Usually posters who do WWW Wednesday answer the questions, What have you finished? What are you reading now, and What will you read next. Instead, I’m only going to deal with the first W–What have you finished?

(Published 2020) I bought my signed copy online through Brazos Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Houston. Moving’s subtitle is “Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change.” A collection of pithy entries, Smith’s book is a collection of “poetry, proverbs, journaling, lyrical prose, belle lettres, psalms, meditations, and aphorisms.” (Richard Blanco) It is billed as “a book you’ll want to give someone you love.”

Changed by reading this book (in spurts and in pieces–I often had to put it down and think about it for a while, or a day), it helped me adjust my attitude toward my recovery and life in general. The three divisions of the book are “Revision,” “Resilience,” (I found this section extremely helpful.) and “Transformation.” Throughout the book, the author’s message is loud and clear and is repeated at the end of each “piece”… Whatever is going on in your life,”KEEP MOVING.”

I also finished the audiobook,

Eleanor is a woman who “lives a carefully time-tabled life,” and “avoids unnecessary human contact.” She lacks social skills altogether and usually says what she thinks. Her deadpan responses tend to make others laugh or gasp with shock. Eleanor meets Raymond, a “bumbling, unkempt” guy from her company, situated on another floor. By happenstance, it is Eleanor who assists Raymond when a stranger (Sammy) has a heart attack on the street in front of them. Later, they meet Sammy’s outgoing family, and begin a plus one relationship with each other at the many events they are invited to. They also begin to lunch together at a nearby cafe–a pair of “odd ducks.”

Through the changes Eleanor makes in her life because of her friendship with Raymond and her crush on a rock singer, she learns that she is “capable of friendship and [maybe even] love.” The story is as advertised, “smart, warm, and uplifting .