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This week’s Friday Five is brought to you courtesy of a discussion my girls and I had earlier this week about the exact definition of a “sister from another mister.” Or, if you’d prefer, “brother from another mother.” We began to debate how close a friendship might need to be for it to fall into one of these two buckets. We talked about different types of familial arrangements that would lead to such a relational set-up. And somehow in the midst of it all, three of the below five books happened to be mid-point in my new reality of reading a plurality of titles at the same time (well, not the exact same time, but you catch my drift). Without further ado, this week’s Friday Five with a spotlight on the ups and downs of complex relationships.

The Book of Goose: I’ve had my eye on this piece of literary fiction by the Chair of Princeton University’s English department for a few months and finally, FINALLY, after putting the last of the Berger kids to start on the bus this week, I cracked it open and didn’t move for the handful of hours it took to consume. Set in postwar 1950s France, the story opens with Agnes learning of the death of her childhood friend Fabienne. Freed of any repercussions from an honest retelling of their shared story, Agnes reveals a deal made between the two young girls that resulted in an intricate web of deception fooling not only their small rural village neighbors but also a wider cast of characters set afire by what they believed was a young prodigy. About a third of the way in to this retelling, Agnes ponders why she hadn’t chosen an easier girl to befriend: “Why couldn’t I have settled for Geneviève in her sweet innocence, walking home worth her, our hands clasped, our shoulders touching, our footsteps matching each other’s? Or for that matter, Anne, who was meek and who had the best singing voice in the whole school? Or Berthe, the tallest girl in the class, whose friendship was sought-after by many of my classmates? These are good questions, but we may as well ask a plane tree, Why can’t you keep your leaves in winter? Or ask a wasp, Why weren’t you born more useful, like a honeybee?” Short chapters, a compelling storyline, and a deep understanding of the human propensity of being drawn to those we might do better to leave well enough alone. (Release date: 9/20/22).

Bliss Montage: Next up, book two that has been dancing around my TBR pile all summer; I’ve harbored a simmering reluctance to open it because with the turn of the first page, I would be that much closer to the end. The author, Ling Ma, penned one of my favorite books of the last decade, Severance. Severance is a pre-pandemic release that now seems in our current state, a bit uncannily prescient at least about the acension of a workplace plague. A side note for those of you who share my end-of-the-world jive, no, this Severance is not related to the one of Apple+ fame, though that I also highly recommend. ANYWAY, all of this is to say that I knew that Ma’s new work would be a hit with this audience of one. What I wasn’t prepared for was how perfectly it would slot into this category of uncomfortably close relationships in not one but at least two of the stories. In the opening story, the protagonist lives with her husband (who speaks only in dollar symbols), children, and 100 ex-boyfriends who engage in activities that mirror exactly what you'd do with your Los Angeles bestie, impromptu runs to Moon Juice and the like. Another tale features a young woman whose childhood pal is so bereft at their separation that she sneakily employs a drug cocktail to keep her friend a bit too close for comfort. These stories are weird in the absolute best kind of way. Modern and perfect for anyone who wants fresh writing such as this to be as “ubiquitous as Vampire Weekend blasting at dorm parties.” (Release date: 9/13/22).

Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close: I was not a regular listener of Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman’s hit podcast of the same name that ran from 2014-2022 but I heard them interviewed in the summer of 2020 and was struck by their searing honesty about what it takes to survive a longterm friendship. It was the first time I’d come across the notion that non-related family members could work to repair and maintain their relationships through joint therapy sessions and plain old hard work. The duo’s willingness to expose the less-than-rosy episodes in their decade-long relationship is refreshing. And after many years of interviewing friends and experts, these two buds make the case that platonic friendships deserve a seat at the relationship table right next to those of the long-venerated romantic sort. A good pick for book clubs who want to engage in an interactive text that will ask them to do more than recount plot points and remember the rosé.

Stay True: From New Yorker writer Hua Hsu, a memoir delivered in economic prose (an apparent rarity in the 2022 fall book drop: I’m looking at you, John Irving). Hsu begins by recounting a childhood spent in Cupertino California before much of anyone cared about a little company in residence with the same name as a popular in-season fruit. When Hsu arrives on the campus of UC Berkely in the mid 90s he finds himself somewhat adrift. After passing initial judgement on a classmate (“The first time I met Ken, I hated him . . . He was a genre of a person I actively avoided — mainstream.”), Hsu eventually lets go of his assumptions about Ken and finds in him a ride-or-die sidekick. An unexpected, life-changing event brings about deep meditations about indelible marks friends from university days leave on the heart. A starred review from Kirkus sums it up perfectly: “Masterfully structured and exquisitely written. Hsu’s voice shimmers with tenderness and vulnerability as he meticulously reconstructs his memories of a nurturing, compassionate friendship. The protagonists’ Asian American identities are nuanced, never serving as the defining element of the story, and the author creates a cast of gorgeously balanced characters. A stunning, intricate memoir about friendship, grief, and memory.” (Release Date: 9/27/22).

Greek Myths: Meet the Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of Ancient Greece: Finally, a win for the bedtime reading category. The book suggests an age range of 7-9 but this mid-forties woman is here to tell you, I think we can expand that age range well beyond the elementary school set. A greek myth novice myself, I am absolutely delighted and horrified by the antics these ancient folk got up to in their conquest to rule ancient Greece. Brothers and sisters run amok, swallowed by their fathers, gods falling for one goddess and then another, sisters becoming wives, brothers becoming enemies then friends, then enemies again. Each night finds my girls laughing out loud with shocked delight at the twisted relationships these folks have with each other. Bonus: each story is beautifully illustrated and self-contained, making for a rich but not prolonged read aloud at the end of a long day. 

tells story after story about finding sanctuary and support when both were lacking; and, redemption and spiritual connection in the patient attention to a place and its life both human and non-human. His articles and essays weave together art, science and poetry, and he has been an acclaimed companion, guide and leader for over fifty years, as he’s traveled across the earth to apprehend and connect with the complexity and beauty of the natural world. On his travels to remote places around the earth and in his encounters with both wildlife and indigenous people, as early as the 1980’s, he saw evidence of damage being done to the earth and long warned of climate change. However, his writing is not about despair but about healing, suggesting that if we pay close attention to the earth, we can establish a primal connection that we “experience as a diffuse, ineffable pleasure.....as the easing of a particular kind of longing.” For Mr. Lopez that longing has to do with his understanding of the Divine. He writes unashamedly of feeling the support and consolation of his early Catholic education and later at Notre Dame of his attraction to the sense of mysticism as a path to the Divine. His descriptions of close encounters with narwhales, wolves, roiling seas and the solitude of icebound wilderness, among many other adventures, engage us, frighten us, enthrall us and command our attention such that we catch a glimpse of how we can experience that same deep connection to life.

The book opens with a beautiful introduction, written and read by the author Rebecca Solnit, and the deep, calm, resonant voice of James Naughton, who has read several others of Mr. Lopez’s books, is a joy to listen to and perfect for this collection. Hearing the sense of wonder expressed everywhere in this splendid collection reminded me to get outside and really look at this beautiful world we have been given.