Welcome to Plans Are Booked, a podcast for every reader.
I'm Molly Geller.
I'm Stephanie Blackburn.
And I'm Caitlin Madison.
Welcome to chapter 23.
Yeah, 23.
So we just podcasted a couple days ago, but Molly and Steph like have already had
things happen to them.
Meanwhile, I've just like been finishing my report cards.
And I watched the Celtics lose a really bad game last night.
They were leading by 30 at the half.
and they lost by one point.
They just like absolutely choked in the second half.
It was ridiculous.
And that's it.
I don't really have anything else going on.
Okay, Steph had an exciting start to her day, which I have been waiting to hear
about.
So a couple weeks ago, Olivia Bean, shout out to her.
She knows I'm not on Facebook.
And so she saw this request for volunteers, sent it to me as a screenshot
and was like, I'm pretty sure that you'd be into this.
And I was like, yes, I would.
Thank you so much.
So this is so random, but the person who posted it lives in my hometown of
Pepperell, Massachusetts.
Didn't grow up there.
So we've never met, but she's a physical therapist, mostly dealing with children
with disabilities, and she does physical therapy on horses.
So she put out a request for horse handlers because they're someone leading
the horse, and then she and another volunteer are on either side in case the
child should decide to dismount or fall over or what have you.
So I went today as the sort of,
orientation, I guess you could say.
And the two other volunteers are of parents' age.
Both retired, and I wanted something that would help them get in their daily steps.
They're both lovely.
They've been doing it for a couple years.
And I love both ponies that I'm going to be working with.
And my Thursday mornings, I will be there probably from 8 o'clock till noon.
What are the ponies' names?
Willie and Mickey, they're both paint horses, but I can't be sure about that.
They are owned by a nine year old who I have not met.
She requested her mother shave a heart into the hindquarters of Willie.
When I mentioned it to Marissa, she goes, oh, just like My Little Pony.
Oh my god.
Next thing you know he's gonna have purple hair.
Yeah.
Okay, so I, my family has a farm and they have horses and it was a dairy farm when
my dad was a kid.
So I should know a lot more than I do, but I don't.
I've been on a horse twice in my entire life and I hated every moment of it,
mainly because I felt like I wasn't in control.
And also you're pretty far up off the ground, which I don't like.
and I just realized I didn't really trust the horse.
And if the horse could sense that, I was like, I'm doomed.
So that was the end of that.
But my cousins are like really into it.
And like, my aunt's really into it.
And if people are into it, it's like, you're really into it.
Like, it's not, you're not just like a little bit into horses.
It's like you're actually a horse girl, which actually in my family was an insult
for a long time.
because my brother went to an all-boys school and the sister school was notorious
for having horse girls.
And Brad was like, I can remember when he was in middle school and going to dances
and he's like, I'm just not into these horse girls.
I don't wanna date a horse girl.
And I was like, oh my God.
And that's just what I think of now.
I did.
I was regretful all the time, as far as the money, I mean, with this very cool.
that was like even available.
I always enjoyed it.
I always had a good time, but I just wasn't like great at it.
And like the older we got, like there were girls who were real good and who could
like do jumps and like.
it will allow you to go on to the other page.
And you know, I'm gonna try to find out what's going on.
So I try to find out what's going on.
this has been one see all later and I would say the last time I was probably
like 14 maybe and then I hung up my boots
Let me just tell you the level of horse girl that I was growing up.
The first horse I ever rode, I think I was maybe six or seven, and it was a trail
ride that my mom took me on in Acton.
Her name was Candy.
I went home and immediately drew a picture of her, kept it on my bulletin board for
many years.
I used to, when I wasn't riding, take the two stools from the kitchen, put a blanket
over them, create stirrups out of a jump rope, and pretend ride.
This is very believable.
This is very what?
Believable.
And then when I got older and actually started riding in elementary and middle
school, my horseback riding instructor lived catty corner to my Nana's house, so
I'd take the bus to my Nana's house.
She would come pick me up when I would go horseback riding.
and stopped in my late twenties because I just couldn't afford it anymore.
So here we are.
