I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death

 

I Am I Am I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell

Nonfiction - Memoir

2017

Finished on November 10, 2025

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

We are never closer to life than when we brush up against the possibility of death.

I Am, I Am, I Am is Maggie O'Farrell's astonishing memoir of the near-death experiences that have punctuated and defined her life. The childhood illness that left her bedridden for a year, which she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. An encounter with a disturbed man on a remote path. And, most terrifying of all, an ongoing, daily struggle to protect her daughter--for whom this book was written--from a condition that leaves her unimaginably vulnerable to life's myriad dangers.

Seventeen discrete encounters with Maggie at different ages, in different locations, reveal a whole life in a series of tense, visceral snapshots. In taut prose that vibrates with electricity and restrained emotion, O'Farrell captures the perils running just beneath the surface, and illuminates the preciousness, beauty, and mysteries of life itself.

I've read all but one of Maggie O'Farrell's books (The Marriage Portrait) and other than a couple of her novels, I Am I Am I Am is my favorite of her entire collection of published works. Wow. She has crafted a lovely memoir, filled with love, fear, and the most near-misses a human being could possibly encounter in their lifetime. O'Farrell is both a very unlucky and lucky woman to have experienced so many brushes with death. And she doesn't simply recount those situations in a cut and dried manner, but weaves poetic details throughout each beautifully rendered essay. I held my breath as I read a couple of the vignettes, fearful of the outcome despite knowing she is currently alive and (hopefully!) well.

There is nothing unique or special in a near-death experience. They are not rare; everyone, I would venture, has had them, at one time or another, perhaps without even realizing it. The brush of a van too close to your bicycle, the tired medic who realises that a dosage ought to be checked one final time, the driver who has drunk too much and is reluctantly persuaded to relinquish the car keys, the train missed after sleeping through an alarm, the aeroplane not caught, the virus never inhaled, the assailant never encountered, the path not taken. We are, all of us, wandering around in a state of oblivion, borrowing our time, seizing our days, escaping our fates, slipping through loopholes, unaware of when the axe may fall. 

I can't imagine anyone reading this memoir who doesn't revisit their own close calls. While I don't care to go into detail of the times that I might have avoided the Grim Reaper, O'Farrell's encounters do remind me of a few. I suppose anyone who has given birth, gone swimming in the ocean, hiked alone, or flown in an airplane will find themselves nodding their heads as they read this book. The final essay had holding my breath, especially knowing someone who has a child with severe allergies to numerous food items.

I know I must nod calmly when people tell me they understand exactly how I feel because they have a gluten allergy, which makes them really bloated whenever they eat bread. I know to be patient and genial when I have to explain that, no, it’s not OK to bring that hummus into our house. No, it’s not a good idea to give her a little bit to get her used to it. No, please don’t open that near her. Yes, your lunch could kill my child.

I loved this beautiful memoir. It's a keeper.

Highly recommend.

Truth & Beauty

 

Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett

Nonfiction - Memoir

2004

Finished on November 4, 2025

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Ann Patchett and the late Lucy Grealy met in college in 1981, and, after enrolling in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, began a friendship that would be as defining to both of their lives as their work. In Grealy’s critically acclaimed memoir Autobiography of a Face, she wrote about losing part of her jaw to childhood cancer, years of chemotherapy and radiation, and endless reconstructive surgeries. In Truth and Beauty, the story isn’t Lucy’s life or Ann’s life but the parts of their lives they shared. This is a portrait of unwavering commitment that spans twenty years, from the long winters of the Midwest to surgical wards to book parties in New York. Through love, fame, drugs, and despair, this is what it means to be part of two lives that are intertwined--and what happens when one is left behind.

I wanted to love this book, but I got weary of Lucy's constant neediness and craving for reassurance, begging to be loved by Ann, whining about never finding a man who would love her, lying to Ann and other friends about her drug use. Truth & Beauty started off great, and I love Patchett's prose, but the story of her friendship with Grealy was bleak and drawn out far too long.

