Today has been a sickly spoonie day, a respiratory illness finding me and absolutely laying me out. Tonight, I’m starting a new antibiotic – an aside, I think that should be in the running as a title for my memoir one day, “I’m starting a new antibiotic. . .” 😉 – and hopefully on the mend from here.

Right now at least, I’m up for a little bit, reading, writing, and having dinner with the handsomest little man. ❤

While I’ve been working through several books for our Banned Books project, I’ve also discovered a couple of great ones in my regular reading that I want to pass along from authors I love.

First, there’s Sean Dietrich’s Will The Circle Be Unbroken?, a telling of his life that manages to be heartbreakingly beautiful and also sweet and funny at the same time.

Sean’s story of caring for his mother and sister after his father was lost to suicide when he was a young teen as he left school in the 7th grade as a result; then meeting his beloved Jamie, the center of his world, as well as spending 11 years working his way through community college (from his 7th grade education) and becoming a gifted writer – as his mother always believed he would be – is just everything.

At our Southern Christian Writer’s Conference a couple of years ago, we were blessed to have Sean as our keynote speaker one evening and to spend a little time with him and his precious Jamie as well – and they are just the most lovely people. ❤

I also suggest reading his daily column online (if you don’t already), Sean of the South.

Sean of the South website.

He is a treasure. ❤

My other recommendation is from a favorite well-known author, though this book is outside his usual genre: John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed.

John Green is known for several excellent novels, my favorite being The Fault In Our Stars.

The Anthropocene Reviewed, however, is a collection of essays on a fantastic variety of topics, with Green ending each essay giving the topic a rating on a five star scale.

Written during the height of COVID and lockdown, much of Green’s writing is intensely personal as he processes the isolation of the pandemic and also dealing with his own anxiety disorder in the face of it all. Though he discusses these issues without blinking, the book is also joyful and funny in Green’s unique way.

As a trivia nerd – who wants to know all the random things ever 😉 – I love that he writes on so many unrelated things – or rather things only related by the Anthropocene. hehe. 😉

Some examples of his topics include:

• The Great Gatsby (a sure way to my heart)
• his deep and abiding love of Diet Dr. Pepper
• the QWERTY keyboard
• Staphylococcus Aureus – he, unfortunately, like me, is a carrier and has been quite ill.
• The history of Piggly Wiggly – another way to this Southern girl’s heart. ❤
• The Lascaux Cave Paintings
• Sunsets – yes, he reviewed them. 🙂
• His favorite band, The Mountain Goats
• Liverpool Football – he is a superfan.
• The Smallpox Vaccine

And those are just a few.

Really, y’all, this book is a delight and I encourage everyone to check it out.

I give The Anthropocene Reviewed five stars. ❤

Be well, everybody. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Grace and Blessings.