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? 

Run For The Hills by Kevin Wilson

For The Hills by Kevin Wilson

Read by Marin Ireland

7 hours, 22 minutes

Published May 2025 by HarperCollins

Publisher’s Summary: 

Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it’s been just Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While it’s a bit lonely, she sometimes admits, and a less exciting life than what she imagined for herself, it’s mostly okay. Mostly.

Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all.

As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with every new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm?

Infused with deadpan wit, zany hijinks, and enormous heart, Run for the Hills is a sibling story like no other—a novel about a family forged under the most unlikely circumstances and united by hope in an unknown future.

My Thoughts: 

I read Kevin Wilson’s Nothing To See Here in 2020, having been convinced to read it, despite my belief that it was definitely not the kind of book I would enjoy. I was wrong. It was utterly unique and quirky, but also funny and full of heart. Needless to say, it took no convincing whatsoever to get me to read Run For The Hills, even before I knew what it was about. 

• Marin Ireland’s reading is fantastic, as always. 
• Maureen Corrigan on Wilson’s writing: ‘He'll start off with these goofy, almost sitcom-type contrived premises and from there create stories that knock you out with the force of their emotional truth.’She hit the nail on the head. The premise of this one is not quite as out there as was the premise of Nothing See Here, but it's still utterly unique. 
• I really grew to care about these characters, especially given that they are all carrying the scars of being the offspring of a man who just walked away from his life, and them, again and again. Each of them grows as the journey continues, but they always remain to who they were to begin with. 
• Wilson blends humor (that poor PT Cruiser takes the worst of it) and heart. He asks interesting questions. How would you react if someone came to you saying that they are your long lost sibling? What exactly is this patched together family going to do when they finally reach their father? How do you deal with facing a person who was supposed to love you forever, but walked away? Do you really want to know the answers he'll give once you find him? What becomes of this new family once their trip comes to an end? Are they really a family, just because they have the same father, a man each of them knows only vaguely? 

For the humor, the quirkiness, the realness of his characters, the questions that he raises, I won't hesitate to pick up Wilson's next book. Which I hope he's working on even as I type. 

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Kirby

Read by Samantha Irby

9 hours, 17 minutes

Published May 2017 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

 

Publisher's Summary: 

Whether Samantha Irby is talking about how her difficult childhood has led to a problem in making “adult” budgets; explaining why she should be the new Bachelorette (she's "35-ish, but could easily pass for 60-something"); detailing a disastrous pilgrimage-slash-romantic-vacation to Nashville to scatter her estranged father's ashes; sharing awkward sexual encounters; or dispensing advice on how to navigate friendships with former drinking buddies who are now suburban moms (hang in there for the Costco loot!); she's as deft at poking fun at the ghosts of her past self as she is at capturing powerful emotional truths.

My Thoughts: 

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life was one of the New York Times Critics Book of the Year in 2022. As a general rule, that would make a book one that would be easily recommendable. This one? This one is definitely not for everyone and you should know that about it before you pick it up. 

Because you will not want this book playing in the background while you're ordering coffee just as it comes to a part where Irby is talking very graphically about sex. And there's a very good chance that will happen to you even if you only stop for coffee a couple of times while you're listening to this one. If you're someone who's already familiar with Irby, this probably won't come as a surprise; but it did come as a surprise to me. I like to think that I'm not a prude; but sometimes when I'm taken aback by sexual encounters in books, I think I just might be. Those parts made me uncomfortable and made me wonder if I wanted to keep listening to this book. 

But if you can get by that (or if you're then kind of person who this kind of thing doesn't bother at all), there's a lot to like about this one. Irby is funny; self aware and unafraid to make fun of herself; and very open about her difficult life growing up, her abusive father, how very bad she is when it comes to relationships. 

That cat on the cover of the book? Irby got stuck with a kitten who came with a boatload of medical issues and a very bad attitude, who she named "Helen Keller." In Irby's version of the relationship, you would think there wasn't one redeeming thing about Helen and that she lived to make Irby's life miserable. But you would probably also get the impression by the amount of the book that's devoted to Helen, that Irby grew pretty attached to that sickly, cranky girl, especially when you read the piece about Helen's final trip to the vet. As a cat mom (yes, I said "mom"), that part got to me! 

Will I read more of Irby's work? I'm not sure. But if I do, I'll know what I'm likely to encounter and that there will be plenty of humor and emotional openness to offset the tough-for-me stuff. 

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

400 pages

Published July 2024 by HarperCollins

Publisher's Summary: 

They were just friends. Best friends. Allies. They spent entire summers sitting on Shiloh’s porch steps, dreaming about the future. They were both going to get out of north Omaha—Shiloh would go to go to college and become an actress, and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friendship would never change.

Well, Shiloh did go to college, and Cary did join the Navy. And yet, somehow, everything changed.

Now Shiloh’s thirty-three, and it’s been fourteen years since she talked to Cary. She’s been married and divorced. She has two kids. And she’s back living in the same house she grew up in. Her life is nothing like she planned.

When she’s invited to an old friend’s wedding, all Shiloh can think about is whether Cary will be there—and whether she hopes he will be. Would Cary even want to talk to her? After everything?

The answer is yes. And yes. And yes.

Slow Dance is the story of two kids who fell in love before they knew enough about love to recognize it. Two friends who lost everything. Two adults who just feel lost.

