"good strong words"

Rewatching many of my teen favorites, I find myself now identifying more with the parents than the teen protagonist. However, despite my age, whenever I watch any version of this movie I still identify with Jo. Until I discovered these two titles which tell the familiar story from the point of view of the parents.

 March by Geraldine Brooks

Marmee by Sarah Miller

In both, we get a better sense of the toll of the Civil War and the ardent abolitionist beliefs of both the father and mother. In the first we glimpse the horrors of battle and slavery firsthand. In the second, Margaret March’s diary entries tell the familiar stories pierced with a deeper layer of worry, doubt and love of her family. Both Brooks and Miller flesh out the lives of the secondary characters and expand the narrative from the domestic to the economic, social, and moral issues of the day.

Here for the Drama

With two teenagers in the house, I know drama. I think that’s partly why I was intrigued by the title of Kate Bromley’s latest.

Winnie is an aspiring playwright. Her boss/friend Juliette invites her to London to help with the production of Juliette’s play. Seeking new material, Juliette convinces Winnie to go out with three strangers while they are in town. After that ends as badly as you might expect, Winnie finds herself attracted to Juliette’s nephew Liam. He and others help Winnie realize her relationship with Juliette needs stronger boundaries, and she begins to seriously consider a job offer back in New York.

Not all romances are created equal, but in this one, indeed, the play’s the thing. Bromley’s strength is her snappy dialogue, and she sets up multiple scenes for Winnie to show off her wit. There’s humor, a little spice, and star-crossed lovers that get their happy ending.

"Hey! Unto you a child is born!"

Someone at work the other day was reminiscing about the first musical theater production our church put on: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Although I’ve never seen the play, I’ve read and reread the book and (apparently wrote about it in 2016).

The Herdmans are notorious for smoking cigars, setting things on fire, and having a pet that requires a “Beware of Cat” sign. As the narrator says in Barbara Robinson’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, “We figured they were headed straight for hell by way of the state penitentiary…until they got themselves mixed up with the church, and my mother, and our Christmas pageant.”

Lured to church by the promise of free refreshments, the six Herdman siblings show up at the first rehearsal for the Christmas pageant. Before anyone realizes it, all of the starring roles have been assigned to the various Herdmans. “And there they sat. The closest thing to criminals that we knew about, and they were going to represent the best and most beautiful.”

There’s only one problem. They’ve never heard the Christmas story before. As the pageant director patiently tells the story, the siblings interrupt asking her to explain manger, swaddling clothes, Wise Men, and myrrh.

“’And, lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them,’ Mother went on, ‘and the glory of the Lord shone round them, and ---‘

‘Shazam!’ Gladys yelled, flinging her arms out and smacking the kid next to her.”

Eventually they make it to the dress rehearsal but fail to run through the whole play. On the night of the pageant, the whole town shows up to see just what the Herdmans are going to do. When Joseph and Mary are late for their cue, everyone figures they forgot. However, a few minutes later the disheveled couple show up in the doorway. Mary pauses to burp the baby and they make their way up the aisle. Some are appalled that Jesus gets burped, but the narrator comes to some realizations that will change her perception of the Holy Family forever.  Jesus could have been a colicky baby. After all he “was born and lived…a real person.” And Mary “is always going to look a lot like Imogene Herdman – sort of nervous and bewildered, but ready to clobber anyone who laid a hand on her baby.”

The story is not about a peaceful scene you might find on a Christmas card, but it’s “about a new baby, and his mother and father who were in a lot of trouble - no money, no place to go, no doctor, nobody they knew."

And long after your daughter has finished the book, she’ll randomly, gleefully yell out the Angel of the Lord Gladys’ immortal words,” Hey! Unto you a child is born!”

Books We Love

My favorite book searching tool has posted! This year, I'm gravitating towards these biographies and memoirs.

Mr. B by Jennifer Homans 

Scenes from My Life by Michael K. Williams

Solito by Javier Zamora

Dear Denise by Lisa McNair

Star Child by Ibi Zoboi

"no one in the world is a reliable source for their own story"

Recently my library curated a list of novels based on historical figures. From that list, I found two completely engrossing reads.

