Ernestine Ashworth spends her 17th birthday agonizing over her insignificance in the universe. Soon enough, it’s her 18th birthday. Even sooner, her 41st. Her 70th. Her 101st. Five generations, an infinity of dreams, and one cake baked over a century.
This poignant and funny play takes its audience through the highlights, heartbreaks and extraordinary moments that make up one woman’s ordinary life.
What to Read
Our reading recommendations: Like Birthday Candles, the novel Big Fish explores themes of aging and parent-child relationships, though with a fantastical twist. The story is told through the recollections of outlandish tales that Edward Bloom told his son, William, about his life. As Will attempts to repair his strained relationship with his dying father, he tries to find the truth in his father’s larger-than-life stories while he still has time with him. The story has also been adapted into a film and a Broadway musical.
About the book: In his prime, Edward Bloom was an extraordinary man. There wasn't anything he couldn't do - and do well. He could outrun anybody. He never missed a day of school, even in the worst blizzard. He saved lives. Animals loved him, people loved him, women loved him. He was an inspired salesman - a visionary, in fact. And he knew more jokes than any man alive. Or at least that's what he's told his son, William. William doesn't really know his father because, actually, Edward wasn't home all that much. What William knows about his father he's had to piece together from the little bits of stories he's gathered over the years. Now, watching his father die, William grows increasingly desperate to know him before it's too late. And in a wonderful sleight of hand, William re-creates his elusive father's life in a series of legends and myths inspired by the few facts he knows. Through these tales, William begins to understand Edward's great feats - and his great failings. He manages, somehow, to reckon with the father he's about to lose. And he finds a way to say good-bye.
What to Watch
Our watching recommendation: This award-winning film was filmed over 12 years, charting the growth of a family over time and focusing on the parent–child relationship. Like Birthday Candles, the changes of life are highlighted through small, intimate moments showing the rhythms and texture of every day. Prepare for emotional resonance that hits deeper after viewing Birthday Candles.
About the movie: The film was shot over the course of twelve years in the director's native Texas and charts the physical and emotional changes experienced by a child named Mason, his divorced parents, and his older sister. Alighting not on milestones but on the small, in-between moments that make up our lives, the director fashions a flawlessly acted, often funny portrait that flows effortlessly from one year to the next.
What to Listen
Our listening recommendation: Just as Birthday Candles takes the audience through the different stages of Ernestine, Aiko’s third album, Trip, takes listeners for a ride through the varying experiences of her life. From processing the grief of her brother’s death, through Aiko’s own mental health journey, to the experience of new loves and relationships, Trip will wrap the listener in a psychedelic cocoon of melodies, lyrics, and emotions. The vulnerability and rawness of the lyrics, combined with Aiko’s smooth, warm voice, allows you to drift off and become enveloped by her story, guiding you through the different snapshots, or tracks, of her life.
About the album: Aiko's concept album is about self-discovery with a diverse group of collaborators. The music style is a mix between R&B, pop, and traditional soul, full of emotion and honesty.
What to Download
Our download recommendation: Like Ernestine in Birthday Candles, the story of Oona Out of Order is constructed around Oona's birthdays at different stages of life. Only Oona is… well, out of order, and never knows which birthday she'll jump to next when the clock strikes midnight. This novel examines deep questions about the nature of life with warmth and wit. Critics have praised Brittany Pressley's audiobook narration, but non-listeners can find this title on eBook as well.
About the book: Time Traveler's Wife meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in a wondrous novel exploring the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the timelessness of family. Just because life might be out of order, doesn't mean it's broken. It's new years eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or follow her heart and remain at home in Brooklyn to be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the new year begins, Oona feels lightheaded, woozy, and it's not from the champagne. At the stroke of midnight Oona is torn from her life and everyone she loves, finding herself in her 51 year old body thirty-three years into the future. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she's told is her own, Oona learns that will with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. Still a young woman on the inside, but ever changing on the outside, who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she's never met? Hopping through decades, and a lifetime Oona Out of Order is a surprising, magical novel that explores the power of love, the bonds of family, and the wonders of life.