Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved by Kate Bowler

When a professor of religion gets cancer, there's some introspection. You may enjoy that, or not.

But the main reason to read this, anyway, are two appendices at the back: "Absolutely Never Say This to People Experiencing Terrible Times: A Short List" and "Give This a Go, See How It Works: A Short List."

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

When their mother takes sick, three adult sisters return to the roost. But each has ulterior motives for her stay - pregnancy, thievery, insecurity - which make their challenging familial relationships even more fraught.

I enjoyed the story - it's about self-discovery and how we limit and define ourselves based on our family - but it's pretty much contemporary chick-lit for the literate.

The "weird sisters" of the title refers to Macbeth's witches, rather than any real oddity in the novel's main trio. That said, you'd best be familiar with Shakespeare's life works to be comfortable in this novel - it's overflowing with people named after characters and conversations filled with quotes. Additionally, the story contains layer upon layer of references and analogies to the bard's work.

Also of note: the story is told from a very unusual point of view. The omniscient narrator speaks singularly as all three sisters collectively (first-person plural). Everything is "we" even when talking about one sister's secrets that she's keeping from the others. It's workable, but a little awkward sometimes.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

One day recent retiree Harold Fry walks down to the mailbox to post a letter. The walk feels so good he decides to wait 'til he reaches the next letter box - then the next, and the next. Suddenly, the letter he was going to send seems insubstantial; his message requires more. Next thing you know, Harold has decided to walk the length of England. Immediately. With no planning. In yachting shoes.

The book follow's Harold's walk and his mindframe; the time alone and the exertion on his unprepared body wreak havoc with his mental state. Will he make it? Why in the heck is he doing this? And why can't he and Maureen just TALK to one another!?

It's a lovely book full of ups, downs, and good intentions. Harold may be a little loony, but his heart is in the right place. You'll want to find out how this walk ends.

The Guts by Roddy Doyle

Did you ever see the early-90s film "The Commitments" about an bunch of teens trying to become Ireland's greatest soul band? Doyle wrote the novel it was based on, along with several continuations: This is his fourth book in the Barrytown series.

The Commitments' manager Jimmy Rabbitte has stayed in music - he's made a career milking the nostalgia for Irish punk and folk acts, building internet sites and back-catalog sales for these mostly one-hit wonders.

But a sudden illness creates a strong sense of sentimentality about the glory days, and Jimmy starts to look up a few people he's lost touch with over the years. Most haven't fared so well, but a new music idea and a big outdoor concert help bring them all back to the friendship they'd enjoyed.

They're very relatable characters: flawed and funny, acting badly and also very bravely. This is a very funny book, but written in dialect and in a non-traditional quotation format - once you get used to it, it's a breeze, but I'll admit it took me a bit to get the hang of it.

The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick

Completely narrated in letters to Richard Gere, this story of a man's journey of self-discovery unfurls story by story. Bartholomew is a little slow-minded and he's never had a job besides taking care of his mother, but at 38 years old he's got to stand on his own now that brain cancer has taken her. And in the course of grief counseling - and a major roadtrip adventure - his horizons begin to expand.

The book's very funny, but a little sad, and also philosophical. Bartholomew does lots of research at the library, so even though the angry man in his stomach sometimes calls him retarded, he's also thoughtful about Buddhism and Tibet (Gere's interests) and his own Catholic upbringing.

Author Matthew Quick has become a prominent voice for mental illness awareness and social understanding because he's such a master at putting the reader inside the head of his unusual and broken characters. This is the third book of his that I've read, and each has been wonderful and eye-opening for me in terms of compassion and empathy.

I really enjoyed this book and was engrossed from start to finish. It's a fairly fast read, but the story and characters will stick with you long after the final page.

The Language Inside by Holly Thompson

Emma is white, and her parents are American - although she's lived in Japan since she was a baby and she has never been in the US longer than a visit. She feels 100% Japanese on the inside. So she's definitely in for a culture shock when the Karas family moves to grandma's in Massachusetts for awhile (months? a year?) while Emma's mother is in treatment for breast cancer.

