Daisy Jones & The Six

 

Daisy is that girl for whom everything comes easily. She has natural beauty, vibrant vocals, and a gift for song writing. Even with all this going for her, she self-destructs in the usual way–drugs and alcohol.

Billy who strives to stay on the straight and narrow calls her dangerous and an “impossible woman.” Even if that is the case, he needs her to take the Six to the next level. His song writing is too romantic. Her songs have a grittier edge that balance out his.

While the story appears to be a typical one, Reid has a way of telling it, as a transcript of a documentary, that is remarkable.

Characters often argue with each other or remember events differently. People blame each other and use one another.

Worst of all, people write songs about the other resulting in hurt feelings. For instance, Daisy writes “Regret Me” about Billy.

While Billy and Daisy croon about the dangers of falling in love, they face similar temptations. Reid’s characters are complex and flawed but easy to relate to.

If you liked reading Daisy Jones and the Six, you may also like the true account Girl in a Band about Sonic Youth or works of fiction about rock bands and music from the 70s.

Blau, Jessica Anya. Mary Jane.

Doan, Amy Mason. Lady Sunshine.

Egan, Jennifer. A Visit From the Goon Squad.

Gabel, Aja. The Ensemble.

Mitchell, David. Utopia Avenue.

Moore, Scotto. Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You.

Sloan, Elissa R. The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes.

Straub, Emma. Modern Lovers.

Daisy Jones and the Six has been adapted as a mini-series for Amazon. If readers are wondering what the songs sound like, they will get to hear the original music in the mini-series (13 episodes).

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

 

Even if you’ve read this classic novel of mystery and suspense before, by re-reading it you will find new facets and nuances to admire. 

Ten people come to an island for different purposes but find themselves fighting for their lives. Among them is a murderer who wants his or her own type of justice. After each death, the adversary meticulously removes a porcelain figure from the dining room table.

A gramophone recording relates that each of these guests have committed an unpardonable sin and have been as of yet beyond the reaches of law. One of them has invited them all here, produced the recording, and eliminating them but who could it be? 

Could it be the young reckless Marston, the well-respected doctor, or the elderly Emily Brent? Could it be General McArthur, the reptilian judge Wargrave, the prim Vera Claythorne, or the callous Philip Lombard? 

This one of Christie's darkest and most intricate mystery. 

Nightbirde

I

ts no often that I'm moved by anyone on AGT; all of the reactions seem so rehearsed. There is something genuine, however, about the singer who calls herself Nightbirde that cannot be ignored. 

The song is called "It's okay," which is perfect for this particular time--when many people do not feel ok .This is a song that asks everyone to accept their situation, whatever it may be.  

She sings with a pleasant, echoing vibrato. For me, its not the performance or the vocals but the actual lyrics that stand out most. For example, she sings, "said I knew myself but I guess I lied."

The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh

 

In a novel that's sweetness served up with a side of realism, Walsh explores a small town's inhabitants desire to live the best version of themselves. When a simply plywood cubicle with the word DNAMIX shows up at Johnson's grocery story, it causes the good people of Deerfield to behave in outlandish ways.

The machine, which does a quick DNA scan, determines if an individual has lived up to his or her potential. Ordinary townspeople suddenly decide they are meant to be puppeteers, Olympic champions, magicians, or members of royalty.

The townspeople's gullibility infuriates Douglas Hubbard who feels the machine spits out random occupations. He is flabbergasted and irked to learn that his readout is spot-on. Even though Douglas wants a more exciting life, that of trombone player, the machine tells Douglas his life station is "teacher."

Douglas has been a teacher for years and it leaves him depleted and exhausted. Every day that he teaches feels like eight days instead of one. Naturally, he is irked to find he is the only person in town given such a prosaic life station.

Most of the characters are humorous and endearing. Pat, Deerfield High's principal, refuses to swear yet she uses nonsense words that sound suspiciously like swear words. Tipsy is the town's only cab driver. He drives constantly, taking no money for fares, because it helps him keep a promise he has made to himself.

Father Pete is a good man even if he takes a drink now and then. The mayor nearly abandons his mayoral duties after getting his DNAMIX readout of "cowboy."

Mixed in with the humor, however, is an unfolding mystery. What happened to the mayor's son, Toby? Did he die from a DUI accident or was it something even more sinister? Beneath the amusing stories about Deerfield eccentrics, there is a darker story of the mistreatment of a young woman and the unquenched desire for revenge.

