Laughing at my Nightmare by Shane Burcaw

Laughing at my Nightmare a memoir of a life with SMA, a form of muscular dystrophy. Shane Burcaw wrote this book as a 21-year-old college student. Shane's personality is charming and he approaches the topic of his disease, his wheelchair, and everything that comes along with this with a very snarky tone. His book is conversational and while it is inspirational, he's not trying to inspire you. He's letting you in on the good, the bad, and the ugly of life with SMA. He's an undeniable optimist; he'll tell you now much parts of his disease "suck" but then he'll follow up by talking about what he's grateful for.

I first found Shane on the Youtube channel he shares with his girlfriend Hannah (Squirmy and Grubs) where they let viewers in on the ins and outs of their lives in Minnesota. Their goal is to normalize a relationship between someone with and disability and someone without one, and they are pretty adorable.

Here's my issue with this book, though: It's not appropriate for kids. I'm a high school teacher and I work with a student who has MS. He's a freshman and he's someone who I think would really enjoy making a connection with Shane. He loves to read inspirational stories and he doesn't let his disability limit him. He has the same kind of wheelchair as Shane. When I started reading it I was thinking about how great it would be to hand this book off to this student, but there are too many passages in it that are just too adult for that. There is too much profanity and too much discussion of sex. I get that Shane wrote this book as a college student and he says that people ask him questions about that stuff all the time but I really wish he'd written it in a different way. As a teacher I can't hand this off to a freshman. Maybe he'll write something more appropriate for students in the future. I know he's continuing his writing career, and I wish him all the best!

The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

The Glovemaker is a historical fiction novel set in 1880s Utah. More specifically, it is set in a town made up of Mormons who are not closely associated with the mainstream LDS church. They don't practice plural marriage and they don't have a bishop in town, and they want to keep it that way. In fact, they came to settle in this town so they could be Mormon their way, and they don't trust outsiders easily.

When a stranger comes to town, Deborah feels obligated to let him into her house and provide him shelter from the bitter cold for the night. Her husband isn't home, and the stranger sleeps in the barn. She doesn't ask questions but she doesn't have to; it's not unheard of for men to come through their small town on their way to the next, which is a sanctuary for polygamists. Unfortunately this usually means that within a day or two, law enforcement will also come through and ask questions about which way the man went and who it was that provided shelter.

This latest stranger has a more complicated story, which is further complicated when a lone lawman arrives looking for him. Deborah and her neighbor, Nels, must hide the stranger from the lawman and try to help him escape, but when the lawman is critically wounded they have to come to his aid as well.

Framing this story is the narrative of Samuel, Deborah's husband who is away, visiting a nearby town training others in his trade as a wheelwright. Samuel was expected home more than a month ago. Where is he? What happened to him? He should be back any day.

Based on a real town in Utah, this story provides an insight into the culture of the Mormon faith while also feeling like a western. The story is told through alternating narrators using plain language and simple phrasing. The reader is pulled deeper into the conflicts as the stakes get higher. Where is Samuel? Will the stranger make his way to safety? Will the deputy survive? How many more lawmen are coming after him? They don't usually travel alone. And how to keep the whole town safe when they do arrive, seeing what happened to one of their own? Deborah's story is compelling and pulls the reader into her world easily.