The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo

In the interest of not giving TOO many five stars, this one is a solid four, four and a half. Which means I really liked it!!! (So much pressure with these stars, y'all.....) Reminiscent of a Lianne Moriarty but confined to one family.

My friend Kim (thanks for the lend!) stated it best when she told me, "If you like This is Us, you'll like this book." SO TRUE!! The author takes one year in the life of a family of six and then delves back in time in a zig zag to fill in the blanks for the reader. Four sisters with two parents who are madly truly deeply sickeningly in love survive secrets big and small, imagined and never dreamed of, unthinkable and totally relatable. Each sister has her own personality but I definitely felt Wendy, the oldest, was the most fleshed out, and the wildest yet most stable of the bunch, followed by her Irish twin Violet, whom I did not find very likable. Liza gets kind of lost in the middle, and Gracie, well, typical youngest child really - but I would read another book just about Gracie! And of course each sister has her own way of trying to emulate her parents' perfect pairing. It's a lot of stress!!!

Anyway, a great read, kept me interested even with all the plot twists and sisterly arguing and family love and OH THE DRAMA!!! But the drama is not overdone, even if you do wonder if any family has this much going on (they do, I assure you, you just don't hear about it on Facebook, duh). Each sister has her own "THING" going on, and the introduction of a new family member (or two) shakes things up big time. Past losses are revealed, current lies unearthed, and one huge health event later, we have ourselves a novel just waiting for the big screen. Different chapters focus on the backstories of the different sisters, but I could see the whole thing being told from Wendy's point of view, or maybe even from David's (the Dad). And the best part of all, the Title of the book is, well, the most fun I ever had with a title reveal. ;-)

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan

 

(Please click the link to read the entire review if you are receiving this through an email.  Thanks!)

I know I said I would be better about giving so many five star reviews, but damn this was good, too!!!

Fascinating historical fiction about the woman who loved and was loved by C. S. Lewis.  Yes, THAT C. S. Lewis.  Joy Davidman was an American housewife, mother, author and poet who began a years long correspondence with Lewis after experiencing a similar conversion into Christianity.  They finally met, developed a deep friendship, and as her marriage to an abusive husband crumbles, she realizes she feels very deeply for Lewis as their conversations and letters continue.  He is a confirmed bachelor and is troubled by her eventual divorce and how that is viewed by the church.  Their relationship is beyond special, and moves slowly through all four types of love.

Callahan imagines Joy's thoughts, letters, conversations and life in such detail that this reader was not only thoroughly engrossed, but almost convinced she was reading an autobiography from beyond.  The use of first person here is magnificent - I felt as if Joy were my best friend in the world and telling me her life story.  Mission accomplished, fair researcher and author!!!!

And research galore is to be had here.  Through interviews with Joy's son and deep dives into just about everything written by and about Joy and Lewis, Callahan gives us a true gift.  This is a love story, yes, but it is really a story of a singular, strong, ahead of her time Woman who loved fiercely, spoke her mind, raised two boys, and followed her heart, all the while respecting and nurturing the man she loved, admired, and waited for.  Miracles abound even in tragedy, and paradox is truth.  The parallel story of religion and conversion and faith is not overdone here, but is of course an important part of their lives and stories.  How fascinating to have even an imagined glimpse into the friendship between Lewis and Tolkien, the mention of other famous authors of the time, and of the character that is the city of Oxford.  I borrowed this book, but may have to purchase my own copy, as well as dive into Lewis' and Joy's works.  I have only ever read the Chronicles of Narnia, but now feel the need to read more.  

If you love to read, if you appreciate the life of writers, if you want to be engrossed in a story of England and lore and love and friendship, this is the book for you. My book club loved it and we had one of our best ever discussions about this book, their story, and what Lewis' writings have meant to us.  I especially loved the reveal of how Lewis gave himself his nickname.  Well done Callahan, I feel like this is probably the work you were meant to share with your readers the most.  Very impressive.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

 

The Vanishing Half 

(remember, because I can't work my blog (ugh), you need to click on the link above to read the entire review on my blogsite, Thank you!!)

I may never give another five star rating again.

Yeah, ok, I will, but THIS is the kind of book that truly deserves the five stars.  This is the book those stars should be reserved for.

