Transitions
Art, sandwiches, and bees teach us the meaning of life
April was a strange month for me. I felt unbalanced all month and the only true consistence in my life has been reading. It might be the unsettled nature of my life as I content with personal grief as well as the professional grief of my impending retirement. All of this may be why I dove into my Reading the USA challenge. I have been writing, but not as much as I’d like. I have been watching, but more often choosing to read over watch. Transitions are difficult and clearly I did not do enough during this season of transition to prepare, but maybe in fairness to myself one cannot prepare for transitions.
All of these emotions may be why Fredrik Backman’s My Friends was my favorite book for April and indeed year to date. This book celebrates love in all its forms and made me weep and laugh every time I picked it up yet it also made me feel lighter and more full of hope about the world. This novel reminds us of the power of love, of stories, and of art and that we all need these things in our lives to make the world a better place.
Catherine Newman’s Sandwich had a similar impact on me, but I did not choose it for my favorite because this novel felt very personal to me as a woman of a certain age. I too am navigating these waters and fear drowning in them, but My Friends felt like such a universal experience that in the end I chose that book over Sandwich. However, I do highly recommend Sandwich. It was wonderfully crafted. I would be interested to see how it hits with readers not in my demographic.
The real competition with My Friends was The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin which was actually a Reading the USA Challenge selection (so a true bonus). In many ways the Music of Bees combined the best of both My Friends and Sandwich but was a more enjoyable experience because it was less intense. Each of these books offered insight into the challenges and joys of life transitions and are good reminders that we can find in joy in the midst of grief and struggle so perhaps it was the serendipitous arrival of these books in my life that led me to do more reading than watching or writing. The Music of Bees is also a great reminder that transitions can be difficult but also transformative which is something I need at this point in my life. What books do you recommend to help me through my season of transition?
Check out my April 2026 Book Showdown for all the contenders for my book of the month or my favorite reads on Fable. If you are interested in my Reading the USA challenge you can check out the books both read and in progress. I would love to work on this challenge in community! I can’t think of a better challenge than Reading the USA for the first year of my third act. Care to join me?