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

Fowler takes us into a deeply troubled, yet fascinating family. Although the action culminates in the event that made this name infamous, the stories of John’s siblings are equally, if not more, dramatic. Nothing less would be expected from the offspring of a Shakespearean actor.

The Mayfair Bookshop by Eliza Knight

In this novel, we enter the world of Nancy Mitford. A struggling, though not impoverished writer, Mitford longs for acclaim. As her 30^th birthday approaches, she enters into a marriage of convenience and soon discovers her husband lacks what it takes to be the breadwinner. So Mitford turns her family’s foibles into the perfect plot for her next project. Fast forward to the present, Lucy, a young library curator, travels to London on assignment. She lands in Mitford’s bookshop and begins searching for clues to solve a long-running mystery in her own family.

For more titles, see this list. 

Bad Sisters

Anyone else still reeling from the season finale of Bad Sisters? If you need something to fill the void, try Sally Hepworth’s The Good Sister.

Fern, a librarian, is our protagonist and narrator. When her sister Rose finds out she can’t have a baby, Fern decides to remedy the situation. She does this, in part, because of the guilt she still carries - but doesn’t quite  understand - from a tragic event from their childhood. When Rose’s overbearing personality grates on her, she has this to say:

“Still, the illogical irritation is there. But illogical irritation is something one is allowed to have with one’s sister. I have read enough books about sisters to know that is true.”

But in this particular book, revealing what’s true makes for a stunning plot twist.

Murder She Wrote

Reading this remembrance of Angela Lansbury this week took me back to my grandparents’ house in Arkansas where the tv always seemed to be loudly playing Murder She Wrote. It was also at my grandmother’s house that I first discovered Agatha Christie. I still love a good mystery, and if it’s a little quirky, so much the better. Today’s repost reminds me of an author I need to revisit, Emily Arsenault.

Not since reading the Flavia de Luce mysteries, have I been so intrigued by the amateur sleuths that crop up in Emily Arsenault's books.

 In What Strange Creatures, Theresa Battle writes copy for a candle company catalog by day and procrastinates writing her dissertation by night. When her brother is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, she tries to prove his innocence.  By seeking out the girlfriend’s current and former acquaintances she often draws inspiration from her dissertation subject, Margery Kempe. Weaving Kempe’s story with Theresa’s, Arsenault ventures to ask us to examine our own vocations.

 Miss Me When I’m Gone centers around Gretchen Waters, the author of Tammyland, a memoir of the author’s love of female country music stars. When Gretchen turns up dead after a reading, everyone is shocked, including Jamie, her best friend from college. Gretchen’s mother asks Jamie to be her literary executor and turns over the journals, files, and notes Gretchen was working from for her second book. Originally intended to be a book about the men of country music, Jamie discovers that this second book is actually Gretchen’s attempt to find out more about the identity of her father. As Jamie pieces together the notes left behind, she travels into Gretchen’s past and finds out more than the murderer bargained for.

The Broken Teaglass follows two young dictionary editors as they start finding random citations from a  mysteriously quirky story called The Broken Teaglass.  As the excerpts turn up out of order, they intriguingly reveal a corpse, a guilty conscience, and a love affair all set in the very dictionary offices from which they are working. What could be better than a novel that combines unrequited love, murder, and words? Arsenault builds up the suspense with each excerpt, and helpfully puts them all in order in the later chapters revealing that context matters.

 

 

"Slam it shut or fling it open. The rest is amateur.”

In the mood for a musical last night after reading When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord, I watched Better Nate Than Ever on Disney+. Usually, I lean towards the page rather than the screen, but in this case, maybe because Tim Federle wrote both, the movie captured all the charm of the novel while getting to show us the choreography and music.

Here’s what I had to say about the novel and its sequel in 2017.

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle was a book we enjoyed listening to in the car last summer, so I was excited for the next book in the series Five, Six, Seven, Nate!

