boy meets girl/boy sleeps with other girl

"Carly spends her days at a spa (okay, so she owns the place), she's dating a hunk, and she's surrounded by chocolate. She's living the dream...or is she?"

"Two of today's most popular genres--Romance and Amish fiction--together in one volume."

"Separated by a decade and 200 points on their SAT scores, Jack and Connor Reed have a life in the Cleveland suburbs held together by spit and Chinese takeout." 

Guess which one I just finished reading.

In Family and Other Accidents by Shari Goldhagen, the novel opens when Connor is still in high school. His parents have died, so his older brother Jack has moved back home to see Connor through graduation. 

After Connor leaves the state for college, the brothers take different paths (with similar detours) in figuring out how to define their family. 

Jack moves in with Mona. They break up. They marry. Mona gets pregnant. Jack sleeps with Kathy. Jack and Mona divorce. Jack proposes to Kathy. Jack sleeps with his ex, Mona. 

Connor breaks up with college girlfriend. He meets Laine. They get pregnant. Connor and Laine marry. Connor sleeps with college girlfriend. Connor and Laine have another baby. Connor gets sick. 

What can be summarized as "boy meets girl/boy sleeps with other girl" is made more compelling by the alternating points of view of not only the boys (Connor and Jack), but of their girlfriends, wives, and daughters. Dysfunctional, in this case, functions quite well in the novel to read when you've run out of Amish romances.

"128. A comedy. (Not a bad one.)"

Starting From Happy by Patricia Marx is composed of chaplettes (see title). And drawings.  And characters that would feel comfortable living in Sunset Towers.*

Imogene Gilfeather designs lingerie. Wally Yez works in a lab. They may or may not fall in love, buy a house, and have children. You may or may not fall in love with Marx's style of writing. But as the book's narrator Patty asks,"Have you checked out life lately?"

*see Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game

Happenstance

I often think back to decisions in my life that could have gone another way. What if I had gone to a different college? What if I had not done that volunteer program? What if I had not downed two shots of tequila at that party in Austin?

In How It All Began, Penelope Lively presents a chain of events and interactions stemming from one woman's mugging. Marriages are cast in doubt. Businesses are revived. Friendships are formed. Books are read.

Books play a central role in the story. The woman who has been mugged, Charlotte, is a retired teacher and avid reader. When she moves in with her daughter Rose to recuperate she leaves behind her library.  For Charlotte, "reading has been central, the necessary fix, the support system" (34). Although she has had to leave behind her books, Charlotte manages to continue her volunteer work as a literacy tutor. She begins meeting with one of her students, Anton, at Rose's house. What Charlotte doesn't know is that she is providing a "fix" for her daughter in Anton.

Rose and Anton have this exchange on page 125.

"I wish…" She hesitated.

"You wish?"

"I wish I'd been there too. Maybe…Maybe next time we could do a London walk together."

"I hope perhaps you say that," said Anton. "I have hope very much."

So sweet. And they haven't even done any shots.

The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen

This book is set in Wisconsin, but it brought to mind the women I met in Oregon.

The ones who still make freezer jam from freshly picked berries, sauerkraut from homegrown cabbage, and homemade bread for the priests. The ones whose parents or grandparents traveled to Oregon from the Midwest to make a new life. The ones who spend their days reliving the night they danced to the Glen Miller Orchestra or the afternoon they met their husband riding to the strawberry field.

The book's sisters, Milly and Twiss, would have felt right at home.

Unsettling

 I started reading Zone One by Colson Whitehead just so I could post a link to this. Although his description of a post-pandemic city is fascinating, I had to tear my own eyes off the page after reading one too many descriptions of infected humans eating their loved ones. Maybe I should have stuck with it. Now I'm left wondering what happens in the end.

 

hello goodbye

Traveling always requires a good book.

I started my trip with The Paris Correspondent by Alan S. Cowell. Nostalgic for reports filed from the battlefield on a telex, two veteran reporters must deal with the politics and speed of modern reporting. Fascinating characters and back story love affairs keep the story moving even for those not interested in the history of journalism.

Once I got to Kansas City, I turned to The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje. Always one of my favorite writers, Ondaatje doesn't disappoint in this tale of a young boy's journey by sea from Sri Lanka to England. Along with an acrobatic troupe, a jazz musician, a Baron thief, and a pigeon fancier, a group of ragtag boys form friendships and find mischief.

On my way back to Michigan from Texas, I picked up Emily Chenoweth's novel hello goodbye somewhere outside of Baltimore. Elliott and his wife Helen travel with their college-aged daughter Abby to a hotel resort in New Hampshire. The trip is a chance for Helen, who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, to say goodbye to old friends. Not as weepy as it sounds, this novel is actually perfect for traveling. It's easy to drift in and out of, especially for an eavesdropper like me.

Books for a Windy Day

Disclaimer: I actually composed this and scheduled it last Saturday. Little did I know the Dallas area would have a very windy day yesterday...Hopefully these books emphasize the benevolent aspects of the wind.

Flora's Very Windy Day by Jeanne Birdsall/illustrated by Matt Phelan

Flora's having a fit. Little brother Crispin's sitting in a pile of spilled paint. And the frazzled mother, looking up wearily from her laptop, sends the whole lot outside. However, Flora and Crispin are soon swept up by the swirling wind, that at first is scary, but then is like "riding along on a squishy flying chair." After turning down several offers to get rid of her little brother, Flora decides it might be best to go home. And what has that frazzled mother been doing this whole time? Why baking chocolate chip cookies, of course.

It's Too Windy! by Hans Wilhelm

A complaining puppy has a chance to save a runaway stroller and is richly rewarded. So will the beginning reader as he makes his way through this page turner for the pajama set.

Sophie's Window by Holly Keller

The first graders in 1B were surprised that this book was not about Sophie, but Caruso, a pigeon who is afraid of flying. One night, awakened by the wind, Caruso is whooshed away. Luckily he lands at Sophie's window. She helps him slowly hop his way home. A few days later, motivated by wanting to visit his new friend, Caruso finally flaps his wings and, as the first graders guessed, "was flying!"

The Windy Day by Anna Milbourne/illustrated by Elena Temporin/designed by Laura Parker

Brightly clothed kids wonder. What makes kites fly, sailboats go, and sycamore trees grow? From clotheslines to windmills, this comfortingly puffy book outlines the various ways wind works.