PBS' The Gene Doctors a New Era of Medicine.

This PBS film introduces viewers to a new world of therapies that may help anyone who has an incurable genetic disorder. Scientists are using viruses, messenger DNA, and CRISPR to treat disease at its root level, the genetic mutation that causes disease. 

Research scientists--Dr. Jean Bennet, Dr. Edwin Stone, Dr. Jennifer Doudna, and Dr. Eric Green--make appearances in the film. Viewers also hear from the patients whose lives are directly affected by their research.

Book Review: How I Build This by Guy Raz

 

Business podcaster and journalist, Guy Raz, offers insights on how many innovative companies got started in How I Built This. Raz summarizes key takeaways from his podcast where he interviews founders.

Even though no two stories are alike, there are some similarities. In his estimation, entrepreneurs are open to the call. Some businesses were a direct response to an unmet need. Carol’s Daughter, FUBU, Walker & Co. met the needs of an ethnic demographic. Other companies thrived when their business model tweaks the industry: Airbnb, the Knot, Stitch, Rent the Runway, Canva, Warby Parker.

Entrepreneurs face many obstacles which Raz eloquently describes in Part 2. Some companies are noted for how well they have recovered from setbacks e.g. Jeni’s Splendid ice creams. Others are notable for how well they have pivoted into new niches: Stacy’s Pita Chips, Angie’s Boomchickapop, Slack, Twitch.

Even after companies have succeeded, founders must decide whether to sell or to maintain creative control. Neither decision is right or wrong; it just depends on what the founder’s goals may be.

While there are many success stories, there are a few cautionary tales: Dippin Dots and American Apparel.

How I built This is great for those who want to dip their feet into the entrepreneurial waters. While it offers many tips from the world’s foremost startups, its an enjoyable and engaging read.

Millions of jobs won't be coming back

 

According to the Washington Post, millions of jobs will not be coming back after the pandemic ends. Many people will need to discover or rediscover their "why" (as Sinek calls it). they will need to repurpose, repackage their career or make career shifts and changes.

More people will work from home and less employees will travel. According to the McKinsey Global institute, twenty percent of business travel will end. 

The economy will need the same number of jobs post pandemic as pre-pandemic, but the job duties will change.

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

In  six part and fourteen chapters, Sinek reveals what organizations need to do to be industry leaders. Surprisingly simple, leaders needs to remind employees why the organization was founded in the first place; they need to remember their WHY.

Those organizations that forget their WHY experience a strange bifurcation between what they do and why they do it. According to Sinek, Dell, Microsoft, Walmart, and Starbucks are some of the companies that have forgotten their original purpose. 

For Sinek, it all comes down to a golden circle. At the center of the circle is the company's purpose or passion. The leader turns this golden circle, now imagined as a cone, into a megaphone. Everything the company does, even the people it hires must be aligned with company's purpose. 

Using anecdotes and historical examples, Sinek explains how a trend is different from a fad, how novelty is different from innovation. Real innovation changes the industry and can change society.

Sinek highlight those companies that inspire the most--most notably Apple, Virgin Records, Southwest Airlines but also some less well-known companies.

To be successful, these companies need to market to early adopters and others that share their values. They need a marketing team that effuse their message;  products and services that pass the celery test. They need good successors that keep the WHY alive.

Playwright, Ken Lin

Ken Lin speaks about the universality of performing arts in this Houston Chronicle article:

 “My parents were immigrants, and I grew up in a family where some people didn't speak English...So as a child, I learned the power of storytelling and also of nonverbal communication. I was drawn to the performing arts because of how universal they are.”

Lin is best known for the plays Po Boy Tango, Farewell My Concubine, and Kleptocracy. 

https://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/Playwright-Kenneth-Lin-is-realizing-his-dreams-1706503.php

Arrokoth

Detected in 2014, Arrokoth is the most distant and  object  explored by spacecraft so far. 

Arrokoth is the Powhatan/Algonquin word for sky. 

        Credits: NASA/John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Roman Tkachenko

For a great overview of everything space-related see Universe which is streaming on Netflix (an eighteen part series). 

German Library Acquires 400 Year Old Friendship Book

 

Mymodernnet.com reports that a German library,  Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel acquired a 400 year-old "friendship" book containing the signatures of kings and emperors.

This is like a modern day equivalent of a yearbook.

