Miss Grace recommended Beverly Cleary’s memoirs A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet.
(image from Amazon.com)
(image from Amazon.com)
I wasn’t sure I’d be interested in books about Beverly Cleary, but it turned out I was. I liked the first book more than the second, but I liked both.
I did get a little tired of how hard she was on her mom. Her mom did a fair number of things that merited criticism, but it seemed like the feeling of “as do we all” was lacking. After awhile it felt as if the mom couldn’t win: she even got criticized for her basic temperament type (different than the one her daughter would have preferred in a mother), and for what her daughter THOUGHT she MIGHT be THINKING. Meanwhile, the dad didn’t seem to get his fair share of the criticism, and HE got CREDIT for what his daughter thought he might be thinking.
But MOSTLY, I loved it. It won’t sound exciting if I describe it (she grew up, she went to school, she got a job, she got married), but it’s the telling style that makes it good. I hadn’t thought much of Beverly Cleary since outgrowing the Ramona stage myself, but after reading her memoirs I love her. So I recommend trying them, if you like memoirs.
My mom has strongly recommended books by Atul Gawande to me, but I tried one and got about four pages in before being so grossed out I realized there was no way I was going to make it. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End looked less surgical, so I tried it.
(image from Amazon.com)
It’s a book about end-of-life stages, getting elderly, and dying. Sometimes it would make me too sad/stressed and I’d need to put it down and take a little break. But overall, I’d say I felt happier and better after finishing it. It IS sad to realize we’re all going to die, and that a lot of us are going to get increasingly infirm on our way there, but reading more on the topic reminded me of writing our will: the process was sad, but the result was happy.
I felt like I ended up with a better grip on old age and death being TRUE NORMAL THINGS as opposed to pitfalls I hoped everyone I loved would avoid altogether. I also felt more aware of some of the options that can improve things (for when my parents go through it, and for when Paul and I do), and I thought his overall concept of “how to decide how heroic to get” was a good and thought-provoking one. I found his matter-of-fact, friendly, calm writing voice very helpful: he seemed realistic/knowledgeable but human/normal. I would recommend trying it. I’ve heard it’s very good exercise for an aging brain to read non-fiction! Plus, I ended up feeling very motivated to eat vegetables.
(image from Amazon.com)
I read Dept. of Speculation after reading a review on Shelf Love. I thought from the review it might be too dreamy/contractionless for me, but no, I loved it, the kind of love where I want to be friends with the author now. Quotes from a book never quite capture the feeling of reading them IN THE BOOK, but I want to give you a sample anyway. She describes her husband reporting all the little household repairs he’s done, and she says to us:
This is another way in which he is an admirable person. If he notices something is broken, he will try to fix it. He won’t just think about how unbearable it is that things keep breaking, that you can never f**king outrun entropy.
Or another:
Sometimes at night I conduct interviews with myself.
What do you want?
I don’t know.What do you want?
I don’t know.What seems to be the problem?
Just leave me alone.
I basically BARKED with laughter and recognition. It reminded me of books by Suzanne Finnamore.
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I suddenly remembered that I used to do book posts where at the end I’d do a giveaway for one of the books. Let’s do that again, that was fun. You can leave a comment NOT entering the giveaway, if you want (sometimes that’s what I want), but if you do want to enter, you can do so by saying which book you’d want to win. I’ll choose someone on Friday the 13th. U.S. addresses only, but if you know someone with a U.S. address you can have the book shipped to them as a little giftie.
Update! The winner is Diane, who commented:
Oh fun! I added Dept of Speculation to my library holds immediately upon reading this post, so winning it would be fantastic.
Your criticism of the Beverly Cleary books makes me afraid to read them. It’s one of the things I find most difficult to deal with in real people: assuming people have specific thoughts or intent and then acting as though the assumption is FACT. No stop that right now.
Yes, me too—and I think I overstated my complaint about that issue in the Beverly Cleary books. It wasn’t that bad/frequent; it’s more that it’s the only negative thing that caught my attention!
I’ll email you, Diane!
