IN OTHER WORDS * THEN AGAIN

 I'm so far behind lately! Pretty much working every day, which is great for income but not so good for getting things done around a house. Especially when one is a clean holder onto of stuff and her husband works at home. It's an old story, I know. I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to move to another state and learn a new life and pursue new and old passions. Jhumpa Lahiri and Diane Keaton did it:

In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri - I love that the title of this book is a play on words; the book is about the author's relationship with her languages, specifically Italian, which she fell in love with and set her mind to learning. It is her most autobiographical writing, and some of my favorite parts are near the end when she talks about how other people react to her. They make assumptions based on her looks or her books, and they believe their assumptions to be true without knowing or bothering to find out the truth. Kind of like life lately, where facts are fluid instead of concrete, and the only truth is what an individual believes. But I digress. In Other Words says so much especially to the person who wonders about languages and how they work.

Then Again by Diane Keaton - This memoir is both Diane's and her mom's. Her mom, Dorothy Hall, had kept written and collaged journals forever, and Diane wrote her mother's story alongside her own using the journals for her mother's voice. I like the way one can read this entire book, even savour it, and still not really know a lot about Dorothy or Diane. We're complicated beings; this is a lovely tribute.