“Born To Run” by Bruce Springsteen

I am a chameleon when it comes to music. I gravitate toward the music that my partner likes. My husband Jeff likes Phish and Phil Lesh, and so do I. Paul liked the Velvet Underground and Nirvana, and so did I. Bill liked James Taylor and Carly Simon, and so did I. But rock and roll for me all started with the music of my high school boyfriend Doug. The music wafting from the Blaupunkt radio in his grey BMW 2002 was usually Jackson Browne or Bruce Springsteen. I remember how I felt when he would pick me up at the Westlake School for Girls, and we would drive out of the parking lot blasting Springsteen. I felt, for maybe the only time in my life, cool. Springsteen has that effect on people. You feel excited, soulful and part of the experience. “Born To Run” by Bruce Springsteen is the story of how a boy from Freehold, New Jersey, who never wanted to hold down a 9-5 job became a poetic rock legend. The book, which apparently took him more than seven years to write, is very honest and extremely illuminating. He chronicles his life on stage with the E Street Band and off stage with his wife Patti and three children. One son is a radio producer, the middle son a firefighter and the daughter an equestrian show jumping champion. He talks about struggles, triumphs and everything in between. I listened to all 18 hours and 16 minutes of Bruce telling me his story in my car driving back and forth between San Francisco and San Rafael.  I have to say listening to Springsteen made my commute exceptional. P.S. Jeff added that he doesn’t want to be pigeon-holed for just liking Phish and Lesh. He also likes the Beatles, the Allmans, The Bee Gees, The 5th Dimension, Elvis, Dylan, Diana Ross, the Eagles, Clapton and Johnny Cash, too. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

A Beautiful, Terrible Thing A Memoir of Marriage and Betrayal” by Jen Waite

I found myself at a small café yesterday, rather unexpectedly, talking with someone about my own divorce, which was finalized in 2009. I don’t think anyone, in her right mind, ever intends to fall in love and then get divorced. Most people would rather tackle anything other than having to dissect and then dismember a long-term marriage. However, things happen, people change and then you find yourself mustering the courage to unravel a truly chaotic situation. This is the subject matter of Jen Waite’s heartbreaking memoir “A Beautiful, Terrible Thing.” When we meet the narrator she is an aspiring actress/model who falls head over heels for a waiter/ restaurateur named Marco. They fall in love, get married, have a baby and seem to be living the fairy tale dream until the bottom drops out of Jen’s world. She finds out that Marco is having an affair, and has been lying about pretty much everything since the get-go. Reader be warned: This is one angry writer. But imagine, your husband tells you he broke the bed frame by accident and you find out he broke it while having sex with another woman in your bed.  She describes Marco throughout the books as a “psychopath” and “narcissist” and I have to say if I were handing out awards this guy would easily win both. You wonder why a person would want to ready a dark tale like “Beautiful, Terrible Thing,” The answer is this: We can learn from how people survive the most painful experiences in their lives and rise above the rubble to triumph. Read more about Jen Waite and her story on her blog at www.jenwaite.com. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur

When my husband Jeff and I got married in 2016, we decided that he would keep his house in Marin and I would keep my apartment in the city. We would spend time together, and time apart. This might seem unorthodox but with four girls between us, it made perfect sense to us. At his house in Marin I get to observe the habits of his almost-18-year old daughter, Violet. There is a red chair wing backed chair that I call “Violet’s chair” because that is the officially designated spot where she places all of her schoolbooks, clothing, keys and shoes. This is the chair that Jeff’s mother, Sue, spent hours in knitting, doing cross-stitch and reading. Like her grandmother, Violet loves to read. One day I saw on the red chair this book: “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur. I made a note to investigate the book further, but the following day the book was gone. So I ordered another copy from my library and read it in my apartment one quiet afternoon when I was on my own. “Milk and Honey” is a cross between a poetry book and a picture book. It is broken down into four sections, “The Hurting,” “The Loving,” “The Breaking,” and finally “The Healing.”  Nearly every poem is accompanied by a thoughtful, poignant, almost dreamy illustration. The poems are about loss, love, pain and ultimately survival. The author’s website says it also is about “femininity,” but I wouldn’t classify this book as gender specific. It is about human beings struggling to find peace in a world filled with violence and pain, as well as intimacy and love. Kaur is a Toronto, Canada-based writer and artist. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Spy of the First Person” by Sam Shepard