It's going to be, it's going to make my heart.
really happy to like, even though I'm not riding, I'm spending three hours a week
with horses and I get to see like, I have no idea what it's going to be like seeing
these kids do physical therapy who are like mobily challenged on horseback.
Apparently there's a young adult who's blind and he prefers to ride backwards,
which I am, I, it's going to be, it's going to be a hoot.
I'm excited.
Wow, I'm excited for more updates about this as it goes on.
Right.
I think that...
I really think it's gonna be...
know more about these other people that are volunteers because I feel like they're
gonna be really cool.
I feel like they're gonna be fun.
Of course.
One of them is pretty quiet but she's like kind of stern looking and the other one is
like a chatty Cathy and all they could picture.
that there are like everything that we want to do, because I don't know what you
are.
One of them lives in Newton, because I mentioned cabots.
And one lives in a realm of nests, so...
Okay, well first of all, the least we may not know about cabots is that an
institution in Wheatonville, Massachusetts, which serves ice cream and
cookies the size of the human hand.
And I think it is like there's a kind of like, bonding moment.
I don't know if you know this from there.
If they don't like it, then they're not their kind of person.
She knows the family.
So.
course, but of course, which is actually quite a good segue to what I was gonna
share since we all last gathered.
Those who have been listening for a while know that Dining Out is like a huge joy
maker for me.
And I was just like clicking around on Instagram and a guy that Steph and I both
know, his name is Brian, who's an amazing restaurant food photographer.
had posted from a place I'd never heard of called the Gufo.
And I was like, what is this?
I feel like usually when he shares about things, it's a place like we already know
and love that's refreshing their menu or has renovated the restaurant, but this I
didn't recognize at all.
So it's the same people who own SRV downtown, which is Italian and I've not
been to, but I've heard great things about.
So I was like, oh, okay.
So I messaged my twin cousins who live very close to the restaurant.
And I was like, have you been here?
Do you wanna go?
They hadn't been, but there were a bunch of reservations open, so we just snagged.
This restaurant from the outside looks like it's in like an abandoned office
building.
Like you would just not from the street think that anything special is going on in
there.
And you go in through the front door to the host stand, which is in this weird
like empty space where they do like all their takeout arranging of all those
orders.
And their pizza oven is there.
But you kind of have to walk down a hallway to get into the dining room.
When you turn the corner, it's like this huge, beautiful, feels like you're
downtown restaurant.
Gorgeous wall color.
Beautiful huge plants big u-shaped bar just like stunning like I honestly was
like whoa am I in the south end like this is beautiful It's Italian.
We had the broccoli Caesar which was excellent The cacio e pepe arancini, which
is like if you want to get me to do anything just like order me that We split
a pizza two pastas and then we had two desserts now.
It's an open kitchen So from our seat we could see everything coming over the
island
And that's how we decided which desserts to get, because we kept seeing them come
over.
I loved it.
Free parking on the street in Cambridge.
It was Sunday night, so that was also a great, for those who aren't from
Massachusetts, it's still Puritan times, and you don't have to pay for anything on
Sunday, so you can just park on the street.
And it's been a while, I feel like, since I went to somewhere unheard of, totally
new, and it just reminded me what a...
fun experience that is when it turns out to be great.
Like you didn't know about it, you sit down, it's 10 out of 10, and now I feel
like I have another place to bring people when they visit Remodotown.
I have a question for you.
So, you told me that you were going to film which of course, is in the second
June, April.
Exactly.
For a short, it's on Cambridge Street between Inland Square and the Litchfield
station.
So it's going to be a movie to a focus.
That drives now for film is that you're describing it.
Because I would say it's more than a movie.
Or a film.
or anywhere in that area that looks like that still?
that looks like a mess building.
It's this three story brick building that just looks empty.
And in fact, my cousins were standing outside of it waiting for me and they're
like, this is it, right?
I was like, I think, let's just go in and see what we see.
But a true hidden gem, and I'm sure now that I talked about it and posted about
it, more people will show up there, but it was really easy to get a reservation.
They had tons of open times.
They also do brunch and they have an outdoor patio.
So when it gets warmer, I feel like that'd be.
Oh, yeah, put that on the sketch.
Hmm.
Yep.
Okay.
Got it noted.
