Welcome to Litsy!

10 years ago, a local pet rescue called to ask if I could take in a dog due to be killed the next day. We took her in, and it was not easy. Rin had spent her life in a puppy mill and had never gone outside, unused to everything. With time, she blossomed. Last year we lost her. Beard‘s first essay in this collection on death, grief, & love was about her dog who also died from a brain tumor. Heart punched by crystal brilliant writing.

I can‘t think of anything I like about this book other than the cover 😂 In all seriousness, every short story is extremely depressing, so maybe if your life is going really great, you might enjoy the reality check. I personally didn‘t want to think about death for the 2 weeks I spent trudging through this book.

Festival Days is a collection of essays plus 2 short stories that primarily focus on death or the threat of death, which sounds like a drag, but this is fantastic. Beard evokes emotion in her essays quietly and without fanfare, giving them a powerful punch. She pulls of nonlinear timelines and stream-of-consciousness impressively. (And fitting that given the main topic, there is a beheaded teddy bear in this pic. You can thank Bindi for that!)

Big update to #libby today! Finally syncs with overdrive wishlist