This book is written in verse, and the story deals quite a bit with artistic expression: As Emma struggles with the fact her outside doesn't match her "filling", dance and poetry become outlets for her emotions. Volunteering at the nursing home she becomes friends with a stroke victim who communicates only through eye movement, several elderly Cambodian refugees, and many American kids of Cambodian ethnicity, who collectively help Emma realize she's not alone - that many people have internal lives that don't match their physical shell.

I enjoyed the book, and I think it would have been equally well served in prose form. Emma and her friends are relatable, intelligent teens with real-world concerns. The author does an excellent job with character and pacing, and I loved that the world's not tied up in a tidy bow at the end - while still giving readers a satisfying resolution.

The Goodbye Cancer Garden by Janna Matthies

Discussing cancer with kids is a tough topic too many families have to deal with at one time or another. This book does the job in a lovely, delicate manner through the eyes of a child whose mother is sick.

When the doctor says Mom should be feeling better "by pumpkin time," an idea sprouts - the family will cultivate a garden in the yard to help track the time until pumpkins - and Mom's recovery. The year is filled with many milestones: surgery, seed catalogs, planting, head shaving, harvest, and healing. The story deals equally with mom's limitations due to illness, the kids' every day enthusiam, and the cycle of growing a garden.

I don't see this book as a general bedtime favorite, but it is a well done story for families who need a little encouragement during a difficult situation.

My only gripe: it should have been simply "cancer" that mom has, instead of specifying breast cancer. Why limit the situation, when so much is universal? Lots of kids have family members with lots of kinds of cancer, and they all deserve this kind of story.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Greg Gaines is clueless. And since this book is a kind of journal from Greg's point of view, as a reader you see that sometimes Greg understand how clueless he is (ie: girls) and sometimes Greg is utterly clueless as to his cluelessness (ie: friendships). But he's both charming and annoying, and you root for Greg to come around eventually - because really, aren't we all clueless? 


Greg's been carefully cultivating a non-persona all through high school. He's pretty happy that now, as a senior, he's not associated with any group, scorned by any clique, or shackled by any categorizations. 


Then, his mother strong-arms him into a friendship with Rachel.


It's a funny book about friendship and growing up, about finding something only when you lose it. Greg's sure - right up until the last page - that he didn't learn a thing from his experiences, and he can't believe you're even interested. This light-hearted style makes the novel a quick read despite its thematic weight. 

Under the mesquite

by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

McCall's first book is a novel in verse.  It's always kind of fun to see an author who manages to tell a complex story within the confines of poetry. 
Lupita is a high school student with aspirations toward drama and performing.  She's the oldest of eight children in a family that now lives in Texas, but once lived just south of the border.  The family travels freely and frequently back to visit relatives, until Mami gets cancer.  Lupita shows a level of strength that few teenagers in America find themselves needing.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

First love can be true love - and this is one of those books. It's really a book about two teens who are too wise and philosophical for their age. Perhaps, that's because they're terminally ill. Perhaps, it's because they're John Green characters (who are all too smart and philosophical, but in the BEST POSSIBLE WAY). Perhaps, people like this really exist.

It's a funny book about a girl with cancer. Or it's a book about teens who despise the Kids With Cancer cliche and make jokes about the misuse of the word literally. No - it's a hilarious and heartbreaking book about the self-proclaimed King of Cancervania who is too gorgeous to exist.

How can I sell you on a book about cancer?

Just read it.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

This month's book club choice - and a good one at that ... although I find we have less interesting conversations when we all enjoyed the book.

I actually listened to this one, and liked it so much I then went online and bought a paperback copy for my own collection. I think it'll be the kind of book to reference back to at a later date, as a refresher on the points you really wanted to implement in your own life.

I won't go into too much summary detail because everybody knows about this one: dying man gives lecture on how to live life. I'd read about it, and purposely avoided it because I was afraid it would be a piece of treacle fluff - but I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it.

The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan

This is the book I'm pitching to the bookclub this year.

Corrigan defines the middle place as the spot where the titles "Someone's Kid" and "Someone's Parent" collide. This is her happiest place - she's still the daughter of the renown George Corrigan, but also the mom of 2 beautiful girls. Then her sense of definition is called into question as she and her dad deal with cancer simultaneously.

It's not a sad cancer book. Really, it's a great, funny book about families and the way we relate to one another.

I usually avoid cancer books like a CA-125 test, but this one hardly stung at all.