Best fiction book I read this year centers Puerto Rico, Sunset Park in Brooklyn, and New York City more broadly: Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez.
Thanks for taking us along on all your past journeys and your current one as well. I’ll happily link arms with you and anyone else in your clubhouse, with or without John Denver songs (although preferred with) and fresh snacks are a bonus but not necessary.
It’s funny, when I read your request for book recommendations, at first, I interpreted it as a place where WE were when we read the book, not where the story within the book occurs. With this framework in mind, I immediately thought of when I read Alice Walker’s “Temple of My Familiar” many years ago. I loved the book and it kind of cracked my world open in ways it needed to be cracked.
I’ll never forget the place I was when I concluded the book. I happened to be on an airplane, which happened to be flying over the Grand Canyon in route from the desert southwest to Seattle. I was staring in awe at the Grand Canyon and feeling the warmth of the story wash over me. Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a voice said, “Go to nursing school.” This is the first and only time I’ve ever heard a voice. I will cut to the chase and tell you I listened to the voice and in so doing it changed my life in more ways than proudly becoming a registered nurse.
Now, for my actual book recommendation following your actual request: “The Covenant of Water” by Abraham Verghese.
Thank you for all you have created... I have so many favorite Death, Sex & Money episodes, one that has never left me was your conversation with Chaz Ebert.
I can't wait to see what unfolds next for you, giddily along for the ride and have PB & J to share!
My own relationship with place has been such a source of growth of late. I moved to rural, remote California (over by Yosemite) to be with my sweetie and while I appreciate the beauty of this place and the charm of small town living, it doesn't capture my soul the way other places have. It's been a friggin' wild ride of listening to what this place wants to teach me and relaxing into the discomfort of not being in a place that lights me up.
Books...Elin Hilderbrand's writing. She falls into a "lighter" category, and I always relish hopping into bed and losing myself in the world of Nantucket... dark violet blackberries, silver queen corn, voluptuous tomatoes, "red-brick sidewalks, cedar-shingled cottages and rose-covered arches, long stretches of golden beach...." Barefoot is my favorite of her novels.
Hi Anna! So happy you’re creating an online community here so that the community you created with Death, Sex & Money is still alive in some way. The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar is about the loss of place and tells the story of Syrian refugees. It’s so beautifully written.
Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country by Pam Houston is a very special book. I feel like I could visit Creede, Colorado and recognize it's people and landscape from her words. Its an excellent memoir.
Hi Anna! I just recently discovered Death, Sex and Money and am so sad it’s currently in turmoil but I am heading to the archives to listen to all the past episodes.
For a book about a place I’d recommend William Kent Krueger’s This Tender Land and/or The River We Remember. Both are set in my home state of Minnesota and while the books are fiction the setting is absolutely real and I recognize many locations.
Novels that come to mind where place is important (all Canadian): The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx, Anne of Green Gables, Rockbound by Frank Parker Day, The Lesser Blessed by Richard Van Camp, Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay, Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice, and the Lane Winslow mystery series set in the Kootenays of British Columbia by Iona Whishaw.
Constellation of Vital Phenomena will transport you to early 2000’s Chechnya and enchant you with its beautiful prose. Historical fiction at its very best.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is definitely a PLACE novel. I found myself wishing for a map in the beginning of the book because it's that important, and if I had any skills, I would have drawn one myself.
Best fiction book I read this year centers Puerto Rico, Sunset Park in Brooklyn, and New York City more broadly: Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez.
Hi Anna,
Thanks for taking us along on all your past journeys and your current one as well. I’ll happily link arms with you and anyone else in your clubhouse, with or without John Denver songs (although preferred with) and fresh snacks are a bonus but not necessary.
It’s funny, when I read your request for book recommendations, at first, I interpreted it as a place where WE were when we read the book, not where the story within the book occurs. With this framework in mind, I immediately thought of when I read Alice Walker’s “Temple of My Familiar” many years ago. I loved the book and it kind of cracked my world open in ways it needed to be cracked.
I’ll never forget the place I was when I concluded the book. I happened to be on an airplane, which happened to be flying over the Grand Canyon in route from the desert southwest to Seattle. I was staring in awe at the Grand Canyon and feeling the warmth of the story wash over me. Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a voice said, “Go to nursing school.” This is the first and only time I’ve ever heard a voice. I will cut to the chase and tell you I listened to the voice and in so doing it changed my life in more ways than proudly becoming a registered nurse.
Now, for my actual book recommendation following your actual request: “The Covenant of Water” by Abraham Verghese.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett!
Macando from One Hundred Years of Solitude remains a place my brain inhabits occasionally years after reading
Dear Anna and the From Somewhere family,
Thank you for all you have created... I have so many favorite Death, Sex & Money episodes, one that has never left me was your conversation with Chaz Ebert.
I can't wait to see what unfolds next for you, giddily along for the ride and have PB & J to share!
My own relationship with place has been such a source of growth of late. I moved to rural, remote California (over by Yosemite) to be with my sweetie and while I appreciate the beauty of this place and the charm of small town living, it doesn't capture my soul the way other places have. It's been a friggin' wild ride of listening to what this place wants to teach me and relaxing into the discomfort of not being in a place that lights me up.
Books...Elin Hilderbrand's writing. She falls into a "lighter" category, and I always relish hopping into bed and losing myself in the world of Nantucket... dark violet blackberries, silver queen corn, voluptuous tomatoes, "red-brick sidewalks, cedar-shingled cottages and rose-covered arches, long stretches of golden beach...." Barefoot is my favorite of her novels.
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. When I need to get outta work mode, I usually look to nature.
Nebraska born-and-bred and now living a bit outside of Vancouver, BC for the last 9 years. The novels I can think of where *place* is significant are:
Piranesi (the place is very ethereal...is it real? is it imaginary? It's really interesting...)
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (VERY place oriented, though not a novel)
Where the Crawdads Sing (lush, swampy place although a bit predictable)
Peace Like a River (Black Hills, SD, excellent writing)
All the Light We Cannot See (a symphony of a book if you can stick out the first 150 pages)
The Great Alone (Alaska, suspense, tragedy)
Remarkable Creatures (UK, first women finding fossils)
I’d suggest nearly any Pat Conroy novel, if you’ve not read them
Hi Anna! So happy you’re creating an online community here so that the community you created with Death, Sex & Money is still alive in some way. The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar is about the loss of place and tells the story of Syrian refugees. It’s so beautifully written.
Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country by Pam Houston is a very special book. I feel like I could visit Creede, Colorado and recognize it's people and landscape from her words. Its an excellent memoir.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It’s so so good and place is essential to the book.
Hi Anna! I just recently discovered Death, Sex and Money and am so sad it’s currently in turmoil but I am heading to the archives to listen to all the past episodes.
For a book about a place I’d recommend William Kent Krueger’s This Tender Land and/or The River We Remember. Both are set in my home state of Minnesota and while the books are fiction the setting is absolutely real and I recognize many locations.
This House of Sky by Ivan Doig
Hi Anna! So nice to read this first dispatch :)
Novels that come to mind where place is important (all Canadian): The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx, Anne of Green Gables, Rockbound by Frank Parker Day, The Lesser Blessed by Richard Van Camp, Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay, Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice, and the Lane Winslow mystery series set in the Kootenays of British Columbia by Iona Whishaw.
Constellation of Vital Phenomena will transport you to early 2000’s Chechnya and enchant you with its beautiful prose. Historical fiction at its very best.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is definitely a PLACE novel. I found myself wishing for a map in the beginning of the book because it's that important, and if I had any skills, I would have drawn one myself.