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This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
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This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them.
This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.
This is how children change…and then change the world.
This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.
When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.
Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.
This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.
Mod opinion: I hadn't heard of this book before and while it sounds like an interesting character study, it does not interest me too much.
#this is how it always is#laurie frankel#polls#trans books#trans lit#trans literature#lgbt books#lgbt lit#lgbt literature#contemporary#trans woman#deadnaming tw
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28-03-2023 ✨
#books#book photography#booklr#bookblog#this is how it always is#laurie frankel#currently reading#book photos#bookworm#booklovers#anne reads books
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finished reading “family family” by laurie frankel!!! a 5/5 read!!!
a wonderful read that i didn’t see coming. i found out about 'family, family' while searching for a new read that wouldn’t be the same as the last 5 previous books i’d read (sapphic sad rom). and oh god, i’m so glad i gave it a chance!! amusing but also thought-provoking, ‘family, family’ is a real page turner that keeps you on your toes. positive representation matters!
ps. as always, i’m screaming into the void about becoming friends on storygraph if you use it!!! if you don’t: pls do, it’s so much better than goodreads!! (username: romanovaaa)
#i loved the book#it was soooo good#i have so many quotes saved from this book#i loved it#i was kinda scared to read sth in which a queer plot was a side plot but i’m so pleasantly surprised#it’s about adoption btw#food for thought#adoption#family family#laurie frankel#storygraph#book#book review#books#booklr#bookworm#book recommendations#moira reads#moira speaks
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me talking about seb after his retirement
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We all choose the terms of the desperate bargains we make with the powers that may be, which baseless beliefs and decaying wisdoms we cling to, and which we discard as superstition or sorcery or the ravings of misguided zealots. Which is to say: it may not make sense all the way, but it makes sense enough.
One Two Three by Laurie Frankel
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50 Years of Island Books: Laurie Frankel
Laurie Frankel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of four novels. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Publisher’s Weekly, People Magazine, Lit Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald, and other publications. She is the recipient of the Washington State Book Award and the Endeavor Award. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty-five languages and been optioned for film and TV. A former college professor, she now writes full-time in Seattle, Washington where she lives with her family and makes good soup.
Miriam: Let's start with your first visit to Island Books. Where were you in your career then, and what stood out about the store?
Laurie: Which is also the answer to your question, I’m afraid. I can’t remember my first visit to IB which I actually think speaks to what a great bookstore it is: it feels like it’s always been there and always been a part of my world. Island Books is my favorite kind of bookstore which is to say big enough to have a wide selection, small enough that good, smart readers have culled and curated, with booksellers (said good, smart readers) who are warm and welcoming but also give you space to browse and get lost looking for what you want to read next, plus the children’s section of my (and my kid’s) dreams. I also adore a neighborhood bookstore, and IB is the best kind (since your neighborhood is an island). MI is the perfect size — big enough to have everything you need, close enough to get anywhere you need to go, but small enough to be a community — and it seems to me that Island Books mirrors that exactly.
Miriam: I agree with that description! That's nice that IB feels like it has always been a part of your world. Many of us feel that way. Let's get a little more personal now. Your Instagram is visual ecstasy for a soup lover. If you were making a soup to bring to one of Island Books' Cookbook Club meetings, what would it be? Are we comforting like chicken noodle soup? Good for your health like a carrot lentil? We accept recipes on this blog, fyi, in case you feel like sharing...
Laurie: I mean the good thing about carrot lentil soup is it’s also vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free…really whatever dietary restrictions your group has, lentil soup probably works around them. Also it’s super good for you. Mine has, in addition to lentils and carrots, piles and piles of kale. It’s my most-made soup by a mile, probably every other week at least in winter. All that said, it’s not very fancy, is it? So if I wanted to show off a little, I might do gumbo in the winter, gazpacho for summer.
And alas, I cook like I write: very by-the-seat-of-my-pants, no outlines, no recipes, lots of revisions/adding and adjusting till it sounds/tastes right.