Um, well, that was a lot of joy.
That was a lot of.
Horses and new restaurants and report cards are done.
And now we're going to switch it up a little bit.
And we're going to segue into our topic of the week, which is sometimes we do topics,
sometimes we do specific books.
We decided for this episode, we would do a topic and the topic is tear jerkers, books
that made us cry.
And
I don't know when we came.
I think when we first started cooking up ideas for this podcast, I think it's been
on the list like since November and we just haven't done it yet.
And I don't want to say that we're avoiding it because honestly, I kind of
forgot that it was on the list.
And then we returned to the list recently.
And I was like, Ooh, this would be a good one because I know we all have read books
like this.
have records of that.
So like, it's gonna be interesting.
I'm gonna have to try.
And also, it's kind of raining and gross today, and I feel like it like matches the
tone of the...
It's like rain.
Yeah, it's like...
fake spring.
We got faked out.
It's like barely 40 degrees and raining.
It's disgusting.
But I'm not mad about it or anything.
So we picked books that made us cry.
I've already seen Steph Stack and there's definitely like a little bit of a motif
among what makes her cry.
My book, that was a tease, I know that colleagues do, which I'm very interested
in.
Those are all sorts of reasons why we cry.
I'm glad she's alive.
I always want to cry because of her.
somebody's missing someone, you could cry because somebody breaks up like...
I would also say I got a text from Molly when she was reading something semi
recently where she said, Did I make you cry or you almost cried because you were
so worried that there wouldn't be a happy resolution.
So sometimes there's like a relief cry.
Yes.
I was reading the draft of this test.
current manuscript and there was a moment where I thought things were going to go a
certain way and I was extremely upset about it and I was getting very watery.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I do remember that now.
So, um, I, my, whatever it's called, what does Superman call it?
Kryptonite.
That makes, that's just like, Waterworks galore, like don't even.
Um, adolescent boys in difficult situations, get me.
I don't know why.
And I have never, ever, ever cried in any of my experiences watching a movie.
Oh my gosh what is the name of it?
Something about building a house.
Life as a house.
I've only watched it one time because I almost threw up.
I was crying so hard that I was like I can never watch this again and it's Hayden
Christensen and Kevin Klein.
And basically Hayden Christensen's character is like a teenage boy.
The first scene of the whole movie, he's like huffing a paint can in his closet and
trying to like get high and asphyxiate himself.
And he's like, you know, got like a dog collar on and he's dyed his hair black and
like he's really like he's going through something and is not being very nice about
it in the process.
And so his mom's like, I don't really know what to do with him anymore, since he's
off to the lab.
with his dad, Kevin Klein.
And Kevin Klein is in the process of building a house from scratch, which he
doesn't really know how to do.
He like sorta knows how to do it, but not really.
And so he and his son that he doesn't know very well bond while they are building
this house.
And then there's a big plot twist at the end and you basically like lose your
fucking mind.
Sorry for the ass bump.
bad though.
And so I think I saw that movie maybe when I was in high school.
And I think ever since then, those types of stories just like rip me to shreds.
So I have two books to discuss that made me feel the same way.
The first one is called,
We Are Papers, You Hear It.
which Gary D Schmidt wrote, and he has written a ton of books for middle and high
school age students.
I don't know if I would call him YA because I feel like that's only associated
with teenagers and he really does like more middle grade, preteen, adolescent,
whatever you want to call that.
And this book, it's very short.
It is not long at all.
Very quick read.
I think I read it in one day.
And it's about
a boy who's in great, who's coming of a very traumatic life.
And he is getting fostered by a very lovely, orphaned family.
And he, there's all these rumors that are going around the school about this,
because he's coming of finally passed, he's been a Jew, and there's a boy who has
adopted a daughter.
which is true.
And he's like 14 years old.
and he's never been able to meet her because of all these traumatic things that
have happened.
And he's like been in juvie and like he just hasn't been allowed to meet her.
And so he's trying to live with this family, start going to school in this new
town.
I forget if it takes place in New Hampshire or Maine.
And he's trying to like get it together basically.
Cause he's like, I have a daughter and I would really like to meet her.