Near the end of his life, my dad said he and his friends, also in their early 80s, would sit and talk privately about their “legacies.” They would discuss what they would be remembered for after they were gone, both good and bad. My dad would sometimes say, “Lori, how is my legacy today?” I used to laugh and say, “The Odd Couple,” “Happy Days,” “Pretty Woman,” “Beaches,” and “Valentine’s Day,” I think your legacy is pretty safe.” The same could be said for another beloved man, Sam Shepard who passed away last year.  He appeared in 50 films and wrote 55 plays, and you would not think this would be a man compelled to write more book as he was dying. He was well known around the world for his acting and writing, but he insisted on completing this book “Spy of the First Person” before he died. As he was losing the ability to even hold a pencil due to the devastating effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, he dictated the end of this book to his sisters and three children using a tape recorder. It was almost as if he wanted to reveal to everyone that ALS was part of his legacy and the urgency in his narrative comes through clearly in every word. “Shepard’s family published “Spy of the First Person” with the help of his long-time friend, the singer-songwriter Patti Smith. The beauty and simplicity of this book is pure Shepard. His sister Sally told the “New York Times” that even during his final days “His mind was like a steel trap.” The prose of Sam Shepard will live on for many decades to come. I’m so glad he was able to finish this last book and share it with the world.  To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Touch” by Courtney Maum

To say I am a romantic person is an understatement. I want everyone to have a partner, and I especially don’t want anyone to grow old alone.  When I first mentioned my dream of getting married for the second time, my dad said, “Lori, that’s just not very modern.” And he was right. In 2018 most people probably spend more time cuddling their iPhones and laptops than other human beings. Will true romantic candle-light-and-champagne love soon become just an app, or will we find our way back to traditional face-to-face interaction? “Touch” by Courtney Maum tackles this subject through the eyes of the uber chic Sloan Jacobsen, a successful trend forecaster.  Revered for predicting the touch-screen “swipe,” Sloane is hired by the tech company Mammoth to use her expertise to raise the company’s profitability. She even gets assigned a self-driving company car that talks to her. Initially, Sloane and the company love her concept of celebrating the “voluntary childless” – described as people who choose not to have children in an overpopulated world. However, the more Sloane works on the campaign for this trend, the less convinced she is of this forecast. Her career and her love life take a turn when Mammoth goes rogue and hires her long-time boyfriend Roman Bellard, a pompous writer/sex researcher who predicts the death of sex altogether. As Roman becomes Mammoth’s “cause célèbre,” Sloane starts to show signs of wanting a normal life for herself, thanks to a new relationship with a down-to-earth co-worker. The New York Times called this book an “exuberant satire of the wired rich set in the near future.” I call it an old-fashioned love story set in a crazy high tech world. No matter what you call “Touch,” it is a terrific read.  To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“The Futures” by Anna Pitoniak

I was married to one man for 18 years, and now have been married to another man for not yet two years. I have to say that I like being married. I know that is not very modern, but I like being part of a couple. But when I close my eyes I can remember 1983, like yesterday, what it was like to be a single woman, working in New York City for a best-selling magazine, living in a six-story walk up, and dating. It is an exciting time to look back on from the vantage point of being married, and that is what “The Futures” by Anna Pitoniak is all about: new grownup love. The novel follows Evan and Julia in 2008, the year after they have graduated together from Yale. He is from a small town in Canada, while she is an East Coast young woman from a rich family. He gets a job at a hedge fund, while she starts a new career at a non-profit foundation. They move in together, start their new jobs and, while trying to grow closer, they grow farther apart. Can you see it? He’s poor becoming rich, she’s rich becoming poor. The novel is written in a “he said/she said” style in which Evan and Julia each tell their versions of the same story. Rather than being redundant, this technique is quite illuminating. You end up liking the couple together, as well as apart. It made me wonder how many of my friends who married right after college either stayed together or broke up. Is there a science to a successful relationship, or is it just luck? I’m not sure but I love books that analyze relationships. This is a terrific book by a new author who I hope to read more of. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Finding Magic: A Spiritual Memoir” by Sally Quinn