I’ve never read Beverly Cleary’s memoirs! I can’t think why, as I love her books, especially “Emily’s Runaway Imagination” which is set in 1920s Oregon. *Adding to list*
The other ones sound interesting, too!
The comment about outrunning entropy should be stitched on a sampler and given out at hospitals to new moms. I’m going to look for this book at the library tomorrow.
I’m adding the Beverly Cleary memoirs to my reading list, but Dept of Speculation sounds most like something I’d like to read. Thanks for posting about these! I always like recommendations.
Being Mortal sounds very interesting. This is the kind of stuff I constantly fret about, so it is probably a good idea to be more informed. I always love the way you review things.
The Department of Speculation is one of those books that i would not normally pick up to read, but now i’m intrigued. Based on the quotes and your review, i might have to try it out! (So that’s the one i’d choose, i guess.) :)
Oh fun! I added Dept of Speculation to my library holds immediately upon reading this post, so winning it would be fantastic.
Your criticism of the Beverly Cleary books makes me afraid to read them. It’s one of the things I find most difficult to deal with in real people: assuming people have specific thoughts or intent and then acting as though the assumption is FACT. No stop that right now.
It was only a small part of the books, I promise! It’s just the only thing that bugged me, so it got its own mention.
I have added the Beverly Cleary books and the Dept. of Speculation to my wishlist. Any of these three would be wonderful! Thanks for the new additions to my To Be Read pile!
All of these books sound delightful, but I think I would be especially happy to win Department of Speculation, because it sounds very much up my alley. Also, I loved your description of barking with laughter!
I’m putting the others on my to-read list!
If I win I think I’d pick the Department of Speculation. No, Being Mortal. No, um, Department of Speculation. Wait, maybe…no. Yes. Department of Speculation. I think. Pretty sure.
Atul Gawande wrote a beautiful piece in The New Yorker in 2010 called “Letting Go.”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/02/letting-go-2
When my mom decided to go into hospice in 2011, this piece was recommended to me. I don’t think I would’ve accepted her decision as well as I had, had I not read this article. We never talk about the end of life in our culture. Doctors are afraid to talk about end stages with patients – because there’s always pressure to do Something. Something to keep them alive longer. Sometimes we just need doctors to tell us ALL our options – and we need to be ready and willing to listen.
I think that article was the precursor to, or an excerpt from the forthcoming, Being Mortal. That book is on my Wish List. I’m glad to hear you liked it. I hope to read it soon too!
I would love either Being Mortal or Dept. of Speculation. Thanks!
I thought I loved this post because I love hearing about books that you read AND I love memoirs AND I loved Dept. of Speculation and I love agreement but then I saw about the giveaway and loved it even more. Although I actually don’t want to be in the giveaway because I only read books on my phone anymore but if I DID want to be in it, I’d want to get that BC memoir, I love her and memoirs, as I guess I already said but I am super excited, ha!
Yes, this! Except my kindle. Because the only time I have to read is when I’m nursing the baby in the middle of the night.
While I remember loving Beverly Cleary, Being Mortal and Department of Speculation both sound great :)
I loved the Ramona books, so it would be fun to learn more about Beverly Cleary.
Growing up in Oregon, sometimes I forget that the rest of the world knows Beverly Cleary, too. She’s such A Figure here: statues in the park, tributes in the public library. I’m definitely going to read that memoir. I think I would like to win Being Mortal. I worked in a Skilled Nursing and Long Term Care facility for many years, and I think you naturally gravitate to the mindset that you came to after reading this book: aging happens, death is normal, etc. But I’d like to win the book because it has like 150 holds on it at the library. I could be dead before it’s my turn.
Oh! These all have been added to my lengthy to-read list now, so in the remote chance that my number comes up, the one I’m least likely to check out of the library but find most intriguing is “Being Mortal.”
I think I would like to win Being Mortal the very most. I likely would love any of them, but that seems like the one I would most likely want on my shelf, you know, for loaning purposes or whatnot.
Thanks!
I was just about to make the exact same comment as Emily (just above), so please consider mine a “ditto” of hers. Thanks for doing a giveaway!