Miriam: So you're a pantser. Well, what's that saying, "The way you do one thing is the way you do everything?" I'm thinking about your books now, mainly This is How it Always Is, which is a particular favorite of mine. Did you know how it would end when you began writing, or did that evolve as you wrote deeper into the story and the characters? That book felt well-structured, so I'm curious if you reverse-engineered it. How does a person become a good cook, anyway? (Asking for a friend, of course.)
Laurie: So first off, thank you much for your kind words about the books. They mean the world, truly.
Secondly, I think I’m not a pantser in all aspects of my life. I’m a planner when I travel, for example. I like to plan when I can. But I can’t when I’m writing (and, I suppose, needn’t when I’m cooking). If I could make an outline, I surely would. It would save a lot of time and lost words. I cut 250,000 words from This Is How It Always Is. If there had been a way to not write them in the first place, that definitely would have been the cheaper way.
All of which is to say, yes I reverse-engineered that book (and all my books). Or maybe less reverse-engineered and more looped. I wrote from the beginning to the end of that book a few hundred times, each time tweaking and improving by teeny bits then going back and fixing what those teeny tweaks broke, again and again and again until it worked. So it gets well structured by cutting away everything that’s not working and going back and planting what’s missing and then connecting up what’s left. I love it, but it’s not a process I would describe as linear.
Miriam: That's fascinating and an excellent process to think about in this space, as we explore how an indie bookstore comes to be, evolves, and endures. The entire literary community is constantly tweaking and improving little by little, all of us in our individual and communal ways. The bookstore is just an amplification of all the minds like yours contributing to the discourse.
Speaking of contributing, I understand you have a new novel coming in 2024. Would you tell us about it before signing off?
Laurie: Yes! Thank you for asking. The new book is called Family Family. Out 1/23/24. It’s about adoption—many different kinds of adoption, in fact—and Broadway and Hollywood and a movie star and a bunch of totally unrelated but actually sort of related kids and how a dream job is still a job and how large, strange, sprawling, non-traditional families are also after all just families. I hope everyone in the whole world will love it!
Miriam: It sounds wonderful and we are looking forward to sharing it with the world. Thanks so much for your time and thoughtfulness, Laurie. Come visit us soon!
To our store community, the next edition of 50 Years of Island Books is a double dose! I'll have Rachel Linden (Recipe for a Charmed Life is coming in 2024) share a special recipe that I've unofficially named "Rachel-Linden's-Take-a-Trip-to-Island-Books-Luscious-Lemon-Bars," and Martha Brockenbrough (her next nonfiction book for teens, Future Tense, will also hit shelves in 2024). As a Bellevue native, Martha says she has no memories of life without Island Books.
—Miriam
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My March & April Reads
Winter Stroll, Elin Hilderbrand - I needed an easy, interesting read for a weekend with family, and this was perfect! My mom is also reading this series and we have fun talking about it together. Thank you, Queen Elin.
Aging with Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us About Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives, David Snowdon - One of the many things I have in common with my pal Kerry is our fascination with nuns, so when I heard this book mentioned on a podcast, I put it on hold immediately. The title makes it sound like a self-improvement guide, but it's actually about Snowdon's findings after studying nearly 700 elderly nuns and their experiences with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Now I'm making it sound like a bummer, but it's actually a fascinating, often uplifting read! I highly recommend it.
Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano - Warning: unless sobbing in front of strangers is your kink, do not finish reading this book in public. Recommended for fans of Little Women, basketball, and family stories.
Games and Rituals, Katherine Heiny - Katherine Heiny's writing is simply the best. Every story made me feel more human, made me crack up and tear up, put me back in touch with all of my past selves. This collection is a treat—get a copy for yourself, your sister, your mom, your best pal, the coworker you're trying to impress. All hits, no skips!
One Two Three, Laurie Frankel - A gift from my sister, thank you Cara! The story is told from the perspective of three sisters living in a small town that was destroyed by the local chemical plant; nearly everyone has cancer(s), birth defects, or dead parents. The most unbelievable detail is that the town was redesigned to be accessible for all of its wheelchair users—I wish we lived in that kind of country! I read this book shortly after the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and......the government should pay for all of the residents to relocate and they should also cover their medical bills.
