Anxious People

   

By Fredrik Backman  

Is it possible for a book to be at once heart-wrenching yet heart-warming, improbable yet realistic, farcical yet deeply, utterly human? If so, Fredrik Backman’s Anxious People has done just that. Anxious People follows a group of people who, while attending an apartment open house, find themselves held hostage by an unlikely bank robber.  Don't worry, they make it out – and this is not a spoiler, as this is where the story begins. 

Though what happens within the apartment walls is the plot’s focal point, the book is not about being held captive: at least, not literally. Instead, this is a story about each person that finds themselves there on that day, and indeed, the secrets keeping them trapped within themselves. We meet a couple considering the apartment as their next project – just another distraction from a marriage that is falling apart. We meet a second couple looking for the perfect home in which to raise their first child, though neither seems ready for either home ownership or parenthood. We meet an elderly woman who claims to be viewing the apartment for her daughter, though the truth appears to be far more solemn, and a bank director seeking the perfect place to die. Finally, we meet the bank robber, who epitomizes being in the wrong place at wrong time – not only in the apartment, but, ultimately, beyond. 

This book is spell-binding, perhaps because there is something within each character that is so relatable. Though I found myself laughing aloud throughout (there are certainly points of sheer ridiculousness), this is a story about loss: of that which we let go of willingly, and that which we cannot control. This is a story about aspects of life that we allow to define us, as letting them go may mean redefining who we are. Above all, though, this is a story of hope. Backman expresses, yes, how we sometimes find ourselves facing someone who reflects to us what we most fear about ourselves. Anxious People suggests that sometimes our biggest fear is staring us right in the face and all we need to do is look up. But when we do look up, and we see someone who understands, that can be exactly what we need to begin moving forward. If you are looking for both a hearty belly laugh and a mirror of your own humanness, Anxious People could be your stellar next read. 

                                

Moccasin Square Gardens

by Richard Van Camp

Many authors are known for just one type of fiction, but not Richard Van Camp. The award-winning novelist also pens comics, TV scripts (CBC’s ‘North of 60’), and is an internationally renowned storyteller. Steeped in the oral traditions of his people, the Tlicho (Tłı̨chǫ) of the Dene First Nations, Van Camp’s storyteller’s voice is wonderfully evident in his highly recommended short story collection, Moccasin Square Gardens.

Set primarily in the Northwest Territories, or Denedeh, Moccasin Square Gardens vividly evokes the rhythms and characters of small-town life 'north of 60'. While some tales bring to mind Stephen Leacock or Stuart McLean, those comparisons fail to capture the dazzling range of themes and genres in this collection. Family discord and reconciliation, environmental degradation, sexuality, fantasy, mythology, and even a smattering of horror is all found here. Yet, even the darker stories are permeated with the author's optimism and sense of humour.

Moccasin Square Gardens opens with 'Aliens’, a lyrical tale of budding romance and two-spirit identity. In 'Man Babies', a resourceful park ranger confronts the lay-about, videogame-obsessed son of the woman he's considering moving in with. In 'Super Indians', an embezzling band chief is hilariously held to account at a community sports day. In the haunting 'I Am Filled with a Trembling Light', the social ills of addiction and abuse are explored when a dying man tries to reclaim the home his father has lost to gambling debts. 

The outliers in the collection are the two 'Wheetago War' stories. Van Camp, a fan of Star Wars who also writes graphic novels, combines Indigenous myth and popular culture in the form of Zombie-like Wheetago monsters, brought back to life by global warming.

It's a cliché, but this clear-eyed, emotion-filled collection will have you laughing and crying, while at the same time contemplating questions of Indigenous and Canadian history and culture.

Richmond Public is offering a free, online discussion of Moccasin Square Gardens on July 29th, from 10:30 to 11:30am, on Zoom. To register, visit www.yourlibrary.ca/events-calendar/ and search for ‘adult summer reading', or phone 604-231-6413.

The Giver of Stars

by Jojo Moyes

The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes newest novel takes us on a historical journey into the backwoods of Kentucky in the 1930’s. In this period, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt had begun a horseback librarian program that would give access to library materials and increase literacy among the remote inhabitants of the Appalachian Mountains. Often it was the women of Kentucky who stepped in to ride the horses and deliver the materials to the mountains, in all weather and across all terrain.


Our story takes place in Baileyville, Kentucky and follows the challenges of the courageous women who volunteer to take up the pack horse library work. Margery O’Hare heads the motley crew. She has lived in the mountains her whole life, knowing the routes like the back of her hand. She is an independent woman for the time, refusing marriage to her long time love, and shucking the societal rules women were to abide by in the 1930’s. She further goes against the grain when she hires Sophia, a woman of colour, to help organize the library itself. This presents its own challenges in a time when segregation was still rampant.

Also quick to volunteer is Alice Wright, newly married, freshly arrived in Baileyville from England. She is an outsider in the town with her strange accent and domineering father-in-law and jumps at the chance to escape her house and explore the mountains with the library program. 


Two younger girls, Izzy and Beth make up the ensemble, and bring their own reasons for joining in. Each of the women is looking for something new and exciting, and the packhorse librarian troupe does not disappoint. 


Naturally, the library is welcomed by some and frowned upon by others. However, the little town did not count on the strength of the women undertaking to bring books to those without. They bravely fight against racism, poverty, danger, and nature to carry out their duty heroically with kindness and compassion. Based on historical facts of the pack horse program and the struggles of the 1930’s Kentucky mountains, this is an enduring tale of friendship and camaraderie that takes this small but dedicated group of women far beyond what they thought they were capable of.From the author of Me Before You, set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.

Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.

The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.

What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.

Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond. From the author of Me Before You, set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.

Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.

The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.

What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.

Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond. From the author of Me Before You, set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.

Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.

The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.

What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.

Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond. From the author of Me Before You, set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.

Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.

The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.

What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.

Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.From the author of Me Before You, set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.

Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.

The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.

What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.

Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.

Daisy Jones and the Six

Daisy Jones and the Six

Taylor Jenkins Reid

Written as a series of interviews , Daisy Jones and the Six chronicles the rapid rise and fall of one of the most popular band of the Seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid creates an entire band and their history from scratch, piecing it together through snippets of dialogue and creating a fully realized cast of characters. 

Billy Dunne, the charismatic frontman for a band called The Six, is destined to be a rock legend after two successful albums.  Daisy Jones is an up and coming name in the music industry with a raspy voice and a look that is uniquely her own. Tormented, soulful, and beautiful, she has that ‘it factor’ that draws attention like nothing else.  When the manager of The Six gets Daisy to feature on their album, the music is explosive. The albums that follow are the stuff of legend; however, after a few short years, the band dissolves and they are never heard from again. What happened to these rock gods and why did they quit at the peak of their career? Years later, the mysterious interviewer writing this book collects stories from all members involved in the band to tell their story.

I listened to this book as an audiobook and highly recommend that experience to anyone and everyone. It is recorded with a full cast for every band member, manager, family member, and fan on the street; as such, you really feel like you are listening to real people telling their story.  To top this off, they also recorded one of the songs written by the fictional band and played it at the end of the audiobook. It is so easy to forget that this band is a figment of Reid’s imagination with such a vivid cast of unique characters.

This book, though fictional, reads like a memoire. Similar books I have read and enjoyed include Joni Mitchell’s In Her Own Words, and Love Janis, a book of letters and personal stories written by Janis Joplin’s sister.