It’s the story of Shiloh and Cary, who everyone thought would end up together, trying to find their way back to the start.

My Thoughts: 

This week I'll be reviewing this book by Omaha author Rainbow Rowell and Omaha author Timothy Schaffert. As I looked back to see which was the first Rowell book that I'd read, I found that in April 2011, I also reviewed books by these same authors. That Rowell book was my first book by her, 2011's Attachments. In that book I found that her writing light and humorous, but also heartwarming and heartbreaking. I was so excited that she agreed to write a guest post for my then two-year-old blog. 

Since then I've read 2014's Landline, 2013's Fangirl and, one of my all-time favorite books, 2012's Eleanor and Park. Since then, though, Rowell has written three books that were a spinoff of Fangirl that were not something that interested me and some manga, also outside of my reading comfort zone. I've missed her. I can't tell you how excited I was to find that she'd finally written something that harkened back to those books I so enjoyed a decade ago. And then worried that Rowell's style might have changed over the years, that this book couldn't live up to my memories of the other books. 

What did I expect from this book (which, of course, I knew nothing about going in because I didn't look, I just automatically knew I'd want to read it)? Humor. A relationship between two characters who keep putting roadblocks into their paths to happiness. Complicated family relationships. At least one quirky character, most likely one that makes me think that they are modeled in no small part on Rowell herself. Great dialogue. Omaha. And I got all of that, every bit of it. 

This is what Kirkus Reviews had to say about this book: "Both of them are smart, clever, misanthropic, and stubborn. They are also, along with the omniscient narrative voice and tertiary characters, very funny. Rowell does longing like nobody’s business. She pits epic love against relatable, painful foibles. Cary and Shiloh want each other palpably, but they get hung up on little details, feel shame, project, overthink. They struggle mightily to believe they’re lovable."

In this book, Rowell blends her understanding of adult life and relationships (as she did so well in Landline) with her astonishing ability to recall the angst and pain and struggles of young people. In this book, readers are treated to both the current storyline of Shiloh and Cary as they try to reconnect and pick up where they left off and to glimpses into their pasts, into their friendship that would long ago have become something more than that had they had the ability and courage to express what they truly felt. In the end, it's probably just as well that they didn't. It wouldn't have lasted. They had to work their way to each other as adults. I'd worry that I've given away something here; but you know this book for what it is, a romance where you'll get the ending you're hoping for. Even if you can't imagine, for a goodly part of the book, how these two will ever be truly honest with each other, get over their fears, and find a way to make things work out, no matter how many obstacles are in their path. 

Welcome back to adult fiction, Rainbow Rowell! I've missed you! 

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Read by Jennette McCurdy

6 hours, 26 minutes

Published August 2022 by Simon & Schuster

Publisher's Summary: Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother's dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn't tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail-just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I'm Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.

My Thoughts: 

• I was aware of this book when it first came out, just a year and a half after my own mom died. I couldn't have picked it up then; I couldn't have imagined being glad your mom died, even though I was certainly aware that there are a lot of terrible moms out there. 
• I listened to this one. You all know that I'll often push the speed up to 125% when I'm trying to finish a book before my loan expires OR if I feel like the reading is just too slow. Sometimes it sounds much more normal, sometimes it sounds like someone is racing through the book but I generally grow used to it. In this book, McCurdy is reading at a pace that kept me checking to see whether or not I'd upped the speed to 125%. It's fast, her voice is high pitched. I actually considered slowing the speed. 
• I got to the last five minutes of the book and was confused about when McCurdy reached the point when she felt like she was glad her mom had died. I mean, it's clear that she does and that the point of the book is to show the reasons why the book has its title. But when we got to that point, I think it was even more impactful because she waited to long to get there. 
• Wow. McCurdy's mom was a real piece of work. I mean, I've heard of moms causing eating disorders in their children and forcing them into careers because that's what the mom wants. But I have never heard of a mom insisting on showering her children well into their teens. Or moving in with them after they move out.
• I didn't know who McCurdy was before this book. My daughter must have missed the iCarly years and certainly missed the Sam and Cat years. But of course I was familiar with Nickelodeon. What an eyeopener this book is into the workings of that channel. She doesn't name names, to her credit; but does reveal that the creator of her shows was eventually made to sit in a different room when the shows were being filmed. 
• It's a tough read (or listen, as the case may be) even though McCurdy uses humor throughout. "Seeing" someone being abused, developing an eating disorder, falling into toxic relationships, and becoming an addict is hard. Especially having raised a daughter who suffered from an eating disorder, was an addict, and has been involved in a number of toxic relationships. But much as my daughter survived and now thrives, McCurdy is an inspiration and an example of how therapy can save lives. 
• In the end, as hard as it is to read, I hope McCurdy's candor will help others. 

What About Men? A Feminist Answers The Question by Caitlin Moran

What About Men? A Feminist Answers The Question by Caitlin Moran

320 pages

Published September 2023 by HarperCollins Publisher

Publisher's Summary: 

Like anyone who discusses the problems of girls and women in public, Caitlin Moran has often been confronted with the question: “But what about men?” And at first, tbh, she dgaf. Boys, and men, are fine, right? Feminism doesn’t need to worry about them.

However, around the time she heard an angry young man saying he was “boycotting” International Women’ Day because “It's easier to be a woman than a man these days,” she started to wonder: are unhappy boys, and men, also making unhappy women? The statistics on male misery are grim: boys are falling behind in school, are at greater risk of depression, greater risk of suicide, and, most pertinently, are increasingly at risk from online misogynist radicalization. Will the Sixth Wave of feminism need to fix the men, if it wants to fix the women?