But in the evenings when we sat in front of the fireplace talking, it always came back to the same things: she was lonely, she was depressed, she wanted a boyfriend, she couldn't understand why no one loved her. She told me that she often had a couple of drinks and a couple of Percocets before getting in her car after midnight in Vermont and driving a hundred miles an hour over the icy back roads to New York. She said that she wanted to tempt fate.

I love this metaphor:

Oh, people like to say when they hear this part of the story, this is why you and Lucy are so close. You went through the same thing. [Referring to Ann's plastic surgery after an accident.] But nothing could be farther from the truth. I read one slim volume of the available information. Lucy read the library.

In reference to writing:

We shared our ideas like sweaters, with easy exchange and lack of ownership.

Truth & Beauty is an honest and brutal (if not exhausting) account of deep friendship. There is a lot to think about when reading this memoir. What constitutes a healthy friendship? Who has a right to share such intimate details of an individual while their family members are grieving? (See Lucy's sister's article here.) Despite my frustration with Lucy, I still intend to read her memoir, Autobiography of a Face. 

A Month in Summary - October 2025

 

Bandon, Oregon

October 2025

The weeks are zooming past and it won't be long before we're in the holiday season. We have family coming for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is always nice. We also have family visiting right now for a few days. While I enjoy seeing everyone, I'm also looking forward to the quiet months after New Year's. 

We started October off with a little jaunt down to Bandon for three nights. We took my mom along, staying in two beachside cottages just to the south of Face Rock. The weather was perfect for sitting outside on our decks, watching the waves, listening to the birds, and soaking up the sunshine. (I'll do a separate post about that trip in the coming weeks.) 

As I shared in a previous post, my mom and I participated in the No Kings protest on the 18th. It was a remarkable day! The rest of the month was a mix of quiet days, followed by a week filled with all sorts of appointments. And, of course, Dodger baseball! It was a thrill to see Shohei Ohtani pitch (striking out ten batters in six scoreless innings) and hit three home runs in game four of the NLCS. Talk about a historic moment!

My reading in October was pretty good, too. I read two outstanding novels, both of which will hit my Best of 2025 list. I'm almost finished with my year of Maggie O'Farrell, and now that it's November, my focus is strictly on nonfiction. This year's challenge has me reading all memoirs, which I love. 

Books Read (click on the title for my review):

This Must Be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell (2/5)

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (5/5)

Orbital by Samantha Harvey (2/5)

The Names by Florence Knapp (4.5/5)

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan (4/5)

Evensong by Stewart O'Nan (3/5)

Movies & TV Series:

World Series - Dodgers win!! What an exciting series. 

Slow Horses (Season 5) - We have one more episode to watch, but I'm including this here. Gary Oldman is great, but this is another one of those shows that gets a little confusing, especially if viewed as the episodes drop rather than binging.

The Diplomat (Season 3) - This is a great show, but the dialogue is fast, and the plot a bit convoluted. Season 4 should be worthwhile, too!

A House of Dynamite - Eighteen minutes told in three separate narratives equals an intense, realistic portrayal of what might occur if a nuclear missile is launched at the United States. I was on the edge of my seat! Very good!

The Handmaid's Tale (Season 4) - I took a month off from watching this, but now I'm back to it. It's still just as unsettling, if not more so, given the current situation in our country. 

Travels: 

As I mentioned, we spent three days in Bandon, Oregon. I'll post more about it in the next week or so.

Face Rock

Morning Moon

Happy reading!

Evensong

 

Evensong by Stewart O'Nan

Fiction

2025

Finished on October 27, 2025

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

An intimate, moving novel that follows The Humpty Dumpty Club, a group of women of a certain age who band together to help one another and their circle of friends in Pittsburgh as they face the challenges of their golden years

The Humpty Dumpty Club is distraught when their powerhouse leader, Joan Hargrove, takes a bad fall down her stairs, knocking her out of commission. Now, as well as running errands and shepherding those less able to their doctors’ appointments, they have to pick up the slack.