Gorgeous writing.  Poignant.  Gut punching.  Deeply introspective.  So many sentences I wanted to copy down and post and reread and just BE IN.

Timely topics not many writers would be brave enough to tackle.  Vernacular you can hear in your head, easily.  Identity as you see it, as you feel it, as you CHOOSE others to see.  Very interesting.  Heartbreaking secrets and sliding doors.

Intrigued, yet????  You should be.

Two sisters (twins!). Two cousins (who did not know the other existed - until...).  Very different lives.  So many threads here, it is hard to review.  I liked Desiree's story more I think, but Stella's is equally important and heartbreaking for so many different reasons.  Choices really do alter lives.  Sometimes for the better, but not always for the best.  The ending is my only complaint - it seemed abrupt - but really I think what the author wanted to say had been said.  The characters moved on, but I was not ready to let them go. I wanted to know more of where they were going.

But the story was about where they'd been.  Loved how the author jumped around in time a bit, ever moving forward.  Hopefully her characters will all move forward after the end.  I can see them just nodding, like, yep, ok, we're good now.

So, go read this book.

The End.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

 

THIS is why I love reading.

Barbara Kingsolver is a Writer.  One of my favorite books is The Poisonwood Bible.  There is nothing else like it.  It is a tough read, a long read, but did I mention she is a WRITER???

This is another of the (many) books that have been collecting dust on my shelf for several years.  In my Covid Reading Challenge of reading mainly the books on my TBR shelf, I finally picked this one up.  I have no reason for why I delayed, and if it happens to be on your shelf, go get it - NOW.

Some reviews point out that this novel is too full of overly descriptive nature.  Maybe.  I didn't mind it.  The story is in three arcs, set at the same time.  Like three novellas about three neighbors in the same farmland town near the Appalachian Mountains.  They do not seem connected by anything other than their location, and their individual connections to nature: a "bugologist," a Forest Warden who has isolated herself on the mountain, and a tree cross pollinator and his crazy neighbor who refuses to use any chemicals at all in her apple orchard.  (Her encounters with the tree man are some of the best dialogue and inner musings I have read in a while.  Loved it.) 

The poignancy of the life of the city girl turned farmer's wife is so touching.  I liked her character fine and would have read an entire novel about her.

The character and history behind and future of the Warden, not to mention her knowledge of her mountain, was so fascinating I hated when her chapters ended.

And while some of the connections are pretty obvious, you may still get a surprise or two.  But it should be no surprise in the capable hands of Kingsolver.  She is a genius. Species Genius Writerus.

Lockdown Vent number I cannot remember: Terminology and Normality

I love words.  Beautiful, descriptive words and sentences.  I am a Reader.  I love prose.  But:

Social Distancing.

Flatten the Curve.

Masks Required.

Synchronous.

Lockdown.

Quarantine.

Quarantini.

PPE.

Zoom Bombers.

Covid Cancelled.

Six Feet Apart.

Doomscrolling.

Mask it or Pack it (college hashtag)

And the Granddaddy of them all - NEW NORMAL.

Oh, my God, if I hear that one more time!  I am so sick of hearing that we are living in a New Normal.  There is nothing normal about life in the United States of America right now.  Yes, it is an Election year (insult to injury much?).  Yes, it is August so "school" has started back in a variety of Non-Normal forms.  Yes, it is still hot as heckfire down here in the South.  But it is also still March in my head.  Summer never happened.  Just the same day OVER AND OVER again.  One friend said her son hit the nail on the head when he said, moping,"Mom, I have nothing to look forward to."  

Wow.

I have heard several people lately (six months into the COVID-19 pandemic) say they are feeling unmoored, strange, can't-put-their-fingers-on-it weird.  It is not really depression, just unfocused and exhausted.  This morning I read an article about "surge capacity" and that we are at its limit (linked below).  A couple of other new terms hit me pretty hard in this piece: how our "rhythms of life" are upended and for people who like a schedule, this has been devastating. For over-achievers who are not allowed to achieve in the usual way, this has been devastating.  (Not to mention those who have suffered from the virus itself, either personally or through loss - extremely devastating.)

