November Madness
And why does murder make it better?
Before we begin…
How do you handle interruptions? Or November? Is an interruption just life’s way of batting you on the side of the head to remind you that life is not what you think it is or are they just distractions and detours that threaten all progress? And what about November? Do you hate it? Love it? Or none of the above?
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One of those weeks
This is going to be one of those short missives, a tell-tale sign that the week did not go as planned. More accurately, I gave up on plans this week. Despite last week’s brave words about writing even a sentence a day and using whatever block of time I had to chip away at my novel, I felt as though a drunk person with a chisel was chipping away at me or, more accurately, the veneer of competence and serenity I’d so carefully constructed.
“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own,' or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life ….” ― C.S. Lewis
What time was it? I never knew. Got it wrong all week, thanks to the arrival of Daylight Savings Time. My sleep schedule, already modified by the ongoing care for our pup with cancer, evaporated. I was awake all hours in the dark and then, in the middle of more than one afternoon, crawled into a prone position on the couch and blanked out.
I think I’ve got a case of the Novembers. I used to get them every year right around now. My son hated November when he was small, complaining that “Everything is gray and brown. It’s too cold to swim and there’s not enough snow to play in.” November always interrupted the momentum I’d managed to gather in the colorful, changeable, productive months of September and October and then pointed me towards the end of the year which was rushing towards me in a blur.
How, you might ask, is it possible to feel this way in San Diego? Well, we had a little weather here this week: a waxing moon, a sudden plunge into the upper fifties (don’t laugh - it was cold to those of us with thinning West Coast blood. There was a day of surprisingly heavy rain – just enough to trigger the memories of darker and colder times.
So, instead of a week of GETTING THINGS DONE, this turned out to be a week of GETTING THROUGH IT. Here are a few things that made it a lot easier in case they might come in handy for you.
A short read at the right time
I realized what was happening when I read this lovely essay, “What The Body Remembers,” by Robyn Ryle. Ryle’s newsletter, You Think Too Much, a recent and happy discovery and not just because the title seems to be the thing people have said to me most often my entire life. In “What The Body Remembers,” Ryle shares a book, The Body Keeps Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma and how this has played out for her. The body remembers everything. Mine remembers the need to shut down and prepare for a winter that is happening thousands of miles from me. The depression that came with some particular Novembers from long ago, haunts and threatens to sink in.
Murders That Made it Better
Louise Penny - Again
Lily’s first chemo session was Tuesday, Election Day. The skies opened up, the rain thundered down and when we got her home, the best thing for all of us was settling on the sofa with some cocoa. I opened up A Fatal Grace, the second book in Louise Penny’s Inspector Armand Gamache series. This book, like the first, is an invitation to sink into the deceptively cozy quilt of a tiny northern town at Christmas time only to be speared by the harsh reality of the season, the sharp edges of people who have suffered, and the realization that even the characters we love the most come with their own darkness, struggles, and yearnings for growth.
There is a murder, of course there is. The victim is no one’s favorite person but we can’t exult in her demise. Penny is a master at showing the humanity in each of her people, even the worst of them. She seems to subscribe to the idea that drives the Netflix series Inside Man - that we are all capable of the worst and it is a good idea to remember it. The hot toddies, warm firesides, the twinkling lights of the town all make Fatal Grace seductively attractive and I couldn’t put it down.
Stanley Tucci, Far From Italy
A death-row sleuth, a vicar, and woman chained in the basement of the vicar’s house. What could go wrong? The makers of Sherlock Holmes with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman put together a four-episode series that sucked me in and provided a compelling distraction from the Novembers and, also, waiting for election results. Inside Man features Stanley Tucci as Jefferson Grieff, a criminologist on death row for killing his wife and hiding her head, something we learn gradually. He’s first introduced as a person who helps others solve crimes, assisted by a sociopath with an eidetic memory who serves as a note taker and truth teller.
David Tennant plays a vicar who, in his efforts to save a member of his flock, plunges his family into chaos. The woman he imprisons in his basement rivals Sherlock Holmes for resourcefulness and he soon realizes how far out of his depth he is even as he edges closer and closer to committing murder. The show is darkly funny but also starkly real when it comes to the decisions humans make in the name of being good, not to mention how messy and complicated murder can be if you don’t know what you are doing.
“Everyone is a murderer. You just have to meet the right person,” – Jefferson Grieff as played by Stanley Tucci in Inside Man.
Murder in the Name of Love
If all-too-human murderers are your thing too, definitely also see Bad Sisters, a 10-episode series on Apple that features five siblings with a problem but who are also very bad at killing. They, too, act out of love but each also has her own private motivation. Again, dark humor, a villain who is so hateful I dreamed of ways to do him in as I went around the house the next day, and a few hours of escape, this time to Ireland.