Between navigating their own relationships and aging bodies and attending choir practice, these invisible yet indomitable women help where they can. They bake cookies, they care for pets, they pick up prescriptions, they sit vigil by the sick, and most of all, they show up for the people they’ve pledged to help. In the face of death, divorce, and the myriad directions our lives can take, the Humpty Dumpty club represents the power of community and chosen family.

Weaving together the perspectives of the four cardinal members as they tend to those in need, Stewart O’Nan revisits beloved characters from his past work -- most notably Emily Maxwell -- to fashion a rich and moving novel that celebrates our capacity for patience and care. Vivid, warm, and often wryly funny, Evensong reminds us that life is made up of moments both climactic and quotidian, and we weather those moments with the people we choose to keep close.

I rarely get any ARCs anymore since I no longer work in a bookstore. But every now and then I win a book from Goodreads, so I enter their giveaways whenever I see one for a book I'm eager to read. I was thrilled to win an ARC of Stewart O'Nan's new book, Evensong, setting aside another book that I had just begun in order to read O'Nan's before its publication date. I've read several of his books, some of which I loved, but others that missed the mark. When I saw that Evensong returned to Emily Maxwell's story, I was even more excited to settle in and read what I was certain would be another 5-star book. Sadly, it did not live up to my admittedly high expectations. 

I enjoyed certain aspects of Evensong, especially those told from Emily's point of view, as well as those depicting the characters' love of their pets, but much of the book was slow and dull. Some may find the backstories (or lack thereof) of a few of the characters confusing, so this may be a book that needs to be read after reading O'Nan's Maxwell trilogy (Wish You Were Here, Emily, Alone and Henry, Himself). I have always intended to read these a second time, but I now wonder if they'll be as good as I remember. 

My reviews for the books I've read of O'Nan's:

Emily, Alone (4.75/5)

Henry, Himself (5/5)

Wish You Were Here (3/5)

Ocean State (2/5)

Last Night at the Lobster (2/5)

I received a complimentary copy from Atlantic Monthly Press. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nonfiction November 2025: My Year in Nonfiction

 

Week 1 (10/27-11/2) Your Year in Nonfiction: Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? (Hosted by Heather at Based on a True Story.)

I haven't read very many works of nonfiction this year* since I usually like to save them for this reading challenge. Of the six that I've read thus far, my favorites are The Backyard Bird Chronicles and Keep Moving. My favorite topic is memoir/biography, which is my focus for the month. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's posts/reviews, and adding more titles to my TBR list.

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan (4/5)

The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts (3.5/5)

Keep Moving by Maggie Smith (4/5)

There Was an Old Woman by Andrea Carlisle (3/5)

I've Tried Being Nice by Ann Leary (3.5/5)

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten (4/5)

*I've noticed in other bloggers posts that they are sharing all the nonfiction titles they read since last year's Nonfiction November challenge. My books from that challenge are below:

Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain (2/5)

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith (5/5)

The Brave In-Between: Notes From the Last Room by Amy Low (4/5)

Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life by Delia Ephron (5/5)

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston (3.5/5)

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (2/5) 

All links take you to my reviews.

The Backyard Bird Chronicles

 

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

Nonfiction

2024

Finished on October 20, 2025

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A gorgeous, witty account of birding, nature, and the beauty around us that hides in plain sight.

Tracking the natural beauty that surrounds us, The Backyard Bird Chronicles maps the passage of time through daily entries, thoughtful questions, and beautiful original sketches. With boundless charm and wit, author Amy Tan charts her foray into birding and the natural wonders of the world.

