MY NOVEMBER READS

November provided some downtime to get caught up on my reading. I enjoyed a memoir and a couple of fiction novels, one from a long-bygone era.

Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing – Matthew Perry

After catching his interview with Diane Sawyer, I picked up a copy of the Friends star’s memoir.  Although I knew of his struggle with opioids, I wasn’t aware of the depth and longevity of his addiction or his alcoholism. My prior understanding had been that he had a problem with painkillers, went to rehab and it ended there. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention because nothing could be further from the truth.  His alcoholism and subsequent opioid addiction began in his 20s.  At the time of the book publication, he is 53 and has been sober for under 2 years.  It’s a sad tale of an extremely talented person who made us laugh (Chandler was always my favorite) while hiding his pain and leading a life marred by secrets.  I sympathize with his plight and appreciated his brutal honesty although it made him appear not likable at times. The most astounding thing to me is the numbers… 55 Vicodin a day, 15 trips to rehab, and 14 surgeries.  He also claims to have spent around $9 million trying to get sober.  It was his colon exploding that finally got him on the path to recovery.  With his parents divorced, he writes about a lonely childhood although it sounds as though he was loved by both.  He doesn’t blame his parents but emphasizes that traveling on commercial airlines as an unaccompanied minor to go between the two of them caused him lasting pain and led to a ”lifelong feeling of abandonment. 

 It’s hard to fully understand this level of addiction unless you have lived it but this proves to be an eye-opening account.  His story is sure to help others who are struggling with addiction and he should be commended for sharing it.  I pray for his continued sobriety and happiness. 

The Art of Racing in The Rain – Garth Stein

When I first watched this movie I wasn’t aware it was based on this incredible book.  I was later speaking to someone at a party who was sharing his love for this book and when I mentioned the movie, he stated the movie didn’t do it justice, which I agree is usually the case.  But here, I am not quite sure.  I finally got around to reading the book this month and I think the movie may have lived up to this one.  Maybe it helps that it stars the hunky Milo Ventimiglia and that Kevin Costner voices Enzo the dog, but I absolutely loved the movie as well as the book and encourage you to experience both.  I always get the same response when I suggest this to the dog lovers in my life. “Does a dog die?  Because if a dog dies I can’t watch/read it.” Marley & Me left a deep wound.  I won’t answer and spoil the storyline, but I will share that it is an emotional drama told from the dog’s point of view.  It is heart-wrenching at times but also funny and ultimately uplifting.  Denny, a kind, decent man and owner of Enzo, is an ambitious race car driver and the author brilliantly uses racing metaphors to illustrate life’s twists and turns. It’s a story about life, love, and loss but for me, the ultimate message is that two souls can come together even if they are not both human.  And although you don’t have to love dogs to love this book, dog lovers will especially connect to this message.  I am eager to read more by this author. 

The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway

After, my recent trip to Paris where I visited the neighborhoods where Hemingway lived and worked I decided to read something by the famed author.  Earlier in the year, I watched the PBS mini-series Hemingway which also piqued my interest.  The Sun Also Rises is his first novel so I thought I would start with this one. I had never read an author with such a spare writing style.  Spare writers use short sentences, concrete nouns and verbs, and only occasionally drop in an adverb or adjective.  But his writing is powerful.  I was a little surprised by the candor with which he writes about heavy alcohol consumption and promiscuity given the book was published in 1926. Yet Hemingway had spent these years in Europe where they didn’t share America’s hangups regarding sex and alcohol, and he brought these attitudes to the American reader.  He started the book after he and his wife visited the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona where he developed a passion for bullfighting.  The story centers around Jake Barnes, an American journalist in Europe, who journeys from the wild nightlife in Paris to bullfighting in Spain with a group of friends.  A group that represents the Lost Generation who came of age during World War I.  Prior to leaving Jake runs into Lady Brett Ashley, a former lover with whom he still has a complicated relationship, and she decides to join them with her current fiancé. The fiesta begins and the story is dominated by bullfighting. But there is also fighting within the group, tied to sexuality, love, masculinity, and violence.

It took me a while to get into this novel but once I got used to the writing style and further understood the characters I came to see what made Hemingway such a great writer. 

I would love to hear what you are reading!