Oh how wonderful. I, too, was/am a huge Pilcher fan. The Shell Seekers is among my all time favorites.
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Dickenâs Christmas Carol was worth reading and very well written. (Read it for CC book clubâfree via Gutenberg.)
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Every time I read something by Dickens I am reminded why he was a bestseller in his day.
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He was so very good at painting word pictures and vividly described scenes so clearly. Short stories are easier to partakeâhe can be a bit wordy.
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Ditto about being a Rosamunde Pilcher fan in the 90s, although I re-read Coming Home and Shell Seekers every few years. Thanks for mentioning this newly compiled book.
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I know it isnât the end of the year yet, but my favorite book of the year is Fifty Words For Rain by Asha Lemmie. I just finished it. I am always looking for new and interesting reads. I would love to hear about your favorite read this year (It doesnât have to be new.)
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I read lots of books that were fine, but none that made me run around saying âYou HAVE to read this.â
Fantasy
I really enjoyed The Lord of Stariel and the three sequels by New Zealand writer A. J. Lancaster. Imagine something like Downton Abbey except the land itself is sentient, but a bit like a big over-loving dumb puppy, and the Lord of Stariel is picked by a magical ceremony and the least likely person to get picked comes back for the ceremony. Well you can guess what ensues from there⊠Each book got better than the one before. \
Knot of Shadows by Lois McMaster Bujold. This is number 11 in a series of novellas about Penric and his demon Desdemona. Some are funny, this one got unexpectedly thoughtful. Bujold does that to you. Sheâs one of my favorite authors. I will read anything she writes.
From the CC Book Club
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. While I was initially put off by some of the obviousness of some of references to other literary works I ended up being beguiled by the story, the characters and the authorâs love of the landscape. I even ended up feeling the touches of magical realism worked and I am often not a fan.
Hamnet by Maggie OâFarrell. Beautiful lyrical writing. A little hard to read about a plague when we are still in the midst of one.
On my to read list for many years finally got to it
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I liked Ifemeluâs observations about race in America, but I also liked seeing her grow into her voice and how she embraced honesty and comes to a basic understanding of who she is and what she wants. I have spent a lot of my life in foreign countries, it was interesting to see how we looked to outsiders.
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Thanks for this suggestion. I just got it out of our library. I, too, read a number of Pilcher books back in the day.
I have read all of Elizabeth Stroutâs books recently, including the recent O William!
Just finished Huma Abedinâs memoir Both/And, an insider look at âHilarylandâ as well as trauma within a marriage that was in the public eye.
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If any of you were fond of Anne Rice books, she passed away yesterday. She was 80.
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Reading O William! now and loving it! I read My Name is Lucy Barton years ago and I donât remember it making much of an impression on me but maybe I appreciate these characters more now that Iâm older. 
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Also Olive Kittredge and Olive Again. Loved O WilliamâŠreread Lucy beforehand but not necessary.
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Glad to hear this, @compmom . Have that one on my nightstand and was worried that I should have paid more attention to what I was buying as I had missed the beginningâŠ
I am thinking that an Elizabeth Strout book might be good for our book club. (I once read Olive Kittridge and liked it). Is O William a book that can be read independently ? Or part of a series?
All of the books can be read independently. My personal favorite is Olive, Again and a friend I was just talking to agrees. Olive Kittredge won a Pulitzer.
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I read a LOT this year, and I loved almost everything so it is hard to single out any of them.
But I can happily recommend these for specific kinds of readers:
For nonfiction: The Sound of the Sea
For fiction: The House of Broken Angels
For want to have the pants scared off of you: The Only Good Indians
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I finished reading Elizabeth Stoutâs new book (Oh William). I highly recommend it.
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Iâll recommend Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen. Particularly enjoyable if you grew up in the 70s, and a terrific tale of family dynamics. Updike-ian.
Oh, and so fun to see Barack Obama and I have such similar tasye in books!!
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Iâm sure âThe Lincoln Highwayâ has been discussed here but I finally got around to reading it. The story synopsis didnât especially appeal to me but I loved both of of Amor Towles prior books. Well - 200 pages in, I can not put it down!
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Glad to hear it, @FallGirl ! On my nightstand!
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