In 2016, Amy Tan grew overwhelmed by the state of the world: Hatred and misinformation became a daily presence on social media, and the country felt more divisive than ever. In search of peace, Tan turned toward the natural world just beyond her window and, specifically, the birds visiting her yard. But what began as an attempt to find solace turned into something far greater—an opportunity to savor quiet moments during a volatile time, connect to nature in a meaningful way, and imagine the intricate lives of the birds she admired.

Random Thoughts...

Began reading on January 1st. Reading one journal entry each day. [This didn't last. I wound up reading some here and there, but not every day.]

Inspired to look up each bird mentioned by Tan on the Cornell Lab website. Listened to the bird calls, as well as noting physical characteristics that Tan has mentioned in her notations. Started watching Cornell Lab FeederWatch Cam at Sapsucker Woods, which is highly addictive. So many birds to see. Chickadees, nuthatches, juncos, cardinals, woodpeckers, jays, doves, tufted titmice, finches, etc.

Humor in sketch captions - gorgeous drawings of the birds! I was going to list my favorites, but they are all lovely. What a talent.

Tan is a very involved backyard birder:

Now that the migrants are returning in greater number, I have added more feeders to each of the four locations: the patio, the verandah, the office porch, and on the other side of the bathroom window. Sichuan Sunflower Seeds. Vindaloo Suet Mini Balls. Farm-raised Mealworms. Vegan Nectar. Spicy Suet. Nuts & Chews & Bugs. Nyjer Nirvana. Graines Pour Oiseaux Sauvages. Alaskan Taste Water. These are signs of my descent into madness.

Hand feeding a hummingbird – amazing!

Tan mentions the Camp Fire and the loss of the town of Paradise (Nov 2018) and as I read this entry, L.A. County was burning. When we drove through Oregon last summer, the smoke was so thick from the fires out there, and like Tan, I wondered how the polluted air would affect the birds. Do they fly far away to get out of the smoke?

Tan is very curious. She ponders the sounds of a hummingbird as it approaches a feeder or circles her head. Clicks and chirps that are accompanied by a tail swing. What is the purpose of these noises and movements?

What I Leaned:

Auricular – feathers around ears?

John Muir Laws advised his nature class to talk to yourself to encode details into memory and understanding while watching birds/animals.

Mention of a fake dead crow to ward off crows in backyard. One of our neighbors did this and it seems to have worked. We have a lot of crows with noisy babies in the spring. Might have to try it…

“Hummingbirds use sticky spider webs to bind together a strong flexible nest that attaches like rubber cement to a branch and expands as the babies grow.” (p. 48)

"When people compliment bird drawings, mine or others', saying they are 'better than Audubon,' they don't realize that there is a lot more that Audubon did than simply draw feathers on a bird, apart from being a racist slave owner. He took on the feat of drawing all the birds in America, tracking them down, capturing both their habitat and a signature behavior. (p. 112)

I enjoyed Amy Tan's birding journal, which spans five years (September 2017 to December 2022) and includes 132 drawings, sketches, and color illustrations by Tan. This is not the sort of book to read quickly, but rather over several weeks or months. 

Simply lovely. 

Nonfiction November 2025

 

Nonfiction November is one of my favorite blogging challenges. While I rarely participate in the weekly prompts, I love spending an entire month reading nothing but nonfiction. For me, this year looks to be the year of memoirs. You can learn more about this challenge here. 

I've been saving these books for the better part of a year and I'm excited to finally get to them. Have you read any of them? Which should I start with?

Click here for my previous Nonfiction November posts.

The Names

 

The Names by Florence Knapp

Fiction

2025

Finished on October 19, 2025

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

The extraordinary novel that asks: Can a name change the course of a life?

In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register the birth of her son. Her husband, Gordon, respected in the community but a controlling presence at home, intends for her to follow a long-standing family tradition and name the baby after him. But when faced with the decision, Cora hesitates....

Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of their lives, shaped by Cora's last-minute choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities for autonomy and healing.

