Joy

I will read anything Maira Kalman makes, and her newest, Joy, might be my favorite yet. It opens by admitting the world is full of sorrow, which feels like a surprising start for a book with that title, but that’s exactly the point. Through her painting, poetry, and prose, Kalman pairs gorgeous portraits of Virginia Woolf, Claude Debussy, James Baldwin, and others who created delight in spite of real heartbreak with her own tender memories. The result is a reminder that we all have the remarkable ability to keep going and that something magical happens when we try. “Oh, what people do,” she writes. Oh, indeed. Buy two copies: one for you and one for someone who needs it.

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