“Last Things” by Jenny Offill

This is my dream world: reading all the time. 

Before our vacation in May of 2022, we treated ourselves to a handful of new books to bring with us. (Pretty much the opposite of what we did in April 2025.) This year we decided it was time for another treat. Last Things is the first of five. 

Though new to me, this book was published a quarter of a century ago! I’ve already read Offill’s other two books (for adults) and really loved them, but somehow I’d totally missed the fact that this one even existed. Not surprisingly, I liked this one just as much as the others. I really enjoy Offill’s writing. 

Last Things encompasses the life of Grace Davitt at the age of 8. Her father Jonathan is a science teacher at the local school and her mother Anna works at the raptor rehabilitation center. Family life is eclectic but idyllic. But bit by bit, cracks appear. Jonathan loses his job. Anna decides to homeschool Grace. Jonathan temporarily leaves town for a new job. And all throughout, Anna’s behavior seems increasingly erratic. For a man who proposed to a woman because she never bored him, I would not be surprised if Jonathan found himself wishing for a more boring wife. 

And now, time for the next book!

"Dept. of Speculation" by Jenny Offill

You know that song "Up the Junction" by Squeeze, that covers the whole arc of a relationship from its happy early days to its sad death? Dept. of Speculation is that song in book form, only not quite so upbeat. 

Not that this is a bad thing. I found it a really good book, in spite of or along with or because it is heartbreaking. It's written in a very similar style to Offill's newer book Weather, with the same brief, loosely-connected paragraphs. And of course it has the same clean, concise, evocative writing. 

I would definitely read this again someday. Despite the fact that I am approaching (or possibly even already in) the second half of my life, despite the fact that I'm feeling the pressure of too many books and not enough time left in my life to read them all, I would spend part of what remains of my precious reading time in re-reading this book. 

"Weather" by Jenny Offill

Here's a book that I feel sure would only improve if it were sipped slowly . . . yet I couldn't help but gulp it down.

Weather is the story of librarian and amateur therapist Lizzie, who lives in an unnamed city which I assume to be New York. I use the word "story" loosely; it's really more of a slice of life, though I wouldn't refer to it as completely plotless. It's a brief book, and perfect for a reader with a short attention span as it's basically a series of clipped, loosely-connected paragraphs. A quick glance back through the book doesn't fully confirm this impression, but it's almost as if each little paragraph could stand on its own as a nanobook.

Lizzie has a small family (a husband and young son) and is "enmeshed" with her recovering-addict brother (which I suppose is the new way to say "codependent"). She is also hyper-focused on the eventual effects of climate change (hence the book's title), though she expends far more mental energy on how she will deal with its eventuality than on the possibility of effecting any sort of change to prevent or slow global warming.

Maybe it's difficult to gather this from what I've written so far, but I really enjoyed reading this book. Not in the way that I loved Once Upon a River; the two experiences were entirely different. But this is one of the rare books I would like to read again sometime, especially now that I know what to expect. Because, unlike a plot-driven book that is all the better for its unknown twists and turns, I feel like a second read would make it easier to focus on the writing and the ideas rather than wondering what might happen.