I love Colm Toibin, but Thomas Mann is one of my reading gaps. Would it be enjoyable to someone who hadn’t read Mann? I loved The Master.
Yes! I haven’t read any Mann either but now I will. His books seem pretty depressing but, after having read this book, I have so much insight into how he wrote them that I’m super interested. Also, Mann had a super interesting life and his family is full of characters. Seriously it’s a five star read for me
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Thanks!
I read Thomas Mann’s The Glass Bead Game (sometimes also titled Magister Ludi) when I was in college and loved it. I think I was at just the right time. I’ve also read Death in Venice which is more than a little creepy. I’ve always meant to read others, but have never gotten around to it.
The German author, I’ve been meaning to read is Herman Hesse. I had a German friend who said he had the most beautiful prose, but I wouldn’t know. Of course I would feel obliged to read it in German, and my German is so rusty it would be painful. Sigh.
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I’ve read some Hesse (way, way back in high school, mostly.) The Glass Bead Game is by Hesse, not Mann. (I know I read it, but so long ago, I hardly remember it. I read it in translation.)
Oops! Thanks for the correction! Yeah, then I’ve never read any of the longer Mann books. I think The Magic Mountain has been sitting in my bookshelf for almost thirty years!
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I have The Magician and Cloud Cuckoo Land on my list as well as the new Franzen book Crossroads. I read Matrix by Lauren Groff. Pretty fantastic.
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All on my list too! Plus, Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead on my short list for fall.
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Well, this book is no longer available to buy but I wanted to share with you. Way back when…1977…when I first started working at our small community, acute care hospital, there was a physician Dr. H who was an internist. In those days we had no cardiologists in town and he was the “go to” to read EKG’s as he had advanced training in cardiology. Nice man, perfect gentleman. Very kind and gentle. At that time my friend was an EKG tech and became close to him. In time, he encouraged and promoted her to the “powers that be” to train and found an doppler ultrasound department. So, anyway, years march on, he retires, moves away. But the man wrote a book. He was born in 1926 and raised in Germany. The book details being a Nazi Youth and eventually being drafted into the German Army, being a POW after the war, etc. Just a really amazing account of the horrors after the war on “the other side”. Terribly detailed and I skipped parts of it, but truly interesting to hear his viewpoint. How people truly did not know what was going on as to the Holocaust and all. He was taken prisoner in France and spent several years as a POW making repairs in Germany. I fully admit I did not read every line as it was extremely detailed, but it was interesting. Eventually, obviously he was able to come to the states and pursue his life and career here. It’s so amazing what we might not know about people we interact with daily. Dr. H. in heaven , I am glad I read your book. If you click on the link there is a pic of the back cover and if you enlarge it, you get a better description than mine! LOL.
https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Third-Reich-Gunter-Hahn/dp/B002PO8CG8
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@wisteria100 (and others) – curious about Matrix. It was recommended by a stranger in a bookstore where we were both browsing. I didn’t buy it at the time but put in on my list to consider.
Walked out with Red Pill which I haven’t read enough of to have an opinion.
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I just finished Kristin Hannah’s “The Nightingale”. I loved it. Fabulous book.
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I think I’ve read all of Her books, but nightingale was my fav.
Just finished Florence Adler Swims Forever, Rachael beanland. Quite enjoyable. Easy read
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NIghtengale was one of my favorite books. It was my escape on a cruise vacation, a few days after I learned about being on a layoff list. (I later dodged that bullet, but at the time it was really good to have an excellent book to read.)
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I enjoyed Nightengale, and I liked The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel even better. Same genre - WWII historical fiction. I’ve read a couple of other books by Kristin Harmel since then, and I have enjoyed them all.
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I’m almost finished with Liane Moriarty’s new book–Apples Never Fall. I’m a fan of hers (previous books–Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers, The Husband’s Secret). If you enjoy novels about dysfunctional families–this is for you. Plus, there’s an added “who did it” element. Not literary fiction, but it’s an easy read. I’m betting it will turn up as an HBO series like Big Little Lies, etc.
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@Bromfield2 - I also enjoyed that book. I was not a big fan of “Nine Perfect Strangers”. but this one was good.
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It’s on my GoodReads list…
Have you read Liane’s “What Alice Forgot” - it’s one of her earlier titles (2009?) and often gets lost in her newer “made for tv” books.
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Haven’t read that one, but I’m putting it on the list!! Another one of her books that I haven’t read is The Hypnotist’s Love Story, which is also on my list. I tend to binge on authors.
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I do that too! - binge authors. 
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I’ll probably finish Apples Never Fall either later today or tomorrow. Both Truly Madly Guilty and Nine Perfect Strangers disappointed me and I hesitated to pick up Apples Never Fall. However, this one is good.
FWIW: I really really liked her The Hypnotist’s Love Story.
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