I'm hungry for whatever this local author prepares

To say that I am a fan of Merrill Joan Gerber's writing would be an understatement. I actually have two copies of some of her books. My mother loved them, too. Having moved to California, Mom was delighted that the author was a local woman from Sierra Madre and taught fiction writing at Caltech in Pasadena.

When I asked Mom if she would like to go with me to Merrill's reading and signing of her novel “Anna in the Afterlife,” she was all in.

“What should I wear?” she asked, her way of displaying enthusiasm for an important event.

From that day until she passed away, whenever I bought an MJG book, I bought two — and had one signed for Mom. Merrill and I shared an affinity for writing about our Jewish mothers.

Although MJG wrote 30 books, it had been awhile since she revisited the mother stories. When I heard she had a new book coming out I wondered — hoped — to meet these characters again, this time in a collection of autobiographical essays.

“Revelation at the Food Bank,” described by author Joyce Carol Oates as “unnervingly intimate,” gave me more than I hoped for.

Merrill introduced me to the characters who shaped the quirks, qualms and ideals that make her who she is. She was bravely authentic, at times knocking so hard on reality's door that I was transported into my own past and pain, love and reward.

In the book's title essay, which is included in “Best American Essays 2023,” MJG takes us into a food bank during the pandemic where close relationships are formed as armor against the growing nightmare. I think perhaps each of us had our own version of her food bank.

At her book signing at Vroman's in Pasadena, Joe, her husband of 60 years, gave the scoop about their relationship by the love and pride in his eyes, even as his wife read aloud from her essay that poked gentle — and less gentle — fun at him.

This time, I purchased only one copy of her book. But I plan on telling my mother all about it. Maybe even read her a few paragraphs when I visit.

Now 85, Merrill confessed she thinks she has one more book in her. I can only guess how many more short stories. A writer's life well-lived.