Well, I’m only 4 years younger than her so I don’t think it’s that…!
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I did finish Tom Lake, but barely. I posted upthread that I found the mother’s storytelling artificially interrupted by picking cherries with her daughters in the present an annoying contrivance and the story itself predictable. Meh, not inspired to read anything else she wrote, although DH and I did enjoy Tom Hanks’s reading of The Dutch House on our first drive from AZ to ME (the narration was better than the story IMO).
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I just finished Sarah Damoff’s debut novel,The Bright Years. Its a story told from the perspective of three members of the Bright family spanning sixty years as they experience love/marriage, hidden truths, addiction, loss, healing, and forgiveness. It started out a little slowly for me, but it ended up being one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.
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I just read Tom Lake for a book club. I gently volunteered that I hadn’t cared for the book, didn’t care about the people – and everyone else in the book club agreed with me! It was just not something I enjoyed.
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I liked Bel Canto except for one thing at the end that seemed a little unnecessary to me.
And sort of similarly with State of Wonder, except it was two things and they really bothered me a lot.
On the other hand, I adored Tom lake!
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Did the CC Book Club cover Tom Lake? I’d be curious to take a 
at the thread.
I do agree with @ChoatieMom that the scenes picking the cherries grew old fast on me - I sort of wanted to tune out at some of those scenes.
Part of what drew me close to the story was having grown up in Michigan and having the lake, the cherries, the cities featured part of my life then and now, made it all seem closer to me.
I’m debating now whether to pay $$ for Whistler when we go on vacation in 2 weeks or wait what will probably be months for it to be available on Libby. 
I’m finding that reading digitally I have a harder time staying focused. I’m leaning towards requesting more hard copies from the library.
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Silent book clubs! They are becoming more popular in the book community.
As far as Ann Patchett. . . I loved Tom Lake and I find it fascinating that people seem to love or hate it. I enjoyed Dutch House but I think that was because I was familiar with the physical setting.
Theo of Golden is the only other book recently where I have seen people love it or hate it. (For me, I did not hate it, but IMHO it was NOT a great book. To me it was what people who don’t read much think is great literature :). )
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No, the CC Book Club did not tackle Tom Lake.
I’ll take the time here to plug the CC Book Club. I’ve been a part of a few others but the CC Book Club is the best of the bunch by far.
Next book: Broken Country, discussion begins on August 1. It will continue for 8-10 days. You drop in and out at your convenience.
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I really liked Whistler but my favorite is State of Wonder.
My book group read Patchett’s non-fiction book (Truth & Beauty) along with Lucy Grealy’s memoir Autobiography of a Face. Patchett’s book was about her long friendship with Grealy. The two met at the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop.
I’ve read most of Patchett’s books–enjoyed The Dutch House and State of Wonder, but didn’t care for Tom Lake. I just started Whistler.
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I’m halfway through Tom Lake right now. I’m not riveted but I’m enjoying it – but I’m listening to the audio book, and I think Meryl Streep helps! I think I might be falling asleep if I were reading it.
I just turned 53, and I do love the relationship between the narrator and her daughters – I also have three kids (22, 19, 19), and I like to think about what our relationships might be like in another five years.
@gardenstategal That’s an interesting thought. I gave my mother-in-law the first three of Abby Jimenez’s books for Christmas last year. MIL is an avid reader who loves all kinds of books (except fantasy, lol) – she likes Lee Child, and she also loved War and Peace. 
But she didn’t care for the first Abby Jimenez book because the FMC deals with endometriosis and infertility, and she couldn’t understand why this woman was whining about “menstrual cramps.” She told me she thinks she’s just too old to be the target audience.
This is my first Ann Patchett. I’ll see what I think when I finish it, but I’ll probably mix it up a bit before I pick up another one.
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Oh Truth and Beauty is great! I might change my mind and say that’s my favorite Patchett book but then I am mainly a non-fiction reader anyway.
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This is exactly how I felt about All the Light We Cannot See—please don’t @ me. 
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I enjoyed the Bright Years, and my daughter loved it, but I thought it was a bit too long. I liked her writing enough to look forward to her new one, The Burning Side, which my daughter says is even better.
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No @iing you LOL but have you read Theo of Golden? 
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Has anyone read Wellness by Nathan Hill? He’s the fellow who wrote The Nix, which I haven’t read. IMO, Wellness had excellent writing, but it was too damn long – 600 pages!! I wound up skimming the second half.
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All the Light You Cannot See is great literature compared to Theo of Golden.
On the other hand (as long as we’re doing this…) Theo is great literature compared to My Friends (and I very much like a lot of Bachman’s other books).
Now I’ve probably annoyed everyone…
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I’m reading My Friends right now. I LIKE it, but I’m finding that it’s taking forever to get through it. With all the hubbub it received, I felt I should read it.
I just finished Theo of Golden. It was a good and quick read but in the end I don’t think I loved the main character quite as much as the author may have intended.
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