TOM LAKE

“There is no explaining this simple truth about life: you will forget much of it. The painful things you were certain you’d never be able to let go? Now you’re not entirely sure when they happened, while the thrilling parts, the heart-stopping joys, splintered and scattered and became something else."
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This book, this book! Some stories we just read from beginning to end. Others we get to wrap ourselves up in like a blanket, or drink in slowly like a cup of tea. If you've read Tom Lake, you know which kind it is.
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Ann Patchett's luminous novel is a story within a story: While Lara's three daughters are staying at her family's orchard in Michigan during the pandemic, she shares with them her long-ago romance with a now famous actor during a summer stage production of Our Town.
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Within this deceptively simple premise is a moving and powerful narrative, a reflection of the path Lara's life might have taken and the one she chose instead. Mirroring the themes of Our Town, Tom Lake renders the ordinary moments in life in sweet detail, to show us just how oblivious we are to these precious days (❤️) as we are living them. Reading this just as my oldest child was going to college for the first time, I was especially moved by the book's sense of longing for a togetherness that was not yet gone, but fleeting just the same.
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Cherries and more cherries throughout Tom Lake! Cherry is my favorite pie - at least until fall when I unfailingly declare it to be pumpkin - and this post deserved a full homage to the last of this summer fruit. I loved this book so much that I pitted nine cups of cherries to make three galettes over two days, and I'll be posting the recipe link in stories today! Enjoy with a scoop of ice cream and a nearby spot on your bookshelf for this beauty.