Moran began to investigate—talking to her husband, close male friends, and her daughters' friends: bringing up very difficult and candid topics, and receiving vulnerable and honest responses. So: what about men? Why do they only go to the doctor if their partner makes them? Why do they never discuss their penises with each other—but make endless jokes about their balls? What is porn doing for young men? Is sexual strangling a good hobby for young people to have? Are men ever allowed to be sad? Are they ever allowed to lose? Have Men's Rights Activists confused “power” with “empowerment”? Are Mid-Life Crises actually quite cool? And what’s the deal with Jordan Peterson’s lobster?

In this thoughtful, warm, provocative book, Moran opens a genuinely new debate about how to reboot masculinity for the twenty-first century, so that “straight white man” doesn’t automatically mean bad news—but also uses the opportunity to make a lot of jokes about testicles, and trousers. Because if men have neither learned to mine their deepest anxieties about masculinity for comedy, nor answered the question “What About Men?,” then it’s up to a busy woman to do it.

My Thoughts: 

I'm a huge fan of Moran (this is the fourth of her books that I've read). She's funny, smart, does the work to make sure she's getting it right, and is the feminist I wish I were. Which, of course, made me question why a feminist was writing a book about men (and I'm sure a lot of men might be wondering why any woman is writing a book about men). But, again, I know Moran to be someone who will have done the research to make sure she's coming from a point of knowledge, grounded in what she's learned. What she's learned, as it turns out, comes largely from doing the work of asking men the questions. 

I came away feeling like I'd learned an awfully lot from Moran, that I had a better understanding of what it's like to grow up as a man and the challenges that they face. There were parts where I didn't agree with Moran (I have been, after all, married to a man for 42 years and am the mother of two grown men so I have some knowledge on this subject of my own). 

Stuart Jeffries, writing for The Guardian, found a lot to dislike about this one (and he is, after all, actually a man). Moran, for example, writes that you will not find the kinds of self-help books for men, written by men, that you will find in any bookstore anywhere for women. Jeffries, on the other hand, points out what he says are two excellent books for men, written both authors that are both from the same town as Moran. And I have to agree with Jeffries when he writes, in response to Moran positing that the patriarchy is screwing over men as much as it is women: 

"The patriarchy does have its downsides for men, but its most terrible consequences such as raping, underpaying, genitally mutilating, harassing both at work and on the street are overwhelmingly things that men do to women. Or is there a memo I didn’t get?"

I do have to agree that some of what Moran writes is pretty stereotypical - men dress boringly, to some extent to avoid being accused of being gay. All three of my guys do not fit Moran's thesis at all; all three of them care very much about what they wear, how it fits, and spend time considering what they will wear. 

All of that aside, I think this is more of a book for women to read to try to learn more about men than one that men will pick up. That being the case, it may well provide women with the kinds of questions that can ask of their friends, husbands, significant others, and sons, that will open up conversations that certainly need to be had. Take, for example, the chapter about how harmful the ready access to pornography has been for men, particularly young men. It has rewired their brains to the point where a not insignificant percentage of them find actual sex lacking. And there is a chapter about what our young men can find out in the "manosphere," much of which is quite alarming. 

Is this a book without faults? No. Would you be wise to take this as an opportunity to ask your guys some of the same questions? Yes. I wish I had read this book twenty years ago, when my oldest's male friends were in my house constantly. I wish I would have thought to ask the questions and address the issues that Moran raises here. There is no reason that some of the problems that young men (and, consequently, grown men) deal with can't be chipped away at, one person at a time. Take this as a starting point. 

 

100 Places To Visit After You Die by Ken Jennings

100 Places To Visit After You Die by Ken Jennings

Published June 2023 by Scribner

320 Pages

Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley

Publisher's Summary: 

Ever wonder which circles of Dante’s Inferno have the nicest accommodations? Where’s the best place to grab a bite to eat in the ancient Egyptian underworld? How does one dress like a local in the heavenly palace of Hinduism’s Lord Vishnu, or avoid the flesh-eating river serpents in the Klingon afterlife? What hidden treasures can be found off the beaten path in Hades, Valhalla, or NBC’s The Good Place? Find answers to all those questions and more about the world(s) to come in this eternally entertaining book from Ken Jennings. 

100 Places to See After You Die is written in the style of iconic bestselling travel guides—but instead of recommending must-see destinations in Mexico, Thailand, or Rome, Jennings outlines journeys through the afterlife, as dreamed up over 5,000 years of human history by our greatest prophets, poets, mystics, artists, and TV showrunners. This comprehensive index of 100 different afterlife destinations was meticulously researched from sources ranging from the Epic of Gilgamesh to modern-day pop songs, video games, and Simpsons episodes. Get ready for whatever post-mortal destiny awaits you, whether it’s an astral plane, a Hieronymus Bosch hellscape, or the baseball diamond from Field of Dreams. 

Fascinating, funny, and irreverent, this light-hearted memento mori will help you create your very own bucket list—for after you’ve kicked the bucket.

My Thoughts: 

Yes. THAT Ken Jennings. Which made this one interesting to me even if the title and description hadn't intrigued me, which they did. 