In the first book, middle schooler Nate Foster travels to New York by himself to audition for a Broadway show. After several mishaps, Nate lands a spot in a new show called E.T. The Musical. 

The second book opens with Nate saying goodbye to his best friend Libby as he packs for rehearsals. Back in New York, his Aunt Heidi gives him both a place to stay and an appreciation of his dream – which is all but nonexistent at home.

Awkward and simultaneously self-conscious and confident, Nate stands out in the cast of polished, experienced child actors. Nate soon finds support from the dance coach and a seasoned actress playing the understudy to E.T. She recognizes Nate’s gift of a photographic mind that not only remembers lines, but whole scenes of blocking. While he tries to stay out of way of the show’s star Elliott, played by his hometown nemesis Jordan, he is comforted by the gifts left by a secret admirer.

Even though the director, who has only worked on video games, can’t remember his name, he will soon have to rely on Nate in ways he never expected.

Narrated by Nate, the novel is funny, snarky, and sweet. Nate never shies away from voicing his unique perspective of the theater, his fellow middle schoolers, and his own view of himself. As he commits the musical to heart, he becomes a star – both on stage and off. 

 

Petrichor

 a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather

This week, we had our first rain after an unusually dry summer and with it, our first petrichor. I was August 8 years old when I came across this word in a book. And then I read it in another one and another one. (Funny how when you learn a new word, you tend to start seeing it everywhere?) Of course, I haven’t heard anyone say it, so I may be mispronouncing it.

It popped up most recently in The Machine by James Smythe. In this nod to Frankenstein, I think, a woman attempts to restore her husband’s memory after it has been removed. As the memories are restored, his violent tendencies also return.

The other appearances remain a mystery (since all of the possible contenders are on hold), but it may have also been spotted in one of these. Even if I am mistaken, they include quite pleasing moments nonetheless.

The Taste of Salt Martha Southgate

What I Carry by Jennifer Longo

Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi

Butterflies in November by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

Wish You Were Here

Fall sports are back on track, schools are hosting meet the teacher nights after a hiatus, and it’s almost as if the pandemic was a strange fever dream. Almost.

Before the onslaught of her own senior year demands – AP homework, college applications, and decorative jumpsuits -  my daughter read and recommended one of Jodi Picoult’s newest novels, Wish You Were Here.

Diana and Finn are all set for their Galapagos Island vacation, planned for March of 2020. However, Finn, a surgical resident at a New York City hospital feels compelled to stay as the first COVID cases begin trickling in. Diana decides to go alone and just manages to catch the last plane and ferry to a remote island as governments around the world begin to impose lock-downs.*

With all ties cut off to the rest of the world, Diana survives thanks the kindness of a few locals, who we suspect are used to catering to the needs of thankless American tourists. Although she gets sporadic emails from Finn, which truly narrate the horrors patients, caregivers, and family members face in dealing with this virus, Diana befriends a local nature guide who shows her the island’s wonders. Which, as the reader discovers, are breathtaking in their own right.   

 

*Apparently just like the Witch who froze Narnia, according to my daughter’s English teacher.

End of Summer

With summer winding down, there should be just enough time to fit in one last beach read. Packed with the picnic blanket, any of these three would be the perfect pairing while you’re waiting for the concert in the park to start or the sun to set on the sunflowers. 

For fans of Nashville

Run, Rose, Run by James Patterson and Dolly Parton

For fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer of Broken Rules by KL Walther

For fans of In Her Shoes

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner

"the sexual prowess of a goldfish"

Every so often, you come across an author and immediately want to dive into everything they’ve written. Somewhat less often, you come across three at the same time.

The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam

Asha marries Cyrus. Asha, Cyrus, and Jules create a new social media tool to bring people together around the “wai” rather than the what. This one has elements of all the things I love in a novel: behind the scenes – how does starting up a startup work – pondering religious beliefs – what gives life meaning- and smart, quirky characters – who can come up the best comeback.

“I’m stammering now, but I keep going, ‘He’s otherworldly but handsome in an almost comical way. His sentences are long, and when you’re in the middle of one, you wonder, where is this going? But he always manages to bring whatever he’s saying to a satisfying conclusion. Everything he says is mysterious and somehow obvious at the same time.’”

Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

The character in this book describes her time working as an interpreter at The Hague. She’s made friends and even found a boyfriend, but there’s a dark tension to the story she slowly unravels. Saturated in place, Kitamura examines how language either brings us together or tears us apart.

“This was done for obvious reasons, there were great chasms beneath words, between two or sometimes more languages, that could open up without warning.”

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

August is new to New York City. She’s found an apartment, registered for classes, and even lucked into a job. But a chance encounter on the subway has her dusting off the investigative skills she wanted to leave behind in New Orleans. She may or may not solve the mystery, but her sleuthing brings her closer to those she’s kept at a distance, including her own identity.

“The older she’s gotten, the more she prefers thinking of love as a hobby for other people, like rock climbing or knitting. Fine, enviable even, but she doesn’t feel like investing in the equipment.”

Gritty

This week's PNW heat wave (temps reached into the 90s) has me feeling a bit gritty. Hence this repost from 2009.

Hearing Richard Price extolled again and again on Fresh Air for his mastery of dialogue, I decided to venture into the section of the library where many of the dust jacket blurbs proclaim “gritty.” I begrudgingly picked up Samaritan and rushed back two days later for Lush Life. 

Samaritan proves you can go home again but may get a severe concussion as a result. Ray Mitchell returns to his home town after a stint as a Hollywood writer and soon ends up in the ICU after being attacked in his apartment. He refuses to name his attacker but a childhood friend, now detective, Nerese Ammons is determined to make an arrest regardless. 

Lush Life takes place on the Lower East Side, where every bartender has a screenplay under the bar and every waiter has a casting call after work. When a mugging goes awry leaving one up and comer dead, detectives aren’t sure who’s telling the real story and who’s just acting the part. 

Can’t afford to go see the latest summer blockbuster? Price provides an action-packed thrill with dialogue you’ll probably be hearing in next summer’s box office hit.

Under the Same Sky, But Different

“The sky was magnificent. I have always loved the sky and I do not take notice of it often enough.”

So writes one of the characters in Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson. But it also aptly describes the past week I’ve spent in Colorado Springs. When not out hiking under brilliant blue skies, listening to cowboy songs under the stars, or exploring the neighborhood under threatening thunderstorms, I found myself dipping in and out of this epistolary novel.

Anders is a Danish curator. Tina is an English farmer’s wife. Tina writes to his museum to inquire after its famous artifact, the Tollund Man, that she remembers studying as a schoolgirl. Although their initial letters explore the history of this amazing find, they soon relate more mundane details of their daily life. The mundane turns profound as Anders reveals he is a widower and Tina shares she is unhappy in her marriage. Over the course of the novel, two strangers grow perilously intimate despite having never met in person. What begins as a curiosity leaves both their worlds irrevocably changed.

Firsts

On my son’s first birthday, he experienced his first ice cream sandwich. I’m sure we have a picture somewhere of his blissful grin in a face covered in melted ice cream and smeared chocolate. The summer my daughter turned seven she rode a bicycle for the first time without training wheels. Since we lived on a hill that descended into a busy street, she was mostly confined to big lazy circles in the street in front of our house. In a few weeks, they will both make their first plane trip, unaccompanied by any adults, to Austin to visit their grandparents.

I heard an excerpt from an interview with Jenny Han the other day where she mentioned something like “Firsts are best because they are beginnings.” That’s partly why she is drawn to writing about teenagers. And why we, as adult readers, are drawn to YA fiction. If you haven’t read Han's trilogy, The Summer I Turned Pretty, start there. Then you can watch the melodramatic, but nonetheless engrossing, series adapted from the books that was just released on Prime.

If you still haven’t gotten your fill of firsts, then I recommend Breathless by Jennifer Niven. Claude and her mother are “banished” to an island off the coast of Georgia the summer after her senior year after her parents separate. With little to no cell service, she can’t rely on the text support of her best friend (who she loves more than “libraries and sunshine and boys with guitars”), so she turns to the other young people in her midst. An encounter with Miah starts off as a welcome distraction, but soon forces her to face her issues with trust and acceptance.

