Yes, I read We Begin at the End and recommended it here and elsewhere. Getting it remains a problem library-wise.
The Four Winds - Kristin Hannah … I’d read it, if chosen. I won’t, unless chosen. In effect, I always end up reading Hannah’s books that way: chosen by one of my book clubs. I never dislike her books but neither am I a fangirl. Many of my friends are though.
Anyway, Kirkus expresses my feeling about a Kristin Hannah book in its review of The Four Winds:
The pedantic aims of the novel are hard to ignore as Hannah embodies her history lesson in what feels like a series of sepia-toned postcards depicting melodramatic scenes and clichéd emotions.For devoted Hannah fans in search of a good cry.
Yeah, I have a couple friends who have already highly recommended the book also. I also have more than a few friends who love just about anything Hannah writes. I’m an outlier when it comes to her books. I’ve read more than one and acknowledge she writes well. I even cry on cue when reading. Hannah has a formula and, if you’re a fan of her books, then you’re in good hands whenever she publishes a new one.
I read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and didn’t care for it. I don’t mind giving an author another try, but since @silverlady has read The Four Winds already, and @ignatius is in the not-really-a-fan club, I’ll leave it off the list since we have other good choices.
The Doctors Blackwell has been gently vetoed, as has The Fifth Season and We Begin at the End (all for different reasons). Painter to the King is a too hard to obtain. (My library doesn’t have it either – and even Amazon only has a couple copies in stock.) @buenavista has read Deacon King Kong already, and although I know she would be fine if we chose it, I’d rather aim for fresh reads for people.
That leaves us with:
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn The Yield by Tara June Winch
Do you want to rank 1, 2 ,3 and we’ll see if there’s an easy mathematical winner?
Sharks in the Time of Saviors or This Tender Land (I can’t make up my mind so I listed both - alphabetical order - as first choice.)
The Yield (A close-enough second but I bet it will be hard for some to get.)
Looking forward to see what gets chosen. I’m good with whatever the final result.
@mathmom - I will probably try at some future point to get my hands on Painter to the King. It sounds really good. I’ll try the ILL (interlibrary loan) route and see what happens.
I put This Tender Land third because I read The Four Winds recently, which is about the depression. I wouldn’t mind reading it, but the other two seem more enticing to me.
#1 (winner) This Tender Land with 4 of the 6 first place votes #2Sharks in the Time of Saviors with two first place votes, two second place votes, two third place votes #3The Yield with one first place vote, three second place votes, two third place votes
Looks like This Tender Land will finally have its day in the sun! How long has that been on our consideration list? I expect (and hope) we’ll see the other two choices pop up on future lists.
I’m looking forward to the book (and special bonus, I already have it on my shelf)! However, I’m a little disconcerted by the comparisons (on Amazon) to Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I had big issues with that novel. But apparently, 134,628 Amazon readers beg to differ. Anyway, This Tender Land is by an entirely different author, so shall be judged on its own merits.
What am I reading? I just finished The Queen’s Secret by Karen Harper – I don’t recommend it. I recently read The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson and The Queen’s Secret was suggested as a fictionalized version of the same period in history (1940 in London). I highly recommend The Splendid and the Vile but don’t recommend The Queen’s Secret.
I also just finished The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict. It’s a fictionalized version of Hedy Lamarr’s life, and I really enjoyed it. She was an amazing woman.
I also just finished A Woman of No Importance (nonfic) by Sonia Purnell. It’s about Virginia Hall, the American woman who was a spy for Britain while in France during WWII. She greatly helped the French Resistance and, according to some, shortened the war by two years through her work.
I have The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict on my nightstand.
@VeryHappy: I actually have A Woman of No Importance on my bookshelves. I don’t plan to read it for a while, as I have others I need to get to first. Did you like it?
@Mary13: I’ve read two of Krueger’s books, Ordinary Grace being one of them. Excellent. If This Tender Land is even close to that good, we’ll all be happy. The other one of his I read, Iron Lake, is good also. It was his first novel and won a couple of awards.
I’m looking forward to the next discussion. I reread Shane and True Grit for this month but got distracted and didn’t comment earlier! Still love Mattie’s distinctive voice and Portis’s dry wit.
Recent reading: No Heaven for Good Boys by Keisha Bush The Radium Girls by Kate Moore (nonfic) The Chilbury Ladies Choir by Jennifer Ryan Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe (graphic memoir) On the House by John Boehner (also “graphic” in a different way!)
I’m partway through The Luminaries (Booker Prize winner by Eleanor Catton). Have we ever considered this one for book club? Probably should!
I’m sorry to be slow but finally read the books. Finished True Grit in a few hours last night and read Shane in a few hours today.
I admired Mattie that she could be and was in charge of the business of the family—reading, writing and bargaining plus doing finances. She was a very strong personality and I have no idea whether it’s reasonable to believe she could do all the book personality did and live with just an amputation worse for all her adventures.
Shane was much more enigmatic. You get the feeling he may have killed before or at least has people hunting him. He did seem to love both Marian and Joe and he loved by them. I never got the feeling that he and Marian ever acted on their feelings.
Both of the books made me very glad I didn’t live in those times and made it clear that life was pretty precarious.