The Dutch House, A Novel. By Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett's grasp on the written word is, at times, astounding. Such as this phrase: "She was as quiet as a page turn." This is both a great simile, and a way to describe a moment in time that signals that a change has occurred - that life from this point forward is going to be or feel different. Wow.

Okay, so L and I really liked this book. Five out of 5 stars for it's readability, and the topics that it treats, including the idea of family, and what they mean to each other. What we do to or for each other (some good, some bad), and how we rely on each other. In this book Maeve is 10 and Danny is 3 when their mom leaves. That sets the tone for the close relationship that develops between them from that point on. 

Another idea that the author examines is about expectations that influence the paths we choose for our lives. Cultural expectations have always influenced us in some manner, and so do our families! Do we have open-minded families? Do our families insist on compliance with regard to what job we pursue, whom we love, etc.? 

For the mother of Maeve and Danny, she's made out to be a monster, but later in the book, we hear some details that cause us to reflect on the idea of forgiveness. Without giving spoilers, Maeve and Danny re-think things about the mother that left them behind. 

When we learn more about our parents, does this help us to have more compassion? Does it help us to find forgiveness for things they thought they could have done better? And does it help us to have more gratitude for who/what we *do* have in our lives, and let go of what we think our lives "should" be like? Those are questions each of us need to answer throughout our lives.

As a somewhat extraordinary coincidence, I have my own blog (elsewhere) and wrote a post a few days ago with the themes of compassion, gratitude, and forgiveness. Then, after I finished the book, I googled some professional reviews about The Dutch House, and found that Patchett's M.O. in her fiction is to dwell upon these 3 themes. The reviewer wrote those exact words that only two days prior I had written about in my blog post. Did I perceive the themes in the book? Maybe, not sure. I can only say that I am continuously meditating on having more compassion in daily life, and was finding a couple a moments that felt hard, and....it led to a blog post. I only blog about 3-4 times per year, and so, maybe it's just me, but the coincidence felt significant. 

Oh, and since L and I both enjoy listening to books on audio, we both REALLY enjoyed that Tom Hanks narrated the audiobook. I've loved him since tv - Bosom Buddies - lol (yes, I'm showing my age). 

We'll leave you with those themes - compassion (for self & others), forgiveness (ditto), and gratitude. 

In Five Years, by Rebecca Serle

This was our pick for September, and we both liked it. 

Themes include:

- The idea that a person can have a dream that either foreshadows or influences our behaviors post-dream. 

- The idea of what I call "Life's Checklist." College-check. Good job-check. Significant other, marriage, baby- check, check & check. Sometimes, we go with the flow of life, doing what's expected, or pursuing what we thought our lives would look like, way back when. 

- The idea of what we can control and what we cannot. For me, personally, this is a biggie. Letting go of control is something I'm continuously learning, day after month after year after year. Type A personality folks (raising my hand, lol) tend to think we can control more than we can. Or at least, in our 20s, we tend to think this way. But life has its lessons...or at least life *offers* its lessons...and whether we heed those lessons makes a big difference on our perception of love & happiness.

Characters include: the protagonist Danielle "Dannie," and David, and Bella and another guy. And then there's a same-sex couple Jordi and Anya (which I personally felt was a nice touch to add a dash of acceptance for those among us with loved ones who are gay). 

This book was released in 2020, thus, very timely as far as what's going on in the world. Without the covid, thank heavens, because I'm just not ready for a book about that yet, and I might never be. 

Overall, there were a couple of things that L and I didn't think jived, and it left me sort of shaking my head at times -- as in, Hmm, this wouldn't really happen...he/she/they wouldn't really act in this manner. But in the big scheme of things, we give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars for its page-turner aspect. 

Cheers to reading!

"L"'s Reading List: "1984" by George Orwell and "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

 Since I'd already read 1984, "L" read this on her own. She found it a bit difficult to read...thinks perhaps the "flow" from literature written years ago made it a bit harder to like. When asked if she would recommend it to someone to read, her answer is: "iffy." From my perspective as a writer, I had to read it in order to understand terms such as "Orwellian" or "big brother" - both ideas come out in this book. I liked the book, and would recommend reading it if you haven't already. The idea of being watched throughout our daily lives is something we see in the 21st century, however, English writer George Orwell wrote this in 1948. Note that he transposed the numbers 4 and 8 --- thereby translating the year he wrote it into the title. (48 & 84).  It may have a pub date of 1949, but he wrote it in 48...actually writers usually take a year or two to write a book, so he may have began in 47. 

As for Brave New World, L is reading this on her own. Aldous Huxley was also an English writer (like Orwell) who wrote a dystopian novel. This book was written in 1931 and pubbed in 1932. L feels that reading two dystopian novels back-to-back is detracting a bit from liking it as much as she might otherwise. She likes it though...and so I might read this one later. So many books, so little time! lol