Grants for Cozy Mystery Writers

For my writer friends,

Cozy mysteries accepted between January 1 and November 1.

https://www.malicedomestic.org/grants-program.html

• Authors are invited to submit one work in progress per submission period.
• The Grants Committee is looking for works in progress that are consistent with the Malice Domestic genre of Traditional Mystery, typified by the works of Agatha Christie. These works contain no explicit gore, violence, or sex. 
• The submission period is from January 1 - November 1 every year.
• Please include your author name, story title, brief bio, contact email, and phone number on your submission. 
• Submissions are accepted via email (click below).
• Please contact our Grants Chair Harriette Sackler with any questions regarding your submission or the Grants Program. 

The Memory Garden by Mary Rickert

 

Perfect for Halloween, The Memory Garden by Mary Rickert is a treat. 

Mistaken for a witch, Nan is actually an older lady who happens to have a shoe garden. People send her cast-off shoes and they become the perfect planters for hollyhock, pennyroyal and mallow. 

Along with harsh words, people leave clothes, bread, honey. Eventually, someone leaves a baby in a shoe box. This sets all kind of figurative fireworks and changes the course of Nan's life. 

The author's use of foreshadowing is superb:

"Nan tries to hold her breath against the scent of memory, but there they are, the three of them in whispered conference, standing in the snow, promising to die with the secret of Eve's last hours, bound by the very oath that would tear them asunder."

This is a story of three old women with a dark secret and the baby (now grown into a teenager) whom Nan has adopted.

Similar titles:

Shipman, Viola. The Heirloom Garden. 

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

 

No matter how far they roam, bad luck follows Ella and Alice. Eventually, they settle in Brooklyn where Alice meets someone she recognizes from her past, the man who had kidnapped her a decade ago.

Alice becomes obsessed with her grandmother, Althea Prosperine, whom she has never met. She is also obsessed with reading her grandmother's book, Tales from the Hinterland. Even though its rare, the book has generated a lot of passionate fans who keep in touch on websites.

In Brooklyn, Alice's mother's luck seems to change. She marries a rich man, Harold, whom she thinks she loves. Their love quickly sours and then Ella vanishes; Harold tells Alice that Ella was taken by a group calling themselves "the Hinterland."

Alice's only clues are things left behind by the strange man at the coffee shop: a feather, comb, and bone and a rhyme given to her by one of her Grandmother's "fans."

Albert takes tried-and-true fairy tale elements and gives them a refreshing contemporary context. Time spend in a fairytale world is depicted as a kidnapping; characters from one world or the other are "refugees."  As dark as that sounds, its possible to change a story's ending. Alice breaks her doomed story and one broken story leads to others.  

If readers want to hear more about Alice, there's a second book in the series, The Night Country.   

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 

In this fanciful and breathtaking novel, two young people are drawn into a dangerous game by their caretakers. Both have been trained in the arts of real magic, not illusory magic, and have been brought up to fight a magical duel.

Marco is an orphan and Celia has a cruel, misguided father. Their challenge will take place at the traveling circus which shows up unannounced at various cities throughout the world. 

The Night circus, which has no clowns and elephants, focuses on the unusual and the sensual. Visitors enter tents to see acrobatics, an ice garden, smell concoctions, or have their fortunes told.

Celia is the circus's illusionist who uses magical arts to impress her audience. 

Though the Marco and Celia realize they are opponents, neither know when or how the challenge will take place. 

Marco, who is based in London, uses the magical bonfire at the circus to refuel his energy. The bonfire also has protective properties which keeps the circus performers from aging.

Though it was not a pact they entered willing, Celia and Marco have ignored the challenge's effects on others. 

Lanie makes this clear to Celia,

"I am tired of everyone keeping their secrets so well that they get other people killed. We are all involved in your game, and it seems we are not as easily repaired as teacups."

The two masterminds, Hector and Alexander, have more to answer for. Fittingly, in the end, Alexander seems to realize the harm his game has caused:    

"It is one thing to put two competitors alone in a ring and wait for one to hit the ground. It is another to see how they fare when there are other factors in the ring along with them. When there are repercussions with every action taken."

 The love story and denouement of this novel are particularly impressive. The conclusion is bittersweet but satisfying. 

Marco and Celia find a way to thwart the game. Uncertain and lost, Bailey finds a mission. Widget, who perhaps possesses the most powerful magic of all, wins the circus with his story telling abilities. 

