The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning by A.J. Jacobs

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We the People of the United State, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Thus begins the inspiration for A.J. Jacobs latest work, The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning.

The author has decided to live for a year following the original meaning of the U.S. Constitution with its grammar and spelling eccentricities (he spell-checked it). This concept is not new to Jacobs. The journalist also took a stab at living biblically for a year. The constitution is considerably shorter than the bible, a mere 4543 words, but provides multiple ways to interpret its content.

To get himself into the proper frame of mind Jacobs made some changes. As a journalist communication is very important to him so how did people communicate in 1787 and how was the constitution recorded? – quill and ink. So, communication, and this book, were written with his quill. Also, in keeping with the constitutional theme, the book doesn’t have chapters but articles and sections.

He established his rules for the year. To paraphrase he will express his constitutional rights using the technology and mindset of the time when it was ratified; he will follow all federal and state laws, past and present, under an ultra-originalist interpretation of the Constitution; he will only engage in activities that would be possible in ultra-originalist America; and he shall alert others when they do something not protected by that same ultra-originalist interpretation. This last rule may not go over well.

Jacobs donned a tricorne hat and joined a reenact group to fight in a revolutionary war battle. He also assembled a group of legal scholars from across the political spectrum. They help him understand the ways the constitution is interpreted and what the founders and amenders may have intended when they set our system of government.

The author has a little leeway in that he is also following the changes made through amendment. As noble as the founders were, they were all free white men and wrote the document as such. They recognized “Person held to Service or Labour” and of course only white men could vote.

He stated his year on Election Day in 2022 and since he is honoring the amendments his wife could accompany him to vote. While his intent to vote aloud was thwarted they did get to exercise their constitutional right. Besides voting being vocal it was also a festive occasion with music, parades, adult beverages and cake!

The election cake according to a 1796 recipe contained cinnamon, cloves, raisins, and nutmeg. He and his son baked it and got a surprising number of voters to eat cake. His goal for the 2023 election is to get election cake served in all 50 states. This goal is going to be tough to accomplish with quill and ink. His cousin is a baker and offers to take over the search for bakers with the caveat that cloves is optional.

One of the amendments he is eager to explore is the third. British soldiers quartered in your home whether you wanted them there or not. This amendment says you have the right to consent or not. It probably wasn’t near as hard in the eighteenth century to find a soldier willing to accept free lodging from a stranger.

A trip to observe the Supreme Court in action leads to thoughts on the power the court has and is a theme that will reoccur. In interpreting laws and the constitution does and should the court follow originalism or living constitutionalism. Should we hold to the original intent of the document or is the constitution a living document that adapts to current values and circumstances?

One of the more archaic parts of the constitution is the right to have Congress issue you a letter of Marque and Reprisal. Jacobs doesn’t own a boat but can borrow one so he submits his application to become a privateer to Congressman Khanna. He promises to detain and seize any seafaring vessel believed to be operated by an enemy of the United States.

Muskets, pillories, the right to assemble, and amending the constitution are among other topics explored. Jacobs is an amusing writer and not afraid to poke fun at himself. He is also well informed and gives you a lot to ponder whether you are an originalist, a living constitutionalist or somewhere in between.

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Review by Patty Crane, Reference Librarian

 

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley

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When Constable Penny Martin pulled over the minibus she didn’t know what to expect having followed it with flashing lights for quite a while. On boarding Penny is met by a mixture of mostly septuagenarians and children. Lydia, the 53 year old driver, didn’t stop because they urgently need a bathroom and she was hopeful the police were clearing the way.

When they hear Penny stopped them to apprehend someone from the bus, the confessions begin. First Lydia, then an elderly man confessing to an unnamed crime, a teen with a baby promising to not do it again, followed by two elderly women – one declaring its art not crime, the other saying they all died of natural causes. But the one Penny is looking for just crossed the highway. Who knew someone that old could move so well?

Thus begins How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley. Pooley’s beginning prologue is actually almost the end of her story and we have to go back three months to find what transpired to have this mismatched crew on a bus ready to confess.