And like, I have had all these bad, I've been in all these bad situations and I've
kind of like,
fight my way through them and now everybody thinks I'm this really bad kid
and I'm not, I'm like misunderstood and that nobody has really ever thrown me a
bone and la de da de da.
And then you start to find out more about the mother of his baby and what her whole
story is and how they met each other and like that whole backstory.
And the whole time he's like trying to fit in at this school and doesn't really like
know anybody and...
There's other teens in the foster family that are like trying to help one another.
It's just like, it's one of those stories where you see how people become products
of their environment and how hard they have to fight to not repeat the past.
And it doesn't have a happy ending.
It just straight up doesn't.
And...
it's very thrilling and it's real and it's raw and characters are so good.
You care about them in different ways and it really parts of us.
And I'm really into books 200 pages long.
Like it's real
known who to recommend it to honestly.
Like I can't teach it.
I mean I probably could at the school I'm at now but the school that I was at I
don't think I could have.
idea.
It feels like a lot of current stuff, and it's like, it, I mean, I don't really know
that I'm the right person or that I'm equipped to have a conversation about a D3
or something like that.
You know, like, that's a lot, and so, just...
it's a book that I would love to have a conversation with young people about, but
I just don't know where it fits or who should give it to somebody or.
or if you should leave it there.
I'll talk to you later.
to let you know if they know a little bit more about what kids are going through.
Like, I don't know who it's for, because it's really difficult to read.
But it's excellent.
It's really, really good.
And if that's what your public team knows about the books, they're like, I would
love to just buy something to have in every book.
heavy book.
His other books are really, really good.
I think I've read all of his books and he has quite a few.
So Gary D.
Schmidt, shout out to him.
The other one.
is called Forgive Me Leonard Peacock and it is written by the same author that
wrote Silver Linings Playbook.
If you have seen that movie with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De
Niro and a million other people.
So Matthew Quick is the author.
I had seen the movie and then I got this book.
I had never read the book Silver Linings Playbook.
And I think that I don't really know anything about Matthew Quick, but my guess
is
He has some personal experience with mental illness, either himself or people
in his family, because that is a lot of what Silver Linings Playbook is about.
And then with Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, that follows a boy on his 18th birthday
and nobody remembers his birthday.
And he has no relationship with his dad.
His mom's a workaholic.
He doesn't really have any friends.
and for a long time he has decided that this is going to be his last day on earth.
And so the whole book is him going around living this day knowing how it's going to
end.
And as the reader, you don't know if there's anybody that is going to come
along and make him change his mind.
And so you have a lot of these pauses and holding your breath and you're like...
And a lot of it...
you can't do.
It somewhat reminds me of the original Vibe, which is like a really popular,
possible TV show.
And it's not the suicide aspect here, it's the you and no, the you and no, the you
and no, the you and that.
And I'm not gonna go into a lot of this, because that's like part of the whole
experience, but they're just...
You have a moment when you're feeling it, and you're like...
has a real role in your life, because you're not seeing my friends and people,
and I understand why it derives from this.
And that's almost sadder than the whole aspect of him deciding to do this.
And so that you kind of have to be rapid with that.
And again, don't know who this book goes to.
I don't know.
It's another book that I would love to talk to people about because I don't know
anybody else that's read it.
to them.
It's a really powerful book and I think that it's really important to start having
conversations that involve like, yeah, I felt really desperate and I felt really
lonely or I felt like I was really seen and then all of a sudden this person
dumped me and I didn't have any of these friends anymore.
There's just so many.
I feel like a lot of us had that at some point in our lives, but it might have been
very brief.
And for some kids, it's not brief at all.
And I think particularly for kids that have to move around or are thrown into
different environments and situations, it's sometimes really excruciatingly long.
So those are the two books.
Give me Leonard Peacock.
I don't know if I would, I'm not gonna say it has a happy or a sad, and orbiting
Jupiter, you're gonna be gutted.
This one is kind of like happy and sad, bittersweet, mixed bag, kind of at the
end.
Both really well written.
Both about teenage boys really going through it.
And maybe I'm...
like attracted to these types of tearjerkers because I've never been a
teenage boy and like I teach teenage boys and I'm curious about them and like how
they learn and how they deal with things and um yeah so that's those were my two.
how they are.