Late last year, a woman I know who is a very private person, sent me an email suggesting that I read a book called “Finding Magic” by Sally Quinn. I took this as an important sign and ordered the audio book from my library immediately. I have always loved Sally Quinn and her husband, the late Ben Bradlee, but I did not know the intimate details of their story. “Finding Magic” is not only a spiritual memoir as advertised, but also a survivor’s guide on how to deal with the death of a loved one. Quinn started her career as a journalist and television commentator, and soon transformed herself into a doyenne at the center of the Washington social scene when she married Bradlee, the executive editor of the Washington Post.  Quinn writes about her private spiritual journey from voodoo lessons and visits to psychics to more traditional explorations of modern religion and prayer. She details how her faith helped her navigate the most difficult moments in her life, which included raising her son Quinn, who was born with a severe developmental disability, and later caring for Bradlee who was diagnosed with dementia late in their 36-year marriage. Her strength and ability to survive in the face of tragedy is reminiscent of Joan Didion’s book “The Year of Magical Thinking.”  There is a passage in this book in which Quinn details sleeping with her late husband’s shirt for nearly a year after his death. When I read that passage, I surprisingly did not pity her. Instead I thought immediately to myself, “What a brilliant, soothing idea.” Sally Quinn is a woman who knows how to take care of herself. That is why people should read this book: to learn how to deal with life, loss and everything in between.   To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

"The Santa Land Diaries" by David Sedaris

I was celebrating my sister’s 50th birthday party last weekend and a friend of ours, who I have known since we were two years old, came up to me and said, “I love your Library Party. If not for you I would never have heard of David Sedaris.” This is why I started writing the LLP. I want my friends to know about David Sedaris, Wendy Wasserstein, Franz Kafka, Anne Lamott, Joan Didion, Henry David Thoreau, Miranda July and all of the other quirky people I love to read. There are plenty of wonderful writers in the world but I appreciate most the writers who make me laugh, dream, and in the face of adversity, dig deep, leap and climb right over any problem. David Sedaris is hands down the funniest writer I have every read. In fact, I have mentioned it before, I can hardly listen to his audio books in my car because they make me laugh so hard that I fear the police will pull me over for driving badly. “Santaland Diaries” was originally broadcast on National Public Radio in 1992, and tells the story about how Sedaris worked as a Christmas Elf in “Santaland,” at Macy’s department story. The essay was later published as part of his books “Barrel Fever” and “Holidays on Ice,” and was even turned into a one-man show. If you are looking for a festive stocking stuffer, or just want to read something funny around the holidays this is the book for you. “Santaland Diaries” represents the first big break for Sedaris, and it makes me smile every holiday season. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein” by Julie Salamon

“Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein” by Julie Salamon

My sister Kathleen turns 50 years old tomorrow, December 16. This is fascinating to me because I still think of her as my little sister, circa 1976, when she was 9 years old and I was 13. She was always smiling brightly, while I was always pouting suspiciously. She had peppy blonde hair like Jan and Marcia Brady, while I hid under my chestnut locks. She was always the tap dancing extrovert to my book-reading introvert on any family occasion. However, one of the things we always had in common was our love of the playwright Wendy Wasserstein. From the time we were very little our dad took us to see live theatre, and Wasserstein’s plays were among our favorites because they were not only smart but also incredibly witty. I remember the first time I saw “The Heidi Chronicles” I got the chills because I knew I was watching something special, like no other play I had ever seen before. In November, my sister started reading “Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein,” by Julie Salamon.  I picked up the book this week from the library and started reading it too. The youngest of 5 children, Wasserstein won the Tony Award and Pulitzer Price for “The Heidi Chronicles.” Her nearly four-decade long career in theatre boasted 11 plays, including “Uncommon Women and Others,” “The Sisters Rosensweig,” “Isn’t It Romantic” and “An American Daughter.” She was a prolific writer with one of the strongest and most distinct voices in American theatre during her lifetime. Then, at the age of 48 she surprised many people by having a baby on her own, and then unexpectedly died at 55 in 2006. She left behind a daughter named Lucy, and a legacy of characters that should never be forgotten for how they opened the door wide for many feminists to follow boldly in their footsteps. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Coming Home” by Amy Dickinson