Lydia, an empty-nester with a dismissive husband, needs to fill her time. She takes a job running the Senior Citizens Social Club at the community center. Her advertisements nets her six members to begin the club.

Art is an out of work actor who is estranged from his family and a kleptomaniac. William Is retired paparazzo and Art’s best friend. Ruby is an avid knitter but seems to have trouble with proportion as everything she works on seems three sizes too large.

Anna is a retired driver with a love of vivid hair color. She is widowed five times over and uses her walker like a plow to clear her path. Pauline, a retired headmistress, seems to bully her way through life. She brought her dog, Margaret Thatcher, and defies Lydia’s reminder that dogs aren’t allowed.

Then there is Daphne. Daphne carries an air of superiority and dresses like she is having tea at the Ritz. She has lived as a recluse for the last fifteen years and the Social Club is step one in her quest to change.

Lydia has a stereotypical vision of those over seventy and thinks they’ll be working puzzles and playing bingo. The members however have other ideas – skydiving, target practice, speed dating and karate to name a few.

Before they can make any plans, Pauline has shared her opinions on several things including Lydia’s capabilities as a leader. Lydia has barely completed her silent thoughts on where Pauline can go when there is a loud crack and the ceiling falls – right on top of Pauline.

Everyone is ok including Margaret Thatcher but Pauline is dead – from a stroke not the ceiling collapse. Feeling responsible, Lydia takes Pauline’s dog home with her. To make the dog more acceptable to her husband she declares “Maggie” is a bichon frise not the mongrel she obviously is. Her husband still objects so she devises a plan to have other members of the Social Club share dog ownership with her.

Art needs a dog to perform in a talent show so he readily agrees. Daphne, surprisingly, also agrees to help. But dog ownership is secondary to the notice they find on the community center door. The town council is holding a meeting to decide the fate of the building. The town has not kept up maintenance and the collapse is a small part of larger issues plus a development company is keen to own the site.

If they close the center where will the club, the Lamaze class and Alcoholic Anonymous go? Not to mention the nursery across the hall. A lot of people depend on the council nursery, including Ziggy.

Ziggy is finishing school and had plans to study computer science at the university. An ill-considered tryst at a school dance resulted in the birth of Kylie. Saying no to adoption, Ziggy and his mom are raising his daughter alone. He already has to navigate being a single father at school and the gangs in his neighborhood, losing the nursery may be the last straw.

But this group of seniors is not willing to accept what may be fate. Art has the initial idea to partner with the nursey on their mandatory nativity program. Then Daphne, the master planner, steps in.

Together they will deal with Lydia’s philandering husband and Art’s addiction to liberating things from store shelves; protect the yarn bomber whose public yarn pieces are creating a stir; help Ziggy; and try to save the community center.

Daphne is a woman with a past and was a recluse for a reason. With the publicity they generate, can she see all her plans through before the past catches up with her?

Filled with interesting characters this is a humorous read with heart. You’ll find it in the large print section at Joplin Public Library.

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Review by Patty Crane, Reference Librarian

Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

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Adina Giorno is born in September 1977 at the moment that the Voyager 1 spacecraft is launched into space. Voyager 1 is a probe designed to record data about the outer Solar System and transmit that data back to Earth. Adina has been sent to Earth with the opposite mission.

When Adina is four years old, three important things happen to her. First, her mother discovers an abandoned fax machine in a neighbor’s trash can. Second, her parents separate — leaving Adina with her single mother and only a vague impression of her father. And third, she is activated.

Adina is an extraterrestrial, she was sent to Earth to gather information for her alien species. Upon her activation, she begins to dream of a classroom where these aliens can teach her things and request information from her. Adina also begins sending and receiving faxes from her alien superiors.

They want information about Earth; about the ways that humans behave and interact. They tell Adina that she was designed to appear as normal as possible and that she should report to them all of her observations about life.