Morgenstern began The Night Circus in 2003 during NaNoWriMo challenge, an annual online writing challenge in which authors try to complete 50,000 words in November.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

 

Station Eleven is about the Georgia virus, one that is even more disrupting than COVID-19. In this prescient novel, Mandel writes about a virus that ends civilization, eliminating people quickly and with them the knowledge of technology. After it hits, there's no electricity, phone, internet, cars, law enforcement, hospitals, or government. Bands of survivors that set up settlements in abandoned restaurant, hotels, and airports.

The principal characters are all connected in some way to a King Lear production that took place shortly before the collapse in Toronto. An aging actor, Arthur, dies on stage; the actor's childhood friend, Clark, and a child actress in the production, Kirsten, survive. 

While this is a grim scenario, Mandel cleverly knits the factions together. Jeevan, for instance, is an aspiring paramedic that rises out of the audience to try to rescue Arthur. His story interconnects with Kirsten's and the roaming Symphony that band together for art's sake after the collapse. 

Kirsten believes that "survival is insufficient." In addition to survival, there must be beauty and art; thus, she continues to perform Shakespeare with the Symphony in spite of the hazards. The Symphony sometimes wander through dangerous territory and encounter sinister people such as the mysterious Prophet.

The Symphony are all armed and trained, even if they aspire to preserve beauty. Kirsten is an expert knife-thrower who can defend herself in necessary. The Prophet, in contrast, is an armed aggressor who takes what he wants, including children, as his wives. He kills without regard and proclaims himself the "Light."

The Prophet is also connected, Clark soon learns, to his old friend Arthur. Miranda is linked to Arthur and it is her graphic novel, Station Eleven, that provides a clue to the Prophet's origins. Everything is wonderfully knotted together, its up to the reader to unravel the connections. 

HBO is creating a ten-episode drama series based on Station Eleven starring Mackenzie Davis and Himesh Patel. 

Wick Poetry Center

Wick Poetry Center,

https://www.kent.edu/wick

Community poems at the Wick Poetry Center.

Users can read a model poem and than submit one of their own inspired by that model. 

The current community poem at The Wick Center honors nurses. The community can submit poems based on the model poem "Some Days."

https://communitypoems.travelingstanzas.com/somedays

Look Me In The Eye by John Elder Robinson

 Robinson who has written other books about autism has a difficult start in life. He grew up feeling different and not knowing why or how to label it. He was frequently told he needed to look people in the eye. Ostracized by kids, he turned to adults who were more forgiving of his lack of social graces. He learned to love machines (e.g. trains and amplifiers) and could visualize complex equations in his head.

In spite of a high intelligence, he could not adapt to school and dropped out at 16. He was a practical joker who learned to create elaborate devices that would fool the eye. He was also spending more and more time learning the ins and outs of the music industry. 

Eventually, he created a guitar that appeared to explode on stage, which the band KISS became famous for. Several chapters in Look Me in the Eye are devoted to adventures he had while working as a sound engineer for KISS. The band paid well but sporadically. Robison eventually explored a career in the corporate world. 

Despite not having an electrical engineering degree, Robinson found working at Milton Bradley an easy fit. He could designing electronic toys as well if not better than any of the engineers with degrees. 

As good as he was at design, though, he could not hack the corporate culture:

"I was thoroughly sick of all the criticism. I was sick of life.   Literally. I had come down with asthma, and attacks were sending me to the emergency room every few months. I hated to get up and face another day at work. I knew what I needed to do. I needed to stop forcing myself to fit into something I could never be a part of A big company. A group. A team."

Robinson thought the answer is to create his own business, repairing high-end cars like Land Rovers and Rolls-Royces. While that works for awhile, it isn't completely satisifying.

A friend who was also a therapist helps him making a discovery about himself that changes his outlook on life. The chapter, "A Diagnosis at Forty" focuses on his coming to terms with his diagnosis. 

Robinson not only comes to terms with his autism, he also makes peace with his parents who were at times indifferent and abusive while he was growing up.

This is an intimate portrait of one man's journey with autism and how it affected his professional life and personal life. He writes about his son, who also has autism, in a separate book, Raising Cubby. Robison also writes about his search for experimental therapies in Switched On. 

Robison is a scholar-in-residence at the College of William and Mary. 

Things You Would Know if You Lived Around Here by Nancy Wayson Dinan

This is a haunting novel about a girl, Boyd, that feels other people's pain. She feels other people's emotions so deeply that she ends up isolating herself and denying herself what most everyone needs--commitment and love.

