That first review mentions Arnold’s Dover Beach, my favorite poem. I love it so much I’m going to subject all of you to it:
Thanks, @mathmom. The last stanza really hit home for me. It’s how I’ve been feeling about the world lately.
When I mention that reviewers mislead with descriptors of The Essex Serpent here’s how the Guardian leads into their review: “An Essex village is terrorised by a winged leviathan in a gothic Victorian tale crammed with incident, character and plot.” That’s what I thought I’d be reading and it wasn’t - not really.
Even though we had a pretty leisurely discussion, I feel like the days have flown by. I can’t believe it’s October 10th already. We can start thinking about our December choice at any time. As always, the current discussion can continue as long as anyone has anything to say!
Holdovers from past discussions:
The Strangler Vine - M.J. Carter (Suggested by @mathmom)
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley - Hannah Tinti (Almost chosen last go-round)
My Name Is Lucy Barton and Anything Is Possible - Elizabeth Strout
New choices:
The Wanderers - Meg Howrey
Little Fires - Celeste Ng
I don’t want to be the only one suggesting books!
My husband just gave me The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott and I haven’t read it yet, so that’s another possibility.
Since it will be December, we could also try something with a winter flair: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/24/top-10-winters-in-literature
https://bookshelffantasies.com/2013/08/12/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-books-with-a-snowy-setting-brrrr/
^Honestly, there is probably not much to consider on either of those lists, but they are fun to look through. How I loved Mrs. Mike as a teen!
Looked at Goodreads best book group books and most have been read by this group over the years
Here is list from U.K.
Number nine - states readers who like The Essex Serpent - will like The Other Hoffman Sister-
( has anyone read it ?)
At end of this article this :
On @SouthJerseyChessMom’s list ^^^: I still want to read The Dry
If you want seasonal there’s The Seven Days of Us - Nancy Hornak.
How about The Nix. (I looked up Elaine Newton’s upcoming Critic’s Choice discussions. We’ve read and liked two of the five.)
http://artisnaples.org/education/lifelong-learning/critics-choice
I don’t often tear out reviews from the NYT Book Review, but even though the book looked outside of my comfirt zone, I did for The Mothers by Britt Bennet. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/books/review/brit-bennett-mothers.html
They also talked about it here: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/books/the-mothers-brit-bennett.html
I took a look at all the books mentioned. I could read any of them. I’ll put The Nix, The Ninth Hour, The Seven Days of Us and The Mothers at the top. I am heading out of town early tomorrow morning and will be happy to read whatever gets picked.
I’m going to exercise an individual veto on The Seven Days of Us. Why, you ask?
Love Actually is on my top ten list of least favorite movies of all time. Lol, some scenes are just like fingernails on a blackboard. Hands-down my favorite one-star review on Amazon is “I had to hide during most of the film because I was embarrassed to live in the same reality that produced it.”
@Caraid, thanks and have a good trip!
I’ve never seen Love Actually or, for that matter, The Family Stone. Hmm … definitely not a glowing endorsement, though I love that one-star review.
Okay, here’s where we are:
The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti
My Name Is Lucy Barton possibly combined with Anything Is Possible both by Elizabeth Strout
The Wanderers by Meg Howrey
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott
The Mothers by Britt Bennett
The Nix by Nathan Hill
Please veto books that you’d rather not read, so we can pare down the list!
@SouthJerseyChessMom, I haven’t read The Other Hoffman Sister, but I didn’t add it to the list because it doesn’t seem to be readily available on Amazon (well only Amazon UK).
Sorry I haven’t been involved in this discussion. S1 just got married last weekend and I’ve been rather busy.
I’ve already read The Mothers and I thought it was pleasant but unremarkable. I have no opinions on any of the others listed.
Congratulations VeryHappy! I’ll be reading reviews tonight - no opinion at this time!
Congrats to @VeryHappy on adding a daughter (in-law) to her family. Hopefully her addition will bring joy and happiness not only to your son but to all those who love him.
Enjoy your trip @Caraid!
Books: No vetoes from me. No preferences either. Maybe once the list narrows somewhat I can list preferences but as for now - nope, all look good.
Congratulations, @VeryHappy! Thanks for checking in!
If length matters to anyone when mulling choices, be aware that The Nix is 752 pages.
Then maybe I’ll nix The Nix.
(I had to say that!!)
We always pick a long book to read over the cold winter month of January. Let’s take another look at The Nix next time we choose.