Adina has an unusual way of looking at the world. She thinks deeply about the things that many humans ignore: the fish at the aquarium, the reasons humans have for smiling at one another, the volume of popcorn chewing in a movie theater. She relays all of these observations to her superiors.

As she grows, she continues to send these faxes back and forth. Giving information and receiving cryptic messages or non-answers back. Especially when she asks about the planet that she is from. She keeps her mission a secret from everyone.

When she graduates high school, Adina gets a part-time job working at a diner. She loves the repetitive work and her coworkers. She stays at the diner for years, continuing to live at home with her mother and sending observations through her fax machine.

When she suddenly gets the urge to change her life and move to New York City, her supervisors’ only response is “oh Nelly.”

Adina spends most of her twenties and thirties living in New York. She gets a job in an office and adopts a dog. It being the nineties, she also joins a workout studio with a high-intensity, motivational-phrase-using coach named Yolanda K.

Adina is working in her Manhattan office during the September 11 terrorist attacks. She gets off the island without incident, but it makes her reevaluate all of the relationships in her life. Afterward she reconnects with her high school friend, Toni, who has also been living in New York.

Toni is the only person who has ever seen Adina’s faxes. She now works at a publishing company and believes that Adina would have an audience for her unusual takes on human behavior if she would be willing to publish.

The book is a remarkable success, much to Adina’s dismay. The publishers ask her to do public readings of increasing size and the book goes through multiple print runs. As Toni suspected, Adina’s views on the world resonate with a lot of people.

For her book, Adina goes public with her alien identity. Although her audience likes the book, they are divided about whether or not they believe she is an alien.

Marie-Helene Bertino’s BEAUTYLAND refuses to make it clear if Adina is an alien or not. Readers debate the point, mirroring Adina’s audience in the book. A friend of mine recommended this book to me; she is convinced that Adina is a human who falls somewhere on the autism spectrum. While I do see that many of her quirks could be explained with an autism diagnosis, Adina never wavers from her certainty about her extraterrestrial origins. So I choose to believe her.

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Book review by Alyssa Berry, Technical Services Librarian

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

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Emma Wheeler has been the full-time caretaker for her father, who suffers from a traumatic brain injury, for a decade, while her younger sister Sylvia finished high school and college. On the day her sister is due to arrive home, after graduating from college, Emma gets an unexpected call from her manager Logan.

Typically Logan passes along writing opportunities like movie reviews and magazine articles so that Emma can support herself while also having the time to work on other writing projects that she enjoys in her downtime. But Logan’s phone call is not typical. He makes Emma an offer that she can hardly refuse – real writing work, doing what she loves – writing a romantic comedy.

Okay, maybe not writing it from scratch, but re-writing it. And the best part is that it is a re-write for (and with) her favorite screenwriter, Charlie Yates. He is legendary in the writing/television world and has won numerous awards for his writing. Emma is a super fan that has followed him and his work for years.

She cannot believe that she has been offered the chance to work with Charlie Yates. The CHARLIE YATES! After the initial shock and excitement, reality sets in and Emma realizes there is no way she can leave her father and spend six weeks in Los Angeles. She is resigned to turning down the offer; however, after she tells her sister about the opportunity, Sylvia insists that she go. She assures Emma she will stay and take care of their father. After all, it is her turn to help.

After some convincing, Emma is soon headed to Los Angeles, but after Logan picks her up from the airport and takes her to meet Charlie, she realizes that not all the things Logan told her are true. Instead of her dream writing experience she is soon playing a starring role in a drama where Charlie Yates, who turns out to be a grump, is refusing to work with her.

Little does Charlie know that Emma is not one to give up so easily on her dreams. Based on her conviction that love matters and that it is her duty to stand up for rom-coms she devises a plan for getting the script rewritten and if she can change Charlie’s mind about love, all the better.

Bestselling author Katherine Center has outdone herself with her newest book. It is funny, clever, sassy and relatable. Her character development with Emma and Charlie is superb and they both feel like real people. Both have their insecurities and flaws, but they are also likable, well–round characters. Even the secondary characters are well done.