Through a prism of what-ifs, Florence Knapp invites us to consider the "one ... precious life" we are given. Full of hope, this is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. It is the story of one family and love's endless capacity to endure, no matter what fate has in store.

I've been on a roll! The Names was another remarkable read, and one I won't soon forget despite the harsh depiction of domestic violence. There are three distinct threads, carefully woven together to create an exquisite tale of one family and how the naming of a child can determine not only the life of a young boy, but also that of each member of his family. Florence Knapp delivers an ambitious and impressive debut work. My only regret is that I didn't jot down the names of each set of characters and their relationships in each version of Bear/Julian/Gordon's life. It was only when I was at the halfway point that I realized some of the secondary characters were in each storyline, but with different roles. What a provocative story!

I loved The Names and want to read it again, so I'll recommend it to my book group for our 2026 calendar. Florence Knapp is one to watch. Highly recommend!

Orbital

 

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

Fiction

2023

Finished on October 12, 2025

Rating: 2/5 (OK)

Publisher's Blurb:

A slender novel of epic power and the winner of the Booker Prize 2024, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men traveling through space. Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonauts—from America, Russia, Italy, Britain, and Japan—have left their lives behind to travel at a speed of over seventeen thousand miles an hour as the earth reels below. We glimpse moments of their earthly lives through brief communications with family, their photos and talismans; we watch them whip up dehydrated meals, float in gravity-free sleep, and exercise in regimented routines to prevent atrophying muscles; we witness them form bonds that will stand between them and utter solitude. Most of all, we are with them as they behold and record their silent blue planet. Their experiences of sixteen sunrises and sunsets and the bright, blinking constellations of the galaxy are at once breathtakingly awesome and surprisingly intimate.

Profound and contemplative, Orbital is a moving elegy to our environment and planet.

Truthfully, I didn't care for Orbital. Since it was a book group selection, I felt obligated to finish the book (which isn't very long--slightly over 200 pages), but it took me a longer than it should have, and it felt a bit like a chore. There are a few lists (things the astronauts wished for, things that surprise them, things they anticipate) that I liked to read, but the long one that begins on page 172 reminded me of Billy Joel's song "We Didn't Start the Fire" and seemed contrived. I recently read Project Hail Mary, which I think is much more entertaining. Orbital isn't much on plot and not a true character study, either. I'm in the minority, at least with my book group, most of whom loved the book and Harvey's lyrical writing. 

Life in Orbit:

Sometimes they wish for a cold stiff wind, blustery rain, autumn leaves, reddened fingers, muddy legs, a curious dog, a startled rabbit, a leaping sudden deer, a puddle in a pothole, soaked feet, a slight hill, a fellow runner, a shaft of sun. Sometimes they just succumb to the uneventful windless humming of their sealed spacecraft. While they run, while they cycle, while they push and press, the continents and oceans fall away beneath--the lavender Arctic, the eastern tip of Russia vanishing behind, storms strengthening over the Pacific, the desert- and mountain-creased morning deserts of Chad, southern Russia and Mongolia and the Pacific once more.

Time:

They feel space trying to rid them of the notion of days. It says: what's a day? They insist it's twenty-four hours and ground crews keep telling them so, but it takes their twenty-four hours and throws sixteen days and nights at them in return. They cling to their twenty-four-hour clock because it's all the feeble little time-bound body knows -- sleep and bowels and all that is leashed to it. But the mind goes free within the first week. The mind is in a dayless freak zone, surfing earth's hurtling horizon. Day is here, and then they see night come upon them like a shadow of a cloud racing over a wheat field. Forty-five minutes later here comes day again, stamping across the Pacific. Nothing is what they thought it was.

I might have enjoyed this novel had I read it before Project Hail Mary. I'm curious to hear what others think.

