05/25/2026
There are things you carry because you have to, and then there are weightier bits you carry well past the point necessary. People will tell you not to carry it so long. Go ahead and set it down. Forget about it. But we all know that letting go is not that easy. It does not happen in one swift motion. More often than not, it is a matter of looseing your grip on it until your fingers simply flex open and let it loose.
This week, we have just one book for you, and it hits the spot.
Kissing the World Goodbye by Jennifer Clark is a memoir infused with recipes that invites the reader to crouch down and notice the small things in life we too easily overlook. Everything in this world, no matter how small, is worthy of consideration for Clark, from isopods barreling through Tasmanian soil to the origins of childhood nicknames. Big things matter, too, like siblionic love, a term she coins in an attempt to describe the indescribable connections between siblings. Within this funny, poignant, and often tasty memoir, Clark weaves in serious issues such as the perpetual closeness of various forms of loss, and family members, particularly her sister’s, easily moving on in the face of matters that weigh Clark down. And much weighs her down: naming fish, Ernest Borgnine’s eyebrows, cell phones, instapots, and more.
