That's A Good Question, I'd Love To Tell You by Elyse Myers

That's A Good Question, I'd Love To Tell You by Elyse Myers

288 pages

Published October 2025 by HarperCollins

Publisher's Summary:

Elyse Myers is known to her twelve million followers as “The Internet’s Best Friend,” sharing her relatable stories and comedic sketches and serving as an advocate for topics such as neurodivergence, impostor syndrome, body image, and more. Whether she’s making people laugh with tales of disastrous dates or giving a voice to that awkward internal monologue many of us have, she has three simple goals behind everything she makes: To make people feel known, loved, and like they belong.
In That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You, Elyse delivers a debut collection of deeply personal stories and hand—drawn illustrations, offering even more intimate reflections beyond what fans have seen on her social media, including:

• Spending 7 Minutes in Heaven accidentally friend—zoning her crush
• How Lucy, the Magic 8 Ball keychain, changed her life by accident
• Moving from California to Australia to Texas to Nebraska to like (maybe even love!) herself
• How to Fold Hospital Corners in 10 EASY STEPS!—a practical guide and a rumination about…everything
• The “meat cute” when she met her smoke show of a husband at a butcher’s counter in Australia—and how she revealed herself to be an emotional runner

Plus, tales involving bad dates and is—this—a—dates; the tempting yet futile urge to reinvent yourself, panic attacks and escape hatches, and favorite pens and systems to use them, all while loving and letting yourself be loved, preferably at the same time.

My Thoughts: 

I first came across Elyse on Instagram, initially drawn to her positive messages about dealing with depression and self doubt. I introduced her to everyone I thought would benefit from her messages. Then I began to listen to her stories, which always began "That's a good question; I'd love to tell you" and often went on for several  posts, generally accompanied by drawings. Her incredible empathy and honesty drew me to her, her humor kept me coming back for more. Myers had found a way to make her "too much" exactly the right amount and it resonated with hundreds of thousands of people. Soon she began hosting a podcast and now she's written a book. 

This is the story of her life, from the time she was little, through her time in Australia, through a trip to visit the man she'd been talking to on the phone for months in Kansas, to her marriage to Jonas. It's told through chapters that are centered on where she was in her life geographically at the time. After watching her stories and reading her posts for a couple of years, I was familiar with the bones of her life. But the book fills that in, reminding readers of Myer's openness, willingness to share her struggles, and ability to find the humor in the pain. 

Elyse reads the audiobook, which I'm sure is fantastic. But if you listen to this one, you'll miss all of the drawings which really make the stories come to life. There's at least one more book in Myers; at least I'm hoping there is. Her life has been just as interesting since her marriage. And there are all of those anecdotal stories she's shared on social media that I'm certain readers would love to hear about again. 

Would I recommend it? Certainly - who wouldn't love a book that shows how it's possible to overcome your struggles and find happiness? 

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

Read by Sheila Reed and Rebecca Benson

10 hours, 53 minutes

Published June 2021 by HarperCollins

Publisher's Summary: 

An extraordinary friendship. A lifetime of stories. 

Seventeen—year—old Lenni Pettersson lives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Though the teenager has been told she’s dying, she still has plenty of living to do. Joining the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83—year—old, purple—pajama—wearing, fruitcake—eating rebel, who transforms Lenni in ways she never imagined.

As their friendship blooms, a world of stories opens for these unlikely companions who, between them, have been alive for one hundred years. Though their days are dwindling, both are determined to leave their mark on the world. With the help of Lenni’s doting palliative care nurse and Father Arthur, the hospital’s patient chaplain, Lenni and Margot devise a plan to create one hundred paintings showcasing the stories of the century they have lived—stories of love and loss, of courage and kindness, of unexpected tenderness and pure joy.

Though the end is near, life isn’t quite done with these unforgettable women just yet.

Delightfully funny and bittersweet, heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot reminds us of the preciousness of life as it considers the legacy we choose to leave, how we influence the lives of others even after we’re gone, and the wonder of a friendship that transcends time.

My Thoughts: 

• This one was recommended by a friend to whom it had been recommended. I opted for the audiobook because I was ready for a new book and it was available immediately on audio. I'm glad I did - both Reed and Benson did a terrific job. I really felt like I was getting the story from Lenni and Margot. 
• I love finding books about friendship, especially friendships that end up growing a new family, that are able to explore the subject from entirely new (to me, at least) perspectives. 
• Lenni has had a tough life, made so much worse by the fact that she's dying alone with only the hospital staff as company. Until a new employee starts an arts program. Lenni chooses to attend the sessions attended by the elderly and there she meets Margot, who has lived through her own trials and sadness. 
• Between them, Lenni and Margot have lived 100 years. They decide that they will tell their life stories through art, giving them both a reason to fight to live on, at least until they finish that project. While they work through the project, readers are privy to the stories that each of the works of art portray. 
• Lenni also befriends Father Arthur, who finds in Lenni a challenge to his own faith, allowing Cronin to explore the idea of faith in the face of death. 
• Despite the fact that I knew this one had to end sadly, I still wasn't prepared for the ending's emotional hit. 
• Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. Despite the ending, it is a book filled with hope, love in so many forms, and the message that everyone has a story to tell, if we will only take the time to listen. 

Life: It Goes On - June 7

Happy Sunday! As I type, we are getting torrential rain, which will no doubt not last but it's nice to have. If it's going to be grey, I always want it to rain. 