Yes, this book is funny and irreverent and light-hearted. Which made me so happy - I was so hoping that Jennings would be just as humorous in writing as he seems to be on t.v. And, no surprise, just as smart. There are, actually, one hundred entries in this book, in seven different categories. He includes references to the afterlife in mythology, religion, books, movies, television, music and theater, and a miscellaneous group. Yes, I know it says 100 in the title, but I didn't seriously believe that there would be 100 different ways that Jennings could refer to the afterlife. I don't for a minute believe that Jennings pulled these 100 references off the top of his head, but he had to have had a pretty good number to start with or he wouldn't have even considered the idea for a book, right? 

This is not a book to be read straight through; it's a book to read a couple of chapters at a time, especially in the mythology and religion sections. There's a lot to be said about all of those references and if you read too many at once, it's for it to begin to feel a little repetitive and (for me) a little boring. But read a bit at a time, the humor holds up much better. As does your ability to refresh your memory in one of those areas; or, as I did, learn new things. 

Of course, when we got to television, movies, and books, I was more in my element...and the chapters were shorter and more diverse so it became easier to read a few more chapters at a time. Also, those chapters were a lot less gruesome. Those mythology and religious afterlives can be crazy gruesome! Not that Dante wasn't every bit their equal. 

Where can you choose to travel to in the afterlife? Hades and Valhalla (of course), the Bardo, Limbo, Nirvana, Johanna and Jannah, the Three Kingdoms of Glory, Aslan's Country, King's Cross, Pandemonium, the Bogus Journey, Hotel Hades, Iowa, the Bad Place, Robot Hell, Hadestown, Rock and Roll Heaven, and the Outer Planes. 

It's great fun and it's definitely one I'd recommend. Just put it on your coffee table or nightstand, and read a chapter or two every night for maximum enjoyment! 

Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris

Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris

Read by David Sedaris

6 Hours 26 Minutes

Published April 2013 by Little, Brown and Company

Publisher's Summary: 

From here the story could take many turns. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humor and intelligence and leave you deeply moved. 

Sedaris remembers his father's dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant), and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered Pygmy.

Publisher's Summary: 

Every time my husband and I are planning a trip, I start thinking about what I'll read while he's driving. I'm the navigator but when you're traveling roads that you're familiar with, that should leave plenty of time for reading. It doesn't. My husband doesn't mind doing the driving but he likes to be entertained while he's doing it - well, maybe not entertained exactly, but talking will be involved. Some years back, after my parents were talking about the most recent book they'd listened to while traveling, I decide that would solve two problems. I'd get to "read" a book and my husband would have someone talking to him. There turned out to be two problems with this idea. Number one, when you reach an area that requires more of the driver's attention, I had to turn off the book. Number two, my husband still talked. Right over the book he was supposed to be listening to at the time. 

This time I felt like I had the perfect solution. I purposely looked for a book that would only take up about half of our driving time, leaving plenty of time for navigational periods and areas that required his concentration. Then I looked for an author I knew he enjoyed and something that could be broken up easily. Bingo - anything by David Sedaris would work. My hubby seemed very amenable to the idea. 

In a total of twelve and a half hours of driving, we listened to two and a half hours. To be fair, we took new routes both to and home from our destination - we had to pay attention to what we were doing. Still, I'm throwing in the towel on audiobooks on road trips. We'd no sooner start the book, then my husband would want to know what how much longer I wanted to go before we stopped for a bathroom break or to talk about the time he ate in a great little place in a town we were driving by. He cannot focus on stories while driving. Not even for David Sedaris. 

In his defense, I'm sure he expected, as I did, that the book would be hilarious. Nobody tells a funny story quite like David Sedaris. But this book is not all about being funny. There are some downright tough to listen to stories in this book. But it's hard to listen to a man tell a story about how hard his dad was on him, how he belittled him and embarrassed him, and made him feel worthless. Nobody tells those stories better than David Sedaris, either. 

So, even though I won't bring any more Sedaris on car rides, I'm nowhere near done reading his books. 

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci

304 Pages

Published October 2021 by Gallery Books

Publisher's Summary: 

From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen.

Stanley Tucci grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the kitchen table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the savory recipes and into the compelling stories behind them.​

Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about his growing up in Westchester, New York; preparing for and shooting the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia; falling in love over dinner; and teaming up with his wife to create meals for a multitude of children. Each morsel of this gastronomic journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burned dishes, is as heartfelt and delicious as the last.

Written with Stanley’s signature wry humor, Taste is for fans of Bill Buford, Gabrielle Hamilton, and Ruth Reichl—and anyone who knows the power of a home-cooked meal.

My Thoughts:

Print = recipes 

Audio = Stanley Tucci reading the book

Stanley Tucci may have helped me break my months' long reading slump with this book and I needed it to be in print, in a book that I held in my hands as I turned the pages. Plus, the recipes - I have so many new recipes to try! But can I tell you how sad it also makes me that I didn't get to hear Tucci reading this book?  So, here's my recommendation to you - checkout the physical book AND the audiobook so you get the best of both worlds. If you don't want to do that, do yourself a favor and at least check out some form of this book - I promise you will not be disappointed. 

Yes, it's very much a book about food and the role that food has played in Tucci's life. But it's also a book about family, about growing up in the sixty years ago in suburbia, about surviving lockdowns during a pandemic, about loss and love and friendship. And it's funny. Really. Tucci is a funny, self-deprecating guy. 