Based on just what you described of the Leonard Peacock premise, I feel like I
would cry at that even without knowing how it ends.
I just based on what you shared about the overall arc of the story, I feel like it
would be hard not to be like moved by that.
older and older, and they don't really have a lot of things.
That connection is really interesting because they're both quote unquote kind of
at the end of their lives, but only one in the world is physically active.
You know, maybe, but they don't feel like they're at the end.
It's very, very good.
Okay, I'm feeling heavy just like listening to that.
I should preface that I cry very easily at everything including commercials.
So I don't know that I'm a good barometer of what is worthy of tears or not, but I
feel like my picks, most people would have an emotional response to.
My first one is...
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
And if you haven't read this book, and maybe you're like, I'm not really into
time travel.
I don't care.
You're gonna love it.
I cried during this one.
This is a must, I feel like.
honestly, there are very few adaptations that I feel emotionally carry over what it
should from the page to the screen.
God bless Rachel McAdams because she destroyed me in that.
movie many times over.
I'm not really normally a fan of time travel, I have to say.
I like linear stories.
This is not a linear story and that drives me crazy because I have trouble figuring
out where I am in the story.
But I don't even know what to say about this book.
It just...
It has a big, blossomed, well-grown, well cared for romance.
Well, did you guys watch the HBO...
that they came out after.
I didn't.
So I did.
And in, I think it was the first episode.
I can't even think of the character's names.
Henry.
Well, no, it's when Henry first meets child version of Claire, and in the HBO
version, they made like a pun about grooming because he meets her when he's in
his 40s, I think, at that point, and she's...
10 or something and you know that is kind of uncomfortable to talk about nowadays
but they did an okay job it's just the original is just beautiful.
If you don't know the story it is about a male and a female.
Henry travels through time it is a genetic thing that he gets from his father.
He has no control over it.
He doesn't know where he's going to end up and he always ends up naked when he lands
whatever time.
or place that is.
He meets Claire when she is a child
at her childhood home and they create this sort of relationship where, I mean, it's
hard to explain because he's coming from all different time periods.
So sometimes he knows her before she knows him, but then there's times where she
knows him and he's, it's too confusing, but their friendship grows as she saves
him.
her father's clothes for him so that he will not be naked when he comes and then
we get to a point where she's finally an adult and meets him and they fall in love
and have this love story
that is tragic and heartbreaking but also beautiful and big.
And it's just a really lovely, lovely story.
My second one is...
probably not surprising whatsoever because obviously I included an animal book.
I have a lot of animal books.
Most of them have made me cry.
And this one I think everyone knows.
It's Marley and Me.
Can I tell you I pulled this off the shelf the other day in preparation for this,
flipped to the back just to be like, let's remember this and immediately started
crying.
What?
I, well, cause I wanted to like remember obviously we know how it ends.
Especially if it's a team movie.
But I just wanted to put one of these guys through a bit.
And it was like, clearly, the same person.
on my heart.
If you don't know Marley and me, it is a beautiful memoir of a first time pet
parent going through the struggles of picking out a puppy and a dog that puts
every single thing in its mouth, including an engagement ring.
But it's also a story of a family growing and the struggles of that.
I wanted to include the art of racing in the rain because that's a similar sort of
story but different because that one also did make me pull my eyes out.
Anyways, anything if any sort of animal is going to make me cry.
And then my last one I would implore everyone to read.
It is a beautiful
beautiful memoir.
It is The Bright Hour, a memoir of living and dying by Nina Riggs.
This, I feel like this was, I don't know how many years ago this came out.
This was like everywhere I feel like.
So she is the granddaughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
She writes like him.
She is a, she was a beautiful, beautiful writer and she wrote this.
note for Docky.
I can't even talk about it, you know, I'm so proud of it, but it is, it's so, it's
all, yeah, getting to it.
Thank you.
up just thinking about it i remember when you read that because you were telling me
about it we met somewhere i was like sitting in the parking lot of poor square
before meeting you for a meal and I think I was like crying in my car.