This book was a delicious treat to read and I would recommend it to those looking for a romantic comedy without any spice. Emma and Charlie’s relationship is sweet and the witty banter and humor they have with each other is spot on. I would give Center’s latest addition to the rom-com genre a perfect ten.

Review written by: Jeana Gockley, Joplin Public Library Director

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Audiobook Recommendations

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Many of the books I read are in audiobook form; I enjoy the ease of always having a book with me that I can listen to at various times of my day. Two reasons I’m so glad to have a library card are Libby and hoopla, audiobook borrowing services my Joplin Public Library card provides access to, and where I borrowed the below audiobook titles. I also enjoy receiving audiobook recommendations from fellow readers. For that reason I thought I would provide some of my own recommendations of audiobooks I have particularly enjoyed this year.

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

This memoir by superstar Britney Spears was hard to listen to because Spears has written such a deeply personal, brutally honest look into her complex rise to fame and the way it molded and challenged her life. Chronicling her life from childhood to adulthood, Spears touches on personal relationships with family, boyfriends, husbands, individuals in the music industry, and her own reflections. A common thread is Spears’ recognition of the lack of control and choices she had in her own life, everyone from the media to her own family deciding things for the star, oftentimes without her knowledge. A large part of the memoir is dedicated to the conservatorship Spears was placed under with her father and an attorney serving as conservators. As a Britney Spears fan since her first album release in 1999, I, like many others, was anxious to read her memoir. I found myself laughing with her at times, sympathizing and feeling angry with her, and generally feeling horrible about everything Spears endured because of fame. The audiobook is narrated by actress Michelle Williams; Spears notes in the opening of the memoir that it was too difficult for her to write, let alone narrate. Williams does a fantastic job, transforming her voice to sound like Spears and invoking the emotions on the page; I often forgot I wasn’t actually listening to Britney Spears. I would highly recommend this book to fans of celebrity memoirs; it is brave and heart wrenching, showing the dark side of how toxic fame can be.

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What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

The description of this book includes the comparison “The Mummy meets Death on the Nile” – I’ve read few descriptions that had me borrowing a book faster. What the River Knows is a historical fantasy following protagonist Inez on a life changing journey to find out what happened to her parents after they disappear in the Egyptian desert, pronounced dead. Inez is sharp and persistent, raised in the upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires. Her parents spend half of their year in Egypt, searching for lost tombs and artifacts, leaving Inez behind. When Inez receives word of her parent’s death she takes on the task of discovering what happened. Along the way there is danger, history, excitement, and love. The audiobook I listened to is primarily narrated by Ana Osorio with some sections narrated by Ahmed Hamad. I particularly liked Ana Osorio as a narrator. This was a fun and turbulent read that really kept my interest. 

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All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life’s Work by Hayley Campbell

Death affects us all; it is a part of life and surrounds the living. There are many reactions to death, one of which is curiosity. Journalist Hayley Campbell became familiar with death at a young age, peering at detailed drawings her father created as part of a Jack the Ripper comic book he was writing. Since then Campbell has wondered about the logistics of death, specifically the death industry and those that make their living working with the dead. In this close look at the death industry Campbell interviews the invisible laborers that have jobs many would never consider for themselves: executioners, embalmers, morticians, homicide detectives, and crime scene cleaners, as well as mass fatality investigators, a bereavement midwife, gravediggers, a cryonics facility, a crematorium operator, an anatomical pathology technologist, a Mayo Clinic director of anatomical services, and a death mask sculptor. By way of these interviews Campbell provides a deep dive into these professions, presents the question of what working with the dead does to the living, and explores various approaches and attitudes to death. In all instances Campbell goes to the interviewee, often at their place of work. This was a really interesting read, and listening to the author herself narrate the audiobook was awesome; I really felt the passion she had for her subject. Campbell respects the death industry and the dead and sheds light on dedicated people whose work is often left unknown and unappreciated.

