We had light snowflakes fall all yesterday if you can believe it and my yard is still covered from earlier in the winter. It seems the season is just a little mixed up right now — why does it keep snowing? — but still I keep thinking spring is right around the corner, or at least I hope so.
In book news, I’m sorry once again to be missing the L.A. Times Festival of Books, which I always want to attend but never seem to make. It takes place April 21-22 in Los Angeles, if you’re in the area, and features a vast array of authors and discussions. I will also be missing BookExpo America this year, which runs May 30 to June 1 in NYC. Still I have a steady pile of books already to read so it’s probably okay that I won’t be there to acquire another pile. Will you be going to either of these, or any other book festivals this spring? Unfortunately I will not, but in the meantime, I will leave you with a few brief reviews of what I finished lately.
Joe Biden’s 2017 memoir “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose” was a book that was lying around my parents’ house when I visited them recently. It had been a Christmas gift to my dad, and I snatched it up realizing it’d be a fast read. The memoir chronicles a year in the life of the former vice president starting from Thanksgiving 2014, when his eldest son (Beau) was being treated for a malignant brain tumor and his survival was uncertain. The illness was kept secret for most of the time at his son’s request.
While dealing with that, Biden was also working full tilt as VP, which he writes about, attending to crises in Ukraine, Iraq and Central America, and going to such funerals as those for the two police officers fatally shot in NYC and the victims of the Charleston church shooting. He purposely sought to remain busy (so as not to fall apart), on top of being there for his son’s procedures at the Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
The personal parts about his family’s dilemma regarding Beau’s health and his fight against cancer are quite moving and emotional in the book, and his insights into his work as VP are also interesting. He comes off as quite sincere, down to earth, and devoted to his incredibly close family and his life’s work in government and elective office, giving his personal phone number, for example, to a grieving father whose son was killed to call him if he needs someone to talk to. Other parts of the book in which he recounts his accomplishments and expertise were less enticing to read: as if he were saying on a number of occasions look at all the things I’ve done, which came off rather PR-ish.
Once Beau passes (in May 2015 at age 46), the memoir veers into handling the grief and the VP’s agonizing decision whether to run for the presidency in 2016, which his son wanted him to do. He had various people working on his bid for it, and seemed well situated, he writes, but then right at the last moment he decides not to run, saying he wasn’t fully committed after the death of his son.
His whole lead up in the book and emphasis on running for the 2016 presidency — made me wonder a lot about what would have happened if he had run? I didn’t realize he was so close to it at time. Would he have won? I guess I now bemoan the fact that he didn’t run, even though I wasn’t really focused on him as a candidate at the time (he’d be better than who’s in there now, right?). It seems the book sort of leaves open the door perhaps for him to run in 2020. Hmm. Did he mean it to be?
Next up, I read Scottish author Gail Honeyman’s 2017 bestselling novel “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.” Am I the last one to read it? Honestly I didn’t know a thing about it before I started it … other than it was very popular, and in the end — I must say — I found it entertaining and moving and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sure, some people are going to pooh-pooh it because it’s now apparently considered part of a genre known as “up lit,” which includes such novels as Rachel Joyce’s “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry,” Graeme Simsion’s “The Rosie Project,” and Jojo Moyes’s “Me Before You.” Okay so I’ve read all those and am a bit of a sucker for stories with heart. “Kick me” is likely written on my back.
But what the heck is “up lit”? Apparently according to the Guardian newspaper, it took off a couple years ago and includes novels about kindness, compassion and maybe even communities coming together. As author Rachel Joyce explains: “It’s about facing devastation, cruelty, hardship and loneliness and then saying: ‘But there is still this.’ Kindness isn’t just giving somebody something when you have everything. Kindness is having nothing and then holding out your hand.”
Holy smokes, what did I know, but perhaps it sounds a bit goofier than it really is. As for Eleanor Oliphant, it’s a story about a 30-year-old, anti-social, lonely girl in Glasgow, Scotland, whose chance friendship with a new IT guy at work (Raymond) and an elderly collapsed man they assist from the street to a hospital (Sammy) — help her confront the demons of her past. The story is both funny and quite dark too. The poor girl has had a seriously rough childhood, went through the foster care system, and is left with a scar across one side of her face. She goes home after each workweek not talking to a soul from Friday to Monday except her plant, Polly, and a bottle of vodka. (Though is there anything wrong with that? just saying …) Yet these two blokes end up, in lovely ways, bringing her out of her shell.
