Chapter 37 - Seating Arrangements

We just got back from a Mediterranean cruise which took us to Barcelona, Cannes, Florence, Rome, Ibiza, and Mallorca. It was a wonderful, relaxing time and we quickly traveled home to join friends at a wedding in Maryland. I've been so busy I can hardly breathe much less write. In addition our oldest granddaughter just celebrated her 19th birthday and we are in the planning stages for Thanksgiving visits to family.

I started to think about books I've enjoyed about family dynamics. I have read that reading novels help the reader to be more compassionate and to understand the world better. I think that is why I gravitate toward relationship/character driven books. It is people's interactions with each other and how they cope with everyday or even extraordinary events that teach me the most. Yes, a good bank robbery, or car chase can be fun to read about but it is books about relationships which give me a different perspective on the world.

So here are some books I've enjoyed about people, relationships, and even one about a wedding.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman - This is the first of two books now in the series. One week a year Rocky's family goes to Cape Code for their vacation. The place holds wonderful memories of summers long past including some not so wonderful memories of messes too. This year Rocky is sandwiched between her almost adult kids and her aging parents and is coping with menopause, and more than a few family secrets. Will any of the secrets be spilled?

Wreck by Catherine Newman - Here is the second book in the series. Now Rocky and her family are back home and the book starts two years later. Rocky is dealing with her daughter home from college, her son in New York, and her widowed father-in-law moving in with them. Rocky becomes distracted by a local accident and a medical diagnosis which she is hoping won't impact the family. The two books are written with wisdom and humor.

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout - Lucy is recovering from what should have been an uneventful surgery. Her mother who she has not spoken to in years comes to see her and tell her all the news from Amgash, the small town where Lucy grew up. The visit triggers Lucy's recollections of her troubled family, her career desires, her marriage, and love for her daughters. This is a good book about family dynamics and how things can change in a moment.

Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout - In this follow up (of a sort) to Lucy Barton, Strout has woven together vignettes from Amgash to form a beautiful story of family, friends, and reconciliation. Of course, adult Lucy Barton also has her part in the unfolding of the tale.

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead - Gathered at the family retreat to celebrate the wedding of seven months pregnant Daphne to Greyson Duff, the weekend is planned to be full of champagne, fresh air, and practiced manners. Of course there is trouble in paradise - the disgraced FOB's crush on a bridesmaid, the wily best man, an escaped lobster, and a beached whale. What should have been a wedding with pomp and circumstance, may just become a total debacle!

Are there any relationship books you can recommend? Let me know.