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Subtitled: While Farming the Flats, and (true confessions) I know those flats intimately, having lived next door to the Murchs for many years. We call the author Aggie, and this book, culled from her diary entries, sheds light on the eccentric denizens of our hometown, Bolinas, as well as closely observed, rapturous descriptions of the land. Hanging out with Aggie on the page provides delicious gossip in addition to digging into the nurture of nature. Aggie and her husband Walter, a renowned filmmaker, really get around, so we can also travel with them to LA, Europe, and beyond. A bounteous harvest indeed.
Subtitled: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman. Stifled by his copy writing job, the author came upon a tiny derelict cabin in the woods and embarked on a crazy scheme to make it livable. Up in the Washington mountains on the road called (you can't make this up) Wit's End, he started with no skills to speak of and learned by doing, often with hilarious blunders. Good friends, YouTube, determination, and the realization that this was a place of healing and inspiration all paid off. Guess what: he's now a bona fide carpenter and builds tiny houses for fun and (modest) profit. Perseverance furthers, as does good humor.
Subtitled: A Memoir of Unlikely Survival. Regular readers will know I’m drawn to books in which someone undergoes incredible challenges and comes through with wherewithal to document it. When Samina went into labor, the preexisting condition the doctors had been ignoring plunged her into a coma and a subsequent protracted rehabilitation. Lots of suffering—her premature son, her husband Scott who was left with a wife he barely recognized. Samina, a writer, initially lost her words and many body functions. But in the end, words saved her as she reconnected with her craft and also drew upon spiritual sources from many cultures. A riveting story with much food for thought.
What happens when politics stretches a relationship to the max? We follow Gabe and Ethan, devoted spouses with adorable 5-year-old daughter Clio, as Ethan decides to switch parties in his race for governor, and Gabe, a lifelong Democrat, is increasingly mortified as Ethan allies himself with abhorrent stances. Meanwhile Ethan’s sister, Kate, contacts her old lover Nicola, now a New Jersey housewife whose husband is smug and inattentive. Under such tense circumstances, how do you sleep at night? By copping to the truth, no matter how painful. Witty and touching—a good yarn.
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