Adulthood is carved from experience. No one can really teach you how to be a parent, get divorced, fall in love again, become a stepparent and survive the death of a parent. These are all things that require on-the-job training, quick thinking, a sense of humor and gut-wrenching perseverance. These have been life-changing experiences in my own journey, and they are the themes in Amy Dickinson’s beautifully written memoir “Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things.” Amy is a nationally syndicated advice columnist. Her “Ask Amy” column I often read in my local paper, the Marin Independent Journal. She is smart, funny, wise, and practical, in a no-nonsense way, like you want your best friend to be. Amy got married, had a baby girl, got divorced, went back to the tiny New York town where she grew up, fell in love with a man she knew in high school, and then lost her mother. These things happen to many people, and I have to say these events can be filled with joy and struggle. But Amy writes about them in an empowering way, not pitiful at all. Life happens. Some good things and some terrible things, but you keep going. Life is messy and there is grace in figuring out how to survive it all. After reading this book I wrote to Amy on Facebook and was beyond impressed that she wrote me back the same day. Clearly, she is an organized person. I told her I found her book, particularly the part about marrying and becoming a stepparent, very inspiring.  She said thank you and asked me to write a review of it on Amazon, which I was more than happy to do. Spreading the word about her lovely memoir was the least I could do for this wonderful author who made me appreciate my modern life. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man: A Memoir by Bill Clegg

I have a friend who is wired the same way I am. Let’s call her Merry, not her really name. I’m 99 percent certain that Merry and I will never do crack. But there is this one percent inside of us that worries about it. What if it happens? What If someone makes us do it? What will it look like? How will we beat the addiction? Will our families leave us? What steps will we take to get clean? We fully acknowledge that this is our anxiety speaking and not reality, but nonetheless we worry all the time about things that will likely never happen given that we are 53 years old. So in the mean time, we read books like this one: “Portrait of a Drug Addict as a Young Man” by Bill Clegg. Please pause right now and Google a picture of Bill Clegg, and you will find a dashingly handsome man about as far from a crack addict as you could imagine. He looks like a model from the J. Crew catalogue. However, he was never a model, but instead was a crack addict for a very long time. In reality he was a New York literary agent, and now also is a fiction author, too. Clegg’s memoir is a journey into the underbelly of upper crust white-collar drug addiction. There is a particular section of the book in which he describes trying to get on an airplane to Europe for a very important business trip, but continually getting side tracked by crack bender fieldtrips in and around the airport. This section of the book is so haunting, and paints a startling picture of how crack and other drugs make repeat users lose all common sense and reason. This kind of book is not for every reader, but for worrywarts like my friend Merry and I, it is like watching a great horror film, or having a nightmare. You wake up and thank god it is not your story, but are grateful for having survived the trip to the dark side. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time” by Arianna Huffington

My husband introduced himself and his daughters, Ellie and Violet, as professional sleepers. Serious, they sleep so well and so long that if someone does not wake them up they could sleep all day. I, however, am a terrible sleeper. And, I know exactly why, because I do everything wrong. I watch movies on my laptop in bed. I drink white wine and popcorn in bed. And in the middle of the night, when I still can’t sleep, I play Words With Friends with people in different countries who are awake. I find myself sleep-deprived on a weekly basis, but I am not alone. We are country of people who pride ourselves on the ability to function on a minimal amount of snooze time. We celebrate the fact we are running on empty, and in “The Sleep Revolution,” Arianna Huffington reports it is only getting worse because of the way technology comes to bed with us. Huffington recounts the time in 2007 when she collapsed at her desk, injured her jaw, and woke up in a pool of blood – all thanks to her own exhaustion. This experience made her realize that she had to make some changes in her life, and that the nightly four hours of sleep she was getting were no longer sufficient. “The Sleep Revolution” is a book that weaves together Huffington’s personal story, with scientific research and analysis, and new innovations in helping people sleep. She not only details the health benefits of sleep but also highlights stories about increased productivity and performance for those who sleep more. For example, in 2006 Northwestern University’s football coach had his players wear sleep sensors and instituted a mandatory naptime before afternoon games. My Wildcats finished 10-3 that year, a great season. Other universities have created nap rooms for students to reserve through out their academic day. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady goes to bed at 8:30 P.M., and refuses to hide that ritual but rather wears it as a badge of honor as a testament to his longevity on the field. “The Sleep Revolution” is a fascinating and inspiring book, and a good read for peaceful and fitful sleepers alike. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Sourdough: A Novel” by Robin Sloan

