Whimsical Tales

Storytelling as an art would seem to be a peculiar trait that only our species is capable of. We convey information via data points, but we also tell stories to enrich and enrapture our audience, to convince them of situations or persons as they are perceived by the author. Some storytellers are reporters of facts (nothing wrong with a straight talker), while others transport us into the wonderous and dizzying atmospheres of other worlds, which are sometimes the complete and utter creation of their authors’ creation.

In Neil Gaiman’s utterly delightful kids’ book Fortunately, the Milk, our hero is a father just trying to provide milk to his children who need it for their breakfast, yet circumstances, according to him, have other plans. As it were, in what should have been an uncomplicated and uneventful trip to the market for milk turns into a time-traveling, hot balloon riding, stegosaurus-assisting romp through space and time in order to get the milk, retrieve the milk and - without really disrupting the space/time continuum -  return the milk to children for breakfast. Thankfully, all ends up well, because, fortunately, the milk.

Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary Forger by Lee Israel

On the opposite spectrum of expectations, we have a storyteller and forgery extraordinary, Lee Israal telling their tale, with relish, of forgery in their brief (they really do wonders with an economy of words) foray into forgery with Can You Ever Forgive Me? Clean, crisp, and unbelievably charming, almost disturbingly so, Lee recounts, reminisces and reveals the choices made to recreate the letters that lead her out of some of her financial binds and yet into infamy. Misrepresentation is not a noble quality but sometimes the truth is much more entertaining than fiction.

Enjoy!