(17) With humor and honesty, Birbiglia unpacks how he traversed from bachelorhood to devoted I'll-be-your-spouse-but-never-a-parent and then into the awkward first months of bringing home a baby. While being honest about the challenges he faced entering fatherhood, particularly against a backdrop of his itinerant career and a lifetime of severe illnesses, he shows the gradual path from feeling like being his family's extra appendage to embracing parenthood wholeheartedly and with his trademark wit. Highly recommended.
(16) Olivia is the stereotypical all-work lawyer, but when that goes from being an asset to what her boss perceives as a liability, she is forced to take leave from her job. Her husband has just reluctantly filed for divorce, and their well-heeled home is on the market. A friend sends her on a research trip to explore love and marriage with leading world experts, and Olivia's life goes from one of dogged labor to sunny, exotic locations -- and men. As she begins to blossom again, she learns what really pushed her out of her job and what really matters. While ultimately a heartwarming story, this book takes a while to sink into, as the early pacing feels sluggish.
(15) Poor Mary Bennet, always the odd woman out in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, left to her music and her books. (Which, for the record, are fine hobbies.) Hadlow imagines a rich, multifaceted sequel for Mary in which she treads and ultimately flourishs despite of the limitations of poor eyesight, female intellectualism, and Regency spinsterhood. This book is no mere fanfiction; there is richness to Hadlow's characterization and plot that ultimately make Mary's triumph something worth savoring.
