and what happens when a seemingly steady single income vanishes overnight. 

Finally, Georgiana is in her early twenties and has never known a world beyond her privileged bubble. She lives in an apartment she bought with a down payment from her trust, she works a low paying job at a nonprofit with no regard for what her salary even is, and she's generally pretty self absorbed, something Sasha is always keen to point out. Being the youngest, Georgiana also follows the greatest evolution over the course of the novel. She meets a few people who make her seriously question her life trajectory and belief systems, looking beyond her tennis ranking for the most important things in life for the first time. Over the course of the novel, Georgiana questions everything she's ever known about her family and the world. 

Plot: 5 The multiple perspectives keeps the book moving as we get increased tension from knowing sides of the story that the other point of view characters we read about are oblivious too, so there's plenty of foreshadowing and extra painful miss communication. The tension and pacing are incredible, especially considering how slow and tedious some literary fiction books dealing with similar themes have been. This book is certainly looking for the line right between literary and commercial and does a beautiful job finding it. I have to wonder if this is owing to the fact that the author is an executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf. The book certainly has a sense of being aware of its readers need for drama and intrigue, and it's tightly plotted. Somehow, even in this wild family, there was only one point that felt like it pushed the details of the scene to a bit of an over the top place. 

Writing: 5 I couldn't put the book down from the very first page. The book hits the right notes of having a compelling plot and characters that you become quite invested in despite all of their flaws and lack of a connection to earth. At the end of the day, though, the book is truly about cutting through the noise to realize there are very few things that truly matter in the end, and family, even a dysfunctional one, is worth more than any divides that come between them from money, status, or perceptions.

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‘the west wing’ was my inspiration. 25 years on i got to meet president bartlet.

Scott Detrow

Inside 'The West Wing,' 25 years later

Martin Sheen, who played President Jed Bartlet in The West Wing , in conversation with All Things Considered host Scott Detrow in the NPR studios. Mhari Shaw/for NPR hide caption

Air Force One takeoffs are often a frantic moment for the reporters who travel with the president. You are loading onto the plane, stowing your bags, buckling in and then frantically dashing off a pool report documenting what the president did — or didn’t — say to the press before boarding.

You’re trying to do all of that before the massive blue and white Boeing 747 steeply climbs into the sky and out of the range of cell service. And for radio reporters like me, you’re often also trying to upload and share audio files of the president’s statements during that brief window of cell service.

But whenever I traveled with President Biden during my time covering the White House, I always made sure to take a quiet moment of reflection right after that manic flurry. I would slip on headphones, make sure none of the other reporters could see my cell phone screen and pull up … the theme of The West Wing .

"The West Wing" theme song.

Why? Because like so many other Millennials who now populate Washington, D.C., the late ‘90s/early aughts NBC drama was my entry point to the world of politics and government. It was a key factor in pushing me in the direction of spending my life reporting on politics. And it was always worth it to pause for that moment of appreciation of how my life had ended up in a place where I was inhabiting a corner of the show's real-life world.

Melissa Fitzgerald starred as Carol Fitzpatrick in The West Wing . Mhari Shaw/for NPR hide caption

I can still remember the first episode I ever watched (Season 2! Somebody’s Going To Emergency, Somebody’s Going To Jail ). I remember channel surfing on our clunky big 2001 television, stumbling on it mid-episode, and immediately being sucked into the snappy, on-the-move dialogue — the idealism, the big ideas about what the country and what politics ought to be about.

I was hooked and stayed hooked. And when I went to college, the show was an easy early conversation point that helped me identify who my kind of people were in a new environment. The same cycle repeated itself when I graduated from college and started my first job in a new town. “You like The West Wing ? Me too! Let’s watch it!” (I ended up married to one of the people I had one of those early West Wing -powered conversations with.)

The cast of The West Wing on set. Getty Images/Hulton Archive hide caption

Now, 25 years after the first season, the show can at times feel corny and dated. Real-life politics are far more cynical and disorganized. The tribal, existential nature of the Trump era makes the show feel like it’s of a different epoch.

But I still return to the comfort of The West Wing over and over again. And even though my DVD player is in a dark corner of my basement gathering dust, my wife and I know that neither of us will ever part with our duplicate collections of the show’s entire run. (She had all the individual seasons. I splurged for the blue faux briefcase series collection the week it came out. There was an immediate unspoken agreement when we moved in together that both collections would remain.)

So when NPR was offered the opportunity to interview President Jed Bartlet — er, I mean actor Martin Sheen — and co-star Melissa Fitzgerald about the show’s legacy, I dashed through the hallways of the newsroom with the excitement and energy the show’s characters displayed in their iconic Aaron Sorkin-powered “walk and talks.”

The occasion? A new book Fitzgerald co-wrote with fellow cast member Mary McCormack, called, What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service .