A friend’s visit and a pack-walk just in time
Then there was the unexpected grace of a well-timed visit from a friend and the invitation to walk our dogs together instead of alone. After days of fatigue (and a little too much murder), it felt good to walk in the newly-returned sunshine as a pack. Even the dogs seemed to relax. Instead of anxious pulling or whining, which had gotten worse since Tuesday’s chemo, Lily and Frida walked in companionable calm with my friend’s dog and us. New sights, new smells and the return of blue sky and sun made all the difference for that hour or so. Like this:
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When one can’t write, read a book about writing
I finished a short book about how to write short novels, or novellas: Writing the Novella by Sharon Oard Warner. Given how long it has taken me to write a full-length novel, I am thinking future work ought to be packaged into smaller “containers” as Warner puts it. There are some useful reminders, tips, and resources in this book. You’ll find it listed in our Resources for Writers.
Looking forward to…
Reading more of Sandra Butler’s essay collection, The Kitchen is Closed: And Other Benefits of Being Old and starting Claire Keegan’s novella Small Things Like These. If you missed our discussion about it, you can read the essay that brought Sandra Butler to our attention here. Keegan’s novel was recommended by several Spark readers and in this review by fellow Bookstacker Courtney Cook.
Resources for Readers and Writers: New Addition
Before we go, here is another recent and happy find and a terrific resource for readers. Check out Rosalynn Tyo’s All By Our Shelves. You’ll find books and the thoughts they trigger in thoughtful posts by Rosalynn Tyo whose voice on the page (or screen) is fun, real, and makes you want to linger a little longer. Here’s her most recent post about two novels in which food plays a role for better or worse.
What’s by your bed?
Here’s the stack of books teetering near my bed. Some of them I’ve finished, others are brand new and waiting (Ed Yong’s An Immense World) for the perfect moment. Still others, like The Selected Poems of Donald Hall or Grimm’s Fairy Tales, for that single page or two to set me right before settling into sleep or, in the morning, before my feet hit the floor. Send a photo of the stack of books that you’ve got going by your bed or wherever your books pile up so we can feature it in upcoming issues of Spark (send photos to elizabethmarro@substack.com). If you have a stack of books TBR, send those!
Welcome New Subscribers!
It’s been another really wonderful week for welcoming new subscribers. Thank you all for being here. If you would like to check out past issues, here’s a quick link to the archives. Be sure to check out our Resources for Readers and Writers too. And help us spread the word by sharing Spark with your friends. Oh, you can find most of the books discussed here on the Spark Community Recommendations Page of bookshop.org where each sale supports local bookstores and generates a commission that right now is too small to even mention but if it ever gets any bigger, we will decide how to spend it together.
That’s it for this week. Let me know how you are and what you’re reading. If there’s an idea, book, or question you’d like to see in an upcoming issue of Spark, let us know! Use the comment button below or just hit reply to this email and send your message directly.
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Ciao for now.
Gratefully,
Betsy
P.S. And now, your moment of Zen…Day’s End
One thing good about November: the sunsets deepen and spread more vividly across the evening sky here in San Diego. A burst of glory and then, a flickering out. Catches my heart every time.
Calling for Your Contribution to “Moment of Zen”
What is YOUR moment of Zen? Send me your photos, a video, a drawing, a song, a poem, or anything with a visual that moved you, thrilled you, calmed you. Or just cracked you up. This feature is wide open for your own personal interpretation.
Come on, go through your photos, your memories or just keep your eyes and ears to the ground and then share. Send your photos/links, etc. to me by replying to this email or simply by sending to: elizabethmarro@substack.com. The main guidelines are probably already obvious: don’t hurt anyone -- don’t send anything that violates the privacy of someone you love or even someone you hate, don’t send anything divisive, or aimed at disparaging others. Our Zen moments are to help us connect, to bond, to learn, to wonder, to share -- to escape the world for a little bit and return refreshed.
I can’t wait to see what you send!
My week was much the same. But there were bright spots throughout the days. I am reading "Braiding Sweetgrass" which I highly recommend (I am late to the party on that book) whose author inspired me to buy leeks and make a potato leek soup yesterday and to go to the farmer's market later today. We do what we can...and if you haven't read it yet, Betsy, check out "The Dog Lived, And So Will I" which is the best kind of dog book...where the dog lives!
My sister-in-law and I spent a day last week in your neck of the woods, or ocean as it is, The Embarcadero and downtown San Diego. The weather was gorgeous, it wasn't the weekend yet, so there weren't a ton of people and we had a blast. We drove to Oceanside from Irvine and then rode the Coaster to Union Station. We got off on a couple of the other Coaster stops and walked around until the next train came. My only regret is that I didn't do my research before going to see if there were any indie book stores to visit while we were down there. Next trip for sure.