My Year Of Rest And Relaxation

Ottessa Moshfegh is the author of the 2018 novel called My Year Of Rest And Relaxation. This is a darkly comedic novel about a young, beautiful, wealthy college graduate who wants to take time off work to rest. She can use her trust funds to pay her expenses. Both of her parents have recently passed away. She lives in Manhattan in a building with a doorman. She quits her job at an art gallery. She finds a psychiatrist with unusual methods. This psychiatrist throws drugs at her willy nilly. She gets ambien, vicodin, Xanas, Risperidol, anti-anxiety, anti-psychotic, and sleeping pills. One of them has a side effect where she leaves the building and goes shopping so she is careful about that one. The only glitch is that her college friend, Reva, keeps coming to visit. Reva is jealous of her wealth and beauty. Her visits are sometimes pleasant and other times annoying. I think it's crazy that a young woman in the prime of her life wants to sleep her life away to reset her life. One summer day Reva calls again and her call is not answered. Soon after that 9/11 happens. Reva is at work at the World Trade Centers and she looses her life.

 

  

The Sparrow

The Sparrow is a novel published in 2019 by Mary Doria Russell. This is a long (8 hours to read) book set partly in Puerto Rico, Italy, and another planet in the solar system. The main character is a Puerto Rican Jesuit priest named Emilio. He is living in Puerto Rico supporting a church and the impoverished children around the church. He invited his friends to join him. Anne and George are married. She is a physician. He is an engineer. Another friend, Jimmy, lives in the area. Jimmy is an astronomer. One night Jimmy hears signals from another planet. Research starts. These four people plus another female scientists and three Jesuit priests embark on an adventure to that distant planet. Despite the fact that there are so many Jesuit priests in the novel I wouldn't call it a religious novel. Spiritual yes but not religious. This was a very interesting novel to read.

 

 

Time Of The Lotus Bloom

Now is the season for the blooming of American lotus. The flowers near shore stand higher above the water line than the flowers in deeper water. Lake Winona has 4 patches of lotus blossoms now. This is the largest aquatic wildflower in the state. I have seen them before when paddling the Mississippi in Cottage Grove near Lion's Park. Water lily leaves have a notch while lotus do not have a notch. If you splash water on the leaves the water beads up and rolls off like a windshield that has been Rain X'd. The waterproof leaves inspired scientists to develop Gore Tex. I think lotus are beautiful.

 

One More Thing

B.J. Novak is the author of One More Thing: Stories And Other Stories. If you ever watched the television comedy series The Office, you probably know who B.J. Novak is. He also does stand up comedy. This book is a series of short stories. Some are a paragraph long. Others are 50 pages long. After finishing the book I highly suspect that if the author wasn't a television star I doubt this book would have been worth publishing. 

 

 

 

 

All In Her Head

I recently finished a medical history book by Dr. Elizabeth Comen called All In Her Head: The Truth And Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women's Bodies And Why It Matters Today. From the beginning of medical history in ancient Greece and Rome, this physician details how women has been discounted by physicians over the years. Some people think women have flawed versions of the ideal male body. This thinking is pervasive throughout society. She explores eleven organ systems and lays out the details which can be enraging at times. After finishing it I feel informed and angry.

 

 

Songs Of Willow Frost

Jamie Ford is the author of Songs Of Willow Frost. Years ago I read his other book called Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet and absolutely loved it. I loved this book too. The story is about William Eng who is living in an orphanage in Seattle, Washington during the depression. When he was a young boy his mother's  limp body was carried out of their apartment. He was told she was gone forever. Once a year all the boys in the orphanage celebrate their birthday. He and the other boys are taken downtown to see a movie. He sees an actress called Willow Frost and he is sure she is his mother. With a friend he runs away from the orphanage to find her. His mother has a complicated history that the film industry does not want known. 

 

 

Homeschooled

Stefan Merrill Block is the author of Homeschooled: A Memoir. Stefan is the younger son in a family with two boys. His Dad worked as a counselor in a mental health clinic. His mother was a stay at home Mom although later she tutored other kids in math. Stefan's Mom encouraged him to be homeschooled. She didn't want him to grow up. She said she didn't want him to be damaged by the school environment. He reluctantly went along with it. They were living in Texas. Together they spent time swimming in the pool in the backyard or shopping at a mall. After five years of this he pushed to go back to school for high school. The adjustment was hard. He didn't know how to take tests. He didn't give up. He asked teachers for help. Eventually he caught up and did well in school. The author writes about his mother's manipulation of him honestly but he presents her with respect and affection.