I have lived within walking distance of Clement Street in San Francisco for nearly 30 years. My list of abodes includes four apartments, and one very big house. On Clement, I took my little girls to eat at Giorgio’s Pizza and Toy Boat. I have had the Tea Leaf Salad at Burma Superstar, a glass of champagne at Chapeau and recently Shanghai dumplings at the Chili House. I have bought paint at the Ace (both locations), fresh fish at the Seafood Center and nearly gotten into dozens of car accidents as people make U-turns without any warning what-so-ever. Clement is a crazy dichotomy of people, places and food. In “Sourdough” by Robin Sloan, a new novel that was published in September, Clement Street plays a magical role in the rebirth of a software engineer named Lois Clary. She moves from the Midwest to San Francisco to work at a robotics company. She puts all of her energy into work, and crashes at night with takeout foods from a local sandwich shop called Clement Street Soup and Sourdough (a fictional location.) When the owners of the shop suddenly leave the city, they gift her with the starter for their signature sourdough bread. Lois begins casually making bread for neighbors and co-workers but her hobby soon becomes a passion and an experience filled with joy.  The chef in the cafeteria at her tech company encourages her to bring her bread to the tryouts for a series of local farmers’ markets. When she earns a spot at an off-beat market in Alameda, her world cracks open with new people and connections, and her life is never the same again. Sloan wrote a bestseller called “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” which I have not read yet. But the charm, wit and creativity that infuse every page of “Sourdough” make me want to read everything Sloan has written in the past and everything he will write in the future. Like eating a good piece of toast (at Blue Danube on Clement), I loved reading “Sourdough” and only hated to see it end. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“The Best of Adam Sharp” by Graeme Simsion

With the help of my well-developed Nancy Drew investigative skills, I have used Google to find pretty much every man I ever dated in high school and college. First, it was not that difficult because a) there were not that many men and b) there are dozens of ways to find people on the web, which would fry Nancy Drew because she had to go door to door. The thrill was making contact with these people and discovering that every single one of them has turned out much nicer now than when I dated them. I mean light years nicer.  For me, this was just a fun project that has now morphed into a handful of renewed friendships and one very challenging Words with Friends competition. For others, however, finding an old flame can lead to something more than friendship. “The Best of Adam Sharp” by Graeme Simsion is the story of a British Techie living in Australia with his long-time partner, Claire. One day Adam gets an email from a lost love he dated more than 20 years ago. She is an actress named Angelina Brown, and she is now living on the other side of the world from Adam. She is married, but despite this marriage she and Adam start a new relationship that propels him to France to move in with Angelina and her husband, Charlie. With twists both poignant and far-out there, this story starts out sweet and then gets very complicated, as most Internet romances do. In a delightful way, this story also comes with song references and a playlist of Adam’s favorite songs. Romances and lost loves can be tricky, and “The Best of Adam Sharp” is a testament to that. It is a modern love story for this Internet crazed world where harmless messages can foreshadow real connections and sometimes dangerous behavior. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Option B: Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy” by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant

