Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck.
Didnāt end up loving The Girl on the Train.
bookmama, Iām reading that now and agree with you. We have several mutual friends in the NY theatre world and Iāve had the pleasure of meeting him several times. Heās a nice man, and a very talented actor.
I succumbed to hype, purchased āThe Girl on The Trainā for my e-readerā¦and am stalled halfway through. Eh, doesnāt seem that special to me. I will probably go back and finish it, but I am distracted by the much better written and engaging āHerā by Harriet Lane. Her first book, āAlys, Alwaysā was a favorite and this one is even better.
alwaysamom, I love him on The Good Wife and I saw him in the first revival of Cabaret and I have tickets to see again with him and Emma Stone.
I won it and gave it 2 and a half stars, which for me is a really low rating. Different strokes for different folks.
Indeed.
Iām feeling under the weather and Iām looking for book suggestions. Criteria are warm, engaging, well-written but not too taxing. Romantic would be nice. In short, Iām seeking suggestions for the literary equivalent of comfort food.
My go-to chicken-soup books are Room with a View and Jane Eyre ā the perfect books to wallow in when youāre sick. Any suggestions? Maybe something off the beaten path? Can be contemporary or classic (less well-known classics).
(Not looking for fantasy, sci fi, dystopian, or books set during WWII right now. Just not in the mood).
Grabbed 'The Girl on a Train" off the 7 day hot pick shelf at the library this morning and am already over 100 pages in. Loving it so farā¦
Well..not at all romantic, but I loved āThe Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie,ā which was recommended earlier on this thread. I devoured 3 more books about the same character. I recommended it to a very close friend, who has read all of the published ones. She loves them even more than I do.
Itās sort of a cross between āMiss Marpleā stories and āHarriet the Spyā with a dash of PG Wodehouseās Jeeves. Eleven year old girl who is precociously good at chemistry solves murders in a small English village circa 1955. Very, very astute observations about human relationships, which is an area of life in which our āheroineā is not at all precocious.
Most of Alexander McCall Smithās books fall into the comfort food category too. I especially like the 44 Scotland Street series. http://www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk/books/ Heās more famous for the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, though. I enjoy those too.
If you are in a classical mood, have you read Jane Austenās āPersuasion?ā Less famous that Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma.
Yes, exactly, those are all excellent suggestions and exactly what I am looking for ā but Iāve read them all. Love Flavia de Luce! Got a bit tired of the McCall Smith books, but thatās exactly the mood. Persuasion is one of my all-time favorite books ā just re-read it about a year ago when I was sick.
Maybe I will re-read Mansfield Park. I suppose it is too much of a fantasy to hope that someone will know of a Jane Austen equivalent that somehow flew under the radar?
I just thought of another book that falls in this category of literary comfort food: I Captured the Castle by Dodie Smith.
I just reread one of my all-time favorites, Handling Sin by Michael Malone. Charming, picaresque story with hilarious setpieces heading toward a very moving ending. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Ooh, never heard of it! Thanks! I will check it out!
@nottelling: Longborn, by Jo Baker. A āretellingā of Pride and Prejudice from downstairs. Much better than most other fake P&P āsequelsā.
Circle of Friends, Maeve Binchy? Sometimes I reread that when I just want to sit around and sob, lol.
@nottelling, have you read Still Alice?
Itās really wonderful.
@notelling I really like Penelope Lively, but Iām not sure they give you enough of a happy ending to be satisfied. Have you read Neville Shute? I love *A Town Like Alice *, but his other books are fun too. Somebody on NPR was talking about *The Thornbirds * and I was almost tempted to reread it.
Iām getting some good ideas for my next book. Almost at the end of Girl on a Train and Iām still enjoying it. I know itās being compared to Gone Girl but I like Girl on a Train much better.
A new Flavia book was just released in the last couple of weeks, have you read that one yet? I havenāt gotten to it yet. But just in case you didnāt know. 
I also love āI Capture the Castleā!
@nottelling. Language of a Flowers?
Euphoria by Lily King.