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. 

Life: It Goes On - May 31

Happy Sunday! It's sunny here this morning, but too wet yet to get outside and work. We've been getting some nice rains this past week, largely during the night, which is lovely. My plants are flourishing. Which, of course, inspired me to buy more.  The Big Guy just shook his head when I came in with another dozen on Friday. Still the cheapest therapy money can buy! 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali and I started Sarah Water's The Paying Guests. 

Watched: So many NCAA softball and baseball games, including both Nebraska teams. I also watched five episodes of the latest, and last, season of Emily in Paris. Last night we went with friends to see the movie Tuner, starring Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall (who I had previously only known as "the boy" in Bridget Jones: Made About The Boy). I didn't know anything about the movie when we went and was wondering what my friend had gotten me into when the movie got very tense; but we really enjoyed it. 

Read: A Lesser Light by Peter Geye. It's a biggie so it's taking me a while. 

Made: Grinder pasta (as seen on Applesauce and ADHD's social media). It made a huge batch so we got three suppers out of it and a lunch! 

Enjoyed: I had Friday off work and I used a good chunk of the day to start working on my office. I made such good progress that I was inspired to continue this weekend. I'll finish today, having gone through every single thing in that room. I am getting rid of so much in there and feeling so much lighter because of it. 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: I need to finish up the furniture painting outside and then I'll be focused on getting some small projects done inside in anticipation of being the location of a bridal shower for Miss C being hosted by my sister and sister-in-law. Nothing like an event at your house to push you to get things done you've been putting off! 

Thinking About: June is Pride Month and I'm thinking about books to read and events to attend in support. 

Feeling: Accomplished. 

Looking forward to: Another quiet week on the calendar. 

Question of the week: What book have you read recently that you are recommending to everyone? 

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Read by Lesley Manville

12 hours 26 minutes

Published September 2020 by Viking Press

Publisher’s Summary: 

Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to...
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?

My Thoughts: 

Both this book and the Netflix adaptation where recommended to me by my dad; it was the last book he ever recommended to me and I would have read it, whether or not I thought it was something that would appeal to me. As you know, my dad was an avid reader; he was also an avid viewer of Netflix movies and series. When he discovered that the book that his care home's book club was reading had been adapted for Netflix, he decided to make it a read/watch combo. I'm glad I took his recommendation on both the book and the adaptation, which stars Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, and Pierce Brosnan. 

The older I get, the more I enjoy about older people, especially those who are living their best lives, being useful and clever and not just accepting that it's time to sit back and get out of the way. This group of friends combines their skills (and the smarts to get a police woman to work with them) to not only solve the murder, but to save the peace of the retirement village for all of the residents. It's surprisingly funny, I loved the characters, and it was twisted enough that I never saw the ending coming. Which, of course, I know is not that rare, but still 

I highly recommend the audiobook; Lesley Manville's reading is marvelous. I also highly recommend the adaptation, which is never weighed down by its all-star cast, who all shine, and stays true to the book. 

So Far Gone by Jess Walters

So Far Gone by Jess Walter

Read by Edoardo Ballerini

8 hours, 20 minutes

Published June 2025 by HarperCollins

Publisher's Summary: 

Rhys Kinnick has gone off the grid. At Thanksgiving a few years back, a fed-up Rhys punched his conspiracy-theorist son-in-law in the mouth, chucked his smartphone out a car window and fled for a cabin in the woods, with no one around except a pack of hungry raccoons.

Now Kinnick's old life is about to land right back on his crumbling doorstep. Can this failed husband and father, a man with no internet and a car that barely runs, reemerge into a broken world to track down his missing daughter and save his sweet, precocious grandchildren from the members of a dangerous militia?

With the help of his caustic ex-girlfriend, a bipolar retired detective, and his only friend (who happens to be furious with him), Kinnick heads off on a wild journey through cultural lunacy and the rubble of a life he thought he'd left behind. So Far Gone is a rollicking, razor-sharp, and moving road trip through a fractured nation, from a writer who has been called “a genius of the modern American moment” (Philadelphia Inquirer).

My Thoughts: 

I first started reading Jess Walter's work in 2010, when the publisher offered me Walter's The Financial Lives of Poets for review. I still newish to blogging and thrilled to accept almost any book that was offered to me, but I'd already learned not to have high hopes for books that were offered to bloggers with small followings. That book took me completely by surprise; I was impressed with Walter's ability to find humor in the roughest of times and his ability to make a really tough time readable and believable. 