What is your favorite "first" fiction?

Summer Loving

Summer is taking its sweet time in arriving here in the Pacific Northwest. But with temps finally exceeding 70 degrees, I’ll be putting away the cozy mysteries and cracking open a few beach reads.  

Crying in the Bathroom by  Erika Sánchez

Invisible Things by Mat Johnson

Olga Dies Dreaming  by Xochitl Gonzalez

Sabrina and Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri,

True Biz by Sara Nović,

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

 

Thanks to the following lists for the above suggestions:

Books for summer 2022 (Chicago Tribune)

Book recommendations for 50 states  (NPR)

21 books to read this summer (The Washington Post)

Keeping the Spheres in Alignment

 It’s been awhile since my daughter looked up from her book and said, “Listen to this.” But somehow the book I had put in my son’s Easter basket this year ended up on her TBR pile. As she was reading Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence by Michael Marshall Smith -while savoring her 15 ingredient salad (another thing I love about her)- she smiled and said those magic words.

It's now making the rounds from my nightstand to my husband's. Fans of  Neil Gaiman take note. You won't be disappointed by the premise, humor, or observations about life. 

“And so later Hannah was back at the kitchen table in her house. Sitting where she’d sat earlier. Her place. Hannah didn’t know that humankind has a deep-set belief in the idea that we create and maintain reality through ritual, that repeated actions are what keep the spheres in alignment. She also didn’t know that it doesn’t work, and that there are far older, more complex, and much darker designs in motion, ones that override ours as effortlessly as a crack of thunder blotting out birdsong.”

"you'll only ruin each other"

Did you fantasize about attending boarding school when you were young? No, me either. (I did, however, long to have a turret bedroom like Anastasia Krupnik.)

For some reason, I’ve been drawn to books about the boarding school experience lately. Here are three I recommend that delve into the privilege, drama, and microaggressions of these elite institutions.

Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School by Kendra James

All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by e. Lockhart

As seen on tv

This week I was watching Conversations with Friends based on the novel by Sally Rooney (see the show vs book comparison here). In one scene the main character Frances is on vacation in Croatia and pulls out her beach read - Childhood by Tove Ditlevsen. Uncannily, the next day, my google feed pops up with this article on how books become props. Some shows are better at this than others. Issa’s nightstand in Insecure was always a good place to look for a recommendation. That’s how I discovered The Turner House by Angela Flournoy. For more books seen on screen, check out this post from Penguin. What books have you spotted in your favorite show?

The Flight Attendant

For Cassie Bowden, not remembering what happened the night before is typical. Finding a dead body beside her. Not typical. As the story progresses, she must piece together what happened as fragmented moments come back to her. Meanwhile the real murderer is given orders to rectify her mistake in sparing Cassie’s life on that fatal night.

It’s rare that I find the show better than the book (written by Chris Bohjalian). But in this case the actress Kaley Cuoco infuses Cassie’s character with a much-needed sense of fun. She acknowledges the ridiculousness of the whole premise of not being 100% certain she didn’t commit the murder herself. The show also allows Alex (the corpse) more screen time as a voice of reason in Cassie’s head as she navigates her next move to prove her innocence. As an armchair traveler, I also appreciated the scenes where Cassie is packing, hanging out in a hotel room, or walking the streets of romantic destinations. I’m a sucker for travel-sized anything and cobblestones. Throw in a murder mystery, and I'm on board. 

“she had been beautifully hoping”

Apparently, I gave up blogging for April. Not coincidentally, that’s about the time I went down the rabbit hole of this reading list. Several books by Nicole Baart, Jessica Barry, Elizabeth Klehforth, and Annie Ward later I hadn’t really found one that matched Moriarty’s sense of humor. Instead they offered several weeks of page-turning suspense. Finally sated on murders and mayhem, I turned to the recommended reads page of my library.

Enter Benefit by Siobhan Phillips.

