But the best food stories, as writers like M.F.K. Fisher proved decades ago, aren't just about food. Instead, they tell us something about ourselves and the world we live in. They show us how food is connected to life and how our lives are enriched (or sometimes diminished) by what we cook and bring to the table. In this sense, a great food story does the same as a great novel: it teaches us what it means to be human.
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In June of this past year, my husband was in and out of the hospital three times for complications from a heart procedure. I was, at the same time, taking care of our daughter, teaching a summer class, and writing a novel. I did it. I did it all. I kept going. And then a few weeks later, a pain emerged. It was, quite literally, a pain in my ass. And because it was in such an embarrassing place, I ignored it. Then I went to see my doctor and I medicated it. I pretended it wasn't there.
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In previous centuries, life moved at a walking pace. Social roles were assigned by birth or by ritual ties to earth and tribe. Today, social roles include many choices, and seemingly few constraints. Today, our lives move faster than the speed of a car, and driving is only one of many dangers a child will face. So, while Will learns to drive, I am learning to release him into the world, a difficult place where he will need to create his own niche.
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And instantly I want to speak to your mother. To tell her how peaceful you look, and how your face seems dream-like and content, as though you'd known you'd done the right thing. Just as suddenly I want to grab you and shake you and scream at you for what you'd just done to her.
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I'm reading 11/22/63, Stephen King's latest 850 page tome. I love it. It's a great book. It's on all the lists. Time travel. Characters. Dialogue. Blah, blah, blah. King needs no endorsement from me. Even if I could introduce one or two new readers to the "King of Horror," they would be but tiny grains of sand in his vast, literate empire. So why even bring it up in the Now Reading section of Literary Mama? It's not that the book I'm reading is any sort of a revelation. It's how I'm reading it.
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My children are almost
my age.
When I fly
they believe I am a bird. ...
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Marisa de Los Santos is a New York Times bestselling author of three novels -- Love Walked in, Belong to Me, and Falling Together -- as well as a collection of poetry, From the Bones Out (James Dickey Contemporary Poetry). She lives in Delaware with her husband, David Teague (a children's book author), and their son and daughter. Author Julianna Baggott spoke with de Los Santos about her characters, her words, her process, her husband, her home away from home, and her balancing act with her two children.
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