I had an especially great week with my kids, which is very fitting since we’re about to have a very rare kid-free weekend. See you Sunday, kiddos!
I finished that reread of The World According to Garp. I had a lot to say about it over here. I had mixed feelings overall but for the most part, I really liked it. It’s definitely worth picking up, whether for the first time or a revisit. It’s been a long time since John Irving wrote something I loved, I hope he’s got something great left in him.
God bless Ijeoma Oluo for writing So you want to talk about race. This woman must have the patience of a saint. You can tell she’s been through a lot of painful conversations and interactions throughout her life, and lucky for us, she’s still willing to come to the table and give people the benefit of the doubt. This book came at a good time for me, because I happened to pick it up the day Dash asked me why we still have our Black Lives Matter sign up. Turns out, he thought it was a Halloween decoration, which means that we have been avoiding uncomfortable topics. Anyway, I love everything about Ijeoma Oluo, and this is like a Race 101 class that most of us really need to take. I loved the chapters on police brutality and cultural appropriation the most, and I know a lot of people who need to read the chapter on micro aggressions right away. Like, for example, if you read the NYT book review every week but you claim that the totally phonetic name Michiko Kakutani is impossible to pronounce, you might want to pick this up. Just a totally hypothetical example there.
I loved loved loved The Immortalists. This was one of those times when something truly lives up to the hype and then some. I love fiction about siblings, and loss, and loss of siblings…this was some exquisite bruise pressing for me. There was one little element very late in the book that I did not like at all; it came close to ruining it for me, but by that point it was too good to ruin, and it did bounce back somewhat. No spoilers, I’ll just say it had to do with the character named Luke. But this is great, big recommend.
Today I am halfway through Smile. Roddy Doyle has always been a favorite of mine, in fact, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is my all-time favorite book, tied with The Cheer Leader. This has a very ominous opening, and then it goes back and forth through time. So far, I love it, and I really want to know where it’s going. So, I’m gonna go find out. See ya!