My earliest recollection of Stanley Tucci is from his 1996 film Big Night, a movie he wrote and co-directed about two Italian brothers struggling to keep their restaurant afloat. It's a gem which I cannot recommend highly enough and which forever linked Tucci with food for me. It didn't surprise me in the least to find his CNN series, Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy, a series where he is something of a foodie tourist. 

It's only fitting that Tucci should find himself on a television show about food. He grew up watching cooking shows with his mother, a woman who never cooked a bad meal, according to Tucci. He writes about family meals growing up, food on the sets of movies, restaurants he has frequented in his travels, and the meals he's prepared. Many of those meals have been enjoyed with famous friends; even as he's dropping those friends' names, Tucci is mocking himself for doing it. But hey, if you count Meryl Streep, Ryan Reynolds, Campbell Scott, Tony Shalhoub, and Colin Firth, I guess you're entitled. 

Now in his sixties, Tucci finds that food and the act of preparing it and eating it have overcome his previous passion of acting. When you get to the end of the book, you'll know why it has taken on an even greater importance for him in the past few years but I don't want to spoil that for you. Because I'm really hoping that you'll pick this one up. 

And now I need to go watch everything Stanley Tucci has ever been in because I feel like we're friends now. And, to be honest, I find him kinda sexy - I mean, he can cook, he's funny, and he dresses impeccably; what's not to love?

Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawon

Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson

Read by Jenny Lawson

Published  April 2021 by Holt, Henry and Company, Inc

Source: audiobook checked out from my local library

Publisher's Summary:

As Jenny Lawson’s hundreds of thousands of fans know, she suffers from depression. In Broken, she explores her experimental treatment of transcranial magnetic stimulation with brutal honesty. But also with brutal humor. Jenny discusses the frustration of dealing with her insurance company in “An Open Letter to My Insurance Company,” which should be an anthem for anyone who has ever had to call their insurance company to try and get a claim covered. She tackles such timelessly debated questions as “How do dogs know they have penises?” We see how her vacuum cleaner almost set her house on fire, how she was attacked by three bears, business ideas she wants to pitch to Shark Tank, and why she can never go back to the post office. Of course, Jenny’s long-suffering husband Victor—the Ricky to Jenny’s Lucille Ball—is present throughout. 

A treat for Jenny Lawson’s already existing fans, and destined to convert new ones, Broken is a beacon of hope and a wellspring of laughter.

My Thoughts:

I love Jenny Lawson. I love her incredible sense of humor but even more her incredible honesty and openness. I love to listen to her books because she always reads them and I'm certain that they are just that much funnier, that much more thought provoking, and that much more empathetic. Although, I did just find out that the printed book has photos and drawings and I'm a little bummed to miss that. 

“The Bloggess writes stuff that actually is laugh out loud, but you know that really you shouldn’t be laughing and probably you’ll go to hell for laughing, so maybe you shouldn’t read it. That would be safer and wiser.” —Neil Gaiman

Lawson got her start writing a blog, called The Bloggess (hence the reason Gaiman referred to her as such), which is where I first discovered her. In her debut collection of stories, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson talked about her life, from her very unconventional childhood through becoming a parent. I have never laughed so hard when I read (listened) to a book.  Until now. One day, as I drove home from work listening to this book, I swear to you I actually guffawed. I was laughing so hard that I seriously considered pulling my car off the road. 

But things are not all funny. There's a full chapter that's a letter to an insurance company; to say that Lawson's troubles highlight the problem with our entire health care system is an understatement. Lawson has a lot of medical problems, from rheumatoid arthritis to anemias to inactive tuberculosis. And that doesn't take into account her mental health issues which include avoidant personality disorder, anxiety, ADD, and treatment resistant depression. Despite having insurance, she spends hundreds of dollars every month on medicines and treatments that her insurance will not cover but which work for her. Her quiet rage is entirely understandable. I'm certain her fearlessness in sharing her battles with all of this helps other people who face similar battles although she is quick to credit those how have shared, through comments on her blog, their own struggles, which led to her writing more openly about her issues. 

Lawson is probably not for everyone - she does curse quite a lot and reproductive body parts come into play frequently. But if you can handle that, and you don't mind chapters that often veer wildly off the original topic, I promise that you will laugh out loud (not just say "lol"), who will actually get some pretty good insights into what makes a marriage work, and, most importantly, you will get to hear from a woman who wants you to know that you are not alone. That's important to her because she needs readers to remind her that she is not alone either. We're all in this together. 

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

Read by David Case

Published August 1995 by Riverhead

Source: audiobook checked out from my local library

Publisher's Summary:

Rob is a pop-music junkie who runs his own semi-failing record store. His girlfriend, Laura, has just left him for the guy upstairs, and Rob is both miserable and relieved. After all, could he have spent his life with someone who has a bad record collection? Rob seeks refuge in the company of the offbeat clerks at his store, who endlessly review their top five films; top five Elvis Costello songs; top five episodes of Cheers. 

Rob tries dating a singer, but maybe it’s just that he’s always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contract. Then he sees Laura again. And Rob begins to think that life with kids, marriage, barbecues, and soft-rock CDs might not be so bad.

My Thoughts:

I adore the movie adaptation of this book, mostly because I adore John Cusack who plays Rob Fleming. I already knew that but this book reinforced that it was Cusack who did that for me, rather than the character, because on the written page I really, really did not like Rob. 