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The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

This is a young adult coming of age novel that tells of Dill and his friends Travis and Lydia. The group are high school outcasts, leaning on one another for friendship and support. Dill lives with his mom who struggles to make ends meet; his dad is in prison. The main reason for Dill’s outcast status is his fathers very public fall from grace as a minister who handles poisonous snakes and speaks in tongues. Dill receives pressure from his dad to follow in his footsteps and handle snakes. Dill’s mom parrots his dad, urging Dill to go into preaching and discouraging him from applying to college. Tragic events unfold in the novel, ultimately forcing Dill to choose between what his parents want and what he wants. All the while his fierce friendships with Travis and Lydia remain the brightness in his otherwise bleak situation. I was not expecting to love this book like I did; it really stomped on my heart and felt very relatable to teenage and adult readers alike. Zentner’s character building is well done and his writing propelling. The audiobook had three narrators for the parts of Dill, Travis, and Lydia, the chapters fluctuating between the three. I like audiobooks that provide different narrators for different characters, so that was a highlight for me. I would recommend this book to someone looking for a true to life young adult read. 

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Audiobooks can be checked out from the Joplin Public Library in CD and MP3 format, as well as electronically from the digital borrowing platforms Libby and hoopla. 

Loose Threads by Isol

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Every so often, an adult will sheepishly tell me that they “still read picture books.” To that I say: a good book is a good book! Read with abandon! You can find some of the most beautiful art and the most touching stories in picture books. I am hoping my review this month will aid in the unabashed search for great picture books.

Loose Threads is a book unlike any other that I have read. Isol Misenta (listed as Isol on the book jacket) was inspired by a gifted scarf to create an imaginative picture book about a seemingly forgetful little girl named Leila. Originally written in Spanish and translated by Lawrence Schimel, Loose Threads follows Leila, a girl who is always losing things. When her mother admonishes her to take better care of her belongings, Leila insists that it’s not her fault. On the other side of her beautiful village, there is another village. This other village is home to all her lost items. This reverse village is similar to hers, but everything is all jumbled and knotted up. Of course, no one has ever seen this place so the stories could be fictional, but Leila is convinced it’s real. What else could explain the sudden disappearance of so many of her things? Eventually, Leila decides to find this other world and solve the mystery of her lost things once and for all. But will she find what she is looking for? Will her attempts to solve a problem actually make things better?

The story itself is fun, but the illustration style is where Loose Threads really shines. Author/illustrator Isol photographed the gifted scarf, using the finished side as the backdrop of Leila’s world and the messy, back side as the Other Side that she goes in search of. When she seeks to repair the holes between worlds to stop losing her things, Isol uses stitched embroidery thread. Aside from Leila, her mother, and her grandmother, who are sketched directly onto the photo of the scarf, other characters are scribbled onto beige bits of paper and placed on top of the scarf.

This story reads like a fable, both in its off kilter explanation of everyday occurrences and in its creative explanation of an everyday phenomenon and its plucky and curious young hero. Loose Threads can be found in the fairy tale and fable section of the Children’s department and will find its most captive audience in elementary-aged readers and their families. Isol’s unique multimedia illustrations will likely encourage other similar art projects with the reader’s own beloved objects. I’ll see you in the Children’s Department–happy reading!

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The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis by George Stephanopoulos

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We arrive, fellow citizens, at the fleeting moments of a presidential campaign. Soon (hopefully) we’ll know whether it’s Kamala Harris or Donald Trump who will become the next commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces. Of all the enumerated powers under Article II of the U.S. Constitution, “commander in chief” is probably the weightiest. It’s definitely a 24/7 gig. To assist with decision-making, a vast array of national security information is available to each president. And most of it emanates from one centralized location: the White House’s Situation Room.

In The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis by George Stephanopoulos, we learn not only of the Situation Room’s inception (there is actually more than one room) but also of how its use is a commentary on a president’s management style. Stephanopoulos notes that the Situation Room (or Sit Room) has been called “the best filter in the world” and the “most important crisis management center in the entire world.” He does capital work introducing the apolitical Sit Room duty officers who staff and diligently serve each president, regardless of political party affiliation. But what makes this book really pop are the high-level interviews and stories from the archives. Even if you have a broad understanding of the events presented in this book, I posit you will still find many details in those events just flat-out wild and alarming.

