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After the first three books on the list, my mom came to me and said that she appreciated the list, but she'd no longer be reading from it and would not take reading suggestions from me again.
Her reason? Most of what I like to read is "depressing and sad", according to my mom. That has not changed over the years.
Case in point: We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman.
This novel is devastating but beautiful.
We All Want Impossible Things is about love, loss, and grief, as well as motherhood and friendship. It really highlights that we are all human and reminded me a lot of something one of my high school English teachers said (she was quoting the author, Wally Lamb, I believe): "The best fiction is often more true than real life." This book was so true to my experience of grief and loss that it definitely felt more true than real life! I've had a lot of heart break over the last few years, and this novel helped to mend some of it.
This book made me cry a lot, but despite being so sad, it also made me laugh quite a bit!
We All Want Impossible Things is about a woman whose best friend is in hospice and how she navigates that alongside being a single mom to a teen daughter and a college aged daughter, while still being in love with (and also not in love with at the same time) her ex-husband, and while trying to figure out her own life.
If you enjoy the work of Anne Lamott, particularly the novel Rosie, you'll like this one. It's equal parts sad and funny. My mom would still would have found it depressing.
We All Want Impossible Things is about a woman whose best friend is in hospice and how she navigates that alongside being a single mom to a teen daughter and a college aged daughter, while still being in love with (and also not in love with at the same time) her ex-husband, and while trying to figure out her own life.
If you enjoy the work of Anne Lamott, particularly the novel Rosie, you'll like this one. It's equal parts sad and funny. My mom would still would have found it depressing.
I found We All Want Impossible Things to be deeply satisfying. It is filled with all the ups and downs of relationships in many areas of our lives, includes good food, cozy living rooms, sex without being gratuitous, awe and wonder at the world around us, and so much more. I will definitely read this one again!
Buy it on Bookshop.org HERE.
Buy it on Amazon HERE.
