Jamieson Wolf
Number-one bestselling author
Felix Navidad by ‘Nathan Burgoine – A Book Review
Felix Gagnon is tired of being alone.
Working as a home care nurse, Felix has known a lot of people, but none of them are quite like Danya Marunchak. A queen from the old days, he is a font of knowledge about what it was like to grow up gay in his time. He’s feisty but in a loveable sort of way. Danya lost his husband Hans several years ago, but still wants to live life to the fullest, even if he isn’t physically able to do so.
Felix is reminded of the fact that he’s been alone too long. He has no one to miss him, no one to miss. To make matters worse, he’s been invited to the wedding of his friends Ru and Michael, just another reminder of the fact that he’s single. Felix tries to tell himself that it doesn’t matter, that he doesn’t mind, but the truth is that he does.
With the wisdom that comes from living a long life, Danya tells him to try and be impulsive, something that Felix is completely unfamiliar with. When he spots a gorgeous man with hazel eyes named Kevin at Ru and Michael’s wedding, he decides to be impulsive and ask Keven to dance. There is attraction there and Felix thinks it mutual, but someone else asks Kevin to dance and the moment is gone.
Taking Danya’s advice to heart, Felix books a trip to Hawaii over the Christmas holidays. While trying to get to his connecting flight, a snowstorm hits and he’s not able to fly out of Toronto. He spots Kevin and in another spurt of impulsivity, invites him to ride along as he drives to Toronto to catch his flight. Keven agrees and they are only part way to Toronto when they realize that the snowstorm is too much.
They stop and rent a log cabin to try and wait out the storm. Now Felix is stuck with Kevin and the sight of Kevin’s perfect chest in a tight t-shirt. Felix tells himself that it will be okay. He’s alone with a man that he’s attracted to in a log cabin. That’s pretty impulsive, right?
What could possibly go wrong?
My meagre plot summary doesn’t do this novella justice. It doesn’t capture the heart that beats within the words, the characters that live off the page, the storylines that pluck at the heart and evoke emotion. I wait every year for Burgoine’s holiday novella set in the village. It’s how I know that the holiday season has really begun.
Told in present and past storylines, we learn so much about Felix and his relationship with Danya. Though you’re rooting for Felix and Kevin to end up together and the other misfits make appearances, it’s the relationship between nurse and patient that’s really the backbone of this book. Burgoine shows how a relationship can become a friendship, no matter how many years there are between people. Indeed, Danya is like the wise old sense, albeit with a salty mouth and the gorgeous flair of an aged drag queen. Danya is fabulous, there’s no other word for him.
Burgoine manages to make all of his characters shine so brightly, whether they are the main or secondary character. He creates characters that you know completely by the time the book is done and you consider them among your friends. At least I do.
‘Nathan’s makes the magic happen, pure and simple. As the storylines flip back and forth, as Felix and Kevin’s lives intertwine, I was filled with hope. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about? The light of hope that can fill the world and our hearts. ‘Nathan Burgoine brings that light to life in Felix Navidad and my life is richer for it.
Now, my Christmas season can begin…
Love That Story by Jonathan Van Ness – A Book Review
I just finished listening to the audiobook of Love That Story by Jonathan Van Ness. I absolutely loved this book. I got a copy in ebook, an autographed hardcover and listened to the audiobook.
The book is a collection of personal essays on everything from sexuality and addiction to imposter syndrome and overcoming body shaming. I was excited to read his new book as I had loved his last book, Over the Top, so much. I did wonder how much he would have left to say. Thankfully, he had a lot to say.
I learned so much about Jonathan Van Ness, but even more importantly, I learned a lot about myself. I learned to confront my own issues that I have with my body, steps that I could take to help with the grief that I carry, contemplate why I feel like an imposter when I do anything creative and to wonder what my own history was.
By bringing me into his life, Jonathan Van Ness helped me to look at my own. He taught me about his values and the life lessons that he has learned, and I found myself nodding yes to so much of his book. I saw so much of myself in the essays, and I learned so much about Jonathan and myself along the way.
I love reading the hardcover or ebook, but there’s something about hearing the words told in the authors own voice that just helped bring me further into the stories that he relates. Listening to Jonathan Van Ness read Love That Story out loud to me just brought me further into the book, giving me a much more personal reaction to it. I had the same thing happen when I listened to the audiobook of Over the Top: Observations from a Gorgeously Queer Life.
When I finished listening to the book, I found that something within me felt different, as if a small seed of light had been planted within. I have to take the time to see how this seed will help me grow and change as a person. This is the power of Jonathan Van Ness’ words.
I adore Love That Story. I laughed, I got emotional, I learned history and fell in love with myself again. Read this book and fall in love, too! I can’t wait to experience it all over again.
I’m Sorry – A Poem
To the man that glared
at my husband and I
as we walked by holding hands:
I’m sorry
that you can view an act of love
with such hatred in your eyes.
To the woman that stared
at my husband and I
as we shared a private moment:
I’m sorry
that you can view an act of communication
with shock and dismay.
