• Books in black bookshelf

    Best books of the century… so far

    July 14, 2024 / 2 Comments

    The New York Times recently published its list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. The list was created using suggestions made by hundreds of novelists, nonfiction writers, academics, book editors, journalists, critics, publishers, poets, translators, booksellers, librarians and other literary luminaries.

    “We let them each define ‘best’ in their own way. For some, this simply meant ‘favorite.’ For others, it meant books that would endure for generations,” the newspaper’s editors noted.

    Not surprisingly, most of the list contains literary tomes. Since I’m more of a genre reader, I wasn’t too surprised to discover that I have only read five of the featured books (though I plan to check out 13 more). However, I’ve read more than 1,300 books since the year 2000, and many were quite brilliant. So, here’s my Top 10 list of the best fiction and nonfiction books of the 21st century:

    Fiction

    "Golem and the Jinni" by Helene Wecker1. “The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker
    2. “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
    3. “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern
    4. “11/22/63” by Stephen King
    5. “Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop” by Huang Bo-Reum
    6. “Dead Things” by Stephen Blackmoore
    7. “Dead Harvest” by Chris F. Holm
    8. “Shadow Deal” by Michael La Ronn
    9. “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
    10. “The Memory of Running” by Ron McLarty

    Nonfiction

    "The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland" by Jim DeFede1. “The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland” by Jim DeFede
    2. “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” by Salman Rushdie
    3. “The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America” by Erik Larson
    4. “The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century” by Kirk W. Johnson
    5. “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion
    6. “Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives” by Jim Sheeler
    7. “Neither Snow nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service” by Devin Leonard
    8. “One Summer: America, 1927” by Bill Bryson
    9. “Life’s That Way” by Jim Beaver
    10. “In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss” by Amy Bloom

    Feel free to share your favorites in the comments. I’d love to hear about them. You may also submit your list to the NYT here. My suggested list featured the top 5 books in each category above.

  • online grocery shopping

    Joy comes in the morning

    July 11, 2024 / 4 Comments

    From the time I was a little girl, I was taught how important it was to always have food in the cupboard. That way, no matter how tight money becomes, you can still eat and keep going. Such a Great Depression point of view was very handy during the pandemic when shortages and supply-chain delays became the norm. Now that I’m unemployed, I’m even more grateful to have taken that lesson to heart.

    Due to my practice of avoiding COVID-19 whenever possible, especially when rates are on the rise, I’ve become a big fan of online food shopping. Once or twice a month, I order our groceries, usually from Instacart or directly from Hannaford, the local grocer. I like that my orders/tips help out local gig workers. Since I have them drop the bags off at my door, we both stay safe and healthy. And, all of my previous shopping trips are saved online so reordering is a breeze.

    Once the groceries are purchased, the shopper will ping my phone letting me know he or she is on the way. This is particularly helpful during warm months because you don’t want frozen items to sit outside for too long. My phone is again pinged when the bags are delivered, at which point M brings everything into the house and I put it all away. Such a divvying up of chores works in our favor; he uses his muscles to carry the heavy load and I know where everything is when I cook/bake.

    The reason I mention this is because I recently had a memorable delivery. Oh, the groceries were the same. The shopping didn’t deviate from the norm. Nor did our practice of bringing stuff inside and putting it all away. No, what made this trip so lovely was our shopper. She followed my directions to a T, managed to find everything I wanted, maintained friendly contact when required and delivered the order in a timely fashion. Also, she had the perfect name:

     

    Joy exchange from Instacart

  • stonehenge sunrise

    First suffering and then hope

    June 20, 2024 / 4 Comments

    The solstice has arrived. And Summer’s big debut comes with heat, humidity, migraines, insomnia, late-night fireworks and extra loud motorcycles, bug bites, sunburns, sweat and misery.

    Yes, Summer is my least favorite of the four seasons. It is the one time when I refuse to live in the moment. Instead, I focus entirely on the future.

    For there, I see hope and I’m holding onto it. While this is the longest freakin’ day of the year, and while the temperature today is going to be a brutal 103 degrees, I just need to keep reminding myself of one simple fact. Starting tomorrow:

    THE BLESSED DARKNESS IS COMING BACK.

     

    autumn countdown

     

    I can’t wait.

  • Tombstone cat

    My latest project is ready for primetime

    June 3, 2024 / 2 Comments

    Remember that blog post I wrote back in April where I said I wanted to drop the Bloggess of Death moniker in favor of the Grande Dame of Good News?

    Well, after much thought, I’ve decided that I contain multitudes. Why not be both?

    And so, this morning I launched a new project on Substack. The End Files is a weekly newsletter featuring curated stories about death, grief, funerals, graveyards, mourning and, of course, obituaries. There will be interviews with people connected to the death industry as well as interesting quotes and lots of cemetery- and death-related art.

    Check out the debut issue here. And if you like it — which I hope you will — let me know. Also, subscribe!