Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West by Wallace Stegner

 genre: essays, non-fiction

I have read two of Stegner's novels, Big Rock Candy Mountain and Crossing to Safety, and both were live-changingly good.  The kinds of books I still think about years and years later.  When I found this compilation of his writings in the thrift store, I grabbed it because I felt like I had more to learn from him.  Of course, I was right.

In these essays we learn about his early, migratory life.  About the way the West and its culture became his home.  Western writing is the topic of many essays - I really enjoying reading his thoughts about other Western writers and their contributions. I genuinely left this book with a feeling that I would like to delve more into the canon of Western novels, knowing how I have already been moved by what I have read so far.  His way with words is absolutely masterful.  If I am honest, sometimes I was almost baffled by his use of my language - so eloquent and sometimes rambling that I would have to pause and let my brain process what he was saying.  I liked learning about the creation of the governmental authorities that have come into being to help protect our planet and I especially appreciated his own hot take in how the Mormon pioneers impacted the West in big small and overarching ways.

It isn't a novel, so it read slowly for me, but I am glad I stuck with it. 

The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich (audiobook)

 genre: contemporary fiction

In a North Dakota prairie town, the lives of both young and old are caught in the seasonal web that is sugar beet farming.  Everyone knows everyone's business in ways that feel both familiar and stark, especially where there has been some kind of tragedy that now overshadows the lives of all its inhabitants.  For Kismet, on the verge of adulthood, and her mom, Crystal, stability is their highest priority.  When the town football star Gary decides he must marry Kismet to be happy, the whole community has feelings about it.

The Mighty Red is a story of people scraping a living from the dirt and finding happiness wherever they can.  It is about grief and loss and the kind of unthinkable trauma that can break us if we don't make the effort to look it in the face.  I loved the arc of Kismet and Crystal's relationship, even if Kismet was a genuinely frustrating character.  While there were so many characters it took me longer than usual to keep everyone straight, soon I was completely embroiled in their drama with my own opinions and frustrations.   I didn't really see the kind of humor I've seen other reviewers mention, although I did feel entertained, if that nuance can exist.  I really loved the thread, twisting throughout this story, about the land - about how humans have broken it and how it could maybe be fixed.   It is a solidly written and captivating story and I am wavering so much in how to rate it.  It is so heavy a lot of the time, but the redemption is there and is solidly done.  I'm giving it 4.5 stars for how quickly I listened and for making a small town come truly to life for me.

Cassandra Speaks by Elizabeth Lesser (audiobook)

genre: non-fiction

The stories we hear as we grow up - the myths we are told and then retell, the fairy tales and even the books we read, those stories are have paved the ways we’ve learned to make sense of the world. In Cassandra Speaks, the author makes us look at these stories and asks the hard question: where are the strong and capable women?  Is there a way to change not just the story we are writing now but the way we SEE ourselves, can we create the kind of change that can make the world a more equitable place for all people to find the power to live the life they dream of?  Elizabeth Lesser thinks so.

There were parts of this book that super resonated - so much so that I was taking notes and writing things down.  Lesser articulated some feminist ideas I'd never thought of before.  Other parts were disjointed or repetitive.  What really interested me was the idea of how much everyone misses out on when only the men are telling the story and running the show. I know this is a basic feminism principle but it hit home for me in new ways.  I liked the meditation piece, particularly, and while maybe other authors have done this better, this was a fast and engaging listen for me.

The North Woods by Daniel Mason (audiobook)

 genre: historical fiction/magical realism

This atmospheric novel takes us into the dark woods and sunny orchards of Western Massachusetts.  Instead of following one particular family from its beginnings in a place to the present day - we follow a HOME.  A place.  Four walls and then some more, housing generations of people in rural America as ideas and evens come and go.  The flora and fauna, the smells and the weather - all of it both changing and creating change, a part of the house and its environment as well as the backdrop to the kind of human drama that keeps a story moving along.

What a unique book!  What an excellent audio production!  I was completely all in until the magical realism began and I wasn't prepared.  I hate spoilers but I'm wondering if I might have appreciated that turn if I'd been more prepared for it.  By the end, I really leaned IN to the magical realism and it made the ending so much more powerful for me, so I think that particular compliant is just personal preference.  I loved all the different readers and different "primary sources" that made up the history of the house in the woods.  

Historical fiction, botany and ecology, true crime, literary fiction - if you like your books to have a sprinkle of everything, this one might be worth trying.

content warning: a few sexual scenes

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

 genre: speculative fiction

Rainy's world is a bleak one. With an economy that's plummeted to near barter-levels and warming temperatures that are wreaking havoc on Lake Superior, there are few things left to live for. But Rainy DOES have things to live for: his beloved wife Lark, his bass guitar, and a solid place in his town and community. When a stranger arrives one day, Lark's big heart convinces Rainy to give him shelter for a while - but this choice is going to pivot Rainy's life and force him to find out where safety can really exist and who is worth holding on to.

The only reason I tried this book is because I genuinely loved this author's previous novel Peace Like a River.  I didn't know a single thing about it when I started and though it took me a few chapters to get my bearings, soon I was hooked.  This is a story with so much sorrow.  The joy is fleeting - but it is there.  It's found in the most surprising of places and while much of the plot takes place in a small boat on a big lake, it is much more than that.  It's fear and rage and absolute unfairness and a breakdown of the usual moral systems.  It is letting your heart open just enough to let one single person in when it feels like the least smart thing to do.  It's about wide open skies and the written word and letting go of the things we can't hold on to.

It is beautifully written and truly heartfelt.  There is true darkness here but our Rainy always manages to find the light. 