We the People... (No Kings Day 2025)

No Kings Protest 2025

Newport, Oregon

I participated in my very first protest this past weekend! My 92-year-old mother said she would really like to go, so we made a couple of signs, and joined 20 friends from our neighborhood to protest in Newport, OR. The weather couldn't have been more perfect; the sun was shining, temps in the 60s, and a gentle breeze kept us from getting too warm standing in the sunshine. There were hundreds of us along Highway 101 and it was incredibly uplifting! I felt proud to be among all those like-minded folks. We didn't have any serious problems with negativity. A few people held up hands with thumbs down. One guy flipped us the bird, one guy yelled that he loved Trump, a few people kept their windows rolled up as they stared straight ahead. But overall, the positive attitude from people driving by, some very slowly, smiling and waving and giving us thumbs up or peace signs, was so inspiring. A young girl (9 years old) walked by with her mom, pulling a cart full of snacks and bottled water to offer to the protesters. Her mom said it was her daughter's idea. My heart was bursting by the time we left Newport. 

Just a small portion of the crowd lining the highway!

From Heather Cox Richardson's daily column (Oct. 19, 2025):

Scholar of social movements Lisa Corrigan noted that large, fun marches full of art and music expand connections and make people more willing to take risks against growing state power. They build larger communities by creating new images that bring together recognizable images from the past in new ways, helping more people see themselves in such an opposition. The community and good feelings those gatherings develop help carry opposition through hard moments. Corrigan notes, too, that yesterday “every single rally (including in the small towns) was bigger than the surrounding police force available. That kind of image event is VERY IMPORTANT if you’re…demonstrating social coherence AGAINST a fascist government and its makeshift gestapo.”

Such rallies “bring together multigenerational groups and the playfulness can help create enthusiasm for big tent politics against the monoculture of fascism,” Corrigan writes. “The frogs (and unicorns and dinosaurs) will be defining ideographs of this period of struggle.”

From Brian Bahouth of KYAQ on October 19, 2025:

On Saturday in Newport, Oregon, roughly 1,200 people assembled as part of the nationwide No Kings II protest. According to organizers, nearly 7 million people turned out for more than 2,700 demonstrations across the nation, with at least one in every state. Thirteen rallies were held in Oregon coastal communities.

In Newport, protesters occupied both sides of the Pacific Coast Highway from the intersection with U.S. Route 20 to just south of Newport City Hall.

Another source claims there were "more than 2,600 protesters gathered Saturday in Newport to protest President Donald Trump. Event organizers from Indivisible Waves had several counters present to capture the record number of participants. There were more event organizers present, with some taking on sections to count with manual clicker tools. The group counted 2,632 protestors in Newport."

The Correspondent

 

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Fiction

2025

Finished on October 4, 2025

Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding!)

Publisher's Blurb:

A woman tries to heal old wounds and make sense of the world the only way she knows how—through letters—in this charming, laugh out loud debut novel about a life fully lived.

“Dear Ms. Van Antwerp,

There is a movie coming out this month and I saw the trailer and it made me think of you. It’s about an old woman who lives alone like a hermit.  She is eccentric and rude….”

Sybil Van Antwerp is a mother and grandmother, divorced, retired from a distinguished career in law, an avid gardener, and a writer of letters. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books. 

Because at seventy-three, Sybil has used her letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. But as Sybil expects her life to go on as it always has, letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life.

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel that is a testament to the power of the written word.

What a delightful book! Several blogging friends have raved about The Correspondent, so when I saw a copy on the shelf at Imprint Bookshop (in Port Townsend, WA), I couldn't resist. One of my favorite subgenres is epistolary fiction, and as I sat down to start this post, I did a quick search to see just how many I've read/reviewed. Wow. I had no idea I'd read so many.* When I was a bookseller at Barnes & Noble, I created an endcap with some of my favorite epistolaries. Today, I'd need two endcaps! 