I didn't hesitate, then, when I was offered his 2012 novel, Beautiful Ruins, for review, which became in big critical success. In 2020 I listened to his novel, The Cold Millions. Here's what I had to say about that: 

"We love some authors because we know what to expect from them. Walter is different; I love his books because they are all so different. And yet his writing only gets better and better."

Nothing has changed since then. Although the plot of this book is completely different from his other books, I think the writing here is better than ever. The characters are real people, the relationships feel real, and the nothing here that seems unbelievable. There are heroes, but no super heroes; there are villains, but they seem like people we've all seen on the news and social media lately.  are made that feel completely true to the character who makes them; no one here is perfect, but not all of them are ready to admit that; there is humor, grit, tension, and real emotion. 

And if all of that weren't enough to recommend this book, I highly recommend the audiobook version. Never pass on the audiobook when Edoardo Ballerini is reading it. 

Life: It Goes On - May 24

Happy Sunday! We have had so much rain in the past ten days that everything is growing like crazy and looking so lush and beautiful outside. Today is going to be a sunny, warm day, perfect for getting back outside and getting the final touches done in back. I still have some pieces of furniture to paint, some seeds to get planted, and some hosta to get transplanted. Then maybe there will be time to sit and enjoy what we've gotten done. Until I think of another project for out there, anyway! 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: I finished Patrick Suskind's Perfume and got back to John Williams' Stoner. 

Watched: Lots of college baseball and softball, the first episode of season two of Running Point, and a couple more episodes of The Morning Show. 

Read: I started Peter Geye's A Lesser Light, which I'm really enjoying. Unfortunately, I'm also struggling to make myself pick up a book to read. 

Made: It's burger season so we've had burgers a couple of days this week (mostly because the Big Guy would eat burgers four times a week if I let him), salads, nachos, and pasta. The usual tings to have when you don't really feel like cooking. I hope I get my cooking mojo back one of these days!

Enjoyed: Dinner out with friends Thursday evening and an overnight stay from my brother and SIL on their way up to her hometown. 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: Finishing yard projects for the next couple of days and then I really need to get some work done in my office and downstairs. 

Thinking About: Mini-him and Miss C are moving into a house in a couple of months which has me thinking about what I can get out of my house that they might be able to use now that they'll have a third bedroom and a basement. 

Feeling: I wasn't feeling well yesterday and was so hoping that I wouldn't be sick all weekend. I'm happy to find that I'm feeling much better today and much more productive. 

Looking forward to: Another three-day weekend next weekend. 

Question of the week: For Memorial Day, do you visit the graveyards where your family members are buried? We will likely head to Lincoln tomorrow to put flowers on my parents' graves and then head to the cemetery where many of my ancestors were buried for nearly one hundred years. 

Life: It Goes On - May 17

Happy Sunday! It's sunny here this morning; but, for the third night in a row, severe thunderstorms are predicted for later. My potted plants and all of our outdoor furniture and up against the house for protection, where they'll stay until Tuesday when the last threat of storms has passed. I spent WAY too much on those plants to have them destroyed by hail this early in the season! I have managed to get most of the touch up painting done during the days, at least. 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: I finished Michelle Obama's The Light We Carry. Now I'm back to Patrick Suskind's Perfume, which I'll finish this week. Next up, I'll finish John William's Stoner. 

Watched: A lot of NCAA softball and baseball. I also started season 2 of The Morning Show.

Read: Lili King's Heart The Lover, which is our book club selection for June. Now I've started Peter Geye's latest, A Lesser Light. Geye's books are favorites of mine, as well as the Big Guy. 

Made: Nothing notable. It's been another week of pasta, salads, and take out. 

Enjoyed: A relatively lazy week. 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: On finishing up the outside painting and planting projects. Then it's on to doing some projects in the house in preparation for a bridal shower my sister and sister-in-law will be hosting here in early July. Nothing like an event to make you do the home projects you've been putting off! 

Thinking About: What it's going to take to get me to finish up all of the book reviews I have started! 

Feeling: Rested. 

Looking forward to: Two three-day weekends in a row coming up.

Question of the week: Do you have big plans for Memorial Day weekend?