Immediate Family - Ashley Nelson Levy

This was a tender, thoughtful book of a sister writing a speech to her adopted brother for his wedding. I enjoyed it as it was the first time I had read about adoptees from the adopting family's perspective and especially from that of their natural born siblings.  I don't recall the speaker revealing her name...she addresses her brother, Danny, in a dreamy, reflective way.  He came into her life when she was about nine years old, adopted from Thailand as a three year old.  We learn of his struggles being adopted and different in the American white family he joins.

There were long passages where she reflects on how adoptees and orphans are portrayed in literature and the rescuing role given to them: Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, Mowgli in The Jungle Book, Batman and Robin, Tarzan. A good read that I would recommend.

Quotes:

"...because change is always tethered to some kind of departure, some send-off to a life you knew"

...how can silence ever be the better, more loving alternative?"

"Love isn't bound up in food...love is primary, attachment is primary, we're not conditioned to love merely because someone feeds us.  We love certain people and we need them to love us back."

Published:  2021  Read January 2022  Genre: Fiction 

The Wife Between Us - Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

This was a clever, page-turner that I finished in 3 evenings.  A first wife mourns the loss of her husband and begins stalking his soon-to-be new wife.  There are twists and turns that make this a good read to the very end.

Published: 2017  Read: January 2022  Genre: Fiction, Mystery

Easy Crafts for the Insane - Kelly Williams Brown

Sub-title: A mostly funny memoir of mental illness & making things

The successful author of Adulting spills all about her struggles with bipolar disorder and a very bad year where she gets divorced, her father is diagnosed with cancer and she breaks both arms.  A tough read and brave recounting of the impact of mental illness.

The author explains how simple crafts helped her through the struggles and illuminates the reality of living with the condition.  Funny and moving book.

Quotes:

"It would be great (both narratively and, um, for my life) if there were some fixed finish line [to mental health illness].  And I had crossed it. And now I was Better, Forever, and You Could Be, Too.  This is not the nature of anything, though.  There is not a beginning, a middle, and an end.  It's a constand coaxing, reinforced with boundaries and medication.  ..."It is patiently asking myself the same questions: 'Can you do anything about his right now?  Should you?"

"[On losing her girlfriends] Someone on Reddit once said that when you break up with someone, you lose the language you've cultivated just between yourselves."

Published:  2021  Read: January 2022 Genre: Memoir

The Hare with Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal

 Sub-title: A Hidden Inheritance

This was a dreamy, meandering book for my first read of the New Year.  The author is a descendant of the Ephrussi Family, a very wealthy banking dynasty that originated in Russia in the mid-1800s and expanded across Paris, Vienna and Britain.  The business was taken over in Austria by the Nazis and the family scattered across the globe. Throughout that timeframe, one of the author's great-uncles collected Japanese netsukes, small, intricate carvings that served as buttons to secure a man's kimono.  Edmund traces the path of these treasures he eventually inherits and along the way unveils the family history.

I loved how he used letters, official records, family stories and reminiscences to weave together the art and family.  I read the version with pictures of the netsukes and family photos that made what would have been a historical accounting into a fascinating, melancholy tale of a time, a place and a family.

The author is a renowned ceramic pottery artist and his eye for art and craftsmanship carries over to his descriptions of the characters and their lives.  I found it a fascinating read.

Published: 2010  Read: January 2022  Genre: Memoir