I’d love to read Dept. of Speculation. I often jot down the names of the books you recommend and have liked all the ones I’ve read, so thanks for the book posts!
Girl from Yamhill would be my original pick, but now you’ve really peaked my interest in Dept. of Speculation. I’ll have to see which one I can get faster from my library :)
Thanks for the recommendations, Swistle! They all sound so interesting…I think I’d like Being Mortal the best. Off to update my reading list…
Love the blog- I’ve been reading through the archives during pregnancy and the newborn phase. I’ve read all of Atul Gawande’s books except this new one so it’d be great to win Being Mortal. Thanks for doing a giveaway!
You are the second person to recommend The Department of Speculation, so that’s what I’d choose. I’m adding that one to my library hold list, just in case!
Thanks for the reviews! I read Beverly Clearly books as a child, so am intrigued to read her memoir. BUT…the fantastic quotes and the “I BARKED with laughter and recognition” comment make Dept. of Speculation my first choice for this contest. :)
(And the best timing for a USA address contest – you could deliver to my parents in Florida, who can hand-deliver when they visit me in Canada in April. :))
I loved reading the Ramona books when I was younger. I would very much like to read the bio on Beverly Cleary, it sounds really interesting!
Thanks for your book recs! They all look good, but I am going to make a “plug” if I can for Being Mortal. It’s very interesting and timely with the never ending debate over US healthcare. I would urge everyone to google “being Mortal” and “PBS Frontline”. There was a documentary on Dr Gawande’s work that aired on 2/11.
Not entering, but “dreamy/contractionless” is SUCH a great shorthand for what you thought that kind of book might be (I often think the same). Department of Speculation was already on my list, but I will put the others on. And damn, I really have to get my ass out to visit my husband’s grandmother.
Ooh, I would love the Dept of Speculation one! That sounds right up my alley.
Atul Gawande was on a recent episode of Frontline called “Being Mortal” that you might enjoy. I believe it is available online.
All sound interesting to me, with the exception of Being Mortal. I just don’t think I could handle that right now.
Department of Speculation.
I’m so glad I’m finally getting people to read those Beverly Cleary books!
I love them.
But yes, all the things you said.
EVERYONE READ THEM.
I’d like to read Department of Validation.
I would love to read Being Mortal! It’s on my list…along with that Japanese decluttering book…
These all sound super interesting! I think the last novel would be my pick. :)
I saw “Being Mortal” at the bookstore the other day and was tempted to get it. So this would be my pick. Not a light fluffy reading but I am hoping it can gives me some good reflection.
I want to read the third one. Barking with laughter is one of my favorite things. BTW I am listening to the audiobook of Carol Burnett’s Carrie and Me, and I kept thinking you’d reviewed it, but I couldn’t find it. It seems like a book that you would like.
FuN! I would choose Department of Speculation if I won.
Dept of Speculation- now on my “to read” list.
I LOVE Atul Gawande. Back when I was doing performance measurement for government programs (wooo!!! Woo!) I read _Better_ and _The Checklist Manifesto_ and now I enthusiastically recommend them to people who are mysteriously compelled by neither my descriptions of them nor my great interest in process management. Weird.
But I would like to read all of these books, so I ask that if I win you surprise me by choosing one.
My pick would be “Beyond Mortal”. I love your posts, Swistle – look forward to reading each new one :-)
Dept of Speculation sounds like a great book!
Your reviews put all these books on my to read list so if I won I’d let you choose. Thanks Swistle!
I would love to win My own two feet. I read the Girl from Yamhill and enjoyed it. Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books are awesome!
I would pick Being Mortal because I’m 533 on the library hold list right now, which seems hopeless.
Your vacation costs post was great, because I keep wondering about your vacation thoughts lately.
Ooh, I love memoirs and I love Beverly Cleary! I’m going to check those out. But I think the book I would most like to win is the Department of Speculation; the excerpts are great.
Honestly, I would read them all. But I would probably reach for Dept. of Speculation first…
Being Mortal sounds fascinating. Thanks for the chance.
I would love to get Being Mortal for my mother in law who is dealing with her mom’s end of life stage. Maybe this could help her through. Thanks!