I have been noodling on this book for a few months, trying to figure out the right way to talk about. This is what I came up with: My mom and I were in London this past summer to see Wimbledon, and we met a nice waiter at the Savoy Hotel who also followed tennis. We were talking to him one evening about the event and he said, “You have been to Wimbledon before?” And my mom said, “Oh yes, this is our third time. We just leave our husbands behind in California and come here together.” I paused. Why had she said that? Dad had died a year earlier. Did she forget? Was she lost? Was she confused? And then it hit me: Grief is exhausting and for mom to be a widow 24/7 was weighing on her. So I realized that just for a night, just for one passing conversation with a waiter at the Savoy Hotel, Barbara Marshall  wanted to be herself, just a regular wife, not a widow. That is the biggest lesson to realize about grief, it is heavy, exhausting and it hurts like nothing else. But does it last forever? No. Does it get easier to hold? Yes. How does that happen? Read “Option B: Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy,” by Sheryl Sandberg about the loss of her husband David Goldberg in May 2015 from a traumatic brain injury while vacationing in Mexico. Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, was left hugging two young children, flanked by her own supportive parents, and many grieving friends and family members. With the assistance of friend and psychologist Adam Grant, Sandberg leaned into own grief and loss head on, and now she wants to help others do the same. This book is heartbreaking, poignant, inspirational, instructional, and a book everyone should have on the family bookshelf. When we reach a certain age, death and grief are inevitable. Why not have a book to help guide you back toward recovery and joy on hand, at the ready? To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Napa: The Story of an American Eden” by James Conaway

I’m so very sad and anxious about the North Bay fires. During the day I am fine because I work at a hospice where I deal with patients, nurses and doctors, many in the fire plagued areas. It feels productive to be a work, talking and problem solving with people who are being evacuated. However, at night, worry overwhelms me because I live in Marin County, just south of the fires. I start preparing for our evacuation by packing little boxes that contain my dad’s St Christopher medal, the boutonniere Jeff wore at our wedding, baby pictures of my girls and the watch Jeff gave me on our wedding day. All of these things can fit in a small backpack, but they are just things. What matters most are living things - people and pets. Friends and families are not only loosing their homes they are losing their lives, and this fire feels catastrophic and never ending. It was hard to find a book to write about this week but I selected this one. “Napa: The Story of an American Eden” by James Conaway. This best seller is a book about two families who put this region on the map. The tale of the Gallos and the Mondavis is a drama about fortunes and feuds, land and legacies. I look forward to a time when these fires will stop completely. Then we can pick up the pieces, and raise a glass of wine in celebration of the rebuilt towns that were destroyed during this terrible week. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body” by Roxane Gay

I cannot name one single person I know who has a healthy relationship with food. My first husband was deathly allergic to peanuts. I knew both anorexic and bulimic friends of all sizes in high school and college. There’s an actress I know in Hollywood who is so thin, every time I go to hug her I am scared to feel her ribs and shoulder bones.  I confess that I too carry a history of weirdness about food and have not ordered French fries since 1988. Too thin. Too fat. Too much. Too little. Pathetic. What is wrong with us? Why do we act so strangely around food and weight? “Hunger” by Roxanne Gay tackles this issue head on, honestly and poignantly. After being gang raped at the age of 12, Gay’s life was haunted by trauma that often resulted in overeating to make her own body less attractive, and therefore “safe.” Born to well-off Haitian immigrants, Gay kept her rape a secret while attending Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale. Despite the support of her parents and brothers, she would grow to weigh more than 550 pounds. Despite the fact that her story is so extreme, you can admire and connect with her memoir. Themes of food issues and trauma, coupled with bisexuality, are important issues to talk about openly, no matter your size, color or your gender. There is a chapter that tackles her pure humiliation about bringing on board an airplane her own seat belt extender and then being told by the airline she has to use their seat belt extender, which is regulation. Hers was not good enough. While reading her memoir it makes you want to somehow fight for her, while she was still trying to hone her own skills to fight back and advocate for herself. Why does the world have to be so cruel? As she enters adulthood, Gay finds her own voice through writing, and becomes ultimately more comfortable in her own skin. Today she is an associate professor of English at Purdue University and an opinion writer for “The New York Times.” She has transformed herself into a woman who speaks not only her own truth, but also the truth that all men and women can identify with. Feeling different when all you want is to feel is special is a struggle for all of us, but Gay writes an inspiring tale about learning to live with it. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Anything Is Possible” by Elizabeth Strout

