A New Year
January 30, 2022
Is it? Still? A new year? I’m hanging on to the “new” in New Year and its associated sense of optimism and hope for as long as I can!
Gemma Correll‘s illustration, “Is this the most January January ever?”, made me laugh. There definitely seems to be a general malaise afoot as 2022 gets rolling. Conversations I’ve had with fellow readers have reflected this. Due to the mood, there is a prevalent sense of disappointment &/or frustration from an inability to focus on reading with the ease we have in the past. I’ve felt it too. I admire those who have been able to embrace a Pandemic pause in their lives to devour bigger books and more pages than ever. My books-per-month count may be way down but I have found a new appreciation for essays and short stories. It seems writers and publishers have as well – there are so many new collections on the shelves and more to come. If you’re struggling with getting into a novel, why not dip a toe into a book of essays or stories? There are many genres but here are a few that may lighten the mood or distract you with intriguing thoughts.
I Miss You When I Blink: Essays by Mary Laura Philpott – Sometimes when all the news articles seem to be too much one needs a little escape. This collection from a charming, self-professed Type A-overthinker, abounds with humour and poignancy. Philpott writes self-deprecatingly but honestly and often with a wink. Marriage, parenthood, big life moments, and more importantly, the little moments all feature.
The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken – I’ve yet to read McCracken’s work but feel strongly pulled to dive in. She is the only reader Ann Patchett apparently trusts for input on a manuscript. Now that’s an endorsement for having an understanding of words! “With sentences that crackle and spark and showcase her trademark wit, McCracken traces how our closely held desires—for intimacy, atonement, comfort—bloom and wither against the indifferent passing of time. Her characters embark on journeys that leave them indelibly changed—and so do her readers.“
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay – “A volume of lyric essays” in which poet Ross Gay shares “a daily essay about something delightful – an essayette” . The Crow’s Ablutions, and Flowers in the Hands of Statues, Loitering, and The Sanctity of Trains just a few titles among the 102 included here. Plenty of quick little reads to make you pause with a gentle hmmmm or a giggle. Truly delightful. Perhaps this will serve as inspiration to slow our pace and notice the delights we encounter in our own days.
Midlife Bites: Anyone Else Falling Apart or Is It Just Me? by Jen Mann – Jen Mann is a popular blogger, known for writing with humour about home life with kids and the crazy-making expectations that bombard us. Her epic “Overachieving Elf on the Shelf Mommies” rant went wildly viral and gathered her a fervent following among the more “realistic” mom-set. Now Jen has taken her truth telling to the mid-life crisis and her wry humour is hitting a nerve yet again. “I inhaled this book in one sitting; it’s a must-read for anyone over forty. This should become the gift all girlfriends give one another.”—Zibby Owens, host of the award-winning podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books
Binge: 60 Stories to Make your Brain Feel Different by Douglas Coupland – Feels like it’s been a while since we’ve had something from this creative thinking icon. I’m intrigued by the title alone and look forward to giving this a try. “The characters, of course, are Doug’s own: crackpots, cranks and sweetie-pies, dad dancers and perpetrators of carbecues. People in the grip of unconscionable urges; lonely people; dying people; silly people. If you love Doug’s fiction, this collection is like rain on the desert.” (goodreads)
The Joy of Small Things by Hannah Jane Parkinson – Happy focused vignettes by a young English writer on topics as wide-ranging as Finding Lost Things, Fonts, Pockets, The Smell of Wood and Being Inside When its Raining. Many of these pieces appeared in her very popular column in the Guardian newspaper. Hard to decide whether to fly through them all in one sitting or dole out just a few deep sigh worthy moments at a time.
The Most of Nora Ephron – Our beloved Nora wrote some of the most enjoyable, funny, challenging, and poignant essays of our time. Two collections, I Feel Bad About My Neck and I Remember Nothing are included in this recently released compilation of ALL of Nora’s writings. Screenplays, novels, essays, blogposts … they are all here in one “most” impressive collection. “Readers will admire their literary heroine even more when … they discover, or are reminded, of the brave positions she took, and of how far her preoccupations and her writing ranged.” —Francine Prose, The New York Review of Books
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett – I read this lovely collection over the holidays; it was a favourite gift. Ann always inspires with her way of seeing the world and some of these essays will remain with me always. A great thing about essays is that they are more easily re-readable. I can see keeping this on a nearby shelf and re-visiting on down the road and finding new gems that emerge with the passing of time and a change in perspective. Highly recommend.
Zoot and Sandy
July 10, 2014
I always love making a special discovery and then being able to share it with all of you. I am particularly charmed by this find and hope you will be too. Zoot and Sandy are the lovely critters you see perched so amiably next to one another in the image below. Their creator, one Bobby Stevenson, writes beautifully evocative prose and poetry in a creative writing forum called ReadWave (another new discovery!)
And so, allow me to introduce to you, Zoot and Sandy and The Universe.
“Sandy the elephant and Zoot the dog were, without doubt, the best of pals in the whole wide world. They loved to sit by the river and watch time floating passed (sic) their little seat.
“Looks like another great day,” said Zoot.
“It’s always a great day,” agreed Sandy. “Tell me something pal, what do you see when you look in the mirror?” Asked the elephant.
“Usually I notice that the paint in the wall behind me needs painting, that’s what I see. To be honest it annoys me,” said the dog.
“Anything else?” Asked Sandy in a real curious manner as elephants tended to do.
“Well I see me.”
“Aha!” Shouted Sandy.
“What? What have I said?” Questioned the dog, feeling as if he must have put his paw in it once again.
“You see what you think is yourself. What your brain tells you to see.”
“So you’re saying, that I ain’t a dog?” Asked Zoot.
“Of course you’re a dog, Zoot and if you don’t mind me saying, the best dog I’ve ever met. But you don’t see what I see.”
“Cause you see an elephant when you look in your mirror,” said Zoot smugly.
“I grant you that point, but when I look at you, I see you through an elephant’s brain and it won’t be what you see through a dog’s brain.”
“Is there a point to all of this?” Asked a perplexed Zoot.
“I’m just saying that we judge folks on what we see, and we sometimes think that they are wrong when all the time it’s just the way our brain is warping everything that makes us see them differently.”
“So we don’t really stand a chance at being fair, is that what you’re saying Sandy?”
“I’m just saying that you have to make allowances. I make allowances for you being a dog, just as you make allowances for me being perfect,” said Sandy with the biggest elephant grin.
“Oh I make allowances for you, that’s for sure,” said Zoot.
“Meaning what?” Asked a curious elephant.
“Meaning that you are much bigger than me and sometimes when you sit on the bench real hard, I shoot up several feet. Twice I’ve landed in the sea.”
“And I make allowances for you, Zoot when you get in to one of those ‘chasing your tail’ things.”
“I do it because it’s fun, Sandy.”
“Exactly Zoot. You see a wild thing that needs to be chased and I just see a dog’s tail. Beautiful as it is. No one sees the universe the same. Some people look at those birds and wonder where they’re headed. Some look at them and wonder what they’d taste like with some potatoes and some just look at them in wonder.”
“So what do we do, Sandy?”
“We make allowances for everyone and everything.”
And with that Zoot and Sandy just stared at the universe and saw different things.”
~ Written by Bobby Stevenson
If you want to spend a little more time with these pals you can read about Zoot and Sandy discussing Happiness here.