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine by Sue Monk Kidd

 genre: non-fiction, spirituality

It's hard for me to know where to start with this review.  You can sum up the book fairly easily, I suppose, by saying that it is one woman's awakening from the sleep that is living under patriarchy and her search for the feminine divine.  And it is definitely that.  It's also a lovely collection of quotes from thinkers and poets about these topics and Kidd's reflections on the ideas of others.  For me, though, what struck me in the deepest part of myself, is the way the author deconstructed her Christian religion and found her way into a new kind of spirituality that includes the goddess inside herself.  

My own ongoing religious deconstruction has been one of the most painful and eye-opening experiences of my entire life.  If someone had asked me three years ago if this is where I would be in my spiritual journey, I'd never had believed it.  But it was thoughts about the women in my church - my own ancestors, actually - that took the faith both "of my fathers" and my 45 years on this planet and burned it to the ground. It was terrifying and the wound is still, years later, raw and gaping.  I haven't yet found a way to safely fill and heal that wound but this book, these words, they started the process for me.  My therapist recommended it to me over and over until I finally just bought it and after the first five pages, I knew I had to read with a pen.  I had things to learn.

This is not to say that this is a flawless book - because it's got flaws.  She can meander and be repetitive.  She has a lot of privilege (so much time and money to travel and be alone!) that sometimes irks but those things didn't stop this from being the sort of book that one needs to turn back to again and again when the need arises.  I loved the deep dive into early history, where women and feminine power were not just acknowledged but worshipped. It is literally sort of hard to imagine it but Kidd pulls back the curtain and shows us what might be possible.  

For me, this book gets fives stars because of how it impacted me.  How on multiple, MULTIPLE occasions, it left me weeping and flooded with feelings both upsetting and reassuring.  How wonderful to not feel along on a journey like mine.

Sandwhich by Catherine Newman (audiobook)

genre: contemporary fiction

Rocky has so been looking forward to her arrival at the Cape Cod beach town where they spend a week every summer.  She loves the smells and the sounds.  She loves her people, so fiercely.  She loves the tradition and nostalgia of it all.  This week with spend with Rocky at the Cape is full of the kind of gentle family drama, the secrets told and kept, the old disagreements unearthed - everything that makes a family real.  There is no grand plot, no wild disaster, there are just people who love each other who are always trying to show up for each other and sometimes failing.  Like real life.

I laughed out loud, more than once.  If you are not a perimenopausal woman, the humor may not strike you the way it struck me, but I found Rocky's inner dialogue so funny.   I found Rocky to be very relatable, honestly, and probably part of that is me being in a similar stage of life.  I loved her gay and proud daughter, her forgiving husband, her quirky parents and her pleasant son.  I mourned her losses and the choices she made that caused her own pain. I especially liked Rocky's musings on being a parent, in all its iterations.  She GOT what it was for me, too, the exhaustion, the exhilaration, the stop-you-in-your-tracks love. I felt like the pacing was good and I really always wanted to be listening.  This is one of my five star reads this year for the comforting and humorous way this book settled right into me.  It won't be for everyone but it was definitely for me.

Content warning: language, adult humor, pregnancy loss 

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig (audiobook)

 genre: magical realism

When Grace Winters receives an email from an old student of hers, it arrives at just the right time.  Her life has taken a fantastical pivot and she is ready to share the story.  To this young man, who has written to his old math teacher about his present troubles, Grace writes the kind of tale that one must actively choose to believe.  It's a story of a small Spanish island, of healing waters and the strength that can come from knowing you are an important part of a grand whole.

I mean, I had NO idea where this one was going.  Like, ever.  Even now that I'm done, it still feels like a very strange ride. But here is the thing.  Even though it was pretty unreal out there - I was really into it.  I did believe that frumpy and desperately lonely Grace Winters could have this wild and life-altering experience.  I don't even want to tell you the kinds of things you have to believe but I really enjoyed the magic of it.  I liked being on this unique island and going along with Grace as she tries to figure out what the heck is happening.  I liked that it is a reminder of how beautiful our existance can be on this planet.  It was a little rambley and a little pedantic sometimes, at the end, but overall, I just wanted to listen all the time - which for me, gives it four stars no matter what.

What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley (audiobook)

 genre: mystery

Precious and precocious Flavia de Luce.  Once again, someone in Bishop's Lacey has turned up dead - and this time, someone dear to Flavia is a prime suspect!  With her irritating cousin Undine always underfoot, Flavia will use all her wits, chemistry know-how and cleverness to find her way into the heart of this mystery, with many good laughs and tender moments along the way.

Honestly, this book is everything I've always loved about these novels.  I want to HUG it.  Flavia is so delightful - and I know that the narrator has had a huge part in making me fall in love with her.  I want Flavia to be a real person and I want her to help me solve ALL the mysteries.  She feels things so deeply and she is so freaking funny.  I love how in this installment we dig deeper into her family-you-choose and get to know some of our former side characters better.   The writing is both intelligent and engaging, it's like a warm bowl of soup on a cold day.  Genuinely, these books are a comfort food for me now.

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

genre: science fiction

The infamous Shrike lives on the world of Hyperion. When seven pilgrims from across the Hegemony are called to make their way to Hyperion to face this creature of Armageddon, everything they have learned and all they have experienced will be required if they want to survive.

I really don’t feel like I can say anything more than that. This complex and timely science fiction novel sort of blew my mind. I would never have picked it up, let’s be honest, if my brother had not recommended it to me, but now that I have tried it I’m really grateful I did. Each of the seven pilgrims have their own story to tell and each one gives us a different glimpse of the history that led to the brink of disaster. Every kind of evil is here as well as all kinds of love and sacrifice but that’s in between the battles and the gore. My only real complaint is that it is really long and I realized about 3/4 of the way through that there was no way for the story to be complete before the book was over. I never even got close to the climax but even just hearing all of the pilgrams' stories was really interesting.  I now see there are several other books, that is on me.