September 14, 2023

Some books simply feel like good companions, and The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin is one of those books.

I’m not aware that “Good Companions” is an actual genre, but perhaps it should be. A good companion book, according to me is one that

• Is easily put down and picked up.
• Has likable, but not perfect characters.
• Can be read on public transportation or a long plane trip.
• Fills a lazy weekend or unplanned time.
• Balances plot with character development, but is not overly descriptive.
• Ends the way you thought it probably would, but still elicits an emotional connection.
• Offers meaning or a slightly new perspective without being heavy-handed.

I think of good companion books as a kind of “palate cleanser.” A book to read after or before embarking on a bigger, more involved, maybe more serious book. Good companion books are not controversial and don’t include topics with the “ugh” factor, but instead are charming, endearing.

Now you may call that a “beach book” or a “summer read,” but I don’t think of a books having an appropriate season. Good companion books fit anytime of the year. And when you read the last page, you can honestly, say, “I’m so glad I read that.”

The setting of The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot is the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital where seventeen-year-old Lenni lives on the Terminal Ward. Margot is eighty-three and has serious heart problems. When they meet in an arts and crafts class, they realize that between the two of them they have lived one hundred years and they decide to create one hundred paintings about their lives. They share their stories and along the way touch the lives of others, including the hospital chaplain, Father Arthur and New Nurse, who is never named, and even Paul the Porter. We learn of their pasts and we see them both grow into forgiveness and acceptance.

On the first couple pages Lenni describes herself as terminal and she compares that to airport terminals. She also thinks God is like ” a cosmic wishing well.” (p. 5)

I love this insight into the Lord’s Prayer:

There are some words in the Lord’s Prayer that I don’t know. But I do know the word art. It’s a necessary infusion, I think. We should all be artists. Especially if God is doing art in heaven; we should follow his example.

p. 248

This quote may sound as if the book is religious in nature. It’s not, but more spiritual perhaps. With a light touch. Who among us couldn’t benefit from a book that leans into forgiveness and acceptance.

Other Good Companion Books

• Astrid and Veronica by Linda Olson
• No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister
• Love and Saffron, A Novel of Friendship and Love by Kim Fay
• Zorrie by Laird Hunt
• Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce
• A Single Rose by Muriel Barbery
• The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
• The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Feret
• Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
• Lessons from Yellowstone by Diane Smith
• Three Things about Elsie by Joanna Cannon
• My Mrs Brown by William Norwich
• The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbie Waxman
• Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun by Sarah Lidipomanyika
• One Night Two Souls Went Walking by Ellen Cooney
• Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley
• A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson

An Invitation

Have you read any good companion books lately? I would love to know.