Laura has just lost her teaching job. A Henry James scholar, she’s not hopeful other colleges will be lining up to hire her. Instead, she spends her time reconnecting with those she spent two years with as a Weatherfield Fellow at Oxford. Despite her participation in this prestigious program, her daily life is hampered by imposter syndrome. In her mind, she never measures up to her fellow fellows. Trying to be supportive, her friend Heather asks her to write a history of the Weatherfield Foundation for the upcoming centennial gala. As Laura researches the family who established the foundation, she dives deeper into the nefarious world of the sugar trade, bringing to light the tainted legacy that supported her ambitions.

Beautifully awkward, Phillips captures the interactions between those who would rather be reading a book and everyone else. Having picked up this book solely on the basis of its cover image, I found it an engaging read despite its dearth of detectives.

Mother's Day

 Have a bookish mother in your life? Here are some books that might make her day.

 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

“For Elizabeth, cooking wasn’t some preordained feminine duty. As she’d told Calvin, cooking was chemistry. That’s because cooking actually is chemistry.”

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“What a gift it was to know so clearly what you were not, who you did not want to be. Nina wasn’t sure she’d ever asked herself that question.”

Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum

“How could she not be depleted when she came home, having been exposed for hours, without protection, to all those thrumming radiant selves? Here they were, just old enough to have discovered their souls, but not yet dulled by the ordinary act of survival, not yet practiced in dissembling.”

Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles

“To Simon, the world of musical structures was far more real than the shoddy saloons in which he had to play. Nothing could match it, nothing in this day-to-day world could ever come up to it. It existed outside him. It was better than he was. He was always on foot in that world, an explorer in busted shoes.”

The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell'Antonia

“Good fried chicken was remarkably hard to come by in New York, but this---tender, with just enough crust-only bits protruding, skin peeling easily away from the meat---this was good. The fries were thin and still hot, some with crunch, some with bite, lightly sprinkled with the salt blend they'd always used. The biscuits were fresh and flaky, and the salad's iceberg lettuce was dressed in Mimi's trademark sweet oil dressing---a closely guarded (but really very simple, and once very common) recipe.”

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

“It was the dandelion principle! To some people a dandelion might look like a weed, but to others that same plant can be so much more. To an herbalist, it’s a medicine—a way of detoxifying the liver, clearing the skin, and strengthening the eyes. To a painter, it’s a pigment; to a hippie, a crown; a child, a wish. To a butterfly, it’s sustenance; to a bee, a mating bed; to an ant, one point in a vast olfactory atlas.”

Writers Written

Lately I’ve been following this Insta account, which as the name implies, frames the artist as subject. I then realized I’ve read several books in the past few weeks which feature real life writers as fictional characters.

Love and Fury by Samantha Silva

This novel examines the life of Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, an early feminist who wrote about women’s rights in the 1700s. Her unconventional relationships, interest in the natural world, and tumultuous childhood are given a lyrical treatment by Silva. The birth scene that opens resignedly, “Another girl. In this world” ends with celebration, “Another girl, in this world!” And if you haven’t read Silva’s Mr. Dickens and His Carol, what the deuce!

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

The only thing that gets Tookie through her period of incarceration was books. She lands a job in a Minneapolis bookstore and has a ready recommendation for anyone who walks through the door. That includes her most challenging customer, Flora, who upon death, decides she’s not ready to leave. As Tookie deals with Flora’s presence, and a powerful book she left behind, the bookstore’s owner, an author named Louise, must figure out how to keep the store running as a mysterious virus begins spreading. (Did I mention this is 2020?) Darkly humorous, the novel presents the events that are so fresh in our memories from the perspective of the essential employees who kept many of us sane, booksellers. And reflects on how the Native community responded as the racial reckoning erupted.

Ruminating on Aging...and Hoarding

Taking the day off for my birthday, so I present a repost from 2015...

Koozies from a third-cousin’s wedding. A shoebox full of novelty pencils with inefficient erasers collected from birthday party treat bags and church carnivals. Yellowed copies of newspaper clippings of University News features articles, circa 1997. The Christmas wreath painting made with a three-year-old's footprints.