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Martin Sheen says every time he hears the theme song to The West Wing he's transported straight back to that time. Mhari Shaw/for NPR hide caption

Scott Detrow: There's this whole generation of people who first caught the bug of politics or got the bug of public service watching this show when they were teenagers or early on in their careers. And they said, “I want to move to Washington.” Then they move to Washington. And a lot of it goes back to the show. And I'm wondering, Melissa, when did you first notice that and how have you seen that change over the years?

Groundbreaking police drama 'Homicide: Life on the Street' is finally streaming

Melissa Fitzgerald: It is so heartening to hear so many young people — and even last night we were in a sandwich shop and a 20-year-old came up and said, “I was inspired to be here because of The West Wing .” I just find it was such a hopeful, aspirational show. And to see that this generation, several generations, have been inspired to come and live lives in public service, it’s a wonderful feeling. And walking around D.C. when Martin [Sheen] comes to town, it's like being with Elvis.

Detrow: And that's still the case now, 25 years after the first?

Fitzgerald: Perhaps even more so. Maybe not more so than when it was on the air, but now I mean, you've noticed it, too — there's so many young people.

Martin Sheen: A lot of young people now are being introduced to the show, and many of them tell us that it happened during the pandemic. That they were kind of locked indoors and that they began to look for things to inspire them or to entertain them. They found The West Wing , and in a lot of ways they found themselves, their true selves.

The longest "walk and talk" from "The West Wing."

Detrow: One of the interesting things that’s in the book, and that’s — and Martin, this might embarrass you for a moment so just, you know, brace yourself accordingly — that Melissa and Mary write and quote so many people on the cast about how you purposely set a tone on set.

Fitzgerald: One of my first days at work, I remember coming on to set and seeing Martin and he was shaking hands with every single background artist and introducing himself and welcoming. It just felt like he was welcoming everyone to this family. And that's not usual on a set. It's who Martin is. He is the most inclusive, kind man who treats everybody with dignity and respect. And we have all benefited from that.

Sheen: And well, thank you very much. However, the only criticism that I had with Melissa and Mary was they have got to find people who simply do not like me and they didn't do enough research.

The new book, What’s Next , reflects on the legacy of The West Wing . Mhari Shaw/for NPR hide caption

'Hacks' peeks behind the curtain of a changing comedy world

Detrow: One of the things you did was — and in all of the different podcasts and DVD extras I've consumed over the years I hadn't heard about this before — you organized an annual trip to Vegas?

Sheen: Yes, our bingo bus party. [It was] our Christmas gift to all of the people that you normally do not see on camera. They call them extras. I hate that term And so we wanted to celebrate them every Christmas. I started with one bus and by the second season we were at two buses, and we play bingo in the bus as we get to Vegas. It was great fun.

Detrow: In the spirit of the book, I want to ask both of you a few favorites. And, Melissa, I'll start with you. What's your favorite episode?

Fitzgerald: There are so many it is really hard for me to say, but I love In Excelsis Deo . I think that is a beautiful episode. And the themes of that, you know what we owe those who have given so much to our country. And, you know, it's the one about the veteran and Toby and everyone knows that episode because it's so beautifully done.

Sheen: My overall favorite hands down is In Excelsis Deo , and my brother Mike was a combat Marine and in Korea and I just could not stop thinking of him when we did it. It's still hard to talk about.

The opening to "The West Wing" episode "In Excelsis Deo."

Detrow: My favorite episode is probably in 17 People , when Toby (Ziegler, played by Richard Schiff) figures out that the president is hiding a big secret. I recently rewatched the episode where that all comes to a head: Two Cathedrals . President Bartlet is debating whether or not to run for another term. And I watched this the other day and I just could not get over how line for line so many scenes in that episode could have applied to what we saw just play out with President Biden and Vice President Harris and this decision of whether or not to run for another term.

Sheen: That’s the most courageous decision I've ever seen a politician make in my lifetime.

Detrow: Why is that?

All Things Considered host Scott Detrow (center) with Martin Sheen and Melissa Fitzgerald. Mhari Shaw/for NPR hide caption

Sheen: Because he took the most powerful office in the world and he made it human. And he put it before his own ambition, before his own legacy.

Detrow: When you close your eyes and you think of The West Wing experience a quarter century later, what to you is The West Wing ?

Sheen: The theme. I cannot hear that theme and not go right into it. And all those extraordinary young faces appear. And then it all floods back with gratitude and praise. I just can't believe that I was part of that.

Fitzgerald: I see the people and the family that was created from that show. That's been one of the greatest gifts of my whole life. If The West Wing was a love letter to public service, then What's Next is a love letter to The West Wing , the army of people it took to make it, the fans who loved it and the people who were inspired by it. And we hope that we honored our time together and we hope that the wingnuts love it.

The interview with Martin Sheen and Melissa Fitzgerald was produced by Karen Zamora and edited by William Troop.

