Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Nine: A Memory Called Empire AND A Desolation Called Peace

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Eight: Unorthodox

I've been reading a lot of fiction lately, and I decided I was in the mood for a change, so I looked in Libby for a non-fiction book that was both available now and interesting.  Deborah Feldman's memoir of leaving the Satmar Hasidic Jewish community was the answer.  It's a fascinating look inside a pocket of life in the U.S. of which I was pretty much unaware.  If you liked Tara Westover's Educated, you'll be interested in Unorthodox.  You know from early on that both women left their insular religious communities; the interest in their stories is in both how they left and in the inside look at the communities they had been a part of.  Plus, there's a Netflix miniseries based on Unorthodox, which maybe I'll watch at some point.  Feldman also wrote a second memoir, Exodus, which picks up (I think) where Unorthodox leaves off.  I'll definitely be interested in reading it at some point, though Unorthodox was a very intense read, so I'm ready for a break back into fiction for the moment.  But I'd highly recommend this book.

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Seven: Broken (in the Best Possible Way)

I was so excited a few months back when I learned that Jenny Lawson (known on the Internet as The Bloggess) had a new essay collection coming out this spring, and it did not disappoint!  I listened to the audiobook--read by the author--and it was so good that I actually looked forward to my commute.  If you're unfamiliar with Jenny Lawson, I would describe her writing as in the vein of David Sedaris, particularly in her ability to find humor in the everyday, but with more of a focus on mental and physical health.  

Anyway, Broken (in the Best Possible Way) has everything I've come to expect and enjoy from Jenny Lawson's books: a look at life from someone else's (very funny) perspective, a look at a variety of mental health issues that I'm not super familiar with, a good helping of weird animal stories (but not the kind of animal stories where your heart gets broken), and a heaping dose of earnest quirkiness.  If you have a sense of humor at all, or if you enjoy personal essays, this is a book worth checking out.