Another term this author used is the current feeling of "disinterested boredom," which I totally get.  I find myself standing in my kitchen some days.  Literally just standing there.  I cannot make a decision as to what to do, and my usual interests have waned a bit after six months, so I end up doomscrolling - WAY too much scrolling.  Even my weekly To-Do lists are not really helping much.  I am still reading and enjoying that, but still also feel guilty just sitting there and reading a book.  I still feel like I should be doing Something (and I just realized I might be reading but the reviewing part...well......).  But, all these restrictions mean that I have to find a new Something to do.  And anything new is, well, restricted.  ARRGGGGHHHHH!

Six months ago my omniscient husband said to me, "This is going to last at least six months."  I guffawed.  Seriously?  Who could think this sudden halt to life as we knew it on March 14 would last into the fall and disrupt going back to school?  Who could think the numbers would get so high for positives and deaths?  Who could think that this mind-numbing lockdown of Normal might even last two years?  It is like a never ending labor with no delivery in sight.  

I am usually a very positive person.  I am all about the silver linings.  But even my linings are starting to tarnish.  I am watching my family lose their joy.  I have not seen my parents since Christmas and they only live an hour and a half away.  Granted, I have lost no family or friends to this virus (but I know those who have).  For that I am very grateful, so I know I should have nothing to complain about in the big scheme of things.

However, here we are in the little scheme of things, living every day and Groundhogging it like crazy. Pun intended, ha.  Give yourself grace, they say.  Pick up a new hobby, they say.  Do Something for others Clean out your Closet Enjoy the Slower Pace Blah Blah Blah.

I am officially OVER IT.  I hereby announce and require that going forward the term should be "This Temporary Normal."  At least that gives me some hope.  I understand in my head that we can never really go back to what Normal was pre-Covid (oh, there is another new term), but I must sincerely also believe that the current way of life will be Temporary.

Ok, wow.  I have heard other people say they felt a blog post coming on (Hello, Dartinia! And her blog posts are required reading, see below).  But, I never felt the push as much as I did this morning.  Self Care sometimes just means blowing off steam and not being sorry for it.  I mean, I can't go get a massage!  I think I will go hit the Treadmill (I am focused on those iFit Challenge Magnets - like an obsession!! Here's to hoping that is NOT a temporary normal even if the treadmill was a Covid Purchase), take a shower before 3:00, watch another episode of The Umbrella Academy, and promise to write more blogs.  

And be more like Lauren, who posted this morning about her new habit of walking the church gardens while listening to our service.  She loves it.  She shares it.  It calms her and gives her a schedule.  Now, that is the kind of "New Normal" - positivity - I can get behind.  Will it be temporary?  Probably.  But Lauren's post put the reins on my despair a little bit, as did the article below.  Plus, I called Dartinia.  Life's silver linings got a little shinier just now.  Nice.

I feel better now.  I just feel sorry for the person at Webster who has to add all these new terms to the dictionary.

Your "Surge Capacity" is Depleted article by Tara Haelle:  

https://elemental.medium.com/

Dartinia's blog:  https://medium.com/@dartiniahull

Lauren's blog: https://ourteachertribe.com/blog/

Maya Angelou's Collected Biographies

(please click on the link to access the entire review(s!))

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Gather Together in My Name

Singin' and Swingin' and Getting Merry Like Christmas

The Heart of a Woman

All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes

A Song Flung Up to Heaven

These are the six titles in the Collected Biography of Maya Angelou.  And every one of them should be required reading.  Each are very different but they flow together with the Angelou's fabulous command of the written word, and with amazing stories of a life fully lived, and honestly told.  And this only covers the first half of that life!  Wowza.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (309 pgs)

I reviewed this one in April 2019 and highly recommend it.  It is a tough read; her childhood (through age 16 is covered here, 1928-1944) was brutal.  But the language and the set up for the rest of the volumes make this absolutely necessary reading.  Heartbreakingly beautiful may be an overused term but it is appropriate here. (copyright 1969)

Gather Together in My Name (219 pgs)

Maya's life as a very young mother and the lengths she goes to to care for her child while still trying to grow up herself makes for another type of hard read.  Only covering a few years ('44-48) and not as difficult as the first book, this one will surprise you as you begin to see Maya's fire really come out as she struggles to find her way.  As famous as she later became, she is very open about her experiences here, and so begins a long and unbelievably varied list of occupations! (copyright 1974)

Singin' and Swingin' and Getting Merry Like Christmas (310 pgs)

