All from the NPR list:
*Fates and Furies
Girl Waits With Gun*
^ My daughter just finished Fates and Furies. She said it was excellent.
Super npr link ignatius - thanks
A Manual for Cleaning Women sounds good, PlantMom.
I read the acclaimed H is For Hawk and had mixed feelings about it. The material about hawks is good, but I didn’t like how the author goes on and on about her bereavement and about dysfunctional aspects of T.H. White’s life.
Girl Waits With Gun sounds pretty good. Fates and Furies…hmm, not sure.
From the NPR list these caught my eye.
Descent By Tim Johnston
Did You Ever Have a Family By Bill Clegg
Fates And Furies: A Novel By Lauren Groff
Funny Girl By Nick Hornby
A God In Ruins By Kate Atkinson
The Meursault Investigation By Kamel Daoud, translated by John Cullen (you’d want to do it as a duo with Camus’ The Stranger.)
The Secret Chord: by Geraldine Brooks (couldn’t resist deals with the Biblical King David and Bathseba among others.)
Shadowshaper By Daniel José Older
Slade House By David Mitchell
Speak: A Novel By Louisa Hall (I think this might be great or seriously annoying.)
The Turner House By Angela Flournoy
When A Scot Ties the Knot: Castles Ever After By Tessa Dare (I’m putting this on just because I’d be seriously embarrassed by reading a book with this cover! It seems like a real outlier on this list - or is it?)
A while back I read the NYT review of this book and thought it might be worth reading.
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
Here’s the Amazon blurb:
Vetoes coming:
A God in Ruins - sequel to Life After Life, which I think needs to be read first
Shadowshaper - read it and thought it okay but wouldn’t recommend it
Speak - disturbing subject matter
Evidently I’m in a mood because, in researching books, if I see the word disturbing or a book described as deeply haunting I move on quickly.
For what it’s worth When A Scot Ties the Knot has starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal. It is actually third in the Castles Ever After series and the first one Romancing the Duke has all starred reviews also. And the word “amusing” in the description. I could do this (understanding it will be vetoed before we get to the point of considering it but still …) As I said I’m in a mood.
*Meant to add that I’ve also been interested in Elizabeth is missing and A Manual for Cleaning Women
This duo suggested by mathmom above interests me a lot: The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud, translated by John Cullen (you’d want to do it as a duo with Camus’ The Stranger).
Slade House has received mixed reviews, and we have already read a book by David Mitchell.
I like the sound of Elizabeth is Missing.
I agree I’d probably feel that I had to read *Life after Life * if *A God in Ruins * were the pick. The review I’d read felt you could read it as a stand alone, but I know it would be hard to ignore the elephant in the room.
I don’t mind haunting or disturbing - but what I really hate are books without a single sympathetic character.
Just realized I have read Descent by Tim Johnson. It was okay, but I wouldn’t want to read it again.
Whoa, lots of suggestions. I removed all vetoes (already read, mid-book in a series, repeat author, disturbing content, bodice-ripper cover 
, etc.) I also eliminated Nick Hornby’s Funny Girl…Reviews left me feeling kinda “meh” about it. NJTM, I wasn’t sure if “hmm” was a veto for Fates and Furies, so I left it on for the time being.
We still have too many titles, so y’all should feel free to go ahead and pare things down:
Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
Fates And Furies by Lauren Groff
Duet: The Meursault Investigation By Kamel Daoud (translated by John Cullen) and The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
The Turner House By Angela Flournoy
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis.
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
(Regardless of what we choose, if any of you are kindle users and have an interest in Elizabeth is Missing, as of this moment the kindle version is $1.99.)
I’ve read Brooklyn and it didn’t do anything for me–it felt kind of thin. Reading Did You Every Have a Family right now and liking it a lot. In tone, it reminds me of Let the Great World Spin, which is one of my favorites (though I wasn’t in this group when you read it). I liked Arcadia by Lauren Groff, so I’d be interested in Fates and Furies–but also the others on the list.
Thanks again, Mary, for your thoughtful work in sifting and pruning and putting a well-considered list together.
- Duet: *The Meursault Investigation* By Kamel Daoud (translated by John Cullen) and *The Stranger* by Albert Camus.
- *A Manual for Cleaning Women* by Lucia Berlin.
- *The Turner House* by Angela Flournoy.
- *Elizabeth is Missing* by Emma Healey OR *Fates and Furies* by Lauren Groff,
^ Thanks for the feedback – updated list below:
Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
Fates And Furies by Lauren Groff
Duet: The Meursault Investigation By Kamel Daoud (translated by John Cullen) and The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
The Turner House By Angela Flournoy
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis.
I’ll veto two more:
Did You Ever Have a Family - “deeply haunting”(Booklist) and “sorrowful and deeply probing” (Publishers Weekly) - I guess I just don’t want to play in the deep end.
The Turner House - reviews remind me of A Spool of Blue Thread
Yeah, but it is about Detroit, and it is by a black woman at the beginning of her writing career instead of a white woman near the end of hers.
I respect your right to veto, ignatius, but to me this book sounds much more interesting than Anne Tyler’s.
I know … I debated the veto. I just thought a different direction - which the other choices seem to offer - might be a good idea this time around. I can totally withdraw my veto if you have your heart set on including the book. My veto was more a matter of timing than anything against the book.
Heart not set, ignatius, thanks. Glad to go in another direction.
^ I thought of A Spool of Blue Thread, too. Maybe I was just channeling Tolstoy’s “All happy families are alike…” Except, of course, the families we read about are never very happy, are they?
Here’s the updated list, but it’s not written in stone, if someone suddenly has a scathingly brilliant idea:
Fates And Furies by Lauren Groff
Duet: The Meursault Investigation By Kamel Daoud (translated by John Cullen) and The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis.
- In alphabetical order:
*Fates and Furies
Girl Waits with Gun
A Manual for Cleaning Women*
- In alphabetical order:
*Elizabeth Is Missing
The Meursault Investigation/The Stranger*
- Not in alphabetical order but rather order of preference:
*The Secret Chord
Fifteen Dogs*
And darn … no bodice ripper - a great choice for February … and sure to stimulate … umm … discussion.
;)) Ignatius you made me laugh out loud re: ummmmm stimulating discussion !
And, we know how important book selection is for ummmmmm good discussion.
I abandoned The Secret Chord, half way, and think it would be " thin" for discussion as someone mentioned in previous post, unless something dramatic happens in the second half.
(Also, for those who read the book, revisit Leonard Cohen’s hallelujah lyrics- book title may have been inspired from song.)
President Obama selected " Fates and Furies" as his favorite book last year, but it’s Mary’s daughter’s endorsement that makes " fates and Furies" most appealing. But, I’m also curious why he chose it, too!!!
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