Maybe it's because as the mother of a men and aunt of more men who are nearly the same age, I have no tolerance for men who suffer from Peter Pan Syndrome. Sure, it's fine for you to really, really enjoy records (or gaming, or sports, or even Dungeons and Dragons) but they cannot...I repeat cannot...define your life at the expense of doing things like making sure you can support yourself. And records define Rob (and Barry and Dick). Also, Rob is just not a very nice guy. Early in his "romantic" life, he engineers the breakup of a friend just so he can pursue the ex-girlfriend. As an adult he cheats on his live-in girlfriend. He sleeps with another woman just because she has a recording contract and he's hoping that maybe she'll include him on a record cover. 

In the movie, because Rob was played by Cusack it was understandable to believe that there was a good person in there just waiting to come out. And, in the end, he did. In the book, we don't get that preconceived idea about Rob so that even as Rob and Laura work to patch things up, you're never entirely sure that Rob has what it takes to make a relationship work. Luckily, by that point in the book, I did finally like him enough to hope that he did. 

Now I need to go watch the movie again. Because the parts of this book that are funny (and there is quite a lot of funny here) shine in the movie. 

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Translated by Neil Smith

Published September 2020 by Atria Books

Source: checked out from my local library

Publisher's Summary:

Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can’t fix their own marriage. There’s a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can’t seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment’s only bathroom, and you’ve got the worst group of hostages in the world. 

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

My Thoughts:

Fredrik Backman has the ability to write about incredibly heavy themes with a light touch and sense of humor that never fails to have me laughing and crying, sometimes on the same page. His writing is uncomplicated and yet says so much. His characters are ridiculous, flawed, and some are downright unlikable. But Backman clearly loves his characters and readers can't help but care about them and reminds us that we are all connected.

"...most of us remain strangers, we never know what we do to each other, how your life is affected by mine."

As with so many books, communication plays a big role in this book, what we say that we shouldn't, what we don't say that we should. It's about the communication between married couples, therapists and patients, fathers and sons, and even strangers. Here again, Backman plays this both humorously and with a feeling of sadness.

"The other one said they'd started to hate each other after an argument that, as far as Jim could understand, started when they were unable to find a juicer in a color that reflected them both as individuals but also as a couple. That was when they realized that they couldn't live together another minute longer, and now they hated each other."

"It's so hard to find the words when all you really want to say is: "I can see you're hurting."

So many of the characters in this book come to see that others are hurting but can't find the words to say it. The saving grace in Backman's books is that they almost always find other ways to show that they see it and reach out to help.  

This is my third book by Backman and each of them has had a certain sense of mystery to them but this is by far the most complicated. It is a slow reveal that makes readers rethink assumptions they've made along the way, about the plot and the characters. 

I used to do posts periodically that I called Book Gems. I haven't done one in a while but I've saved so many quotes from this book that I think it's time to pick that up again. There were so many things that spoke to me about parenthood, being an adult, and about siblings. And so many things that were just too funny not to share. 

I raced through this book and wanted to start it all over again. Even knowing all of the revels and how it all ends up, I think I'd enjoy it nearly as much the second time. Clearly, this one's going on my favorite reads of the year list, where I expect to still find it in December. 

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
Read by Carrie Fisher
Published September 2009 by Simon and Schuster
Source: audiobook checked out from my local library

Publisher’s Summary:
Intimate, hilarious, and sobering, Wishful Drinking is Fisher, looking at her life as she best remembers it (what do you expect after electroshock therapy?). It’s an incredible tale: the child of Hollywood royalty—Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher—homewrecked by Elizabeth Taylor, marrying (then divorcing, then dating) Paul Simon, having her likeness merchandized on everything from Princess Leia shampoo to PEZ dispensers, learning the father of her daughter forgot to tell her he was gay, and ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed. 

This is Carrie Fisher at her best—revealing her worst. She tells her true and outrageous story of her bizarre reality with her inimitable wit, unabashed self-deprecation, and buoyant, infectious humor.

My Thoughts:
The other day I finished the book I had been listening to and started the next one that I had on loan from the library only to discover that I just could not listen to it. Not that day, not in that frame of mind. I needed something light. I often call the books I read between heavier books “sorbet” books. But what I had in mind this time was something more like chicken broth for the brain – I needed to feel better. I wasn’t sure what that would be – a mystery, something funny, perhaps, gasp!, a romance? I started browsing what was available right now that wasn’t too long. I looked at a lot of options; but I knew this was the one as soon as I found it.

Wishful Drinking is based on Fisher’s show of the same name and I can’t tell you how much I wish, after hearing this, that I had been able to see her perform the show. We already know a lot of what Fisher has to say (who her parents are, how they were broken up, who she married, that she was an addict, etc.). But Fisher tells her life story in the way of any great storyteller: filling in, embellishing, and making even the saddest things funny. No one, with the possible exception of her ex-husband, Paul Simon, is safe from her wit. She says that her mother was horrified when she found out that Fisher had begun cooking for her daughter, insisting that she would send her cook over to take care of the cooking. She mocks her parents’ multiple marriages, George Lucas’ directing, and the famous friends she partied with.