Apparently the author created the story after reading an article about loneliness on young people. Gail Honeyman is no slouch as a debut author and executes the story in masterful ways. The novel has been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and Reese Witherspoon’s company apparently has bought the film rights. Now which actress would make a good Eleanor Oliphant? It has to be a 30-year-old-ish girl, lost, damaged, clueless but smart, direct with no filters in what she says, and with a slim chance of being saved. Hmm I’m drawing a bit of a blank at the moment but perhaps Evan Rachel Wood might suffice or maybe one of the Olsen twins. Who’s your pick?
Last up, I listened to the audiobook of Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s 2013 memoir “My Beloved World,” which I had always been curious about. I recently seem to have gotten into the justices’ stories after watching the documentary of “RBG” (Ruth Bader Ginsburg) at the Sundance film festival. These women on the court are like astronauts, are they not? They start from humble beginnings yet accomplish so much.
Sotomayor’s memoir focuses quite a bit on her youth — as a Puerto Rican American who found out quite early on that she had Type 1 diabetes and would need to give herself insulin shots for the rest of her life. She grew up in a housing project in the Bronx part of NYC with a younger brother. Her father was an alcoholic who died when she was 9 and her mother, who was distant to her during those years, worked as a nurse. It was her grandmother who she spent time with her who gave her love and support and Sonia excelled at school, graduating valedictorian of her Catholic high school.
It’s quite an incredible story how she went on to a full scholarship at Princeton (graduating in 1976) and then Yale Law School (1979) and to her life as a lawyer and then judge. I found her telling to be quite earnest and straightforward chronologically and her life to be marked by a great degree of self-reliance, hard work, integrity, and determination. She was often in situations she knew nothing about and would have to learn about them from scratch to succeed. Time and again, she would rise to the challenge.
I liked hearing about the personal side of her life and family life — how she came to marry her childhood sweetheart and why that marriage didn’t work out; her relations with her mother; and the closeness of her cousin and grandmother and the pain of eventually losing them. But there were other parts (maybe the law and career parts) that I thought were a bit too dry and methodical. (Perhaps it might have been more interesting if I were a lawyer.) Some of it read like a tale from a life of self-improvement.
So while I didn’t find it the most thrilling of memoirs (it stops before her Supreme Court nomination), I still was impressed by what she was able to accomplish and her integrity and work ethic. I now realize that her life was shaped a good deal by her diabetes and her Puerto Rican heritage. It made me wonder what she thought of the recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico. Yikes.
What about you … have you read any of these and if so, what did you think?
Our weather has been very up and down too but, thankfully, we’ve had very little snow this winter. I loved Eleanor Oliphant even though someone ruined the ending for me while I was reading it.
Hi Kathy, yikes someone ruined the ending?! Oh no, that’s terrible. Nonetheless I’m glad you liked the Oliphant book — I felt it was pretty spot on.
Sadly, I don’t see myself being able to make it to BEA until I retire. It falls right at the point in the school year when we’re deep into state testing and thats a really bad time to be out even for a couple days. Ah well, like you I have plenty of books to wade through without it.
You probably already know that I loved Eleanor. I listened to it and think that made it a totally different experience. As for UpLit…I just don’t know. I DNF’d both The Rosie Project and Me Before You.
The Biden book does have to make you wonder about a whole lot of possibilities. If only!
Hi Susie, thx for stopping by. I’m glad you were an Eleanor fan! I was right into it too. It’s probably not a good idea of me to lump all the UpLit together — I agree some are more successful than others. As for Biden, maybe he will run now — out of sheer desperation of the Trump debacle going on, though he seems a bit old to do so. hmm
I may actually make it to the Festival this year. I haven’t been too often since they moved it to USC. Not a fan of that neighborhood. But there are no tournaments that weekend so maybe I will go.
I am curious about Eleanor. I was going to pitch it to my club but many told me it was too light. Not enough to discuss.
Yeah that would be neat Ti — if you made it to the Festival! I could live it thru your being there 🙂 I’m trying to decide if Eleanor is a book club discussion kind of read– it’s fun but also has some dark issues to it and a pretty oddball main character. There is one twist near the end. It’s light in a readable kind of way.
For the second year in a row I am going to wimp out on the Festival of Books. Terrible, I know, since it is right in my home town, but my back issues of the past year make me wary of long days spent walking around. At least I spend most of my time with my nose in a book.
I see what you mean when you said you have been reading non-fiction. Both of those books sound pretty good to me but you know, LBJ!
Your review of Eleanor Oliphant is the first one that made me want to read it. For a long time I read anything I could find about foster kids, so this one now goes on the list.
I hope you get your spring one of these days. Maybe you will just drop right into summer. That used to happen in Michigan sometimes when I lived there and I always felt cheated by not getting spring.
