98 books like Something Happened

This extraordinary book combines a lived experience with the powerful writing of an accomplished author.  Unexpectedly, in her mid-thirties, she finds a man to love and a baby is on the way. But then, the agony:  the baby dies in utero in the ninth month. She tackles head-on the deepest feelings and questions this brings. I like the way she unsparingly describes her experience and her grief, and then how she processes this and finds a way to move on. 

This is one of those books that can set off a fire of controversy because of the choices made by its characters, and I love that about it.

The main couple’s marriage lies on a foundation of grief that includes war, extreme isolation, and multiple pregnancy losses. The story dives into the way grief shapes us, as well as the morality of how much we should let our grief shape our choices.

I loved the characters, the moving plot, and the moral conundrum of this book.

The Snow Child depicts a maybe real, maybe imaginary little girl bringing joy to a childless, homesteading couple in 1920s Alaska.

In this bestselling debut novel, released in 2016, a couple that yearns for a child of their own is visited by a nymph who appears and disappears in the snow drifts on their homestead. In her novel, Eowyn Ivy manages to sustain the reader’s belief that this girl could in fact be real, without directly saying one way or the other. 
Why do this in an essentially realist portrayal of hardscrabble life in rural Alaska? Again, I see it as a way to get past the character’s rational mind and open both the character and readers’ hearts to the ineffable.

Here, Mabel, the main character says it better. “You did not have to understand miracles to believe in them, and in fact, Mabel had come to suspect the opposite.… show more.

This is a book written by a psychologist who herself experienced a miscarriage that traumatized her. The author is frank and open about her own feelings and those of her husband. I like how beneficial this is: it brings a sense of normality to feelings women have that may seem frightening to them. There are also suggestions of what can help, as well as supplemental recommended readings. The book is a combination of memoir, reading companion, and advice-provider. 

False Pregnancy, a mysterious and fascinating condition, is a topic of The End of Miracles, written by a psychiatrist who has witnessed the condition up close.

The novel examines how unfulfilled desire can meet with mental illness (or perhaps lead to mental illness) and alter our perceptions in ways that can have outsized effects on our behavior. The tale is told with great sympathy and respect for its protagonist and has no shortage of surprising twists.

Several women share how they continued trusting Jesus during trials with infertility and pregnancy loss.

This book matches scriptures to their hardships and has questions at the end of each chapter, allowing you to reflect on your own story. Recalling traumatic memories and sharing those thoughts with others can help us heal and process the horror and grief in this world.

While writing my memoir, I noticed these journaling opportunities were useful for many kinds of suffering. It would be a great book for a small group to go through together.

In this novel Florist Sadie Drew thinks her marriage depends on how good an impression she can make on the other corporate wives. Too bad she’s anything but a housewife.

She has her own career, her own personality, and her own friends. She doesn’t need to wear Mary Archer dresses. And yet, her husband Tom seems very disappointed at her inability to blend in with the other wives. Why can’t she be a good wife like all the others? Good question. Especially when we find out that Sadie and Tom had lost a baby. Now she wants to try again, but Tom is not having any of it.

Does he not love her anymore? Is he having an affair?  What she doesn’t know is how much Tom has suffered for their loss, and how afraid he was to see Sadie shutting down after the miscarriage.

I loved this novel for its savage intelligence and frank exploration of the problems of inhabiting a body while trying to live a “life of the mind.”

Protagonist Dorothy is an adjunct English professor whose ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage are not so much the subject of this book as a metaphor for Dorothy’s life in general: her hopes have not materialized, and her nonstop thoughts rarely lead to action. Readers who have struggled to claw their way up the academic ladder (particularly those who’ve spent a lot of time at the bottom of that ladder) will especially enjoy this book.

Be prepared for visceral descriptions of Dorothy’s body—of all that it produces, and all that it fails to produce.

Every once in a while, I like a good, scary movie (as long as there’s a limit on the gore). Little Darlings is one of a collection of short stories featuring a murder taking place on Friday the 13th. I made the dubious decision to start reading it one night before bed. Immediately, I was sucked into the story of three friends on a weekend getaway who find themselves terrorized by four black-eyed children who come knocking. The author did a fantastic job of creeping me out to the point where I was listening for the story’s “little darlings” long after turning out my light. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well that night. I see this as an episode in a Twilight Zone-type series.

This beautiful short novel about various matters, including chickens, house cleaning, idiosyncratic neighbors and parents, is funny—really, how can you not laugh at a hen named Miss Hennepin Country.  (Her owners live in Minnesota.)

Also, the novel goes to the heart of the grief of infertility. At the same time, Jackie Polzin is very, very funny in a remarkably quiet way. Her writing is spare, eloquent, and precise. She is, as we say in the biz, The Real Deal. I can open this book at any page and marvel and be filled with happiness.