As funny as she is, Fisher is also brutally honest about her addictions and her battle with mental illness. Pretty heavy topics but, again, Fisher finds away to make them funny. She says that it was hard for doctors to diagnose her bipolar disorder because the effects of her drug and alcohol abuse so closely mirrored the symptoms of that disorder. In the end, to battle her depression, Fisher needed electroconvulsive therapy and I’ll be damned if she didn’t find a way to make even that hilarious.

Now I’m sure that this book is funny in print. But if you haven’t read it yet, I cannot recommend highly enough that you listen to it instead of reading it in print. Fisher’s comic timing is impeccable and that last few minutes of the book simply wouldn’t be the same without her reading them. This was just the book I needed!

Been There, Married That by Gigi Levangie

Been There, Married That by Gigi Levangie
Read by Amy McFadden
Published February 2020 by St. Martin's Publishing Group
Source: audiobook checked out from my local library

Publisher's Summary:
Agnes Murphy Nash is in big trouble. When she returns home one evening only to find the locks changed on the gates of their mansion, the security guard breaks the news: her famous producer husband has filed for divorce. And he’s not going to play fair. Trevor Nash wants custody of their tween daughter, Pep, but only for the sake of appearances. And Agnes can’t let him win.

With the help of her ex-con sister, a Hollywood psychic, a ballsy female lawyer, and a host of friends and “frenemies,” Agnes realizes that when he changes the locks, she needs to change the rules. But a crisis can lead to opportunity, and for Agnes, this gigantic betrayal brings her to a crossroads that will have her asking herself what she really wants out of life, who she really wants to be, and which man she really lovesl


My Thoughts:
Guys, I've been on the struggle bus with my reading. Even books I've loved have been work to get through; I just can't stay focused. I knew I needed something light and fun. I read and enjoyed Levangie's The Starter Wife (my review) and when I saw this available, I jumped all over it, knowing it would be just the right thing.

Levangie knows how to have fun with her characters - sure, there are caricatures aplenty but it's all done tongue-in-cheek. The woman who is convinced to go to rehab because she thinks it'll be a great break from her regular life, the woman who starts a Go Fund Me because she's so broke she has to drive a brown BMW, the producer who can't fall asleep without a sleeping companion, the older father who jumps from one girlfriend he meets online to the next, and the sister with the shady morals who might just turn out to be the person Agnes most needs - there's not a lot of depth but that's exactly what makes the book fun.

Nothing is going Agnes' way and it's not all her fault (although, a far amount of it is and you can't quite believe she doesn't see somethings coming). But you know everything will work out in the end, but Levangie keeps you wondering how until the very end. The way Levangie wraps things up keeps up the fun factor.

My favorite part of the book - Amy McFadden's reading. She does a terrific job of voicing multiple characters, including men, and brings just the right breezy feel to the book. You might enjoy this one in print but I'd really recommend you listen to it instead.

Nothing To See Here by Kevin

Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson
Published October 2019 by HarperCollins Publishers
Source: checked out from my local library

Publisher’s Summary:
Lillian and Madison were unlikely roommates and yet inseparable friends at their elite boarding school. But then Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly in the wake of a scandal and they’ve barely spoken since. Until now, when Lillian gets a letter from Madison pleading for her help.
Madison’s twin stepkids are moving in with her family and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, there’s a catch: the twins spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a startling but beautiful way. Lillian is convinced Madison is pulling her leg, but it’s the truth.
Thinking of her dead-end life at home, the life that has consistently disappointed her, Lillian figures she has nothing to lose. Over the course of one humid, demanding summer, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each other—and stay cool—while also staying out of the way of Madison’s buttoned-up politician husband. Surprised by her own ingenuity yet unused to the intense feelings of protectiveness she feels for them, Lillian ultimately begins to accept that she needs these strange children as much as they need her—urgently and fiercely. Couldn’t this be the start of the amazing life she’d always hoped for?

My Thoughts:
Lillian has had a crap life. Her only hope to get out of it was her intelligence which enabled her to get into an elite high school. Unfortunately, that was, literally, sold out from under her. The reality of life after she gets kicked out of the school is overwhelming and Lillian gives up. Instead of making a great life for herself, at twenty-eight, she is still living in her mother’s attic. Who could blame a girl for jumping at the chance to help an old friend who’s offering you a salary, free room and board, and an entirely new wardrobe, even if it means taking care of children bad attitudes who might burst into flames at any moment?

Maybe because the twins have lived an even worse life than Lillian has, she has much more empathy than anyone else in their lives. Lillian has spent so long living down to expectations that even she is surprised when, after a very rocky start, she starts to win over the children and learn how to manage their combustible tendencies. Like all kids, it doesn’t take Bessie and Roland long to figure out that Lillian might just be the only person around who really cares about them which surprises Lillian as much as it surprises the kids.

I’ve seen this one around and heard good things about it but I couldn’t imagine that a book about children that burst into flames would appeal to me. But then Care (of Care’s Online Book Club) reviewed it and enjoyed it; if Care likes it, I always know there’s a good chance I will as well. And, truth be told, I do enjoy a quirky, dark comedy now and again. So when I saw it on the shelf at my library, I picked it up. It’s not a long book and the reading was made much faster by the fact that I was enjoying it so much. It’s funny and weird and tender. The ending is spot on.

Not sure a book about children who start on fire is for you? Imagine instead that Bessie and Roland are two children whose father has abandoned them, who are inconvenient for the people who should be caring for them, and who have some behavioral issues which require special handling. Then imagine them being assigned the most ill-prepared person to care for them who actually does end up doing just that – caring for them.

