Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton Book Event

“The Gates of Hell Have Opened
And All the Devils Are Here”

— The Tempest by William Shakespeare

One night I was scrolling through my phone thinking about how the world was sure going to end (as we do these days) when I came across an ad from the DC bookstore Politics and Prose featuring an even where Louise Penny was going to be interviewed by Hillary Clinton. It was so out of the blue and random I figured I must have dozed off and dreamed it. But the next day I decided to look at the Politics and Prose website and sure enough it was a real event. I immediately bought a ticket, and my faith in humanity was restored.

This event (via Zoom) was wonderful. When it started Clinton didn’t have her video on and Penny was on mute, which is such a 2020 issue. But once they got going, wow. Hearing tales of a young Hillary Clinton devouring Nancy Drew novels, and a 22 year old Clinton in Paris was heartbreaking at first (what could have been!) but soon I was drawn in by the pure loveliness of these two women. It turns out that Clinton is a huge mystery reader, and they met in 2016 after Penny’s husband died and Clinton wrote her a letter.

In the discussion the two women got into poetry, how to write a book, and why they love mysteries (Clinton said, “The bad guy gets it in the end which hasn’t always been my experience in life.”) My favorite exchange was Clinton’s one sentence review of Penny’s books:

Clinton: They always delight me and make me hungry.

Penny: My hips are a tribute

Clinton even kicked off the Q&A by asking about the odd print of emus on Penny’s wall which I’m sure all of us were wondering about.

One of the most amazing parts of the whole thing was the chat. Thousands upon thousands of fans were just gushing about the event, how healing it was, and how none of us had felt that happy in a while. It was zoom magic. And a little comic relief- about 3/4 of the way through one genuinely confused person said “Wait, that’s Hillary Clinton interviewing Louise?”

Towards the end the moderator commented on the chat, and asked the two women what their advice is to overcome the despair so many of us are feeling right now. Clinton’s advice?

Read and Vote

(I got to see Louise Penny in person last year. My notes are here if you’re interested.)

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Reading For Empathy

I haven’t written this week because I haven’t known what to say, but then it started to feel like by not saying anything I was also saying something. But really, I don’t know what to say. I only know that my friends, co-workers, and neighbors are in pain. That said I can always recommend a book.

Here are several books that I’ve read that have led to empathy and understanding for the situation happening in our country right now.

Note: Links here are affiliate links to amazon.com, but there are several lists going around right now of excellent black owned indie bookstores if you’d like to purchase any.

Books About Andrew Johnson

Certain events that you may have heard about in the news have had me wanting to read about Andrew Johnson lately. Turns out there haven’t been a whole lot of books written about him. You’d think he’s boring, but he’s not. He was kind of a disaster as a president- drunk at his vice presidential inauguration, very racist, didn’t play well with others, but he was anything but boring.

I’ve found interesting snippets about him in Accidental Presidents and Where They Stand. The Impeachers is coming up soon on my TBR. I also really enjoyed the Andrew Johnson episode of The Presidential Podcast.

What are you reading in response to current events?

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