> Zed Book Club / Mary Jo Eustace Likes a Good ‘Triumph Over Tragedy’ Story
Photo: Miles Diggs
> Buzz
Mary Jo Eustace Likes a Good ‘Triumph Over Tragedy’ Story
The incorrigible bibliophile — and host of the podcast 'Senior Bitches' — tells us about her favourite books and why she's fascinated with the Mafia / BY Shinan Govani / June 27th, 2023
“I am a bestselling author, an award-winning TV host and, apparently, still very much alive,” is how Mary Jo Eustace describes herself in her signature droll style. She’s also “an actively aging senior.” Again, her words! Eustace became a household name in Canada in the late ’90s when hosting more than 600 episodes of the cult TV cooking show What’s for Dinner with her co-host, the late Ken Kostick. Later entangled in a tabloid tempest — that whole messy love triangle with her then-husband Dean McDermott and Tori Spelling — she managed to always keep her humour intact, and her reading list in check.
What’s the best book you’ve read this year?
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. It is a memoir about a young woman who gets diagnosed with aggressive leukemia in her early 20s. The journey is documented in the most profound and moving way, articulating the precarious dance we all do between our own well-being and the vulnerability of potential sickness and death. Her losses are continuous and the setbacks numerous, but the unique perspective she gives the reader is nothing short of pure joy and gratitude as she elucidates the beauty in being truly and unabashedly human.
What book can’t you wait to dive into?
Looking so forward to The Beauty of Dusk by Frank Bruni, who is a columnist for the New York Times and an absolutely brilliant writer. After suffering a stroke, he loses most of his vision in one eye, with the other eye possibly following suit; not the most ideal situation for someone whose living depends on clarity and ’seeing’ the story in front of him. I am just realizing the books I am recommending are sounding a tad dark, but in fact the opposite is true! This jumping off point provides Bruni the opportunity to learn that through adapting to his circumstances, he can unleash strengths and resources he never knew he had. It’s a powerful example of how we can regenerate and reprogram our neurological framework and actually get better and stronger! What a wonderful message.
What’s your favourite book of all time?
It is a toss up between The Godfather by Mario Puzo and Too Late the Phalarope by Alan Paton, obviously for different reasons. I read The Godfather when I was 12 and fell in love with Sonny Corleone, especially after the hot sex scene he had on page 47 with a bridesmaid at his sister’s wedding. It was the first time I saw THAT in a book and it solidified my fascination with the Mafia. Too Late the Phalarope is about apartheid in 1950’s South Africa and the story of a young Afrikaner policeman who, while enforcing the laws of his country, falls in love with a beautiful Black woman, challenging everything he has come to know and believe in. It dances around politics, love, hate and the ultimate tragedy of ‘othering’ and denying humanity in others, which in essence just obliterates our own.
What book completely changed your perspective?
The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer, which is, by the way, Oprah Winfrey’s favourite book — Hi Oprah! Life-changing perspective on how to be accountable for your own sh-t! I spent two months in Rome and would wander the streets listening to this book and interviews he did with Russell Brand and Winfrey. One night, I was listening to it by the Palazzo Farnese and it made me so open and fearless that it led me to hanging out with half a dozen Canadian hockey players who were going on a late night ghost tour of the city centre. I still hear from them on a regular basis!
If you could have dinner with any author, living or dead, who would it be?
Again, there are two and for different reasons. Joan Didion for her brilliant inquisitive mind, The Year of Magical Thinking and Slouching Towards Bethlehem are master classes in crystal clear, flawless writing. And Oscar Wilde, because I know we would be best friends and come up with many witty phrases and observations. You know, a little like I used to with Ken Kostick, a wonderful, hilarious, irreverent sidekick. We all need that!