The pandemic has killed my concentration, so reading has been a challenge. In 2020 and 2021, I mostly just read for book club and not much more. January was a really good reading month for me, so hopefully I’ve broken the spell! I also signed up for a winter reading challenge at the Forest Park Public Library. It involves reading twenty minutes a day, which is the perfect amount to stay in the habit, and just enough if I have to read before bed to get my minutes in.
The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe
Our January book club read was The Best of Everything. It was a really good discussion book but not my favorite read. It’s billed as the “Sex and the City of the 1950s” and that’s probably a good description. I didn’t love how each girl fit into a stereotypical box, but it definitely gave a good perspective of the single girl life back then and the cocktail scenes were wild.
My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather
Willa Cather’s My Mortal Enemy entered the public domain this year so it caught my attention. It’s a short book, and it’s heartbreakingly beautiful. Without giving too much away, it shows a marriage from the outside and the inside and how it changes over time. The book is titled perfectly. Cather is a book club favorite.
The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi
The Lazy Genius Way is a self help book and it’s fine. I guess I just prefer following Kendra Adachi on Instagram and her podcast for my self help needs. There are a lot of good tips in the book, especially for parents. And I always appreciate her message that you get to decide what’s important for you.
Edmonia Lewis: Wildfire in Marble by Rinna Evelyn Wolfe
Have you seen the new Edmonia Lewis stamps? I was super excited to order them because her story has a fascinating Forest Park connection (which you can read about here!) Her famous work, The Death of Cleopatra, used to sit at the Forest Park Amusement Park and was found years later in a storage yard in Cicero, Illinois before it made its way to the Smithsonian! I wanted to learn more about her, and this book was an easy introduction to her.
I’m not quite done with Lucille Clifton and William Maxwell but they’re due next week so I wanted to include them in my stacks. I’ve been dipping into Clifton’s poetry after work and Maxwell’s short stories before bed and both have been lovely ways to pass the time. (If you’ve been around long enough you know Maxwell is one of my all-time favorites.)
Have you been reading anything good lately?
kimberly ah 