What I read in May

That I read at all is a victory to be celebrated!

Maycember is over! We survived Little League, endless recitals, Teacher Appreciation, and graduation season. One child is already at camp and two more head that way on Sunday. I didn’t read as much as I usually do last month but that I read at all feels like a victory to celebrate!

An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin

He sweetly grasped my hand in his and put it on his heart. “You’re a wonder,” he rasped, his eyes shining with an uncanny light. It was the last thing he said to me.

I fell hard for Doris Kearns Goodwin when I read Team of Rivals along with the rest of America. Her approach to history and presidents that loom so large in our collective imagination felt fresh and impactful and imminently readable. I knew she had worked for LBJ but little else about her personal history. I knew even less about her husband Dick Goodwin.

This book tells the story of the Sixties through the lives of Dick and Doris and how their lives intertwined with JFK and LBJ. (Presidents so defined by the decade and defining the decade that we just use their initials.) There are so many incredible stories in this book that I had never heard about a decade that we all tell stories about endlessly. But more than just impressing us with their incredible experiences, Doris does what she always does - she illuminates the humanity of the people who lived through those times. Of course, that doesn’t just mean presidents like in her previous books but also her and her beloved husband.

Reading this book was a total delight but - if that wasn’t enough - I got to INTERVIEW DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN ABOUT IT. I cannot wait for you to hear this conversation on Pantsuit Politics, which was one of my top ten “pinch me” moments in almost a decade of making this podcast.

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

All the things that are wrong in the world seem conquered by a library’s simple unspoken promise: Here I am, please tell me your story; here is my story, please listen.

I bought this book about the burning the Los Angeles Central Library in 1986 for my retired librarian mother for Christmas, but she’d already read it so I kept it for myself! As a librarian’s child, obviously the subject matter appealed to me, especially since we’re heading to Los Angeles for a long weekend in June.

I have never read The Orchid Thief (which I want to now!) so I was completely entranced by Susan Orlean’s exploratory and expansive examination of not only the Los Angeles Central Library but libraries and reading in general. It really was a love letter to readers and as a person who holds reading in the most beloved corner of my heart I loved every page.

Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt

I wanted it to be true so much it was true. Sometimes in life you have to let your heart and bones off the hook of yourself.

My dear friend Annie recommended this book about Ruth, a woman raising her granddaughter Lily after her daughter Eleanor’s descent into addiction. This short, poignant novel covers a lot of emotional ground in its few pages. Boyt’s writing reminded me of one of my most favorite authors Elizabeth Strout in the way she can reveal larger truths with the quiet quotidian suffering of women’s lives.

I’ve seen so many people I love struggle in the face of their child’s addiction that Ruth’s story poked at the motherly fears lodged deep in my own heart. And yet the way Boyt ends this novel felt fundamentally hopeful and loving.

One final thing…

You’ll recall I got an advanced copy of Chelsea Devantez’s new memoir I Shouldn't Be Telling You This: (But I'm Going to Anyway) and read it back in January. I loved it and now it’s out AND you can hear our amazing conversation with Chelsea about the book on the podcast!

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