These are the possessions that keep me up at night, fueling my fears I am on my way to becoming a hoarder.

Enter the cautionary tale. The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell centers around the home of Lorelei Bird. Lorelei loves Easter, her four children, and every scrap of shiny paper produced by either. As each child moves away, his or her room becomes not only a shrine but a room-sized storage bin for thrift store finds and bulk items bought on sale. Eventually, as she ages, her piles and stacks grow, leaving only a small space for a laptop and an armchair. 

After she dies, her daughter Meg arrives to sort through the mess. Hidden beneath the kindergarten paintings and Easter candy wrappers are the various threads of the story that pulled the family apart. Slowly, through this process of purging, Meg is able to reconnect with the estranged members of her family. Together, they not only clean out the house, but air its dusty corners. 

So will the koozies make the cut in our upcoming move? Ask my daughter in forty years.

Lent

A repost from 2010..

This is not about giving up chocolate. It's about sacrifice, mourning, and forgiveness. And a cello.

Jeffrey Lent's After You've Gone tells the story of Henry and Olivia. And Henry and Lydia. And Henry and his cello. Henry takes us from his childhood in Nova Scotia, to his marriage and professional career in New York, and finally to a sabbatical in Amsterdam. But not in that particular order.

Having read Lent's works A Peculiar Grace and Lost Nation (in that order), I braced myself for tragic clashes, piercing descriptions of setting, and even bloodshed or rape. However, this story seems mellower, though it does contain its fair share of heartache. Before reading this novel, I've never had a particular desire to travel to Amsterdam. If anything remains of Lent's account of its 1920s beauty, I probably should add it to my list.

I'm still mulling over the ending. Not to give anything away, I'll just say it was all wine and roses - and even chocolate- in none of the right places. But since it's Lent, all is forgiven.

"those thrumming radiant selves"

An imagination. A worship. A scribble.

If you ever need a rabbit-hole to fall through, google “collective noun for writers.” 

All three feel true for those included in the collection The O. Henry Prize Stories: 100^th Anniversary Edition edited by Laura Furman. I was especially taken with the story “Julia and Sunny” by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum. Partly I think because it chronicles a couples’ friendship which I’ve always aspired to but never been able to achieve. I admit to feeling a smidge smug when the friendship dissolves along with one of the marriages, but more importantly, familiar details of harried parenthood stuck with me more. Why is the trip to the post office always pushed to the bottom of the list? How we long for naptime.

I was chuffed*, then, to discover Bynum’s story collection Likes. From Waldorf school faires, celebrity neighbors, and orange cats to middle school tribulations, each story is a little bit magical without failing to be relatable. In her novel Ms. Hempel Chronicles, we enter the world of seventh grade teacher Beatrice Hempel with all the student (and teacher) drama that entails. Ms. Hempel looks with envy upon those who have moved on to other careers but is not quite sure how to step off the pedestal built by her adoring students.  

A chapter. A library. An excellence.

Yep, those too.

 

*Thank you, British baking shows

“These deprivations never leave us”

One of my favorite lessons for the ESL classroom teaches students about intonation. Students are given a simple word (such as “hello”) and then asked to say the word…

to their boss

to their best friend

to an attractive person at a bar

to a six-month old baby

In case you were wondering, the way we talk to babies is universal.

This lesson came to mind as I read Eliabeth Strout’s novel Oh William! As the protagonist, Lucy, recounts stories about her first husband, William, she repeatedly ends the anecdote with “Oh William.” This simple phrase speaks volumes depending on the occasion. Lucy, a writer herself, adroitly uses the phrase to express surprise, annoyance, pity, empathy, sorrow, and disappointment.

If you haven’t read Strout’s other books about Lucy (My Name is Lucy Barton and Anything Is Possible), you’ll be able to follow the narrative. But if you have, her cryptic references to her childhood and relationship to her mother will make more sense.

Despite the oftentimes dark subject matter, when all is said and done, you’ll hear “Oh William!” spoken with delight.

Will you be mine?

