Bonus Atwood! 14 Days

I was looking through my "want to read" tags in Libby and found a piece of Atwood that I forgot! She edited a book called 14 Days, a collection of stories written by 36 different American and Canadian authors, and told by the inhabitants of a New York apartment building during COVID-19 lockdown. The anthology was a fundraiser for the Authors Guild Foundation, specifically for writers who were suffering financially during COVID-19 due to cancellation of their book tours and speaking engagements. Though it came out in 2024, before the memoir was published, it is not mentioned in the memoir, nor is her primary collaborator, Douglas Preston.

I wish I had not read Preston's preface, which rather pompously proclaims that this collection is completely different from the Decameron or the Canterbury Tales. I disagree. It is exactly like those collections, in that a group of varied characters get together and tell stories to pass the time. If he is referring to the twist at the end, honestly, anybody who thinks about it for more than a minute can guess what it is going to be. So don't. 

I found many of the stories entertaining, but several of them seem to have an agenda or an ax to grind. Several of them were implausible as oral narratives spoken on a rooftop, in that they were way too detailed and gave a lot of background, often historical, often pushing the recognition of minority groups. I have nothing against that, but rather than add to the stories, it just seemed to be stepping up on a soapbox placed there for a different purpose. 

The most confusing story, by Ishmael Reed, is about an academic and his wife who put together a discussion group about the Decameron. The attendees come with guns blazing, destroying Bocaccio for his lack of woke values. The white guy who just wants to read a book by a dead white guy is humiliated. What's ironic is that they are criticizing Bocaccio's didacticism while being didactic. Which is why I'm confused: are we making fun of cancel culture or agreeing with it? At any rate, we can still study old literature, in fact we need to, in order to learn about our history. If we only read things that espoused our values, we would learn a lot less. I'm pretty sure Reed (I won't call him Ishmael, haha) is with me on this at least partway, but let me know in the comments if I'm wrong.

Back to Atwood, I was a bit let down by her contribution, too, which is about a spider turned into a young woman and working as a bed bug exterminator. It's shorter than most of the stories and introduces the magical realism that will prevail by the end.

Five Guided Journals

I'm not the kind of person who just grabs a blank journal and writes effortlessly. I like to write but it helps to have a prompt and I certainly don't like writing about my emotions if I don't have to -- but I know I should. So I tried several guided journals in order to help me get a handle on those pesky feelings, hopes, and dreams.

(The links are purely for your convenience, I get no kickback if you click on them. I have tried to feature independent booksellers rather than rely on Amazon.)

Keep Moving: The Journal is by Maggie Smith, the author of the famous poem "Good Bones," about a flawed house with "good bones" as a metaphor for the world. This journal came out of her divorce, when she felt the need to write every day to in order to keep moving, hence the title. It is divided into three sections: revision, resilience, and transformation. I found the prompts interesting and completed a few, but it really is intended for someone going through a major loss like death or divorce. It didn't apply to me at the time so I have set it aside. 

The Daily Flourish also emphasizes resilience, as the third strength it seeks to build, after positivity and connection, through a science-based approach. This is a journal that asks you to how you feel at the beginning of the week, sets you a prompt within the week's theme every weekday, and asks you how you feel again at the end of the week; twelve weeks are included. I liked the structure, but I wish the journal reminded you at the end of the week to look back at the beginning for perspective. I also found the prompts overwhelming at times. Example: "Write without judgment about a situation you feel guilty about." Whew. I need that broken into tiny steps. Some prompts, like this one, seem more like an end of week exercise than the kind of thing I want to tackle after a long day at work. I skipped some days but I got through it and even restarted, which is saying a lot. 

The Big Life Journal takes a similar science-based approach. It discusses several mindsets: possibility, growth, gratitude, self-compassion, and freedom. Each section is divided into "my thoughts today," "building new beliefs," "practices," and an end-of-chapter reflection. I liked being able to skip around and focus on the section I felt like working on, rather than going strictly in order. It felt more like a workbook than a journal. I've completed lots of prompts and would go back for more. 

Let That Sh*t Go by Monica Sweeney sounded like a lot of fun. The tagline is "A journal for leaving your bullsh*t behind and creating a happy life." However, I found the prompts pretty repetitive and superficial. They all seem to be variations of "list the things you hate, and then scribble through them and draw the stuff you love on top." Perhaps this would appeal to folks with a more artistic temperament; I'm the kind of person who thinks therapeutic coloring is a good idea, but I actually get nothing out of it. I will be letting this one go.

Finally, the planner that spoke to my analytical and productive heart: The 90x Goal Planner. This is a 3-month planner that asks you to list your goals, break them down into doable steps, and revisit them regularly to note your progress and revise goals that were not completed. I loved it and am purchasing another one. Since it only lasts three months, it is perfect for my summer vacations (I'm a teacher). I know it's a planner, not a journal, but it felt good to spend time every day getting my goals (hopes and dreams) on the page, and outlining realistic steps toward achieving them. The guiding question "Why these goals?" helps connect productivity to emotions.