February 4, 2018 LOTTERY

Hit the jackpot yesterday. No--not the lottery as in money--but the next best thing--the LIBRARY LOTTO. Went in looking for a few good MEN--I MEAN BOOKS--and came out with an armload of newbies.  Actually had to put a few titles back--No way I can get through more than FOUR books in the allotted two weeks they give for NEW books--unless I quit my job.  There's nothing better than having a pile of books waiting to be read in FEBRUARY. It's what gets me through the drudgery and dullness known as WINTER. I have to lose myself in another world--forget that cold and damp--if only for a little while!! Case in point--just finished a book where I got to spend time in Denmark after World War II-- with some really interesting people to boot--thanks to Jens Christian Grondahl's lovely book Often I Am Happy.  

I was initially attracted to this book because of the title. It seemed oddly worded so I picked it up and am so glad that I did. The title of this little gem actually comes from a poem written by B. S. Ingemann that tells it all:
          Often I am happy and yet I want to cry;  
          For no heart fully shares my joy.
          Often I am sorrowful yet have to laugh,
        That no one shall my fearful tear behold.
Ellinor is a seventy year old woman whose second husband Georg has just died. In the wake of his death, Ellinor decides to write a letter to her long dead best friend, Anna, who was also Georg's first wife.  In her letter, Ellinor reflects back on the last forty years--her courtship with her first husband, Henning,  the close friendship the two couples shared, and  even the complex relationship she had with her mother that she is finally beginning to understand. She writes about her own life as step mother to Anna's twin boys and the hardship of living in her friend's shadow. She shares her secrets, fears, memories, and deepest thoughts with Anna.  Though the prose is minimalist, the writing grips the heartstrings and doesn't let go. This is short book of only 160 pages that could be considered a novella--seriously a 2 mile run-- but the complexity of the human experience as told by Ellinor is unforgettable.