A repost from 2020...

You know that feeling? Butterflies in the gut excited feeling. Counting down the minutes until the next meeting feeling. Time stopping in the moment when you are together feeling. That staying up until all hours of the night replaying key moments feeling.

Even though it’s Valentine’s Day, I’m not talking about that feeling. In this case, it's the feeling of discovering a new author.  

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a book called 26a by Diana Evans when I was scrolling through Libby looking for that little sticker they put on the covers of award winning books.

From the first pages, I was hooked. Not only on the story of growing up in eighties England, but on Evans’ style. The description of twins Georgia and Bessi’s birth likened to roadkill (as weird as that may sound) is gorgeously brutal. The trauma of this beginning foreshadows later moments of darkness. Unfortunately, it’s a darkness that in the end proves unbearable for at least one of the characters. And more poignant when you learn some of Evans’ own story.

I’ve just picked up Evans’ 2018 work – Ordinary People. And haven’t yet been disappointed. Where the focus of 26a was from the perspective of the kids, this novel looks at life from the standpoint of the parents. In chapter two, a wife asks her husband if he’s seen a purple fitted sheet. This seemingly mundane exchange manages to capture perfectly the dissatisfaction both partners are feeling in their relationship. 

Forget chocolate and roses. My heart rests in the pages of a decadently written book. 

"a spectacle of indecency"

Workers rally in favor of union. Wealth inequality is only getting worse.

Headlines familiar to today’s readers wouldn’t have been foreign to the early 1900s reporter of Jess Walter’s The Cold Millions. Set primarily in Spokane, Washington, the novel examines the struggles of miners and day laborers. 

Brothers Rye and Gig are among those who scrape by on odd jobs. Tired of the hustle, they gravitate to the union hall, not only to fight for their rights, but for the free breakfast. When a policeman is found dead, the tension between the workers and management escalates. Gig ends up in prison, and Rye strikes an unsavory deal with the richest man in town, Brand.

Fans of historical fiction and contemporary lit will both find something to love in this story. One of my favorite scenes takes place between the retiring vaudeville actress and her successor. Read the excerpt.

This book also checks off a box from my reading challenge. Find other Washington State Award Winners here.

Spotify and Side Hug

I may have mentioned once or twice how I love any book or tv show that takes me behind the scenes. One world I haven’t ventured into is that of classical music. Until now.

The Ensemble by Aja Gabel follows the careers and personal entanglements of a young string quartet. The story opens as Jana, Brit, Henry, and Daniel are preparing for the competition that will launch their career. Jana is the most ambitious; Henry the most talented. Daniel the most likely to sleep with someone; Britt the most likely to pine. From the rehearsal room to the stage, the bedroom to the bar, we discover their career goals, familial disappointments, and later their parenting styles. 

With each section being introduced by a set list, this book begs for a playlist. Thankfully, Gabel obliges.

And adds just the right note.

Happy Birthday, Murakami

In honor of Haruki Murakami's birthday this week, here's a repost from 2010 about a Murakami-esque author. 

I swear I did not read the blurb on the back of this book when coming up with this comparison myself. So, Vendela Vida, I agree. Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen is quite.

Never read Murakami? Start here. Or with this more recent essay about his love of t-shirts. 

Never heard of Galchen? Start here.

Never mind? Go here for other authors on The New Yorker's list of 20 under 40 to watch. And read.

Five Tuesdays in Winter

Did you make a resolution to read more in 2022? You might try the challenge over at Book Riot. Or you might create a BINGO board like the one provided by my local library.

I started off the year with a new book of short stories by one of my favorite authors, Lily King. Five Tuesdays in Winter includes a little romance, a lot of adolescent awkwardness, and a fair bit of mother-child angst. King’s characters are reminiscent of friends you had in college or a coworkers’ eccentric aunt. Ones you can look on fondly, yet remain nostalgically detached, while you enjoy hearing about their antics. While the stories touch on realistic themes, they remain sunny enough for even the coldest winter afternoon of reading.

For more short story recommendations, click here. (Or click on "stories" under the Index on the right.)