They say we’re getting back to normal now – or should I say “normal with quotes?” It’s no coincidence that the word pandemic is related to the word pandemonium. This “new normal” is causing chaos in peoples’ lives, making us feel that we have no control over anything. To help us cope, mental health advisors tell us to do things that entertain us or comfort us – things like walking the dog, watching our favorite old movies, and eating our comfort foods. We can also go back to our favorite books, those that help us escape. I’ve been re-reading many of my old favorites, and I hope some of these will help you too.
In 1985 I had the pleasure of meeting Olive Ann Burns, author of “Cold Sassy Tree” (Cold Sassy Tree is a fictional Georgia town loosely based on Commerce). It opens up a world of country life in the South in 1906, told in the voice of 14-year-old narrator Will Tweedy. Will’s grandfather is the main character. He scandalizes his little town and his family by marrying a much younger woman (and a Yankee) – just three weeks after his first wife was buried. Everything that follows emanates from this one incident. Pat Conroy called our narrator Will a “blend of Huck Finn and Holden Caufield.” Read this book when you’re feeling nostalgic or when you need a good laugh.
I’ve read “The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry” at least three times. It’s the story of a widowed, bitter bookstore owner who just wants to run his business into the ground and then drink himself to death. All that changes completely when an abandoned baby is left in his store. It’s also a love story about books and the bookselling industry. And there are some real though-provoking quotes, such as “no man is an island; every book is a world.” Gabrielle Zevin is a writer who can be touching without getting syrupy, and she can be amusing without sounding cynical. I highly recommend this book, and I’m going to keep talking about it until you read it!
A bittersweet and comforting story by Anne Carroll George called “This One and Magic Life” concerns a southern family based in Mobile, Alabama in the 1990’s. They reassemble for the funeral of Artie Sullivan, a world famous painter, and relive many memories of Artie and their younger selves – memories that are happy or sad or scandalous. You come away from the book feeling that all lives, even those we might consider ordinary, have real value to those who love them. A reassuring thought.
Three stories set in modern-day Dublin by Tana French – “In the Woods,” “The Likeness,” and “Faithful Place” – are among my favorite mysteries of all time. You wouldn’t think three such heavy books would be included in escapist recommendations, but there’s just something about the characters that makes you want to revisit them. Though not a trilogy in the conventional sense, I always think of these stories as a unit. That’s because of an imaginative way French has of having characters in one book bleed over into the next. Each of the stories deals with a twisty murder case. In the first, the narrator and main character is a detective with a traumatic past; in the second, the narrator and main character is his former partner and best friend; in the third, the narrator and main character is an undercover specialist who has worked with these detectives on several cases. So each story has its own unique voice. It’s been almost 10 years since I started these books and I keep hoping that the author will someday tell us more about Rob, Cassie and Frank. Read these stories when you’re ready to drop out of your reality completely and just immerse yourself in their world – and be sure to read them in the order listed above.
Tom Petty had it right : The waiting is the hardest part. This blasted “new normal” will be with us for a while longer, and some aspects of our lives will never completely recover. But things are slowly improving. While we wait, comfort yourself with the familiar and find pleasure in the books you love. Happy reading!
