Just finished Riverton House. I saw it on display at the library and CC flashed in my mind and I had to check it out. I really enjoyed it.
My kindle says I am about 65% of the way through. Is it a long book? I feel like it is taking me a very long time to finish it, but I am enjoying it so itās not dragging. I think it may end up being my favorite Kate Morton. It will be jarring to have to switch to something else now, I am getting so used to her style. I am just after the part where Hannah has to go and rescue Emmeline, to give an idea without giving away much of the story..
I had a bit of a chuckle yesterday when she referenced the Lyons Corner House. I didnāt realize it was a real place! I recognized the name and remembered they went there all the time in The Secret Keeper. Surely there must have been other restaurants in London at the time!
I liked The Forgotten Garden, but I feel like this book is much better written than that one. I almost wonder if she got a bit too ambitious with The Forgotten Garden. I appreciated all of the complexities and multi-layers but others thought they were not well executed and found them confusing. This story has the same richness that I appreciated in The Forgotten Garden but feels a lot smoother. The Secret Keeper I found just as enjoyable but it didnāt feel like it gave me as much to chew on, so to speak, as Riverton House is giving me. Iām really enjoying this story.
Yes, there is a lot that happens from the point you mention in the book. The Secret Keeper and Riverton House share at least one setting too. You still have The Secret Keeper ahead of you, right? I loved them all and itās hard for to rank them.
I read The Secret Keeper a year ago, but I think I may actually reread it next. That one I really just loved, I love the time period, I enjoyed the story, and the ending was one of those ones that makes you gasp out loud! I read it in the midst of a bunch of crappy books and I wonder if I will enjoy the writing better now in a different mindset.. I started off reading the book a little bit dismissive of it because the few books Iād read before it were garbage and Iād gotten them all from goodreads in the same batch.
Elements of Riverton House are reminding me a bit of The Other Typist. At points in the book Grace seems unnaturally infatuated with Hannah and Emmeline, especially early on it seems she desperately wants to be one of the Hartford girls herself and she imagines an intimacy to their relationship that wasnāt really there-- and is heartbroken whenever she is faced with reality. I wonder if anything comes of that or if Kate is just teasing me. Cartera, you would like The Other Typist too, I bet, if you havenāt already read it.
I havenāt read The Other Typist. I will add it to my list. Thanks. I believe Hannah lives in the same place that Dorothy lived in London.
I just finished Riverton and I loved it. I can tell it will be a book I reread over and over again. I loved (and hated) that she made us wait until the very end to know what weāve been waiting to know since page one. I am starting The Distant Hours later today, I hadnāt known this one existed!
Once I finish this last one, I am at a loss for what Iāll read next. I must have 20 unread books on my kindle but whatever I read next will have to be really good to hold my attention.
I started Potato Peel Pie Society but interest waned after a few chapters. Iāll definitely go back to it. Switched to The Husbandās Secret which I like well enough to complete. I think the problem is that these books are on the heels of The Thirteenth Tale, which is a tough act to follow IMO.
Let us know what you think of the Husbandās Secret, I have that one on my kindle, too. Someone mentioned it a few pages ago. I think youāve sold me on The Thirteenth Tale once I finish my last Morton and then I think I will find myself in the same predicament as youā¦ I want to pick something at least pretty good after that so it has a fair chance of keeping my interest. Iāve never been one to NOT finish a book, but after Death Comes to Pemberly and The House of Velvet and Glass I find it almost too easy to give up on a bookā¦ Pemberly wasnāt terrible but just never grabbed me and I quit with only a small part left, Velvet and Glass was atrocious.
What are the rest of you reading? Anything good?
Just finished reading āA Constellation of Vital Phenomenaā by Anthony Marra. Heartbreaking, historical, and uplifting at the same time. Had a hard time with the subject matter but really picked up the more I read.
Iām currently re-reading The Wise Manās Fear by Patrick Rothfuss which is one of the best books (probably characterized as fantasy? But very down to earth tone) I have read in the past couple of years.
That is very exciting to hear, as I am just about to start the Kingkiller Chronicles!
They are awesome ā¦and longā¦but I will warn you in advance book three is not out and is in some sort of a purgatory.
(A warning the first time I started I couldnāt get past page 50 but was reassured by many and tried again much to my delight.)
Carteraā¦I had the same experience w/The Potato Peel Society. Started it years ago, and couldnāt get into it. Just finished it a few weeks back. The story really grew on me this time!
Thanks for your recommendation of A Constellation of Vital Phenomenona, NorthMinnesota. I had already had it on my list to readā¦and even tried to get the CC bookclub interestedā¦but few people wanted to give it a try.
The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan is another book on my list.
TempeMom, I heard that book three was not out, but I thought it was on track to get published? Did something happen that now it may not get published?
Almost all reviews I hear of this book is that the first 50 pages are tough to get through 
ACSā¦Book 3 is finished and there is a market/public desire for itā¦but something odd is likely happening with the publisher. Iāve checked PRās blog etc and he ācanāt talk about itā and āwill let people knowā so it sounds like legal issues to me. There have been lots of changes in the publishing realm according to my author friends, various rights and companies being bought/sold. One friend I know had series where the publisher took book 1 and 2 and passed on book 3 (that was eventually sold by another one) but I would think PR would have enough juice/following that that wouldnāt happenā¦
Any Amy Tan fans out there? I am struggling to finish Valley of Amazement. Itās quite a tome. And way TMI on being a courtesan. I may finish it, as Iāve heard the ending is worth plowing through some of the strange twists and turns.
Has anyone read Carthage? And if so, can you give me any encouragement to keep plugging along?
Iām about half way through and the jumping around and run-on sentences are driving me crazy. But I had heard it was good, soā¦
Iām midway through A Constellation of Vital Phenomena and really glad I picked it up. Itās made me do a little research on Chechnya, which I knew virtually nothing about. I always like it when a book expands my horizons.
I finished Potato Peel Society, but it was waaay too twee for my taste.
Has anyone mentioned Me Before You by Jojo Moyes in this thread? I liked it, didnāt love it, but it was a huge hit in my book club, one of the rare selections that got a thumbs up all around (weāre a picky bunch).
I liked Potato Peel Society, and was neutral about Me before You.
My bookclub just read The Buddha in the Attic, about Japanese brides coming to CA to marry. The curator of the local Japanese gardens joined our group, and added more history of these brides and the internment.