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Category / More Books

April 27, 2021April 27, 2021 by kmore

More Books

"Mary Jane" by @jessicaanyablau is an adult coming-of-age novel narrated by fourteen year old Mary Jane, a naive, obedient fourteen year old girl who loves showtunes and singing in her church choir. It's the 1970's, and taking a job as the summer nanny for the unconventional, anything-goes household of a psychiatrist and his fun-loving wife, she is exposed to a lifestyle completely different than that of her straight-laced, country-club parents. When Dr. Cone begins treating a famous rock musician, he and his famous wife move into the house, and Mary Jane's eyes are opened to a lifestyle completely different than her own. She loves their messy, passionate world, yet instinctively tries to bring order to their chaos. In doing so, she comes to appreciate the best that each world has to offer and realizes that somewhere in the middle might suit her best. Mary Jane's voice is completely spot-on, and there's just something about the way she immerses herself into their lives that just works. Blau captures Mary Jane's innocence and the feeling of wanting to escape the confines of parental expectations. While you're falling in love with Mary Jane, feel free to enjoy the soundtrack that will be running in your head.

My last big trip, before Covid hit, was to New Orleans for a conference. I had never been to the Big Easy before, and the city captivated me from the moment I landed. Sarah M. Broom's "The Yellow House" is set in the part of New Orleans I didn't see. Broom tells her family story centered around the house she grew up in-- far from the tourist attractions of the French Quarter. It is the kind of memoir (the BEST kind of memoir) that left me aching to visit the city once again, to walk her streets and see it all again through a different lens. Broom's honesty and self-reflection made me consider my own town and the way "place" has the power to both push us away and pull us back. Her writing cuts like a knife, and the number of Golden Lines I marked indicates that this writer had me thinking, feeling and reflecting from the first page to the last. Here are a couple favorites:

Just a little collage for a letter-writing friend! #booksandletters #sendmail #readingbliss #collageart #readmore #readmorebooks #booklove #penandpaper #putastamponit

"Why Fish Don't Exist" is the fascinating story of David Starr Jordan, a taxonomist obsessed with discovering and cataloging as many fish species as he could. Yet, when his life's work suffered a series of disasters, most notably the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, he found the determination to roll up his sleeves and start again. Despite his significant contributions to the world of science, Jordan's life was complex, and for journalist Lulu Miller, it provided a lens from which to view her own challenges. This short non-fiction title is all of my favorite genres mixed together... a little history, a little memoir, and a touch of psychology. Oh, and it truly does explain "why fish don't exist!" I appreciated Miller's research and storytelling and will eagerly read anything she publishes. Here's another one of my Golden LInes: "Maybe it was okay to have some outsized faith in yourself. Maybe plunging along in complete denial of your doomed chances was not the mark of a fool but--- it felt sinful to think it-- a victor?" #readmorebooks #readingbliss #nonfictionreads #booklove #booksofinsta #booreview #davidstarrjordan #lulumiller #whyfishdontexist #quickread #sciencestories @lutimestwoo

There's nothing I appreciate more than good memoir, and "The Empathy Diaries" is right up there with my favorites. Sherry Turkle tells the story of her remarkable life by unpacking seemingly small events, one-by-one. In doing so, we see the inevitable path that led her to becoming a well-respected psychologist. With the ease of a storyteller, she makes the academic world of psychology accessible and I was instantly transported back to my under-grad days sitting in college lecture halls learning about the early-pioneers of the field. Turkle realizes that every event, every relationship, every success, and every disappointment steered her, perhaps in an unconventional way, toward studying technology and its impact on social behavior. As a high school teacher, the issues she discusses resonate strongly. I fell in love with the young girl she describes and her ability to keep seeking, learning and growing. Like her, I am drawn to a number of passions, and I admire the way she wove them together to create her life's work. Wishing I could sit down with her at the soda counter in Brooklyn for a chat. I found so many Golden Lines in these pages. Pages, in fact! Without a doubt, @sturkle and I are kindred spirits. Here are a couple of favorites:

When "Big Friendship" came out last year, I knew it was just the kind of NF sociology/psychology/ memoir blend that I love, love love! Now I'm hooked on their popular podcast, "Call Your Girlfriend." Big Friendships, according to the authors' definition are transcendent, reciprocal, generous, active and mature. Because I am lucky enough to enjoy Big Friendship in my own life, turning the pages of this book provided opportunities to reflect and be grateful for the richness they bring to my life. These two cracked open their private worlds to share the magic as well as the struggles they have faced in their very public friendship. I will be carrying so many things from this book into my own friendships. (Side note: Like @aminatou, I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer at a relatively young age. I truly appreciate her openness about that experience. It's affirming and provides hope for those of us tiptoeing around the "C" word.)

Reading "Beartown" takes me back to my blue-collar, small-town roots-- where sports reign supreme, and everyone is just trying to keep the town going. I loved the range of characters that so closely resembled people I grew up knowing, and I felt like I could see and smell the forest that was almost another character in the novel. This is my favorite Backman book so far. He forces us to witness an all too common experience for girls... at parties... when they've had too much to drink. We can see it coming-- the blaming, the shaming, and the alliances, but what we don't see coming is the power of a few people making the right choices. This one is brimming with Golden Lines and an abundance of wisdom regarding the dark side of loyalty and competition.

Golden Line: “You want to defend those you love, even if the ones you love aren't very good all the time. And sometimes they're even downright awful.” "Rabbit Cake" by Annie Hartnett

What seems like forever-ago, my friend and I were captivated by the @gwynethpaltrow movie, "Sliding Doors." The idea that one's entire life can be altered by the difference of making it through a pair of sliding doors-- or not-- was very thought provoking. In fact, over the years, we seem to refer back to the idea, and the movie, on a fairly frequent basis. So....... I think that is why I connected so well with "The Midnight Library" by @mattzhaig. It's a quick read, but one that had me lying in bed mulling over the little things in my life that could have set me on a different trajectory. What would I be doing now if I had gone to the other college I applied to? What if I hadn't gone to that teaching workshop and met the person who ultimately became my best friend? I was pretty sure I knew how things were going to play-out for Nora in this novel, but that's okay. I appreciated the simple revelations, and hey, I'm a librarian, so what's not to appreciate about a book set in a library? If you want something that doesn't make you horribly sad about the world and just need a charming escape, this might be a good fit. Golden Line: “Maybe that’s what all lives were, though. Maybe even the most seemingly perfectly intense or worthwhile lives ultimately felt the same. Acres of disappointment and monotony and hurts and rivalries but with flashes of wonder and beauty. Maybe that was the only meaning that mattered.” #morebooks #readmorebooks #bookbliss #bookreview #reading #lovebooks #goldenlines #goldenline #bookquote #midnightlibrary #matthaig #slidingdoors

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