I just remember you being like this is one of the most like beautiful moving things
I've ever read I Can't get over the fact that this happened like she decided to do
this I didn't remember the Ralph Waldo Emerson connection, but I distinctly
remember when you finished that book that like you were I don't know if like
Transform does it is a too powerful word, but just that like it really left a strong
impression
I honestly couldn't even tell you what she's talking about.
I literally couldn't tell you.
I think it's a, well, I mean, she's a young mother at the time of diagnosis.
I think I could be misremembering, but I think she had already gone through cancer,
thought she was okay, had kids.
I could totally be misremembering this and then gets diagnosed again.
and this was terminal, decided I need to write this book before I could.
I pass.
Um, and I will say that it's finished by her husband, which is the part that gets
me.
So, yeah, it's just beautiful.
If you love beautiful writing, I'm not a memoir person, but this memoir like did me
in.
I know that's true, but this time, you are just dead.
OK, I'm just laughing internally to myself for how perfectly you teed me up for my
selections, which you did not know because I didn't share my picks before we started
recording.
In the very first episode of this podcast, I talked about memoirs as being one of my
favorite genres.
So two of my picks are from that realm.
The first one is called When Breath Becomes Air, which is by Paul Kalanithi,
who was a neurosurgeon who had incredible physical and mental health, was at the top
of his field, and all of a sudden was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.
Similar to what you just explained, he decided to write about it, and knowing he
was gonna not survive this,
And it talks about the beginning of his life, his decision to become a doctor,
meeting his wife, their discussion around whether or not they should have a child,
knowing that he would not be around for most of her life.
Um, I won't say what wound up happening, but similar to what you just said about
the Bride Hour, he does pass before the book is finished.
His wife writes the remainder and the epilogue.
I got to the back half of this book while on an airplane, and when I tell you
oh, I was probably crying.
Like, people are looking at me.
I couldn't control myself.
Like, I just didn't, I mean, I guess I should have known it was gonna be a hard
ending, but there was something about the fact that to...
honor his life, she like pushed through to do this thing for him and to help him like
bring this project over the finish line.
And this is kind of an interesting connection.
So his wife's name is Lucy.
She is the twin sister of Joanna Goddard, who writes a very famous blog called Cup
of Joe.
Mm-hmm.
How did I not know that?
Yeah, and Jill and her family with Lucy and Ed.
opportunities over the years to share about her husband, about her grief
process.
And I've actually found that to be some of the most moving content that has ever been
shared on Cup of Jo, is the stuff that comes from Lucy.
It was just interesting that not only did she live through this and then helping to
promote the book, but then her sister had this huge platform that reaches millions
of women talking about what it's like to be a young widow.
what it's like to try to move forward after that she can interview about what
she ever considered dating again.
This was years later.
Anyway, this book of all the books when we decided we were definitely going to do
this topic today, I was like that this is the number one position I was destroyed in
a public place.
Did he give a really famous commencement speech as well?
I don't know.
Was he affiliated with a college?
I think I'm thinking of, I think I'm thinking of the right person, but I'll
look it up.
My second choice, also a memoir, is called Crying in H Mart, which is by Michelle's
Honor.
It's in my TBR pile.
I know.
It's kind of the same.
It's not too much.
It's also in the right one.
Because I'm not going to be talking about this, but.
have two copies by accident because Molly and I both bought it.
But it's okay.
I know a lot about what it's...
It's fine.
And we don't spoil anything for our listeners anyway, so...
Let me think about how I want to explain this in a way that will not say too much.
Basically, Michelle is talking about her relationship with her mom, who is also
actively dying, and how they don't always see eye to eye.
She grew up in a pretty strict Asian household and she's a musician.
and not like a jealous or violent, like a punk musician.
And she is trying to find...
common ground with her mom in these final months.
And the thing that they bond over is making food together.
So I felt like it was the type of thing where I cried because it was just like, so
moving the way they tried to figure out a way to like speak to each other and make
new memories and
Um, just stuff that she would be able to do even after her mom passed.
And because she's a musician, she also just has like a gift for words and the
rhythm of words and, um, just beautiful.
I, after I read it, I felt like I talked about it to anybody who would listen for
like the next six months.
Um, so when you do read it, we can revisit what you think.