Written in a domestic fabulist style, strange things happen in this novel. A woman who has been in a coma for a decade, awakens during the 2015 Memorial day floods in Central Texas. She puts on some clothes taken from a scarecrow and follows Boyd's path.

Boyd is trying to find her friend Issac whom she knows is in grave danger. After escaping a flooded car, he is dangling from a tree that is precariously perched over the flooded river.

In the midst of the storm, ordinary people, like soap-maker, Carla, become completely unglued. Classics professor Kevin is drawn to his ex-wife and the local, mostly stoned, retired high school teacher goes off on a fruitless treasure hunt. 

All of these odd events are juxtaposed with sections entitled "things you would know," and indeed those are things local people know about the Central Texas area. In these sections readers find stories about Maximilian's Gold and other stories unique to the area. 

What this novel ends with is possibility. Boyd changes in the course of the novel to the point where she is  able to let her gifts go; she no longer wants to be the conduit of of other people's pain. 

Reading a novel like this is like running a marathon but in a good way. Oddities and strangeness abound as people make strange decisions in a storm that are life-changing.

Inkspell by Cornelia Funke

In the delightful second novel in Cornelia Funke's Inkheart trilogy, Inkspell, Dustfinger, Meggie, Mo, Farid, and Resa find themselves transported into Fenoglio's Inkworld. 

Farid and Meggie enter Inkworld by choice while Mo and Resa are taken by force. Dustfinger has already taken up residence in Inkworld with the help of Orpheus.  

Inkworld, though, has irrevocably changed--mostly because of Fenoglio's bumbling attempts to fix plot problems. Amusingly, Fenoglio has lost control of his own story. 

The tyrant Adderhead fears death and a mysterious figure known as "the Bluejay." This legendary person, invented by Fenoglio, creates new problems for Mo and his family.

After reuniting with his fellow minstrels, Dustfinger battles with new villians--the Adderhead and his men. The fire-raisers, Basta and Mortola, have joined the Adderhead's retinue. 

Dustfinger, who always seems self-interested and self-absorbed, commits an entirely selfless act for his young follower, Farid.

The journey Dustfinger undertakes for his friend into the underworld promises to take all of the characters in new directions.  

Tinkercad Contest

If you're a teacher or librarian or parent, consider encouraging your child to enter this Tinkercad Contest:

Enter Now!

The Tinkercad Student Design Contest is for all students who are using Tinkercad. To enter, you simply need to post an instructable showing how you made a Tinkercad 3D design as part of your homeschooling experience. No 3D printer is required!

We are giving away two prizes of $100 gift cards for the following five categories:

Make it Move – To win this prize, you need to demonstrate that you have designed and made something with functioning moving parts.

Connectors – This prize is for any project that encourages the creation of connectors. It can be as simple as an L-bracket for a robot or as complicated as connecting a bicycle to power a blender. We are looking for creativity and functionality.

Silly Solutions – Show us an example of how you identified a problem, or something broken, and used 3D design to create a fix.

Mashup – Show us how you took two of your favorite things (or things from the gallery) and creatively combined them to make something new.

Scene – This prize is for designs of physical spaces, from parks and landmarks to undersea adventures.

If you have never posted an Instructable before, here are some resources to help you get started:

How to Write an Instructable Class
Featuring Guidelines
Contests FAQ

Reach out to us directly at service@instructables.com

Only 29 days left to enter the Tinkercad Student Design Contest!

Book Review: Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Tender Morsels is a strange tale shaped by the interplay of real and magical worlds. As a response to trauma, Liga inhabits a magic world that protects her and her two young daughters. 

Urdda, who is the wilder of the two children, longs to leave the safe haven the moon "bab" has created for her mother. She attempts to rejoin the Bear who has disappeared by jumping up in the air near a cliff's edge. Naturally, this alarms Mam.

"Girls were not meant to fly. Where are your feathers? Where are your wings?" Liga tells her daughter Urdda.

Though she cannot follow this bear, Urdda encounters a second bear.

Eventually, by pushing the walls of the second bear's cave, Urdda leaves her mother's "heaven" or place of her hearts desire.

As soon as Urdda enters this real world, she faces danger. She is chased by a bear--not a real one this time, but a danger nonetheless. She finds her mother's cottage has become a ruin. 