Lit: Uniquely Portable Magic - It's All About Feelings!

I've been so busy reading and writing reviews lately that I haven't taken the time to catch up on some on the bookish news I've been saving to read. As usually, I thought I'd some some with you. I actually had over 100 bookish links saved on Facebook! I've cleaned some up, read some, and put together some topics I'll be sharing with you in the next couple of weeks. This week, it's all about the books that make us feel things.


If you're really feeling like you could use a good cry, Book Riot has put together a list of 100 Must-Read Sad Books That Make You Cry. 100. That is a lot of tears. Quite a few of the ones I've read have actually made me cry and I rarely cry when I'm reading. I am a little disappointed that Little Women isn't on the Children's part of the list.

And if that's not enough, Bustle has put together a list of 12 Devastating Fiction Books To Read if You're Looking For Something Truly Grim. There are certainly a couple here that broke me.

After all of that, you might be ready for some laughs. NPR put together this list of Funny Books in August 2019. I don't really think of myself as reading a lot of funny books but I have actually read 19 of these.

Now, if you want to both laugh and cry, Book Riot has also put together a list of 8 Tragicomic Memoirs To Make You Laugh and Cry.

That's it for this week. Next week, I'm going to hit you with a whole lot of historical fiction lists!

Twenty-one Truths About Love by Matthew Dicks

Twenty-one Truths About Love by Matthew Dicks
Published November 2019 by St. Martin’s Publishing Group
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher’s Summary:
Daniel Mayrock's life is at a crossroads. He knows the following to be true:
1. He loves his wife Jill... more than anything.
2. He only regrets quitting his job and opening a bookshop a little (maybe more than a little)
3. Jill is ready to have a baby.
4. The bookshop isn’t doing well. Financial crisis is imminent. Dan doesn't know how to fix it.
5. Dan hasn’t told Jill about their financial trouble.
6. Then Jill gets pregnant.
This heartfelt story is about the lengths one man will go to and the risks he will take to save his family. But Dan doesn’t just want to save his failing bookstore and his family’s finances:
1. Dan wants to do something special.
2. He’s a man who is tired of feeling ordinary.
3. He’s sick of feeling like a failure.
4. He doesn't want to live in the shadow of his wife’s deceased first husband.

Dan is also an obsessive list maker; his story unfolds entirely in his lists, which are brimming with Dan’s hilarious sense of humor, unique world-view, and deeply personal thoughts. When read in full, his lists paint a picture of a man struggling to be a man, a man who has reached a point where he’s willing to do anything for the love (and soon-to-be new love) of his life.

My Thoughts:
A book with books on the cover has to be good, right? And Taylor Jenkins-Reid (Daisy Jones and The Six) had endorsed it. I mean, she’s just published a creatively written book so she should know one when she sees one. But you’re probably saying to yourself, “how in the world can a book written entirely in lists be interesting or have any depth?” I thought the same thing going in but I figured that a book written entirely in lists wouldn’t take long to read so it wasn’t a major commitment to give it a shot.

Guys, if I had started this book on a Friday night, I might well have stayed up all night reading it. Because, yes, in the same way that an epistolary novel sucks me in thinking I’ll just read one more letter, I kept thinking, “I’ll just read one more list.” Or one more day. Or one more month. And it’s only lists so there aren’t that many words on each page, so that helps. Still, I would have stayed up reading this book all night because I really, really liked this book. It is unique and funny and insightful and surprisingly moving.

The book is broken into monthly sections and then by the day and time each list was written. It was important to pay attention to those dates and times to really see how Dan's mind was working - sometimes there were a string of lists separated only by a few minutes. Essentially this book is the very easiest stream of consciousness book to read (and possibly the best way to write one that people will happily read). I became very attached to Dan - I so wanted him to be a good man. I won't give away the ending. Let's just say, it worked for me in all of the right ways.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Read by Cathleen McCarron
Published May 2017 by Penguin Publishing Group
Source: audiobook checked out from my local library

Publisher's Summary:
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.


My Thoughts: 
Everyone was reading this book in 2017. Because everyone was reading this book in 2017, I had that reaction that has so often saved me from reading a book I would rather not have read. I put it on the tbr list where books so often go to die. But everyone is still reading this book - I had to wait 16 weeks to get the audiobook from my library. If everyone is still reading this book, maybe there's something to it.

There is.

Did I not actually read any of the reviews of this book back in 2017? Because I was certain, for two years, that this must be one of the sweet, feel-good books that might be just the right book at certain times but lacks the depth that makes it anything more than a sherbet kind of read.

I was wrong.

Well, I was and I wasn't. It is a sweet, feel-good book. But there is a depth to it that completely took me by surprise. In many ways Eleanor reminded me of Don Tillman (Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project). Eleanor is a woman set in her ways, socially awkward, judgmental, and often rude. But Eleanor has a history that explains much about why she is so bad at social interaction and seems to feel she is superior to others. As Honeyman slowly revels Eleanor's past, she sucks readers in in much the same way as does a mystery book. I needed to know what happened to Eleanor and I needed to know that she was going to be ok. As unlikable as Eleanor is in the beginning, there is a person inside who desperately wants to be loved. Honeyman is masterful at getting readers to love Eleanor.

I was sad for this book to end but Honeyman ended it exactly the way it should be ended. This one is going on my book club's list for 2020 - I wish I could have them read it sooner!