As I finished up each book this month, I’d tell Farmer Gary: Time for a lighter book. But it wasn’t the weight of the volume that needed changing. With horrifying acts of terrorism around the world and crazed gunmen here in the U.S., it was time for an escape.

Somehow, though, each new book was also filled with sorrow.

Book 1: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

The title was so familiar, but I’d never before read the book nor watched any of the movies.

That said, I’d made assumptions about the setting and the plot. And I was wrong on both counts.

This harrowing war* novel takes place during World War I, and our storyteller, Paul, is a young German soldier who finds himself struggling to survive trench warfare.

*anti-war novel, actually

And guess who banned it? All Quiet on the Western Front was among the first “degenerate” books to be publically burned by the Nazis.

Book 2: The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson

For the first time, all I have to say is: Meh.

This book came home with us from Mom and Dad’s house a few years back, so I thought I’d give it a try. (I don’t think Mom had read it, though.) A memoir, The Mighty Queens is the story of the single mother who would eventually replace Dear Abby in newspapers nationwide. I really wanted to like this book, but her insistence that every man in her life had let her down was just too much.

Book 3: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

This is the third (or maybe fourth) time I’ve read Anne’s diary. The first time, I was a year younger than Anne was when she received her diary as a thirteenth birthday gift. I remember reading it as slowly as possible toward the end, knowing how it would turn out.

I read it slowly – and with great sorrow – this time, too, in between listening to harrowing news reports of the attack on Israel on October 7.

The Folio Society‘s edition not only reproduced the cover design of the original diary, it also explained how this version is more complete than what I first read so long ago.

Dear Anne, your writing lives on. And your memory is truly a blessing.

Book 4: The Midnight Folk by John Masefield

Rest assured that this children’s tale has a happy ending. But there’s plenty of sorrow to go around in this 1927 children’s fantasy novel.

Nowadays, we’d call The Midnight Folk a chapter book. Thing is, there are no individual chapters in the book, just long-lost treasure, witches, talking creatures, and a great-grandfather who invites young Kay to step into the framed portrait to gather hints for his quest. Oh, and there’s also a nasty governess for the presumably orphaned Kay. Really awful. You might even say she’s a witch.

Book 5: Surviving Aberfan by S. Elliott, S. Humphries, B. Jones

October marks the anniversary of the 1966 coal-tip disaster in Aberfan, Wales.

I admit to only knowing about this tragedy after watching an episode of The Crown. In short, a towering coal-waste “tip” positioned dangerously above the small town collapsed after heavy rain and slid treacherously fast toward the town’s grade school. A total of 116 children perished that day, along with 28 adults.

Seven years ago, the BBC interviewed multiple survivors for a 50-year commemorative documentary. This book includes many of those first-person descriptions of that horrible day and its aftermath from children who were rescued that morning, along with their teachers, parents, and rescuers. This is a tough read, but an important one.

Book 6: Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

The actor, who passed away over the weekend at age 54, said more than once that he wanted to be remembered as someone who helped anyone who asked for it. After decades of addiction, he released this memoir a year ago, detailing his battle toward sobriety.

Originally, the book’s title was to be Unaccompanied Minor, which would have been fitting, considering Perry was only five years old when he first flew – unaccompanied – from Canada to Los Angeles to visit his father.

Sad to see such a successful guy suffer so with addiction, loneliness, and sorrow. His true success was helping other addicts recover from the demons the rest of us can’t begin to understand.

May he rest in peace.

Hope I didn’t depress you too much with this list. Gary says I should stick to Agatha Christie in November. I think that’s worth considering!

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