I used to think I was too fussy of a person to read short stories so I gave up on them for a while. Short stories are hard work to read. They don’t compare to the ease it takes to fly through a real page-turner novel or memoir. But I decided to give this collection of short stories a shot because they are all interconnected. Jeff talks about connections in data all the time. You might remember my review of “My Name is Lucy Barton” last year also written by Elizabeth Strout. I loved that book about a mother who sits with her daughter in a hospital room and they reflect upon their complicated relationship, sad lives and the small town in Illinois where they are from. You need to read that book first in order to understand this one. “Anything Is Possible” is a collection of stories showcasing the people from Lucy Barton’s hometown. I thought as I was reading this book that there might be one final story in which all of the characters come together, but there is not. Life is just not neat and tidy like that. Life is messy, people make detours and people move on.  You have to work hard to figure out the interconnected relationships in this book, but that is like completing a difficult Sunday puzzle. In April, when Jennifer Senior reviewed this book in the “New York Times,” she said the stories were about “an army of hurting men and women, desperate for liberation from their wounds” and later “many characters walk around with great satchels of unexpressed love.” There are plenty of books about people who find happiness, but to read a small book about people who struggle daily with loneliness is heartbreaking and also life affirming at the same time. Become of fan of Strout and you will not be disappointed. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Master Class,” by Terrence McNally

In the summer of 1997, I saw Terrence McNally’s play “Master Class” at the Golden Gate Theatre, starring Faye Dunaway. I remember the evening well for several reasons: I loved the play, and thought Faye was outstanding in her role as opera diva, Maria Callas, in the fictional master class. Also, that night I saw the play, I left my twin two –year-old girls home with a sitter. I remember it felt glamorous to be wearing a clean Ann Taylor blouse without any baby food encrusted on my shoulder, and I stayed wide awake the entire show. This weekend my dad’s beloved Falcon Theatre will be renamed the Garry Marshall Theatre, and the opening show will be “Master Class,” starring Emmy-winner Carolyn Hennesy. It is the perfect play to kick off the inaugural season of this new the theatre. My dad was not only a huge fan of McNally’s, but they also worked together on the film “Frankie and Johnny,” starring Michelle Feiffer and Al Pacino. As they prepared for the film, my dad shared advice with McNally on how to write a screenplay, and McNally shared playwriting guidance with my dad who was writing one at the time. They remained friends for the next 25 years, until my dad’s death last year. “Master Class,” directed by my friend Dimitri Toscas will be running at the Garry Marshall Theatre through October 22. If you can’t make it to the theatre you might enjoy reading the play. Reportedly when McNally was in college he routinely paid $1 for a standing room ticket at the opera because he was such a fan. Clearly, it was money well spent, as he ascended into one of our country’s most talented playwrights.  To purchase this book on Amazon click here.

“Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” by J.D. Vance

If I said that my descendents were hillbillies, my maternal grandmother Vivian would leap out of her Kentucky grave, slap me in the head with her long purple finger names and say, “Don’t be telling stories like that, Lorraine! Our people were not hillbillies!” However, the truth is that my grandmother was married at 17, had a baby by 18 and made sure her grandchildren and great grandchildren called her “Mamaw” to her husband’s “Papaw.” “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance is the story of a boy who grew up in Middletown, Ohio, only 45 minutes from my grandmother’s home in Cincinnati. In Vance’s town, most kids didn’t graduate high school, let alone go to college. His own mother popped pills, then used heroin and was married five times to a disastrous parade of men. When his mom proved too unstable to take care of him, Vance was raised by his grandparents and, against all odds, ended up joining the Marines and then graduated from Ohio State University and later Yale Law School. While reading this book you will be stunned that Vance did not end up using drugs himself, or fall into the depths of frustration or depression.  What is interesting about Vance is that he is not just analyzing the plight of hillbilly culture, but telling his story from inside the conundrum.  How did Vance chart a course for himself that turned out to be so different from the peers he went to elementary school with? Two things: He had a grandmother who loved him and supported him, and he went into the Marines who taught him how to live like an adult, from physical fitness to personal finances.  His grandmother raised him, and then the Marines taught him how to survive on his own. A lot can be said about the broken infrastructure of hillbilly towns across America, but Vance’s story is what happens when someone says to a poor little boy with no future in sight, “You matter. You are important.” It seems like those are two small sentences, but they clearly had a lasting impression on this author’s life. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.