We have to keep laughing
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/05/2021 (740 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
You know you’ve been in lockdown too long when you call a plumber friend to fix the drip in your bathroom tub and then realize it’s the ticking of the wall clock.
With the arrival of the third wave also came a wave of news items about a new malady calling languishing. There is no needle for this lack of vitality from being forced to remain in an unpleasant situation.
Taking the adage ‘laughter is the best medicine’ to heart, I watched a winter’s worth of comedies including binge-watching six seasons of Superstore on Netflix. I also decided to read every book that won the Stephen Leacock award for humour. To alleviate cabin fever, I moved my office outside to my front deck. Then the real fun began.
I’ve had no shortage of socially distanced masked people of all ages to talk to because I have a Little Free Library near my front sidewalk. They see me with laptop and teapot and assume I am a real librarian. I think it’s the glasses on a chain that does it.
Naturally they all want to talk books. I mentioned to some of the regular patrons that my antidote to all the bad news in the news is to read books that are humorous. Not only did they share their thoughts on such books, they actually shared books by loaning or donating them to Library #5611.
In true Crescentwood community spirit, here are recommendations and reviews generously shared by neighbourhood readers to cheer you up as we continue our COVID recovery:
Canadian humour at is best comes in the form of everything ever written by Bill Richardson, including his Leacock nomination this year for I Saw Three Ships, a quintessential cautionary tale about real estate. Also nominated was Molly of the Mall: Literary Lass and Purveyor of Fine Footwear by Heidi L.M. Jacobs, who takes us on a walk in her shoes on her academic and retail journey.
Solitary confinement led many of my visitors to purge their collection of books. I ended up with Erma Bombeck classics and Phyllis Diller’s Marriage Manual. That’s when I knew the little library might have a bit of a generation gap.
While the young ’uns gravitated toward Miss Smithers by Canadian Susan Juby, the twentysomethings seemed to like Mindy Kaling’s Why Not Me? The teens liked Let’s Pretend This Never Happened and Furiously Happy, by bestseller Jenny Lawson. I suspect they related not only to the hilarity but to Jenny’s struggle with depression. Being young at heart, both my friend April and I read them back when we could still fly and received stern frowns from fight attendants when we laughed out loud. A lot.
I have two favourites for those caregiving for elderly parents. One is by Canadian Meg Federico titled Welcome to the Departure Lounge: Adventures in Mothering Mother. It reminded me of my mom who viewed death as merely “getting a new postal code.”
The people who stop by to talk books make me happy and if my little library can bring a smile to readers during the pandemic, then I’ve done my job. Some of my best friends are books and they can be yours too.
Heather Emberley is a community correspondent for Crescentwood. Email her at heather.emberley@gmail.com if you have a story suggestion.
Heather Emberley
Crescentwood community correspondent
Heather Emberley is a community correspondent for Crescentwood. Email her at heather.emberley@gmail.com if you have a story suggestion.