The Moth Presents All These Wonders

The Moth Presents All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown Edited by Catharine Burns
2017
Weight: 1.1 lbs
Method of Disposal: Sending to a friend

This book was fantastic!  Some of the essays were definitely stronger than others, but it was all around great.  I cannot wait to share it with others.  One of the pieces that really stands out to me is the woman who had to face the death of her husband and the knowledge she has since used to talk to others about their own experiences of death, including a small child.  I imagine there is at least one essay for every person in here--you will find something to connect to.  The mother whose son had a traumatic brain injury and her battles within the medical and insurance system in the United States.  The son that throws a goodbye party with his mom for his mom who is dying.  There is so much in here, and it does not always feel so heavy and so sad or, even when it does, there is something to learn there.  Honestly, it is really hard to give it away!  If I did not know at least several people that I think will love it, I may not be able to.  If you haven't, you should read it!

All New People

All New People by Anne Lamott
1999
Weight: 8 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving Away After Disinfecting

I do not know how it is possible, but this book felt like growing up even though I did not grow up in the 60's.  There was nothing shocking or life changing that happened in the book, but I loved it in a calm, collected way.  It kind of felt like going home but to a home I have not seen in a long time and that I was not feeling nostalgic for.  I possibly even forgot it existed until I read this or, maybe I did not forget, but I had not thought about it in a long time.  Anne Lamott knows how to write about real people, particularly working or middle class white people.  She writes about them with respect and honesty. Anne Lamott has a real talent, and I always seem to enjoy her books as a whole.

When the title presented itself in the text I felt like my mind was blown, and I was so excited.  It was one of those moments.  I will not ruin it for those of you who might read it though.

The black characters from the church in this book were peripheral but did not feel at all the same way as the other characters. They seemed more like props.  I know they were being described from a child's point of view, but the descriptions of them really took me out of the book and out of the moment.  They are defined Black upon introduction and the other characters are not defined by their race upon introduction.  This is common, particularly in books from 1989 but, reading it in 2020, it was discouraging and disappointing.  Nonetheless, they were liked and appreciated by the other characters in the story.  It just made me wonder why.  Why represent them the way they were?  I think it was to say something about the mom in the book--but what does that really say?  Is it what was intended? It did not feel good or right, despite being such a small part of the overall novel.

Tales from the Clit: A Female Experience of Pornography

Tales from the Clit: A Female Experience of Pornography edited by Cherie Matrix
2001
Weight: 6.4oz
Method of Disposal: Taking Suggestions!

Any suggestions on how to best ensure that books about sex, pornography, sex work make it into the hands of someone who wants them?  Let me know if you would like me to send this one to you! 

I reread this book this year, and it is definitely dated.  It was published in 1996 and is about the UK.  Some things aged really well and some did not.  I am sure there will still be readers who will relate heavily to some of the authors and their fantasies even now.  This book was a good source of personal essays about pornography, S/M, and censorship.  It does not delve into academic arguments for or against censorship.  It is really more based on feeling and personal pleasures, personal stories.  Some of the authors were arrested or had their homes torn up due to censorship. 

If you are exploring sex and sexuality, but are fairly new to the world beyond heteronormativity, this might be a good introduction still.

The Hunters

The Hunters: Two Short Novels by Claire Messud
2001
Weight: 13.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving Away

Neither one of these stories mirrors anything that is happening in my life or that has happened in my life and yet, it seems it taps into the general malaise I have been feeling lately, and it was easy to drift in and out of.  I was tired and sad, and sometimes it was unclear to me what was fact or fiction in my own life, and I still do not know what does and does not matter or how to change any of it or if I still can.

This book contains two stories.  One is about a woman who immigrates to America after suffering horrific injustices and then becomes a housekeeper.  In time, her husband who is loves and admires dies, her son grows older and marries a woman she cannot stand, her grandchildren grow older, and she seeks comfort in a relationship she has formed with her last client, who she cleans the house of and cares for and who becomes her only confidant.  There relationship blurs the lines of employer/employee, but it is not quite friendly.  It felt easy to find space in the heart of this woman and to sit there with her ache even though I have never experienced anything like the character did and does.  I have not endured war, lost family members, started over, lost a husband, had children, had grandchildren, cleaned other people's houses, and yet this is the power of fiction.  I felt it, as if it were an inescapable truth.

The next story is about a lonely woman living in a part of London she has disdain for.  She is sad and completely self-involved, even as people gently try to nudge their way in.  She tries to be polite, but she also tries to push them off.  Her mind wanders, and she makes stories and reaffirms her opinions and beliefs.  Eventually, she pulls herself out of the muck and looks back.  I suppose I can relate to the self-involved muck, but she never shows me how to get out!  Of course, that is not really what this story is about.  We see her afterwards, with a partner, a new life, and see her looking back on that year of her life in London.  We live in our heads.  We have tunnel vision.  Sometimes the world seeps in and you get a glimpse outside yourself.  Sometimes that glimpse is jarring.

Mr. Fox

Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi
2012
Weight: 7.2 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving Away

I was given this book by someone who said it was "weird" and that they could not finish it, which immediately piqued my curiosity.  As I get older, what I find most surprising is that there is very little that is surprising anymore.  I am always interested in something seemingly new.  I did not know this was a modern take on Bluebeard but, after finishing, it makes me smile to think that, on the hunt for something unique, I stumbled into a remake, albeit loosely.

When I started reading, I did not know what to expect, but I enjoyed the writing and so, when I stumbled upon any confusion (which I did often enough), I just tried to fall into it.  I enjoyed each vignette or chapter for what it was and hoped that it would all come together at some point.  That might have led me into the disappointment that I felt reading the last few pages of the book, but it also allowed me to thoroughly enjoy the rest of it.  I have always been a fan of picking apart fairy tales and modernizing them with new lessons and new insights into humanity.

This book is definitely not for everyone, but I can see why so many people have been enchanted.