You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Maggie Smith - Her ex is trash and this book rules. Good for her!
#books#monthly reads#booklr#memoir#maggie smith#you could make this place beautiful#poetry#laurie frankel#one two three#east palestine#flint#katherine heiny#games and rituals#short stories#ann napolitano#hello beautiful#basketball#little women#david snowdon#aging with grace#nuns#alzheimers#elin hilderbrand#winter stroll#march#april
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This Is How It Always Is || Laurie Frankel || 327 pages
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Top 3 Genres: LGBTQIA+ / Contemporary / Family
Synopsis: This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them.
This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.
This is how children change…and then change the world.
This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.
When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.
Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.
Publication Date: January 2017. / Average Rating: 4.27. / Number of Ratings: ~156,970.
#tbr tuesday#I haven't read this yet!#this is how it always is#laurie frankel#300-399 pages#lgbtqia#contemporary#family#jomp original
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But it is true I look for bright sides, not because I am an optimist by disposition, not because I don't know any better - I do - but because I am so slow. It takes me so long to do everything I do. And if you go slowly enough, every moment of the day becomes its own journey, either its own triumph, which you get to celebrate, or its own failure, which you get to move on from, by definition, in the very next moment. If you operate at speed, each word is not a victory, each swallowed piece of food or sip of water is not a conquest. If you operate at speed, you need bigger things to vanquish than a sentence or a muffin or a single line of King Lear.
When you have learned forbearance and acceptable and generosity of spirit the hardest of ways. My skies may not be the limit, but they are less clouded than they seem.
Laurie Frankel, One Two Three
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Family Family by Laurie Frankel
I decided to take a short break from my usual thrillers after reading about this add-on option from Book of the Month. This contemporary fiction piece tells the story of India Allwood, a wildly famous actress who finds herself in cancel culture’s crosshairs after doing the unforgivable—giving an honest opinion on her latest project. When the starlet is asked about the upcoming release of her new…
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#abortion#adoption#Amazon#better yourshelf#book club#Book of the Month#book review#BookoftheMonth.com#books#bookshelf#contemporary fiction#Family Family#fiction#good reads#Holt books#International bestseller#Laurie Frankel#must-read#new release#New York Times Bestseller#page-turner#pro-choice#pro-life#read it#read this now#reading list#reading recommendation#Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick#review#self improvement
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February Reading Roundup
I read 4 books this February! Happy Leap Year everyone :)
This is How it Always is, Laurie Frankel 7/10
One Dark Window, Rachel Gillig: 12/10 *fave of month!*
Two Twisted Crowns, Rachel Gillig: 10/10
Bunny, Mona Awad: 9/10
#one dark window#rachel gillig#ravyn yew#elspeth spindle#ione hawthorne#elm rowan#bunny#mona awad#laurie frankel#the shepherd king
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Fiction to Read or Consider
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Family Family by Laurie Frankel had such an unusual feel to me. Themes include teen pregnancy, adoption, and childhood trauma, but it isn’t sad or even serious. Everything almost feels like a joke.
Her main character,…
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On my way home from Girls Weekend. Apparently we’ll land in a snowstorm, around midnight. I hope I can get home tonight.
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This Is How It Always Is, Laurie Frankel
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Book Review: This is how it always is by Laurie Frankel
Book Review: This is how it always is by Laurie Frankel
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie FrankelMy rating: 5 of 5 starsKindleA lot to unpack hereQuite a story. I wondered what could happen when you have a fifth son named Claude. Would you secretly wish he had been a girl? What happens when he wants to wear a dress on the first day of school? I really liked how the author handled these growing up different things. The best line in the whole book: “We…
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Mrs. Lasserstein says I am being too literal, but there is no such thing as too literal. Literal does not come in degrees. That is like being too seventy-seven point four. That is like being too bicycle.
One Two Three by Laurie Frankel
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