"All My Puny Sorrows"

With the release of the movie Women Talking, you may be curious about the book from which it's based. You could read the book or (about its author here or here), but I also recommend reading one of her earlier works, All My Puny Sorrows. This is a repost from 2015.  

“Our house was taken away on the back of a truck one afternoon let in the summer of 1979.” So begins the novel All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews. In it, Yoli’s family can’t seem to catch a break. In childhood, it’s because her family balks against the rules of their conservative Mennonite village in Canada. They harbor a forbidden piano to foster her sister Elfrieda’s musical talents. When not at the piano, Elf spray paints the letters AMPS (“all my puny sorrows”) around the village in further rebellion.

In Yoli and Elf's adult years, the family suffers from Elf’s unhappiness. Elf’s career as a concert pianist is overshadowed by her multiple suicide attempts.Yoli has been traveling back and forth from Toronto to support her mother and brother-in-law and sit at her sister’s bedside. When not at the hospital, Yoli can be found sitting on her friend Julie’s porch. It is here the novel provides cathartic humor to balance the sadness of the rest of Yoli’s day. 

Toews brightens the pages of this devastatingly sad novel with Czech violinists, Italian agents, huffy nurses, and eccentric aunts. The brightest character, however, is Yoli. Her struggles to see her sister’s point of view, her texts with her teenage children, her endless to-do-lists, her trysts with mechanics and violinists, and her sometimes flinching optimism all carry the reader onward - even when the Kleenex box is empty.

"the whole world opened up"

Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

To be a teen in the 90s in small-town Tennessee means going to the community pool, watching daytime TV, or driving listlessly to all the usual haunts. For Frankie, whose triplet brothers don’t shy away from mayhem, it also means having access to a photocopier they somehow procured. She and her new friend Zeke, an artist, revive the copy machine and decide to use it to create something artistic. She writes the words, a manifesto of sorts. He illustrates. And they both splatter the page with a constellation of blood. 

After they begin papering the town with their flyer, all kinds of conspiracy theories emerge, causing unease, and then panic, as rumors spread farther afield. By the end of the summer, the havoc they’ve unleashed dismantles their friendship as well. 

Twenty years later, a journalist reaches out to Frances, a semi-successful YA writer, about her involvement. Frances must decide whether to tell her story, reckoning with her past, or keep silent.

Wilson never disappoints with his exploration of the phenomenon of combustible human relationships. If you haven’t yet read his work, The Family Fang and Nothing to See Here are must-reads too.

Blah Humbug

The weeks after Christmas always hit hard. I find myself sleeping more, eating more, and when I’m not doing those two things, reading more, of course.

Luckily, I found two books perfect for this in-between time. Although ostensibly not Christmas books, they help make that transition from holiday rom-com to New Year fitness videos more palatable.

Something from Tiffany’s by Melissa Hill

If you’ve seen the adaptation on Amazon, you know that the plot is somewhat convoluted. A taxi accident outside of Tiffany’s results in a mix-up of two shopping bags, resulting in a surprise engagement for one character and a disappointing Christmas morning for another. While the movie scores points for simplifying the resolution, the book takes delight in prolonging the inevitable with the added bonus of being set in Ireland.

A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting by Sophie Irwin

Fans of Jane Austen and Daisy Goodwin take note. Kitty Talbot is left in charge of her four younger sisters, and mountains of debt, when her parents die. Her solution is to embark upon London during the “Season” to find a wealthy husband. Her plan almost succeeds until she’s foiled by the older brother, Lord Radcliffe, who discovers the scandal of her family’s past. Rather than admit defeat, Kitty agrees to leave the family alone in exchange for Lord Radcliffe’s insider knowledge to help land her next target. You’ll dive in for the period details and stay for the cute repartee between Kitty and her foe.  

"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