We've had a very uneventful weekend. In the category of "you know you're getting old when," I talked the Big Guy into working on some chores upstairs on Friday evening that we've been putting off. Wild, right?!

Last Week I: 

Listened To: Sarah Waters' The Paying Guests. I've listened to it every chance I've gotten this week and I still have six hours left. 

Watched: Wake Up Dead Man, the latest in the Knives Out series. It's very different from the others in the series, but we both liked it. 

Read: I'm still plugging away at A Lesser Light. I'm liking it, but just can't seem to make myself pick it up. I need to rectify that this week as I have two books waiting to be picked up from the library. 

Made: First batch of caprese pasta with homegrown basil and farmer's market tomato of the season. It's officially summer! 

Enjoyed: So many dinners on the patio this week. It does make it hard to come back inside to get things done after we finish eating, though. 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: We're planning on working on emptying my dad's storage unit this week.  There's not a lot left in it, but it does have boxes and boxes of my parents' memory binders that will move to my house for me to deconstruct. It's a slow process, but knowing I need to have the boxes out of my dining room before company in a month will keep me going. 

Thinking About: Some furniture I'd like to work on this summer, starting with a table that was BG's great-grandmother's. 

Feeling: Not gonna lie, with my parents' anniversary this week and my trip to Lincoln, it's been a tough week emotionally. 

Looking forward to: An upcoming four-day weekend. 

Question of the week: What is your best tip for getting yourself out of the blues? 

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

Read by Steven Rowley

11 hours, 23 minutes

Published 2021 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons

Publisher’s Summary: 

Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. But in terms of caretaking and relating to two children, no matter how adorable, Patrick is, honestly, overwhelmed.

So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick's brother has a health crisis of his own, Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian. Despite having a set of "Guncle Rules" ready to go, Patrick has no idea what to expect, having spent years barely holding on after the loss of his great love, a somewhat-stalled acting career, and a lifestyle not-so-suited to a six- and a nine-year-old. Quickly realizing that parenting--even if temporary--isn't solved with treats and jokes, Patrick's eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you're unfailingly human.

My Thoughts: 

More bullet point thoughts, as I desperately try to catch up on reviews!

• Maisie and Grant are precocious. Too precocious? Nah, it worked here because they were also so vulnerable and mostly behave exactly in the way you'd expect 9- and 6-year-olds to behave. 
• Patrick has shut down, emotionally. He can afford not to work, so has isolated himself, following the end of his successful sit-com and the loss of his partner, Joe. He is charming, fun, and sarcastic. He is also deeply insecure about aging and what people would think about him if they really knew him. 
• The relationship between Patrick, Maisie and Grant is delightful. They, of course, help him as much as he helps them. Here is a man who's been living on his own for four years. Now he is not only not alone, he is clueless about how to deal with children. It's no surprise that he figures it out in his own way; getting there is both fun and heartwarming. 
• There's a not unexpected battle with Patrick's sister, a re-entry into acting, and an ending that I was expecting, all of which made the book feel fuller. 
• This is one of those books that I feel benefited from having the author read it. Rowley is Patrick.
• Recommended by my sister, repeatedly. She was right, I did enjoy this one a lot. In fact, I'm waiting right now for the sequel on audiobook and have plans to read more of Rowley's work. 
• Would I recommend it? Yes, it's one of those great palate cleansers I so enjoy, that manages to be light but never fluffy. 

I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell

I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O’Farrell

Read by Daisy Donovan

6 hours

Published August 2017 by Knopf

Publisher’s Summary: 

We are never closer to life than when we brush up against the possibility of death.

I Am, I Am, I Am is Maggie O'Farrell's astonishing memoir of the near-death experiences that have punctuated and defined her life. The childhood illness that left her bedridden for a year, which she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. An encounter with a disturbed man on a remote path. And, most terrifying of all, an ongoing, daily struggle to protect her daughter--for whom this book was written--from a condition that leaves her unimaginably vulnerable to life's myriad dangers.

Seventeen discrete encounters with Maggie at different ages, in different locations, reveal a whole life in a series of tense, visceral snapshots. In taut prose that vibrates with electricity and restrained emotion, O'Farrell captures the perils running just beneath the surface, and illuminates the preciousness, beauty, and mysteries of life itself.

My Thoughts: 

It's been some time since I finished this book so I'm going to just stick with the notes I made about it when I finished it. 

• This is a sequence of near and not-so-near misses. It's shocking how often O'Farrell has had brushes with death in some way. It started with that childhood illness and ends with her own daughter's medical condition. At 16 she jumps off a harbor wall; but, because of childhood encephalitis and an inability to sense where things are and her place among them, meant she was unable to surface on her own and had to be rescued. At 18, she went for a walk during a break from work and encountered a man who appeared to be waiting for her; she manages to get away but later finds out the man has killed another young girl. Later she is on a plane to Hong Kong that almost crashes and her description of what it was like in that cabin is vivid. The chapter on one of her many miscarriages is superb and heart wrenching. 
• O'Farrell sometimes tells the experience in the third person, which makes it feel less like her own life and more like a story. But they are excellent stories and it's easy to accept them being less personal feeling. 
• I'm a big fan of O'Farrell's fiction and her ability to make readers feel like they are part of the book. This book gave me the same feeling. 
• Daisy Donovan's reading is excellent. 
• Would I recommend it? Definitely. But that recommendation comes with a trigger warning. There are a lot of things here that might be upsetting to some readers.