Inheritance by Dani Shapiro. One of my favorite books ever. Should be a great book club discussion!
The improbability of love
Hannah Rothschild
The London art house world, interesting characters, the nazi stolen art work⊠quite nice. Easy read.
Just finished Such a Fun Age, a first novel by Kiley Reid. An easy, breezy read that takes on race and privilege. Believe itâs a Reese Witherspoon pick. Of the two main characters, Alix (the white employer) is a bit cliche but Emir (the African American babysitter) is quirky and unique. In addition to the child Briar thereâs another surprise âconnectionâ between the two. Finished it in a day.
The Book of Science and Antiquities. I am not sure how far in I am, but this is a beautiful book, I have it on audio and the narrator takes a bit of an attitude adjustment for me (he mispronounces words that should really be checked, not intuited). Anyway, get it on your list. It might be better as a read vs audio. I probably will buy a copy for my bookshelf. Real story telling.
I have the Advanced Reader Copy of âSuch a Fun Ageâ ready to read. There are So.Many.Books I want to get to! Still havenât read The Testaments. Looking forward to âLong Bright Riverâ by Liz Moore and âThe Third Rainbow Girlâ by Emma Copley Eisenberg . . .thatâs all I can think of currently
Just finished Patchettâs The Dutch House. I did enjoy it and she continues to write well developed characters. Not quite as strong as Commonwealth and Bel Canto, IMO, but worth a read.
I finished the The Book of Science and Antiquities, and it was wonderful. As above re choice of narrator, obviously they went for the larrakin tone, but the audio editing and QC was kind of lacking, but donât let it put you off. Put it on your list.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/31/book-science-antiquities-two-old-men-dying-thomas-keneally-review
@doschicos I just finished The Dutch House too! I loved it. Iâve read Commonwealth, will need to add Bel Canto to the list.
I just read The Schrödinger Girl by CCâs own mythmom! It is a pageturner in the best sense - smart, original, suspenseful, and what I think must be a great capture of the changing world of the â60âs in NYC. I think it would be a great book club book - lots to discuss, including references to mythology, art, music, and physics.
I read âSex Teens & Everything in Betweenâ by Shafia Zaloom. I borrowed it from the library, but less than 30 pages in I decided to buy DD a copy. There is so much to cover and itâs impossible to convey it in one conversation. Youâll wish you had read a book like this when you were younger.
Another book I loved this month is âNever Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On Itâ by Chris Voss. A facinating and actionable âhow toâ book written by a hostage negotiator.
The Schrödinger Girl looks intriguing. I sent it to my Kindle, but I have to read Middlemarch first!
The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
I just finished âWe are All Completely Beside Ourselves,â by Karen Joy Fowler, which won the PEN/Faulkner for fiction in 2014 was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in the same year. Iâm hooked on family narratives and coming of age stories and this novel includes both, but itâs not the typical dysfunctional family tale. The narrator (the daughter of an academic psychologist) is smart, funny, and damaged. You learn why as she chronicles events that shattered her family. I wonât say more because I donât want to give away a major plot point that the reader doesnât discover until well into the book. Fowler wrote âThe Jane Austen Book Clubâ, which I havenât read, but have added to my list.
âThe Jane Austen Book Clubâ was not the book I wanted it to be, so I was disappointed. I donât remember too much about it any more though. Iâd say I was misled by the reviews as much as anything.
Has anyone picked up American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins? It received huge promo from the publisher but has been dogged by criticism.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/4600851002
Not sure I agree with âcultural appropriationâ but I have also read info that indicates it is not the most well written book.
I would hate to think that authors can only write protagonists that match their own characteristics.
Finished A Good Man, a first novel by Ani Katz, over the weekend. Disturbing psychological thriller with a very unreliable narrator who sucks you right in. The writing is somewhere between exquisite and very good with many wonderful, startling passages. We watch the train wreck of the narratorâs family and professional life come undone. Lots of opera references for any opera fans out there. Iâm not sure what I ultimately thought. It was an unsettling novel, but unfortunately a narrative one sees all too often in the evening news.
@doschicos @TS0104
I really enjoyed The Dutch House and I have read almost all Patchettâs novels, I would love to visit her bookstore!
But whatâs her issue with motherhood?! Have you all read her Patron Saint of Liars? To me the Dutch House is almost a different version of that book (not really but felt like that to me).
@Bromfield2 Jane Austen Book Club was a fun read, I enjoyed it.
@surfcity American Dirt is hugely popular in my library, I decided to keep a hold on the audio version a couple weeks ago and it now says It will be available to me in about 25 weeks. ?
@makemesmart I havenât read Patron Saint of Liars yet. Which of her books have you liked the best?
This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor. Adam Kay.
A great audio presentation narrated by the author. The English accent is a
requirement, there are very British references (Itâs Friday, Itâs Five To Five And Itâs Crackerjack! ) and there are significant differences in the motivation and process of going into medicine in the UK vs the USA. IMO his stories are probably from the better times of the NHS vs the before (early 80âs) and the now (organ by organ dismemberment). Sadly it wonât reach enough ears to help. Great quick listen. A few literal LOL bits for me.
Iâve read all of Ann Patchettâs books except Dutch House and Patron Saint of Liars. Donât have a favorite, but really enjoyed Truth and Beauty (nonfiction), State of Wonder, and Commonwealth. Sheâs one of my favorite authors.