I liked Girl from Yamhill, too. But I’d like to read Dept. of Speculation. Thanks for the contest. I love reading you.
I would love the speculation book. I love your reviews!
I always appreciate your nonfiction selections. Not only have I usually enjoyed them but it gets me out of my reading rut. That being said the department of speculation is one that I don’t think I would ever pick up but would like to win and have a happy surprise of something new. Even if I don’t win, I will be adding these books to my reading list because I am in a rut.
Either Beverly Cleary books. I loved her books and I can’t wait to share them with Egg! Maybe I’ll start reading them to her now? That’s a brilliant idea! (I’m so modest.)
Dept of Speculation sounds fantastic!
Department of Speculation.
But I will say that I recently re-discovered Beverly Cleary when I read The Mouse and The Motorcycle to my son (he LOVED it)
As someone just beginning the elderly stage of life Being Mortal seems very pertinent to me, specially after reading your description. That is the book I would choose.
Thank you for all the book comments in your blog. Although I have a “to read” list that’s longer than I can realistically hope to ever finish, your comments and recommendations help me to set priorities.
I would love to read Girl from Yamhill.
That’s a hard choice. I would read any of them. When I went to add Being Mortal to my Goodreads list, it was already there. That always makes me think I should move it to the top.
Also, do you know about the Tournament of Books? (http://www.themorningnews.org/article/announcing-the-morning-news-2015-tournament-of-books) Surely you do, but just in case. Dept. of Speculation is one of the books this year.
Ha! I literally JUST got a “hold ready” email from my library – Dept. of Speculation is ready for me to pick up. :)
Hmm, tough choice, but I would love to win Being Mortal. I’m adding the others to my reading list, though; thanks, Swistle!
Giveaways are such fun! And “books I’ve read” posts always make me add to my to read list. I think Dept. of Speculation sounds like a good read (my choice for my entry). I’ll have to look at the library and see if it’s available next time I’m there.
Being Mortal sounds like a timely book to read and think through as both of our parents enter their 70s.
All of them sound good, but Dept. of Speculation is my choice. Thank you!
I would be interested in reading all of these books and I am putting them on my list. But if I were picked to win I’d like either of the Beverly Cleary books. I used to work in my school library in 4th and 5th grade and I remember a new Ramona book came in and I hid it in the back of some random non- fiction shelf so nobody could check it out before my class came for our scheduled library visit! (The beginning of my nerdy life of crime…)
I have been in such a fiction rut lately, but Dept of Speculation was the first book that I have read about in a long time that immediately piqued my interest.
Oh, and how I love Beverly Cleary. She was actually a librarian in the town in which my husband grew up (before his time, unfortunately) and I have always felt slightly special for that tiny little connection.
Not entering, just commenting that I have LOVED A Girl from Yamill since my childhood and that, while I haven’t read Gawande’s latest because it seems too scary, I have enjoyed his other books. His writing style is very non-doctor friendly even if his subject matter can be otherwise.
I noticed you had another Maureen commenting-so added the ak to my name!
I would love either of the Beverly Cleary memoirs-maybe the first one published? I have never even seen either of these books, and if I don’t win one-I will definitely be getting them from the library!
I think “Dept. of Speculation” sounds the most interesting to me, but then, I can’t turn down a book if one is handed to me!
I think Dept. of Speculation sounds good!
I can’t believe our public library doesn’t have any of these books, so I’d be thrilled with any of them! I love a book giveaway-thanks!
Being Mortal is one of a handful of non-fiction books that CHANGED MY LIFE. I love, love, loved it.
I feel like I need to read both of these because you said that I resemble Beverly Cleary and that makes me smile so much. xoxo
Oh Swistle Gawande is SO GOOD. My dad found out over Christmas that he was dying of cancer again and that night I happened to be visiting my parents-he stayed up that night reading Hitchens new book about mortality and I stayed up all night reading On Mortality. (as you might say..paternity, ESTABLISHED). my dad died suddenly (we were told he had 6-18 months) on Monday and I am clinging to that book. His other stuff is great too.