By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez

Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff” by Matt Paxton with Jordan Michael Smith
c.2022, Penguin Portfolio $24.00 310 pages

The carpet in your living room is brown.

At least that’s the way you remember it. You haven’t actually seen it in a few years because you’ve got stuff from corner to corner, held down by furniture you don’t sit on, anchored by things you don’t use. Time for a major clean-up, and it can start with “Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff” by Matt Paxton with Jordan Michael Smith.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez

Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me about Caring for the Living, by Robert A. Jensen
c.2021, St. Martin’s Press  $28.99 / $38.50 Canada
294 pages

Pick up eggs. Milk. Macaroni. Bread.

If you don’t jot down a list of things you need to find, you’ll forget something. Apples. Light bulbs. Flour. Putting things on paper helps you to remember what you need and what’s missing. But in the new book, “Personal Effects” by Robert A. Jensen, the pick-up is more personal; the items, more heart-wrenching…

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez

There’s still a lot of winter left.

That’s the fact staring you in the face. Once the holiday decorations are down, the toys are all put away, and you’ve rediscovered your gift certificates… what do you do with them?

You buy books, of course. And to get you started, here are a few sure-fire picks for the Best of 2021:

FICTION

What would you do if life throws you a curve-ball? In “The Guncle” by Steven Rowley (Putnam, $27.00), gay man, former TV star, Palm Springs fixture, no-responsibilities Patrick is asked to take care of his niece and nephew for the long-term. He never wanted kids at all. He never wanted to fall in love with them, either. Cute, sweet, funny, heartfelt – what more could you want?

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez

Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for An Era by, Laurence Leamer
c.2021, Putnam  $28.00 / $37.00 Canada  356 pages,

Her lips are locked tight.

Your best friend knows all your secrets, and she’s keeping them; you told her things you had to tell somebody, and she’s telling nobody. You always knew you could trust her; if you couldn’t, she wouldn’t be your BFF. But as in the new book “Capote’s Women” by Laurence Leamer, what kind of a friend are you?

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez

Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence, by Anita Hill
c.2021, Viking $30.00 / $40.00 Canada 352 pages

The grab was savage.

You yelped because you weren’t expecting it. Because it shouldn’t have happened. It was rough enough to leave marks on your skin, little round marks like fingertips; for sure, it left marks on your self-confidence but complain, and it’ll all be denied. You know the truth, though, and when you read “Believing” by Anita Hill, you’ll know someone else does, too.

Twenty-five percent of American women today “experience intimate partner violence…” Thirty-three percent say they’ve endured harassment at work. The rate’s higher for women of color, highest in the LGBTQ community. Similar statistics were available in 1991 when Anita Hill testified before Congress about the harassment she’d said she’d experienced from then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, testimony that later contributed to Hill’s becoming one of the country’s leaders in the fight against sexual harassment and gender violence.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez

How We Do Family: From Adoption to Trans Pregnancy, What We Learned About Love and LGBTQ Parenthood, by Trystan Reese
c.2021, The Experiment
$24.95 / $32.95 Canada 216 pages

There is no picket fence in front of your house.

There’s no singing milkman to bring your breakfast and the next door neighbor doesn’t coffee-klatsch with you every morning after your two-point-five kids go to school. There’s not, in fact, one 1962-normal thing about your home or your family but as in the new memoir, “How We Do Family” by Trystan Reese, what you’ve got is better.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez

“The Guncle” by Steven Rowley
c.2021, Putnam $27.00 / $36.00 Canada 326 pages

What does a gay man who never wanted kids do when he suddenly has two of them?

The situation you’re facing isn’t one you wanted.

You had no wish for it; in fact, it’s a hundred percent the opposite. Not your circus, not your monkeys, as they say. So usually, you’d follow your instincts and run but this time, you surprise yourself by stepping up and taking ownership. Now it is your problem but, as in the new novel, “The Guncle” by Steven Rowley, that’s more than okay.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez

¡Hola Papi! How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons, by John Paul Brammer
c.2021, Simon & Schuster  $26.00 / $35.00 Canada
224 pages

Your best friend definitely has an opinion.

You need advice and she offers an answer, though it might not be the one you seek. You may get sound counsel but at the wrong time, with sentiments directly opposing what you were thinking. And yet, you have to be grateful. As in the new book ¡Hola Papi!, by John Paul Brammer, the words come from the heart.

Growing up in a small Oklahoma town of Cache, John Paul Brammer knew nothing about being gay. He had little relationship experience, in fact, and he didn’t learn about hookup apps until he was a junior in college.

Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sex

“A Dog’s Courage” by W. Bruce Cameron
c.2021, Forge Books $26.99 / $36.50 Canada 288 pages

“Dogwinks” by SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt
c.2020, Howard Books / Atria  $19.99 / $26.99 Canada 285 pages

Your pooch is a first-class mess maker.

But what are you gonna do? A clean house won’t love you, play ball, snuggle on the sofa, or take you for a walk. You can’t teach a clean house cool new tricks and it can’t teach you, either. So this summer, ignore the mess, and grab one of these great books about dogs…

If you’ve ever loved a pup who had an unknown past, you know how much she appreciates her new home. When Bella becomes lost in the wilderness and is rescued and adopted by Lucas and Olivia, she’s very relieved and happy. But in “A Dog’s Courage” by W. Bruce Cameron, a dog like Bella never forgets her past.