Now this book was FUN!!!  (Covers 1949-1955) So many famous names begin appearing here as Maya's talents on stage become known and she travels to Europe touring with Porgy and Bess.  And gets a(nother) new name.  She struggles being away from her son, but revels in her glitzy life.  She is still so very honest with her mistakes, her feelings, her misgivings, her feelings of having no place.  But there is much humor here and friendship building and romance even.  Again, what a life!! (published in 1976)

The Heart of a Woman (346 pgs)

This one is probably my favorite of all.  Maybe because I am reading it during quarantine in the summer of 2020, after a year of social unrest, protest, and what is hopefully the beginning of a true awakening in the United States about racial justice, actions, feelings, and reactions.  To read these words almost forty years after they were written, feeling they could have been also from yesterday's news, is both disheartening for how things have not changed, and eye-opening for this privileged white girl.  Maya speaks truth, her truth, and truth for many black people.  She experiences systemic racism and manages to still be successful, truthful and bold.  She begins her writing career here with a writer's group in Harlem.  She meets Martin Luther King Jr and begins working for him, running the Southern Christian Leadership Conference office.  She also gets engaged, finds love, finds more adventure, and prepares to move again (a recurring theme in her life).  Fascinating stuff. (covers 1957-1962, written in 1981)

All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes (228 pgs)

In which, Maya and Guy move to Africa.

Boom.

Egypt, Liberia, Ghana. The back of this book states, "Maya...discovers that you can't go home again, but she comes to a new awareness of love and friendship, civil rights and slavery - and the myth of mother Africa."  You can FEEL Maya's yearning in this book - for understanding, for Place, for history and connection and roots.  She is treated as royalty here, then again is on her own and has to find her way.  This woman definitely has guts and makes her own way!  She finds that things are done very differently in Africa, and that she is an American Black rather than a native.  I was surprised to read about the American Black community that moved to Africa during this time; all seemingly looking for connection.  Still, the friendships she makes here are deep and beautiful, the things she learns and sees are invaluable, and her son plays a bigger part in this one as he becomes his own man too.   And whoa, that ending.  I will never cross a bridge again without thinking of that scene.  Shivers!!!  (in a good way!)

Written without chapter numbers, and in a style that seemed more like short stories put together, or essays even.  Will she stay in Africa?  For a while maybe, ('61-64) but remember that theme of motion?  Yup. (published in 1986)

A Song Flung Up to Heaven (173 pgs, c2002)

It is 1964.  Maya has returned to the US.  But her plans shift like sand in front of her for the first few years and emotions are running high in the US over racial inequality.  This one seems a little like a footnote, and she kind of skims over a lot for the four years she covers in this slim edition.  I do recommend reading the entire series, even if, like the author herself, it takes you a few years between books to finish.  What a fascinating life, and these are all before she truly begins to write.  This one ends with her beginning I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, so a nice little circle back.  I have never read her poetry; maybe in a few years I will come back to that!!!

Low Country by Anne Rivers Siddons

While this made me homesick for the coast in my home state - I could just smell the marsh and the Old Man's Beard! - the main character in this story is just short of annoying.  She is not the typical strong southern woman with a tragic past - she has the tragic past alright but not the shutz-pah I expected.  What strength she does have she pulls from her island (or sometimes, her bottle).  And, somewhat from her husband, who also did not get a fair shake or a fully fleshed out chance here.

The best thing about this story is not the main character though - or maybe I should say that the main character is not Caroline but the people who live on her island.  They have been there for centuries and they have their ways, their language, their connections.  And nothing and nobody will, nor should, move them.  Or the wild horses that live alongside.

Until Caroline's developer husband tries.

More devastation, more crying, more collapsing with disbelief, and one ghost child later, we have a story.  And secondary characters that are much more interesting than Caro and Clay.  (And listen, I am Southern born and raised and I never heard anyone named Caroline called Caro, but that's just me.)  Caroline stands up for what she believes in even through betrayal and loss, and I will say Clay completely redeems himself in the end, which made me happy.  

So, overall, an easy quick read, perfect for the beach or if you are looking for some relatively good, if slushy, Southern literature.   Now, if you want EXCELLENT Southern literature, go grab Pat Conroy.  Meanwhile, this will do (and won't require a dictionary like Conroy does, haha!)