The Bay of Pigs debacle was the impetus to create the Situation Room. President Kennedy wanted a centralized location in the West Wing that would hasten direct access to sensitive information. The actual physical space was utilitarian, having “all the charm of a cardboard box.” When Stephanopoulos arrived as a White House staffer in the Clinton administration, conditions apparently had not improved much. When he first saw the Sit Room, his first thought was “underwhelming.” It didn’t resemble the sleek movie depictions that go all the way back to the war room in Dr. Strangelove. (Stephanopoulos does take us through the more recent modernizations.)

President Johnson, bedeviled with the conflict in Vietnam, was a constant visitor to the Sit Room. Ever the micromanager, he would constantly call down to the duty officers. It was not uncommon for Johnson to ring the Sit Room in the middle of the night to inquire if there were any new developments coming out of Vietnam. He desperately wanted some piece of information that might take the U.S. out of what he privately remarked was a hopeless endeavor.

Full of self-pity and feeling persecuted from the Watergate scandal, President Nixon had all but retired to the White House residence where he would start drinking early in the day. As a result, Nixon was often too drunk to make immediate decisions. This created a power vacuum that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was more than happy to fill. Famously known as a realpolitik operator, Kissinger was quick to argue the value of the world viewing the United States as a “trigger-happy” military power. Other national security staff often pushed back, arguing that such force was not always a net positive. And—half a world away—it turns out that Nixon’s counterpart, Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, was also often too drunk to make decisions.

We read how President Carter used a psychic to try and locate the U.S. hostages being held in Iran. When Carter gives the order for a military rescue of the hostages (which failed miserably), Stephanopoulos is excellent in its retelling. The same is true when detailing President Obama’s order to send a Navy SEAL team into Pakistan for Osama bin Laden. Stephanopoulos places the reader right in the Sit Room, and it’s riveting.

In 1981, President Reagan was shot and rushed to a hospital. Thanks to National Security Advisor Richard Allen placing a tape recorder on the Sit Room conference table, we know how various aides and cabinet officials decided to handle the dilemma. And it’s rather shocking. During these tense moments, Vice President Bush was en route to Washington D.C. from Texas. There was a communication problem on his plane, rendering him unreachable. The transcript of the tape recording reads almost like a tragicomedy. Constitutionally, none of the men in that room were in control of the executive branch. But that didn’t stop Secretary of State Al Haig from going to the press and declaring, “As of now, I’m in control here.” Later, Allen would reply that it was an “imminently stupid” thing for Haig to say.

President George H.W. Bush appears both knowledgeable and unfailingly polite. He often invited Sit Room staff to watch movies in the White House’s theater room. A former Sit Room secretary recounts how on one Saturday morning she picked up the phone to hear President Bush actually asking for permission to enter the Sit Room. “This is the president. May I come in?”

He was also shrewd in dealing with military generals who often had their own agendas. This power play with military brass was something Secretary of State Madeleine Albright experienced in the Clinton administration. And the fact that she was the first woman to hold her position meant that it was decidedly a new experience for the generals as well.

Throughout the book, history is threaded together by those who served under multiple presidents. For instance, John Bolton assumed “high-level positions under presidents Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43 and Trump.” Regarding Bush 43, Bolton notes that the president knew he had much to learn, so “he learned it.” Bolton doesn’t have the same take on President Trump: “He had no idea what the issues were. He never learned anything.” This observance is underscored by Trump asking if Puerto Rico—where the inhabitants are U.S. citizens—could be traded for Greenland.

Ultimately, this book is a homage to the resolute Sit Room duty officers. Career government employees are often much maligned. However, as Stephanopoulos describes, these are the people who stayed at their White House posts during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. They ignored evacuation orders so that they could do their work. They are the ones who must decide when to move information up the chain of command, knowing that a misstep could cost lives. They also understand that for a democracy to endure there must be a continuity of government among presidents. They serve in the same spirit as President Kennedy’s call to service, a “commitment to others” that rises above one’s own self-interest.

