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I gave myself the assignment to read three books during March. It was similar to when I was reading several books to write a research paper when I was in college.
I enjoyed "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim," by David Sedaris, c 2004. It's the most humorous of the books. The 22 chapters took place all over the United States.
David is a little boy in some of the book. The chapter I'm writing about is "Rooster at the Hitchin' Post." The narrator tells a lot about his brother Paul, who started his own company that sands floors. Now he lives in the house he just bought, and he's planning his wedding. It's in North Carolina. The marriage will take place at the Royal Pavillion, a hotel that has a wedding gazebo.
Once when David called his brother, Paul put his dog named Diesel on the phone.
Just before the ceremony, the men are together in a room where many of them are watching TV. David remembers a story he heard about the filming of the movie "Gandhi." The sandbags in the film were actually played by "extras."
The reception is where David and Paul's father gave a speech "while waving a rubber chicken" (p. 177). He said he'd rather have a rubber rooster, but he couldn't find one. The "Hitchin' Post" refers to the place the wedding took place. For the last paragraph, David gets sentimental, and he describes the love of Paul and Kathy in positive and poetic ways.
The next book is "After Anne," by Roxanne Henke, c 2002. It takes place in a small town in North Dakota. The chapters are short, and the title of each chapter is the name of the woman who is the narrator. It's two women: Anne and Olivia. Olivia is called Libby by friends.
Their friendship gains strength when Anne invites Olivia over to her house for the first time. Anne writes a newspaper column, and one of them is hung on her refrigerator. She gives piano lessons, and one of her students is Olivia's daughter Emily. Olivia also has a son.
Anne is pregnant with her first child. Her first tough health issue is breast cancer, and she has a full mastectomy.
As we read the book, we follow Anne's continuing trouble with cancer. As Libby helps Anne in many ways, she learns that Anne's strong beliefs in God are the way she stays strong even though she has serious health problems. When she has trouble getting to sleep at night she says the words from her favorite hymn, "Be Still My Soul."
In a way, the sadness in this book continued with the next book I was reading, "The Year of Magical Thinking," by Joan Didion, c 2005.
This book is mine, and it helped me to underline a lot and mark in the margin many places.
In Chapter Two she explains in detail her husband's passing on Dec. 30, 2003. The chapter ends: "This was the beginning of my year of magical thinking" (p. 33).
Joan Didion wrote many books, and I'm sure Howard liked her as an author, because we already had five of her books on our shelves at home.
She quotes many authors who expressed ideas that helped her live with mourning. "Grief was passive … Mourning, the act of dealing with grief, required attention" (p. 143).
They gave gifts to each other, but didn't write letters.
I liked how she quoted many authors. A song she referred to is "Look for the Silver Lining." Andy Williams sang this song, and there is a 1949 musical film with this name.
Joan Didion passed in 2021.
Books by these three authors are available at your Marshall-Lyon County Library, including "The Year of Magical Thinking" which is in print, audio book, and digital audio versions, marshalllyonlibrary.org.