My final one is, uh, actually a fiction book.
It's called A Place For Us.
It's by Fatima Farheen.
in the U.S.A.
This was the first book by Sarah Jessica Martin, which I don't know.
It is about...
a Muslim family that moves to the United States and has a very difficult time.
kind of finding their footing here, including they have three children and the
youngest son develops a substance abuse problem.
And they all come back together many years later when the oldest daughter is getting
married.
and everyone is like on pins and needles the entire time about the youngest son,
like, is he gonna get too drunk?
Is he gonna ruin this for everybody?
And they wind up sort of an emotionally charged conversations, kind of unpacking
all of the hardships of their relationships about the move and about the
cultural transitions and about the youngest son sort of being ousted from the
family and...
there are just so many conversations where you, your heart just breaks into a million
pieces that this life for each of these family members, the parents and the kids,
so freaking hard and that they couldn't like tell each other how bad it really was
because they didn't wanna make it worse for anybody.
And I was just so like, I don't know, I keep saying moved, but like that's how I
felt.
I was just like, God, this is so freaking hard.
And like.
there are so many families who have experienced that.
We're coming here, it's just not at all what they thought it was gonna be, and it
tears people apart.
I also just think many families have one either parent for you or sitting that is
an outcast, and it's very painful, and the relationships are strained, and it just, I
think it will be relatable to people in a lot of ways, but it's definitely not an
easy read.
And I think she,
writes so beautifully that that's what keeps you going is like her prose is so
that that's what keeps you going is like her prose is so special that you can push
through the hard stuff because it is a beautiful experience to get to be able to.
I have two things.
One, if you like that book then you should, I haven't read it but it sounds,
it has a lot of similarities to All My Rage by Saba Tahir that I just had to read
for my class.
I think that this is like the teenager version, like the YA version of that book.
and that book did make me tear up and I almost talked about it but I also wanted
to do an episode about that book so I didn't put it on the list.
The other thing I want to say is the reason I thought crying in a corner is
because Michelle is the author of that book.
Her speech in Japanese
and I really like that band.
I've seen Japanese Breakfast before, and they were supposed to be at Newport
Folkfest one year and basically got all messed up because...
I think people wanted to get through COVID.
So she was supposed to be on time for the youths.
There were two groups that had to switch grades.
They were performing at one time because of COVID.
And one of them, she doesn't get on a flight.
And that's where her band was.
her band was.
But anyways, she got put on Sunday up against somebody else that I wanted to see
and so then I, but I did see her another time.
But that's why I bought that book.
I haven't read it yet, but I bought it because I know.
her and actually was like this.
And I was like, oh, this is so sad.
And so sad.
You have to be a mentally prepared person to like, oh, and then it's kind of going
to jump further right down into your dark, lonely, and narrow life.
What's everyone reading?
I'm currently in the midst of a racist book club book that I picked up a week or
two ago when Caitlyn and I had an H Mart BNN day.
What's interesting about this book, I don't want to tell too much because I
think it would be interesting to do an episode about it.
Before, or I think I was maybe five pages in, I made the mistake of going to
Goodreads just to see if anyone I knew had read it, but then I started reading the
reviews.
It does not have good reviews.
Like a lot of.
like, Reese, are you OK?
Did you really mean to put this on your list type thing?
Yeah.
Yeah, I could not put it down last night.
I'm worried that maybe it takes a turn at the end.
But what I wanted to say that's interesting is so it's a present day and a
past, and it alternates each chapter.
The present is in the past tense, and the past is in the present tense, which I feel
like
it must have a purpose.
And I haven't figured it out yet.
But that's like an interest.
short.
That seems very confusing.
I know.
Steph said she's also just very, very stressed that she was wondering, like, are
these people who can deal with this person?
So we're asking if you can convince her to make her some medicine.
and then some things were confirmed?
the main character, Maya, in present day is coming off of a cold turkey stop to a
clonopin addiction, which I will say from knowing someone who did that on her own,
severe consequences of doing that without doctor supervision.
Yeah.
So she goes into it.
Basically, I don't know.
sometimes if the things she's seeing are real or if they're hallucinations that are
a reaction to basically weaning oneself off of a drug.