Urdda quickly uncovers Lady Anne's secrets. Lady Anne practiced "hedge" witchcraft against the advice of a more experienced witch. 

Urdda also uncovers Mam's secrets which she immediately regrets. Understanding Mam's situation, Urdda is dismayed that, "she could not go back to that blissful, blessed state of not knowing."

Urdda can only go forward toward her future mission as a witch herself.

If you need another novel marked with strangeness, try Parakeet by Marie-Helene Bertino.

Book Review: Switched on by John Elder Robinson

Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change by John Elder Robinson. 

Robinson undergoes experimental research--allowing his brain to be zapped with electricity--to see if electric stimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS) can help improve symptoms of his autism. This is a fascinating journey of self-discovery and personal transformation by the author of Look Me In the Eye: My Life With Asperger's. 

Robinson volunteers to participate in an experimental study at the Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center run by Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone. TMS is currently used to treat depression and alleviate migraines but it has yet to be approved for autism patients. 

Robinson volunteered to participate in the study because he wanted to "fix" himself, as  he puts it, but it leads to a growing interest in autism research. This growing interest, as seen in the end of the book, even leads Robinson towards a new career.  

Science fiction writers explore electric stimulation in fiction. For example, Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Dark has a fictional protagonist undergo a similar procedure. Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon, that Robinson frequently refers to, examines the life changing consequences of brain stimulation on a fictional character. 

Robinson, however, is the first to write a true account of TMS experiments from the perspective of a person who is on the autism spectrum. 

As shown by his narrative, TMS seems to have the potential to improve a patient's emotional intelligence. One of the hallmarks of autism is the inability to correctly identify emotions in others or, often, in themselves. 

Robinson writes a true account of the pros and cons of the experiment. Some of the TMS sessions have no effect and some give him moving flashbacks and even hallucinations that elicit intense emotions.

Clearly, the pros and cons of this kind of research must be carefully weighed. On one hand, Robinson can finally perceive emotions. On the other hand, relationships with his friends and wife deteriorate.

Robinson is a unique case because though he suffers from emotional blindness he is also a highly intelligent self-taught sound engineer, photographer, mechanic and writer. His disabilities are offset by his unique gifts which have allowed him to succeed in many different occupations.

Though the book may serve to give many parents and relatives hope for new forms of autism treatment, some of the experiences Robinson describes may be unique to his own case. Even so, TMS has enormous potential and warrants further research. 

 

Medical Memoir

Medical memoir are a popular subgenre of memoir. These memoirs often explore the psychological aspects of chronic illness. 

Some explore mental illness or neurological disorders like Susannah Cahalan's Brain on Fire and some explore mystery illnesses. For instance, Sarah Ramey's The Lady's Handbook For Her Mysterious Illness explores a woman's attempt to identify her mystery ailment.

For patients suffering similar symptoms, these memoirs can be comforting. Memoirists put into words the same fears and worries that all patients have and, thus, can be powerful. 

Cahalan, Susannah. Brain on Fire.

O'Brien, Meredith. Uncomfortably Numb: A Memoir.

Olstein, Lisa. Pain Studies.

Ramey, Sarah. The Lady's Handbook For Her Mysterious Illness. 

Robinson, John Elder. Look Me In The Eye.

Robinson, John Elder. Switched on: a Memoir of Brain Change. 

A subgenre of graphic novels, graphic medical novels, also deal with medical topics. Personal in nature, these can provide solace as well.

Cornelia Funke's Inkheart Trilogy

The Inkheart Trilogy celebrates the power of readers and writers. So its fitting that Fenoglio who finds himself stuck in Inkworld needs a reader to read him out of his own story. He wishes he could write a different ending.

"I could write one, here and now, and change everything, if only I have someone to read it aloud! Of course he had looked for another Silvertongue but in vain. No Meggie, no Mortimer, not even someone like that man Darius..."

Whenever someone is read into a story, someone or something else is sent out in return. That seems to be the price of the magic spell that works to bring someone out of one world and into the next. When Meggie, Farid and Gwin went into Inkworld, three fire elves came out. 

Fenoglio does not seem to think about the ethics of this; he wants out of Inkworld where the villains he created "ruled...after their own fashion."

Review of Cornelia Funke's Inkheart, the first in the Inkheart Trilogy

Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg

This memoir accurately portrays the turmoil and calamity that befalls a family when one of them becomes mentally ill.

