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This book has an interesting structure. The chapters alternate points-of-view, with half of them being in the past, focused on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and the other half set in present-day Cambridge with various individuals whose lives and stories intersect. The centerpiece is Longfellow's poem "Christmas Bells," which many of us know because it became the song, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."
In the Longfellow chapters, we learn about his life before, during, and after the Civil War; in the present-day sections, a church choir is the focus, with us getting to learn more about the director, the accompanist, the priest, members of the choir, patrons of the church, and so on. Most of the present-day is focused on a single day, although each character does end up revealing experiences from their past.
The author did her research on Longfellow and I found I knew little of his life before picking up this book. It was an easy, sweet read if you're looking for something light.
2) 1/1: Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum
Jessie receives an email from a fellow student wanting to answer any questions and help her adjust, but preferring to stay anonymous in the process. We fluctuate between seeing their online conversations and her daily life. It's a pleasant, easy read with some predictable outcomes -- I think anyone could guess from the early pages who her correspondent is, but much like movies like You've Got Mail or books like Dear Mr Knightley, some of the fun is knowing something that the protagonist doesn't.
There's a sense of real, believable grief in some of the exchanges, so I wasn't at all surprised to learn the author also lost her mother as a child and used some of that experience to shape Jessie's processing of the grief. It's not a heavy, deep read, though, and there's a frankness with drugs, drinking, even sex that could turn off those that don't want that in a book or want to be aware so they can delay offering this to a younger teen.
3) 1/6: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Then I picked up this book and was struck at how much true-to-life it seemed, given what I knew of Alexie's experiences growing up. I was not at all surprised to learn in the afterword that he was going to include this in a memoir but it didn't seem to fit. When he was approached to write a Young Adult book, he (slightly) adapted this. One addition was working with a graphic artist to create little doodles, drawings, and comics throughout, which fit well.
Sherman Alexie has earned a special place with me -- I connected with his memoir and I find myself wanting to work through his titles (I have one or two of his poetry books I've acquired at thrift stores, so we'll see when those rise to the top of the reading pile).
4) 1/6: A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
This is the second in the Inspector Gamache series. In it, we revisit Three Pines, the idyllic village, when during an annual curling match an unlovable woman is killed.
I can see myself revisiting this series again, after working my way through (there are thirteen published so far). Penny does a believable job in casting suspicion on any number of people that you don't know until the big reveal who is the guilty one. It would be fun to pay more attention to the plot once you know who the perpetrator is and see better what bread crumbs we received.
5) 1/14: The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay
Take two friends from childhood who have grown a little distant but decide to take a retreat to an Austen experience. The protagonist ends up living through her own Austen novel (love triangle, misunderstandings), even if she doesn't realize it.
6) 1/15: Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
Anyway, that story was memorable enough and Half-Broke Horses was released later as the story of the author's maternal grandmother. By the end, you can see how certain personality traits of Walls' mother were already firmly entrenched in childhood. And there is no doubt that Walls' grandmother had grit.
7) 1/20: The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
Another dynamic of this book is that Inspector Gamache's a past case of Gamache's is coming back to light -- we hear more specifics of the Arnot case (previously mentioned in brief, vague snippets) and how Gamache's just actions didn't sit well with everyone involved. So in addition to investigating the Three Pines murder, Gamache also must navigate leading his team when he understands not all are loyal to him.
8) 1/27: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Harold Fry is retired, driving his wife a little batty with his constant, uninspired presence. There's a distance between them; although we get snippets that reveal they used to be very close and loving, we recognize something more than time has come between them.
Harold learns a former co-worker of his is in hospice and writes a letter. When he goes to post it, though, he just keeps walking. Although he lives in the south of England and she is in the north, he decides he's going to hand-deliver it to her. He is ill-prepared in shoes, clothing, and provisions, but he feels he can't stop. He crosses paths with varied personalities and learns he should stop making assumptions about others based on their age, how they dress, and so on. Some of my favorite passages were him reflecting on the universal experiences we all face, how we all have stories to share and burdens to carry.
Harold spends a lot of the time walking thinking back over his life, reflecting on moments he hasn't thought about in decades. I think all of us can recall times we had similar experiences - time alone outside, perhaps, with no distractions, allowing your mind to wander and pull up old memories and experiences.
His wife, while confused and resentful, fearing she has lost her husband to this ill woman, goes through her own transformation.
I couldn't help but remember the title Absent in the Spring (written by Agatha Christie under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott). In that book, we also have a protagonist with unexpected time on her hands, and with her forced isolation, she ends up spending a lot of time thinking about her past and gaining new insight about herself and those around her and is faced with a choice to make when she returns home.
9) 1/30: The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen
It was okay. I generally am drawn to both books of short stories and stories of the immigrant/refugee experience, but this fell a little flat. I'm not sure if it's because I encountered it as an audiobook (those tend to have to work harder to earn my love), but I wasn't invested enough in the characters. I still plan on picking up The Sympathizer sometime, though.
