[Today’s Book Review is a little different, and very retro. Please
bear with me. It’s worth it!]
We
all have our comfort foods. We pull them out when the going gets tough. Maybe
it’s mac and cheese. Or a chocolate chip cookie. Or maybe a half a dozen chocolate
cookies. Whatever it takes to get through it all. You probably also have
comfort books—those books that feel like they fit like a well-worn pair of
shoes, that take you far away from whatever is plaguing you. Usually these
‘comfort books’ are old favorites. But sometimes, as I recently discovered,
they can be a new experience that is just absolutely what you need to get
through that tough moment in time.
Yeah,
you guessed it—things have been less than pleasant at my house. Home Ownership
Nightmare of Never Ending Doom combined with a minor surgery and health scare
sent me scurrying to find a Just Right Book that would take me away from it
all.
And
I found it!! No, I found two its. Two wonderful books that were just what the
doctor ordered! God bless the hilarious Maureen Johnson. I cannot believe I’m
going to admit here that I had never read any of her books despite being in
love with her and her sense of humor for almost two years now. I saw her in
2013 at LeakyCon here in Portland and thought she was one of the funniest
people I’d ever seen. Then I started following her on Twitter, and that just
solidified my opinion of her amazing humor. So I finally turned to her for some
comfort reading.
13 Little Blue Envelopes and its sequel The Last Little Blue Envelope are my kind of books. Adventure:
check. European travel: check. Touch of Romance: check. Learning Great Life
Lessons: check. Humor: check, check. When 17-year-old Ginny’s late aunt, who
was a wonderfully eccentric artist, leaves her thirteen letters with instructions
to travel to various European locations she’s on her way to a life changing,
life affirming adventure. Aunt Peg’s wish was for her to meet some of the
people who had been important to her, and to see and experience some of the
places that had influenced her life and art. Which sounds so, uh, pedantic. BUT
IT ISN’T, because of course all of this happens with Maureen Johnson’s flair
for humor and occasionally the absurd.
But
wait! The first book, 13 Little Blue
Envelopes, ends before Ginny gets to read the thirteenth letter! I can’t
spoil it and tell you why, but I will tell you that it makes you rush out to
get The Last Little Blue Envelope. And
I liked the second book even better than the first! I LOVE this book!
Yes,
these books were published years ago. Thirteen…came
out in 2005, and Last…in 2011. Fans
had begged for a sequel. She delivered. But if you haven’t read any Maureen
Johnson, these are a fun place to start. Of course now I will be reading her
latest series, the most recent of which was just released.
Comfort
reading. I highly recommend it when life throws icky stuff your way. I also
recommend that you read it with a chocolate chip cookie.
Thank
you, Maureen Johnson!!
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