But in the past, when she was about to graduate from high school, she met this
older guy and you can just tell there's something super dodgy about him and she's
missing hours of time that she spends with him.
Like she'll start off doing something totally normal.
and then five hours have passed and she's like
how did that happen?
Type thing, or she'll end up somewhere where she's like, how did we get here?
Type thing.
and you're sure that she's not a ghost right because i know you were saying that
you were some of the other people seem suspect but like yeah no i think that's me
just being like very suspicious okay all right got it got it basically in present
day she finds a youtube video where he and this young girl who look exactly like her
that?
Like, this is like Suzy T.
B.
for a German diver.
and the girl just dies, keels over in his presence and dies.
And in the past, her best friend died in his presence.
So there's something that I was like, is this a cult type book?
I was worried that there was magic involved or something.
That would explain the bad readings though, if all of a sudden they're like,
and this guy has a wand and it's like, okay, that doesn't work.
a good point.
No, it's very different.
Quick factor, I mean, it depends on the type of person.
and I need to know what the heck is going on I'm really hoping that this does not
like take a turn that I'm like no this is.
why did everyone give it like to start reviews is basically what I'm asking.
I'm just looking at you describe this character.
as dodgy.
I'm still holding on to that word choice.
I'm only five pages in, but I'm reading Funny You Should Ask by Alyssa Sussman.
It's a little bit of a homework assignment that I've had for a while.
It's been in my TBR forever, and Molly and Steph really want to do an ep about it, so
away I go.
But it seems really charming and I'm getting like Amy Sherman-Paladino banter
dialogue vibes just in five pages, so that feels good.
to be by myself the entire time.
I'm too nervous.
from Boston to Minneapolis and Minneapolis to Jackson Hole.
I ignored all the people that we were with.
And I just committed to this book and I just couldn't be stopped.
I really was into it and then I couldn't wait to pass it on.
And I just feel like that is like a very, I don't know that immersive is the right
word, but it just hooked me right from the get.
I hope, have we mentioned on the pod that we're going to Jacksonville?
Oh, well, we're doing it.
I'm the only one that hasn't gone.
So we're going and we're doing it.
Um, and I hope that I find a book for those flights that I'm just like
completely enamored with.
I'm a professor, so I don't know.
And I've been informed through the swipes that I've been completely blinded.
Totally.
Speaking of the West, my book is set in Montana.
I'm reading Famous for a Living, which I mentioned at the end of last week's ep is
my blind date book that I unwrapped on air a couple of weeks ago.
So what page am I on?
Jeez.
Uh, page 90.
So this story is about an influencer who leaves New York City and goes to small
town Montana.
I have now learned that her uncle got her a job where she works for the park
service.
They have enlisted her to become the social media coordinator for the parks.
She has to share a tiny one room cabin with like a 22 year old eager beaver park
ranger.
And my favorite moment of the beginning so far is she arrives in the dead of winter
and she booked a rental car for herself that is a convertible.
So her uncle's like second in command from the truck service has to come and press
me.
Oh, she's great.
And she drives it off the road.
Yeah, okay, yep.
I'm loving it in a surprise way.
And I've mentioned this before, but...
they have these cool like interstitials between all the chapters where it shows
her like taking Instagram pictures and it looks like the inside of an iPhone.
And it's just very fun.
I haven't seen that particular visual decision in a book that I've read before.
This is very small book, which is why I'm on the complete idea of a book that I've
written about by the author.
But I'm really enjoying it.
I'm looking forward to what I know will inevitably be her falling in love with
this gruff person that just rescued her.
But I will follow along on the journey.
So if you guys wanna follow along with everything we're reading, all the books we
discussed today, if you feel like a good cry, we will get the whole list up there
for you on Instagram.
We are at Plans Are Booked.
We would love to chat with you, see what you're reading.
Please comment, like, share.
We appreciate every single moment of engagement.
And you can write to us too.
You can email us at plan Let us know what you're reading, anything you'd like us to
cover.
We love hearing from you, so don't be shy.
Really.
Really don't be shy because we're going to be doing some giveaways soon so we want to
hear from you and we want you to participate in what we have going on.
Until next time, our plans are booked.