What I’m Reading

(March 2026)

---

1. Everything is Tuberculosis

---

SUMMARY

Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, preventable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year.

In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

---

MY REVIEW

When this book became available on my audio feed, I was so excited. The timing was perfect, as I had just wrapped up my last audio nonfiction, and this one was highly touted. And then I stopped, and laughed. Who gets excited about an entire book devoted to tuberculosis? But I figured my network of readers couldn’t all be wrong, so I downloaded it and began my journey into the world of TB. And what a world it is.T

o begin with, I was shocked to learn that tuberculosis SHOULD be on the forefront of everyone’s minds and conversations. WIth the exception of Covid for 2 years from 2020-2022, TB remains the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent at almost 1.25 million deaths annually.
​

​

Some may recognize John Green as a popular author within the young adult genre, and so he naturally has a storytelling voice even within this deep scientific topic. He tells stories of places in our history where TB has played an impactful role, from the cowboy hat and the adirondack chair to places such as Pasadena, CA, Colorado Springs CO, and even to the assisination which began World War I. Tuberculous has is tentacles spread throughout our global history, and it is making a bigger impact than I ever realized.
​

More than learning about the history and impact of this specific disease, Green uses the opportunity to use TB as a representation for other global diseases. His quote which he repeats is that “the disease is where the cure is not, and the cure is where the disease is not.” His book spends time bringing awareness to the reader that global diseases, either their spread or their inoculation, are greater issues of social justice and racism. There are those who have the answer and the cure and therefore the ability to slow or stop diseases, but for a variety of political, financial and other reasons, do not.

I enjoyed this book, especially as an audiobook. Through it I was able to hear Green’s passion for this topic; you can hear him “geek out” in moments through his research and hear his heart through his stories, particularly about Henry.

(While I’m on the topic of John Green, he mentions in this book that he suffers from OCD. It reminded of his fiction novel Turtles All the Way Down, which I recommended in a previous newsletter but would be remiss if I did not do so again.)

---

2. Theo of Golden

---

SUMMARY

Who is he, and why is he here?

He arrives early one spring and by chance – or is it? – he visits a coffee shop where 92 framed pencil portraits are on display. Inspired, Theo sets out on a mission of purchasing all the portraits one at a time and quietly bestowing them on their ‘rightful owners.’

Stories are told; friendships are born; and lives are changed.

Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted story about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the far-reaching possibilities of anonymous kindness.

---

MY REVIEW

This title repeatedly kept popping up in my worlds and news feeds as a “must read.” Words such as “heartfelt” and “uplifting” made me think that this would be a good book for my soul in the dreary and heavy days of winter. But alas, as is with most popular books, there was a significant hold line for it at my library, so I entered my name into the queue and patiently waited.

When it finally arrived in early March, I was excited with anticipation and began reading it as often as I could. Which turned out to be a necessary thing, because this book starts on a slow roll. During one particular course in my MFA, I was challenged by a professor about “what was at stake” in my own novel. There has to be a problem of sorts, and even better if there is a specific timeframe in which the problem needs to be solved. Theo of Golden never presented a problem to me, and Theo himself was in no rush or had any apparent deadline. ​

But I continued with it and I did enjoy the “good in human nature” aspect of it. Theo himself is good, and as a result, the goodness spread to those around him. Even though nothing was actually happening of great significance, I continued to read each chapter for the positivity it provided.

It was somewhere around 50 pages remaining that I began to wonder (as I often like to do) about how the book was going to end. Was it just going to be stories of positivity all the way to the end? It was at this point that my opinion of the book changed. Something happened–an unexpected plot twist–and the story began to resolve itself quite quickly and clearly. Too cleanly in my opinion. I believe that life is messy and people are complicated, and I appreciate novels which are willing to address it.

My greatest critique of this book (and it may well be other readers’ favorite aspect) is the character of Theo himself. He doesn’t have any character flaws. He is squeaky clean, just shy of being perfect. A small wondering began to buzz in my head wondering if Theo was being portrayed as a Christ-like figure–until at one point near the end of the novel a preacher said just as much.

Personally, I was disappointed in this book. It didn’t have the depth I wanted, and Levi did not offer me the high stakes writing nor the complex ending I so enjoy. However, having said that, if you are looking for a feel-good book from beginning to end, something with a closely tied religious theme, and a book which I can all but guarantee will soon be a Hallmark movie, then you will enjoy this read.

---

3. The Correspondent

---

SUMMARY

“Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle. . . . Isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.

Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.
​
​Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.

Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be “a very small thing,” but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read.

---

MY REVIEW

The story of how I came into possession of this book is as good as my feelings toward this book. Early this year a trusted book recommender told me this was her first 5 star read of 2026. So I put it on hold and waited. Finally, near the end of February, it became available. I rushed to the library, checked it out, took a picture of it and texted my friend, “Look what came up on hold today!” Her response? “That looks good!”

That looks good? That is not the response I was anticipating. I was thinking of something more along the lines of “Enjoy!”

I had put the wrong book on hold. I possessed “The Correspondants” (plural) not “The Correspondent” (singular).

And so my new search began. Because this book is so popular, there are a number of copies that are available but not holdable. You just have to be at the right library and the right time.

For two weeks the book eluded me. I was not where I needed to be when I needed to be there. But then. I was filling up at a gas station and on instinct/boredom, I checked my phone. A copy of the highly anticipated book was a 2 minute drive from where I was!

Readers, it was worth it. The entire book is written in the form of letters (with a few diary-type entries thrown in), so it does take quite a few pages to get into the rhythm of it and understanding who the multiple characters are in the story. But Evans does a worthy job of tackling the complexity of being a septuagenarian: kids and grandkids, marriages and spouses, past regrets and deep hopes. And on top of it all is a reminder of the importance of letter writing. My only personal criticism was that I personally did not love how Evans chose to end the book, but I have to admit my own dislike for many endings; it is most likely nothing more than a healthy conversation over coffee or at a book club meeting,

I never did read The Correspondents, so I cannot offer a recommendation on it, but I would agree with my friend that The Correspondent (Evans) is worth the read.

---

4. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

---

SUMMARY:

Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck – impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?”

Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!

​
In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door – not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

---

MY REVIEW

When one finishes a book on Tuberculosis, what is the next audio book to follow? For me, it was a complete pendulum swing. Kaling was funny and lighthearted and honestly never made me think too much about any one particular topic. It was fascinating to listen to her life story and to find out exactly how she ended up as a writer and actress on The Office. And, as the summary states, she offers plenty of “unscientific observations” about a variety of topics on life; what I love and appreciated about Kaling was that she spoke on topics near and dear to her life as well as things she knew absolutely nothing about but simply wanted to voice her opinion.

For four-and-a-half hours, I listened, I enjoyed, and I never once pulled a brain muscle thinking too hard about any one topic in particular. I am not a better, more knowledgeable person for having listened to it, but I am not worse for it either. I have no regrets, and perhaps at another point in my life when I need a whip cream level book for my brain, I will download another one of hers.

---