To the mother that turned to look
at my husband and I
and made sure to turn her children the other way:
I’m sorry
that you are teaching your children fear
when they should be taught to love.
When I say I’m sorry,
I’m not apologizing for holding hands
with my husband,
for sharing a moment of love and support.
When I say that I’m sorry,
it’s because I feel sorry for you,
and the fact that you choose hatred and fear
instead of love and acceptance.
I could take a moment to teach you,
to talk to you about kindness,
but I’m sorry (not sorry),
I just don’t have the time
to talk to those that aren’t even
willing to hear.
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen – A Book Review
Stories aren’t fiction. Stories are fabric. They’re the white sheets we drape over our ghosts so we can see them. —ROSCOE AVANGER, Sweet Mallow
Zoey is running towards something.
The only problem is, she isn’t sure what she is running towards. She arrives on Mallow Island, South Carolina to claim her deceased mother’s condo at a building called The Dellawisp. With time to spare before she starts college, she has come to The Dellawisp to form some kind of connection with her mother, though she’s gone from this world.
There are four other condos and the inhabitants are just as unique as the turquoise birds that flutter outside the building from which The Dellawisp takes its name. There’s Charlotte, a henna artist who seems to be running from something. Mack, a chef whose food brings joy to many, but not to him. Frasier, an enigmatic gentleman who seems to know more than he says and Lucy a woman who sees much but hides more.
When Zoey arrives at the Dellawisp with her invisible bird Pigeon, someone at building dies. In trying to make sense of the death and why they passed on, she will get to know her neighbours and a little bit of each of their stories. Ultimately, Zoey will learn a bit of her own story and how she would like it to be told.
Unseen to her are the ghosts that inhabit the Dellawisp. They know the most of all for they see everything, but like all ghosts they remain silent. However, jut because they remain silent doesn’t mean the ghosts have nothing to say…
Don’t you love that moment when you finish that perfect book, and you sit there knowing that it will be a long time until you read something just as good? That’s the feeling that I had with Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen.
I tried to make this one last, I truly did. I’ve been waiting so long for a novel from Sarah Addison Allen. Her last book, First Frost, was published in 2015. After her mother passed away, things became quiet and though I searched for a new novel by Allen, her pen remained still. I supposed it’s only natural then that grief is a theme that runs throughout Other Birds.
Each of the characters is grieving in a different way, some for the family they never had, others for the family that they’ve lost. Though this book deals with death, grief, loss and every emotion that those entail, the book never feels heavy. Allen moves you through the different lives that fill this book and tells their stories with a deft and knowing hand.
This is a Sarah Addison Allen book after all, and Other Birds is magical realism at its finest. In this book you will ghosts, invisible birds, visits from the afterlife and ghosts. You will also find real people, multiple storylines that somehow all intertwine together (yes, even those from the afterlife) and so much heart. There is a little bit of mystery involved as well.
The characters are so very real, so alive and they live beyond the page. I finished this book a few days ago and I know that the characters that fill Other Birds will live on within me now. I too have been grieving something and after reading this beautiful jewel of a book, I was able to let some of it go.
I have loved and re-read every single book by Sarah Addison Allen, but Other Birds is by far my favourite. Thankfully, it was also worth waiting for. Do yourself a favour and fall in love with the magic all around you and read this book.
Within the Storm – A Poem
The sky is a green so deep
that it reminds me
of the ocean when
a storm hits. I wonder
if the sky will swallow us
and what will be left after.
When I look at his face,
I see the same emotions
that have filled me up
to the point where it feels
like I will break.
They are running under his skin
and his eyes are filled with worry
just as mine are filled with fear.
We both listen to the wind
as it begins to scream around us,
voicing what the world feels
but has been unable to articulate.
I carry an open wound within me,
one that keeps being torn open
with each passing day
and each new horror the world provides.
We cower further inside,
trying to find protection and solace
as the winds increase
and I wonder that it can make
such a sound, one that defies
what words mean
but perfectly describes
what is happening.
On the television,
we watch the stories
of war that is taking place,
people being gunned down,
children dying for no reason
except that one man owned a gun.
The news we hear doesn’t bring comfort,
only a world filled
with gunfire and bloodshed.
With each day,
the wind that is whipping around us
increases until, with a loud snap,
the world is filled with water.
I watch as the green of the skies
fills the air and the clouds themselves
become a liquid darkness.
The heavens are weeping.
I wonder if the world itself
is crying for the innocence
that it has lost or for what
it has become.
We are holding hands
when the power goes out.
All I can hear is the water
as it lashes at the windows,
the sound of our breathing
and the tattoo of our hearts
seeming to keep time
with the rain.
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Jamieson Wolf has written a compelling story about navigating multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. His story will touch your heart, make you cry, then laugh, and inspire you. A touching memoir with a bit of magic…and tarot! ~ Theresa Reed, author of The Tarot Coloring Book
Jamieson Wolf 