All These Wonders

Sometimes when we are traveling, my daughter and I will read to each other in the car. My mom and dad do this, too, and I have heard of others who do this. It is a lovely way to keep company with one another on long trips.

And it requires a certain kind of book.

What better than a book of stories transcribed from radio?

I love the Moth Radio Hour, and if you haven’t listened to it, you’re missing out.

But for those times when you’d rather interact with a fellow traveler, the Moth now has two beautiful new editions of its stories: Occasional Magic: True Stories about Defying the Impossible and All These Wonders: True Stories about Facing the Unknown. We picked up All These Wonders at the Little Shop of Stories, a wonderful little independent bookstore in Decatur, Georgia (which is where the links will take you).

The stories run the gamut from wrenching to delightful, including gems like Mary-Claire King’s “Who Can You Trust?” — about Joe DiMaggio’s contribution to the discovery of the BRCA1 gene, and Ismael Beah’s “Unusual Normality,” about a former child soldier from Africa playing paintball with friends after he was adopted by an American family.

Look it up. Happy reading, and happy listening!