Hi Judy: sorry you will miss the Festival this time but back issues can wreck havoc so it’s good to be cautious. Not even Joyce Carol Oates and Tayari Jones can lure you out there? ha, just joking. I’m about 50-50 whether you will like Eleanor or not, the genre may or may not be for you. But give it a go, it’s quick one for sure. You might be right about the weather. It might go directly from winter to summer. The spring here was always condensed to begin with.
Hmm…The weather seems to be playing tricks everywhere. Here, lately the temps have been up and down, which is breeding ground for getting sick.
You seem to be under a political spell. 😉 Both memoirs look interesting, and Eleanor Oliphant seems… light. I haven’t read any of the books you mention in the “up lit” genre, but they sure make for good movies adaptations. On that thread, I think Evan Rachel would be a good choice to play Eleanor, since you mentioned her, as would be Elizabeth Olsen, the other Olsen sibling; she plays damaged women really well.
Thx Carmen, yeah maybe Elizabeth Olsen would be right for the role. Though they’ll probably try to make the script endearing and comedic too … on top of damaged. Hmm. I seem to be stuck in nonfiction memoirs lately — now I’m onto the Molly Bloom book … which the movie Molly’s Game comes from. I got to give the genre a rest after this one. Try not to get sick amid this crazy change of seasons!
You read some really interesting books recently.
My wife read the Sonya Sotomayor book and loved it. I should give it a read.
I may give the Joe Biden book a try. I think that he will go for it. He may be my first choice.
Hi Brian, I think you would find the Biden book interesting. It’ll be interesting to see if he will run in 2020, or is he too old for the whole circus? Is your wife a lawyer? I think I might have even enjoyed Sotormayor’s book a bit more if I had been one. Hmm. Enjoy your week.
You are definitely not the last one to read Elinor Oliphant, because I’m still on the waiting list at my library! 🙂 I suspect I will like it. I really liked Joyce’s The Music Shop. I think we need to read things that at least a little bit lighter and hopeful now and again or we’ll go insane!
Good point Laila. I do like to mix books in that are a bit lighter to read & more hopeful too. I would like to read The Music Shop as well!
The Joe Biden book looks good to me…and I would have enjoyed having him be the President instead of who we have! I saw Biden on a talk show (The View), and I really like how he presented his ideas.
Perhaps he will run in 2020…but I hope we don’t have to wait that long for the current resident of the WH to be gone!
I love the look of Eleanor Oliphant and requested it from the library.
Thanks for visiting my blog, and have a great week. I enjoyed Chappaquiddick and was familiar with most of what was shown…although it was good to revisit the series of events.
Hi Laurel, I agree with you on the current occupant of the WH. We need him out pronto. If Biden can do it, get him running. I hope you like Eleanor Oliphant!
I just read today that Biden is considering a run in 2020… guess he did leave the door open on purpose.
You’re not the last person to read Eleanor Oliphant – that would be me. Even my mother and my sister have read it. I’ll get to it eventually. We could probably all use some Up Lit every now and then.
I enjoyed Sonia Sotomayor’s book, too, and especially appreciated how she ended it before her appointment to the Supreme Court. If you’re looking for more Supreme reading, I highly recommend Sisters in Law. It’s a dual biography of RBG and Sandra Day O’Connor.
Hi JoAnn: I wonder what Biden will decide. Perhaps he’s a desperate as everyone else is at this point. I hope you like Eleanor Oliphant when you get to her — a pretty quick read. And I agree there are many more Supreme Court books I want to get to — Sisters in Law sounds good. & of course the Toobin book you mentioned too!
It is currently snowing yet again as I type this. This time, we are supposed to get at least a few inches of snow. I am over winter in a big way, and winter is my favorite season.
I have not yet read Eleanor Oliphant either. I will get to reading it one day.
Hi Michelle: major bummer about the snow. I can relate. It might have been sent your way from us. We had it earlier in the week. But now we might have clear sunny weather for the next week! Finally. Hope you get spring soon.
I feel like I need some cheerful fiction right now. Maybe Eleanor Oliphant will move up the list, it sounds really charming.
Hi Kim, Eleanor is a bit charming but the story also deals with some dark issues — which surprised me a bit. Still overall, it’s a winsome novel. Hope you enjoy.
I’m also a sucker for the “Up Lit” (even though I didn’t know what that was until now). I like Rachel Joyce’s definition for it.
I’m another one who hasn’t read Eleanor Oliphant yet, but I think I’ll have to by the sounds of it. I liked all those other books you mentioned!
Yeah Naomi, I had no idea about Up Lit before reading about it in the Guardian paper. But it seems I am reading quite a few novels said to be Up Lit, who knew? You’ll probably like Eleanor Oliphant. The subject matter is dark but it’s also an easy read and has heart too.