Greenberg's fifteen-year-old daughter suddenly becomes mentally ill; she has visions and is struck inexplicably "mad." Most of the events in the memoir occur during the summer of 1996 in Greenwich Village.

Sally briefly stays in mental hospital where she is given drugs that slowly calm her mania. Greenberg ponder other famous depressives, Robert Lowell, for instance, who wrote eloquently about manic illness. 

Winner of the NAMI Ken book award, this work not only describes Sally's illness but also its terrible effects on other family members--the girl's grandmother, mother, stepmother, and brother. 

Get Out of Your Own Way by Dave Hollis

Hollis, Dave. Get out of Your Own Way.

"I suffered from this disease of always having to be right in any conversation and all arguments for most of my life."--Dave Hollis.

Its honesty like that statement that really drew me in and made me want to read this book. A natural skeptic, Hollis describe a long evolution in his thinking. At first, he was opposed to the self-help movement an is now the CEO of the Hollis company, a company that asserts it gives people the tools to make positive, lasting change.

Library Podcasts

The Librarian Is In, NYPL podcast. Hosts, Frank and Rhonda, Hosts discuss current situation (COVID-19) and what they've been reading in the April 23, 2020 episode. Rhonda discusses Freedom Libraries and Frank discusses The Man Who Loved Children.

Your Shelf or Mine, Longview Public Library podcast (Longview, WA). Discusses the current situation (COVID-19) and discusses a library program the adult librarian is giving along with CORE(a small business webinar). They sound like they are working mostly from home and taking turns to go into the library. The Longview Public Library (WA) offers painting classes online at Youtube. The hosts discuss books they have read.

"If I should have a daughter" by Sarah Kay

This is an amazing poem about motherhood, starting over, finding strength in the face of adversity; its also filled with Sarah Kay's trademark humor.

"If I should have a daughter" by Sarah Kay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQgz2AhHaQg

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

A Jewish mother, Hanni, makes a sacrifice so her daughter may live. She with the help of a rabbi's daughter brings to life a golem, Ava.

This is no ordinary golem in many respects; she is female, she speaks, and she has some feelings. Golems, which are born without a heart or soul, are not supposed to have feelings. 

The story moves back and forth between Ettie, the rabbi's daughter, and Lea, the girl the golem was created to protect. Ettie becomes involved in the Jewish resistance, along with Victor and his brother, Lea's soulmate, Julien.

This unique novel which uses magic realism captures the darkest hour in human history. Demons hide in trees and angels wander the earth. And then there's Ava whose tattoo on her arm reads "truth." She can speak to birds and has the strength of one hundred horsemen.

Ava can peer into the future; she knows what her ultimate fate will be. The truth is that Ava isn't made by God. In a locket given to her by her mother, Lea has instructions on what she must do to the Golem.

The magical elements never detract though from the real story--the horror of the trains, the camps, the senseless killing.

If you want to read more about this book and the inspiration behind it, I recommend this article from the Jewish Women's Archive by Karen Kashian, https://jwa.org/blog/bookclub/interview-alice-hoffman-about-world-we-knew 

Cornelia Funke's prose in Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro  garnered critical praise when it came out in 2006. Capturing how the human spirit prevails in the face of tragedy, the film rises above most horror/fantasy films. 

A new novel for young adults written by Cornelia Funke captures and amplifies the dark magic of the original. Her prose explains many of the aspects of the film that defies explanation. Here's an example. We learn that the insect "fairy's" favorite game was change: "Change was in her nature. It was part of her magic and her favorite game."

This explains why the "fairy" readily changes form from insect to fairy to carnivore.

While the movie evokes images, Funke's prose also gives us each character's internal train of thought.

In the book and the film, Mercedes has beauty, courage and worldliness. In contrast, Ofelia's  mother is hobbled by insecurity.

Funke says of Ofelia's mother, Carmen: "She sat once more in the wheelchair, as if the Wolf (the Capitan) had stolen her feet. He had crippled her."

All of this is metaphorical; Carmen can walk; she just cannot stand up for herself. 

Carmen does not believe in magic or fairy tales, believing only delusions e.g. she believes she needs the villainous man, Vidal.

Funke states in another breathtaking passage that illuminate Carmen's thinking:

 "We all create our own fairy tales. The dress will make him love my daughter, that's the tale Carmen Cardoso told herself, although her heart knew Vidal only cared for the unborn child he had fathered."

For a deeper understanding of del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, read Cornelia Funke's version.