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Pineapple Street: A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel) Kindle Edition

• Print length 315 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Pamela Dorman Books
• Publication date March 7, 2023
• File size 4438 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com review, about the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B3HPSFJ7
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pamela Dorman Books (March 7, 2023)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 7, 2023
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 4438 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 315 pages
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0735244413
• #65 in Romance Literary Fiction
• #97 in Women's Literary Fiction
• #280 in Family Life Fiction (Books)

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Jenny jackson.

Jenny Jackson is a vice president and executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf. A graduate of Williams College and the Columbia Publishing Course, Jenny lives in Brooklyn Heights with her family. Pineapple Street is her first novel.

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Customers find the writing quality very well written and enjoyable. They also describe the tone as funny in places and witty in others. Opinions are mixed on the characters, with some finding them well-developed and others saying they didn't really develop. Readers also have mixed feelings about the plot, with others finding it unique and interesting, while others say it's predictable and slow.

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Customers find the book enjoyable, interesting, and a great escape. They also say the plot is not drama-filled.

"This was a fun and easy read with good life lessons of family, meaning, and money, a nice complete story" Read more

"It’s a good book , but not one that is super engaging. It was one that was entertaining enough to keep reading and one that I could put down." Read more

"...Couldn’t quite figure out how it would wrap, but it was satisfying enough ." Read more

"...Drama and humor abound, making this fast-paced zeitgeisty plot highly entertaining ...." Read more

Customers find the writing quality of the book very well written and insightful. They also say the characterizations are excellent.

" Light and enjoyable read , but the characters did not really develop. My favorite characters were Tilda and Sasha because they were true to themselves." Read more

"...The characters in the story were excellent. This book was well written . It truly does make a family. It was a very enjoyable read...." Read more

"This book was an easy read , I was able to kind of whip through it...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the plot. Some find the characters wonderful, compelling, and entertaining. They also describe the family drama as thought-provoking, and the ending as pleasantly upbeat. However, others feel the plot is lacking and repetitive.

"This was a fun and easy read with good life lessons of family , meaning, and money, a nice complete story" Read more

"It’s a good book, but not one that is super engaging . It was one that was entertaining enough to keep reading and one that I could put down." Read more

" Interesting enough story of a family with means and misunderstandings aplenty. Likable characters. Some surprises...." Read more

"...However, it was kind of like a more boring version of Jerry Seinfeld - relatively shallow people moving along without any sort of plot...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the characters in the book. Some find them well-developed, while others say they were never fully developed.

"... Likable characters . Some surprises. Couldn’t quite figure out how it would wrap, but it was satisfying enough." Read more

"Light and enjoyable read, but the characters did not really develop . My favorite characters were Tilda and Sasha because they were true to themselves." Read more

"I could not put the book down!! It was not boring. The characters in the story were excellent . This book was well written...." Read more

"...The plot is basic, but it’s character-driven , and the novel’s themes of social problems, elitism and nepotism are very timely...." Read more

Customers are mixed about the tone. Some find the writing catchy, funny, witty, and charming. They also say it brings smiles and feelings. However, others find the book patronizing, insightful, and lacking in insight. They mention that the book has laughable grammatical errors and liberal misguidance.

"This book opens with a bang-- strong satire , and you think you're going to have an arch, withering look at the uber-rich in Brooklyn, an updated..." Read more

"...Also I never thought it was funny , I felt sorry for almost all the characters." Read more

" Brimming full of dark humor , “Pineapple Street” is a social satire of New York’s 1 Percent..." Read more

"Expected more based on the reviews in the NYT. Not as clever or entertaining as I had hoped when I paid full price for this book a few months ago...." Read more

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Where Kamala Harris Stands on the Issues: Abortion, Immigration and More

She wants to protect the right to abortion nationally. Here’s what else to know about her positions.

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By Maggie Astor

• Published July 21, 2024 Updated Aug. 24, 2024

With Vice President Kamala Harris having replaced President Biden on the Democratic ticket, her stances on key issues will be scrutinized by both parties and the nation’s voters.

She has a long record in politics: as district attorney of San Francisco, as attorney general of California, as a senator, as a presidential candidate and as vice president.

Here is an overview of where she stands.

Ms. Harris supports legislation that would protect the right to abortion nationally, as Roe v. Wade did before it was overturned in 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

After the Dobbs ruling, she became central to the Biden campaign’s efforts to keep the spotlight on abortion, given that Mr. Biden — with his personal discomfort with abortion and his support for restrictions earlier in his career — was a flawed messenger. In March, she made what was believed to be the first official visit to an abortion clinic by a president or vice president.

She consistently supported abortion rights during her time in the Senate, including cosponsoring legislation that would have banned common state-level restrictions, like requiring doctors to perform specific tests or have hospital admitting privileges in order to provide abortions.

As a presidential candidate in 2019, she argued that states with a history of restricting abortion rights in violation of Roe should be subject to what is known as pre-clearance for new abortion laws — those laws would have to be federally approved before they could take effect. That proposal is not viable now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe.

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