Characters of impeccable character

People and mice that other people (and rats) will do lots of things for.

Ms. Chona and the Maeves of EELS by DALL-E 3

It’s now been more than a year since EELS was born!

Here’s why I started doing it, in brief:

1. I love recommending the right books to the right people (and being recommended to in return)

2. Opening a bookstore would be cool, but I haven’t robbed a bank since at least my early 20s

3. I do newsletter editing and newsletter strategy for a living, so going with what I know seemed wiser. Plus, I wanted to mess around with Substack out of professional curiosity. 

But here’s another big reason why, in less brief:

So many of my conversations with friends go like the lengthy, delightful message my pal Foley left me earlier today. It wasn’t related to books at all—just life, stuff, whatnot—but then at the end, she signed off with “Oh, and I just read… and I’m reading…” And last week, my mom’s memoir class teacher sent me a recommendation via Xeroxed book cover (The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez). 

I am hungry for recommendations! It is known! I get them via WhatsApp, Slack, email, text, and, of course, the foolproof Kira Bindrim Method: physical copy in the mail with no explanation. My Goodreads friend Jessica could rate a DIY computer building manual five stars and I would read it; such is my trust in her. I have to add your demands to my list so that we may discuss them when I have read them, and so that I can get a sense of what you like and shove titles your way in the future. What a singular joy. Come by my shop in, uh, 2048. I’ll be 150 years old.

Anyway, here we are, nearly 13 months later. Thanks to those of you who have been with me from the beginning, and for sharing it with your friends! To mark this memorable occasion, share it with one more reader—perhaps a person or mouse of impeccable character.

➡️ Forward this email to them, or hit the button below to post it somewhere or other.

And if you want all my past recommendations linked to all the past EELSes in one easy-to-scan spreadsheet, I’ve got that! Click this link, hit “request access,” and if you’re on my subscriber list, I’ll hand it over!

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👞 The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

James McBride, 2023

It took me ages to come up with a theme for this issue—the awful idea of “Three novels set in Pennsylvania” was seriously entertained—because initially I was just distracted by my zeal for this novel. Lots of themes are swirling around, and it was becoming difficult to pick just one. Cultures coming together? (It’s set in an industry town in Pennsylvania in the 1930s, in a neighborhood in which Jewish, Black, Italian, and white populations commingle.) Historical fiction? (Too broad.) A fable-ish tone despite serious subject matter in a sort of Salman Rushdie vibe? (Little on the nose.)

But the point of it all is, the characters in Pottstown, Pennsylvania consistently push themselves outside of what they feel are their natural boundaries to help each other. It’s not because Pottstown is a glorious melting pot of harmony. No way, there’s as much pettiness and hate there as anywhere else. It’s because of their respect for the principles of one character. If she hadn’t been who she was and done the things she’d done, so many actions that led to other actions wouldn’t have taken place. And this book is a vast line of colorful dominos, speeding their way towards the finish. Any one of those dominos could have stood firm and refused to give way, if it weren’t for Chona.

Read it for Chona, but also for the rich and very often humorous (though beware of sad and disturbing parts) prose of McBride, as he depicts an ensemble cast. I spent too much time trying to pick a favorite character. I think it’s Paper. 

Recommended for: Those who need to look forward to the book they’re picking up every night. And those who want something with a good payoff.

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🖼️ The Dutch House

Ann Patchett, 2019

Yeah, yeah, another Patchett from me. But this is the best one to exist thus far, besides her essays!

Actually, this would have made it in the doomed Pennsylvania issue too, completely coincidentally. (The other book would have been Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, which my son just read, and I was going to make him write it up, but I decided instead to let him just be a kid and do kid stuff.)

I don’t understand exactly why Ann’s books are so good, but here we are again, with the story of a brother and sister who have grown up to have a love-hate relationship with a fancy, architecturally significant house (and all it symbolizes) in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Maeve, the sister, will go to great lengths to protect Danny, the younger brother and narrator, from the various shortcomings of mother, father, stepmother, and world. And everyone else in their orbit will do just about anything for Maeve. She is a Person of Character. Perhaps to her detriment, as you’ll see. 

Recommended for: Those who like good literary fiction. This is just a solid book all around.

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🌹 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Robert C. O’Brien, 1971

Listen, when was the last time you read a very good children’s classic? If the answer is “Eh?” I urge you to be kinder to yourself. I read The Wind in the Willows recently and, awha??

Anyway, despite my 2024 brain realizing this time around that poor Mrs. Frisby never gets a first name in the book and thus is reduced to only words that describe her relationship to her dead mouse-husband Jonathan Frisby, what a great book! And, like The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, all sorts of differing characters (in this case, species, and educated vs. non-educated classes within these species) make great contributions towards one big goal—all purely on the strength of their love and respect for the dear departed Jonathan “Gets His Own Two Names” Frisby.

I also like the zoom-out nature of this book: The entire, complicated plot revolves around moving a cinderblock. But it’s life-or-death important to them, and because you, the reader, become as big or small as what you’re reading, it’s life-or-death important to you. 

Recommended for: Those who want something a little different and a lot inspiring. Hey, you can read whatever the heck you want!

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And now, a bonus recommendation

🎸No Walls and the Recurring Dream: A Memoir — Ani Difranco, 2019

“Some of what you’d expect and some of what you wouldn’t.”

Recommended by: My brother Michael. I have pledged to finally get into Ani before reading this book. The last three books he loved were Bunny, Great Circle, and Inheritors (which I have written about here!). 

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That was the fortieth EELS! As always, send any and all questions, feedback, and shouted book recommendations by hitting reply. 

📚 Susan