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Review by Jason Sullivan

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When you are a single woman in her twenties and starting a career, saying yes to new adventures and possibilities is fun and thrilling. Saying yes when you are 20-25 years older with an established career and a family can be exhausting. And, as the four ladies in Gretchen Anthony’s new novel find, it can also jeopardize a friendship.

Tired Ladies Take a Stand introduces us to Emma, Fern, Carolina, and Andi. Emma, a teacher recently divorced from an unfaithful husband, has a daughter getting married in six short months. Fern is a writer who can’t find anything she wants to write about. She and her husband have two sons in college and a daughter ready to graduate and head to a university on the east coast. Carolina, a corporate executive with an exercise fetish, has an understanding partner. And Andi is a human rights attorney currently handling way too many cases, leaving her husband to parent their teenage son.

These four ladies became fast friends after they formed a book club. They encouraged each other to try new things and were there with support when life didn’t go as planned. After her writing career started Fern wrote essays about some of their adventures and lessons learned. She pulled those together into a book called “Smart Girls Say Yes”. She didn’t use full names but anyone who know Fern can identify them. She also didn’t ask or inform her friends about the stories she was sharing.

But these ladies have always had each other’s back, at least until the night of the engagement party. Emma has to make a toast at her daughter’s party. She really wants to do well and outshine her ex who brought the woman he was cheating with. She needs the support of her friends but when her moment comes only Carolina is there to cheer her on.

Andi left to find coffee so she can stay awake and Fern is in the bathroom hiding while she texts and makes phone calls. Smart Girls Say Yes has found a resurgence through TikTok and Fern just got an offer to option it. Fern, however, is the only one thrilled with the news.
Hurt and fed up, Emma tells them each what they are ignoring. They need a lesson in learning to say no. Andi’s humanitarian work is exhausting her, Carolina is a workaholic that exercises way too much, and Fern wrote a book about them without changing their names and included moments, one day in particular for Emma, that they didn’t want shared. Now she wants it made into a movie? Emma says no.

Anthony tells these ladies’ stories in chapters alternating with excerpts from Smart Girls Say Yes. So you get a glimpse of what they were like when young and relatively carefree and now when responsibilities weigh them down.

In the six months from the engagement party in March to the wedding in September, each lady will have decisions to make. Fern’s is a decision that will affect them all. If she says yes it will be a dream come true and give her family much needed financial support. But what are the consequences of that decision for her friends?

Andi’s clients need her and the number keeps growing. But what is the travel and workload doing to her son and husband? Carolina seems to be on top of everything at work but exercise is her stress reducer and her stress is off the charts. What happens when her body and her partner say enough?

Emma has said her no but can she stay the course? She has a wedding to make perfect and a single life to navigate. Plus she has tasked herself with being the buffer between her daughter and Doris, the passive-aggressive future mother-in-law. Then there’s that long ago day that Fern included in the book. The incident on that day is one that will do damage to someone with a lot to lose.

This book is a fun read. The characters are likable with issues a lot of working women recognize. I will admit that the format threw me at first because it was hard to keep everyone straight. Once I had the characters identified, I really enjoyed this story about strong women and friendship.

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Book review by Patty Crane, Reference Librarian

The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee

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Miye Lee’s THE DALLERGUT DREAM DEPARTMENT STORE imagines a world that our subconscious minds visit while we sleep. We do not remember this world when we wake up, but it is where we purchase our dreams every night.

The novel is set almost exclusively in this dream world. The main character, Penny, has just been hired at the Dallergut Dream Department Store – the most famous dream store in the world. She has some basic knowledge of dream production and sales, as do most citizens of this world. Penny is curious and diligent, and eager to get to work.

Dallergut himself is somewhat eccentric. He is the top name in dream sales and has personal relationships with many of the dream artists, but he also seems to be scatterbrained and flighty. His office is a mess, that Penny wants to clean up, but his ability to match dreams to dreamers is uncanny.