I wonder what it is about a book centered around a collection of letters that is so satisfying. Until the advent of email (I think we started with Prodigy and then moved on to AOL), I used to write to a few of my childhood friends, a good friend who moved to the East Coast, and to a few relatives (my grandmother, my godmother, and my mom, all after I moved from California to Nebraska). I loved finding pretty stationery to use for my letters, and had a couple of fountain pens that were fun to write with. I miss sitting down with pen in hand to write long, chatty letters, but typing is so much easier. Once we had a computer, I began to type letters, printing them out to send in the mail. Even that method has gone by the wayside. I try to send birthday cards through the mail, but texting & Facebook seem to be the favored mode for that communication. After reading The Correspondent, I'm inspired to start writing again. 

But back to the novel. What a wonderful achievement for Virginia Evans. I never would have guessed this was her debut! I enjoyed the book from the first page, and wound up starting over after I reached the 60th page. I knew it was going to be a winning read and I didn't want to read it too quickly. 

Sybil reminded me of Olive Kitteridge with her unfiltered, opinionated comments, saying exactly what she felt, not mincing words. And yet, I loved the spunk and kindness that came through in her letters. I also like that she received replies from the various authors to whom she wrote. (Yes, I know she's not a real person, but I was still happy for her.) I was especially thrilled to read the details of Ann Patchett's reply on a postcard with an image of her dog... I, too, have received the same postcard from Patchett in response to a letter I sent to her a few years ago! I also found myself nodding my head as I read the exchanges between Sybil and Joan Didion. I read The Year of Magical Thinking after our daughter died. "The club of parents who have buried children is a membership I wish I did not own, but the sense of being seen is comforting."

In addition to my love of epistolary works, I enjoy books that reference other books, and The Correspondent is chockful of titles, many of which I've read (denoted with the check mark):

• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis
• Round House by Louise Erdrich
• Inferno by Dan Brown
• Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier ✅
• The World Below by Sue Miller ✅
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf ✅
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ✅
• State of Wonder by Ann Pachett ✅
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett ✅
• Run by Ann Patchett
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese ✅
• Blue Nights by Joan Didion
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion ✅
• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie ✅
• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
• The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
• Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
• Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
• Ulysses by James Joyce
• 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff ✅
• Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck ✅
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte ✅
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry ✅
• The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
• Stoner by John Williams ✅
• The White Album by Joan Didion
• Amongst Women by John McGahern
• That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern
• The Stories of William Trevor by William Trevor
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson ✅

Dear Virginia,

Thank you for creating such a wonderful character in Sybil. I loved each and every letter, and will recommend your novel to all of my book-loving (and letter-loving) friends. Please write back! Actually, I would prefer you skip a reply and get to work on another book. Meanwhile, I plan to re-read your excellent book in the coming months.

With great admiration,

A fellow lover of snail-mail.

*Below is my list (with links) of the epistolary books that I've read:

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (5/5)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (4.75/5)

These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy Turner (5/5)

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (3/5)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker (5/5)

Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor (3.5/5)

Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger (4.75/5)

Love & Saffron by Kim Fay (5/5)

The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg (4/5)

Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod (4/5)

Letters From Skye by Jessica Brockmole (3.5/5)

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson (4/5)

Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend by Laney Katz Becker (5/5)

Dear Exile: The True Story of Two Friends Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean by Hilary Liftin (3/5)

The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt (4/5)

A Celibate Season by Carol Shields and Blanche Howard (4.5/5)

My Dear Cassandra: Selections from the Letters of Jane Austen (Penelope Hughs-Hallett, editor) (3/5)

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed (4.5/5)

Delicious by Ruth Reichl (3.5/5)

That Part Was True by Deborah McKinlay (4.5/5)

Impatient with Desire by Gabrielle Burton (4/5)

Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham (2.5/5)

The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel (3/5)

'Tis the Season! by Lorna Landvik (4/5)

Between Friends by Debbie Macomber

The Boy Next Door by Meggin Cabot