Sponsored by Holiday House.
Some families have ice cream in their freezer. Siblings Rosie and Baker have their Great-Grammy. She made them promise to pretend she’s alive until they find her missing will and get it in the right hands. The lies get bigger and bigger as the truth starts to come out. And you thought YOUR family was strange! This unexpectedly touching read reminds us that families are weird and wonderful, even when they’re missing their best parts. With humor, suspense, and a testament to loyalty, author Ena Jones takes two brave kids on an unforgettable journey. Includes four recipes for Great Grammy’s survival treats!
Welcome to Read This Book, a newsletter where I recommend one book that should absolutely be put at the top of your TBR pile. Recommended books will vary across genre and age category and include shiny new books, older books you may have missed, and some classics I suggest finally getting around to. Make space for another pile of books on your floor because here we go!
Today’s pick has been painfully and unexpectedly relevant over the past year. The topic is always relevant, more than I knew before reading it, but especially with the pandemic and the need to shelter in place to literally save lives. It is about a public health concern so obvious once you see it, but almost always shrouded in shame.
Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World by Vivek H. Murthy
Content warning for suicide, which includes a graphic description, and drug use.
Dr. Vivek H. Murthy is the 19th & 21st Surgeon General of the United States. While he was serving as the 19th Surgeon General, he found that there was a common thread among the “major” public health issues like addiction, violence, anxiety, and depression. This common thread is loneliness.
This book is a deep dive into loneliness as something that everyone experiences at some point and also loneliness as a major public health issue. He also talks extensively about the shame that can happen around loneliness, how it’s something that people don’t talk much about, that we often feel like it’s our own fault if we experience it, or that we alone are the only ones who deal with loneliness. This book was written pre-pandemic and I imagine that some of this has shifted, but not necessarily enough.
Together isn’t entirely gloomy. It has some beautiful, uplifting stories about people who recognize loneliness for what it is and have organized to combat it in their own lives and their own communities, sometimes creating programs that reach further out to other parts of the county. There is also an exploration of loneliness in various cultures which is fascinating and it resonated deeply. Dr. Murthy also discusses isolation, childhood loneliness, and the effects of loneliness and isolation on children. Perhaps most importantly, Dr. Murthy offers ways to combat loneliness, which has been especially hard to do during this pandemic.
This book has altered the way I look at the world and at my relationships and community and for that alone, I highly recommend it.
That’s it for now, book-lovers!
Patricia
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