Each floor of Dallergut’s department store is dedicated to a different type of dreaming. From the generic dreams of hanging out with friends on the second floor to the dreams of swimming through the ocean as a whale – an extremely popular dream available only by special order.

Dreams are created by artists, who craft them much as an author does a novel. Dream artists usually specialize in a specific type of dream, even nightmares. There are many dream artists in the world, but the most famous are the Big Five, who the world treats as celebrities and Dallergut knows personally.

In this world, dreams manifest as small boxes. These boxes fill the various shelves of the department store where our unconscious selves can purchase them. Dream world citizens are also able to buy the dreams. They experience them as we do, the only difference is that they are aware of where the dreams come from.

Generally the dream world is very like our own: there are food vendors on the sidewalk, Penny lives in an apartment building, even the store is outwardly very normal. But there are also magical creatures roaming the streets, ready to give pajamas and robes to visitors from our world who arrive without them. Their world also trades in emotions distilled from the dream visitors.

When a person from our world buys a dream, they agree to a payment plan that will collect some of their feelings upon waking. These emotions can then be taken by the dream world citizens to feel calm or excited — or they can be taken to the bank and converted into money.

Each chapter of this relatively short novel explorers a different type of dreaming. There are brief glimpses into our world to show how the things we dream can affect our real lives.

It is easy to get lost in the world that Lee has built. Her deep interest in dreams is explored both in her author’s note at the beginning of the book and in the translator’s note at the end.

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Book review by Alyssa Berry, Technical Services Librarian

Family Family by Laurie Frankel

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India Allwood grew up wanting to be an actor. She was hooked from the age of ten when she saw the play Guys and Dolls with her mother. Her whole life was about making this dream come true.  She had to make a lot of tough choices along the way, but finally, decades later, her dream came true and she is one of the most well-known actors in America. 

But now that she has realized her childhood dream, she feels in danger of losing it. Not because she is not a good actor, because she is the best, but all because she dared to tell the truth.

The situation is best described by India’s daughter, “It all started the way it all started.  There was a tiny matter. And then it exploded.”

India made a big screen movie, and she did her best with the script provided. While she agrees it was a good movie, she also admits that some parts of it could have been written differently. Thinking this is one thing, but she tells a journalist and now a tiny matter has exploded and turned into a media storm.  

Despite the ensuing drama and threat to her livelihood and career, India refuses to be ashamed. She admits that families are complicated, but she refuses to compromise hers for the sake of her career, the media, or really anything. She thinks that she is justified in defending her family and her livelihood, but outside forces are intent on convincing her otherwise.

Laurie Frankel’s writing speaks directly to my heart.  It is witty, clever and humorous. It is such a dry, smart humor that I am reading parts of the text over and over, even weeks after I have finished the book.

She is a master at character development.  India is self-assured and poised, especially as a young adult, which she is for half of the book. She is smart, opinionated, beautiful, caring and such a badass. I love the spark and spunky personality that Frankel has given her. 

Plus, the supporting characters, of which there are many, are drawn almost as beautifully as India.  Three dimensional and literally leaping off the page.  India’s boyfriend, Robby Brighton, her mother, even her best friend Dakota.  They all feel like real people. 

While the characters are enough to make me giddy, the plot is the real gem.  The way it is put together is superb.  The story alternates between the present day media blow up to flashbacks starting in 1999 and moving toward the present, until it eventually stays in the present day. To say it is compelling is an understatement.  It is also especially tender and raw. Frankel explores many themes in her newest offering – families, love, adoption, self-sacrifice, friendship and parenting. 

Reading this was an eye opening experience, but not in the way that I first expected when I checked the new title out.  There are many beautiful and unexpected turns along the way.  Not only is this a great addition to the category of contemporary fiction in 2024, Frankel’s latest would make an excellent book club selection thanks to the various themes it explores. Consider adding this one to your list today, it is excellent! 

Review written by: Jeana Gockley, Joplin Public Library Director

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