I loved A Little Life and was thrilled to see it on the Booker prize short list. It can be a tough read, however. I think it was the podcast “Lit Up” that had a really interesting interview with Hanya Yanagihara recently, that is worth checking out.
I loved The People in the Trees but haven’t been able to get into A Little Life. Maybe I should try again…
I’m just finishing The String Diaries and it’s a galloping read. I just wish the violent scenes weren’t quite so graphic.
Has anyone read any Arthur Upfield? My mom recommends The Bachelors of Broken Hill to start.
I just put A Little Life on hold. My friend said it was terrific, but a tear jerker.
And for your enjoyment:
I am really enjoying Circling the Sun, one of a pair of books chosen for the CC October book club. I’m a horse person and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the main character is too so added bonus for me. I thnk it is beautifully written.
^I adored the companion memoir of Beryl Markham’s that the CC book club is also reading, West with the Night. It’s nearly (but not quite) in the same league as the sublime Out of Africa, and that’s saying a lot!
Any thoughts on the Booker shortlist? The finalists are:
Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings
Tom McCarthy, Satin Island
Chigozie Obioma, The Fisherman
Sunjeev Sahota, The Year of the Runaways
Anne Tyler, A Spool of Blue Thread
Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life
Sunjeev Sahota is new to me; I’m thinking of checking out his book. Has anyone read it? Or does anyone have other thoughts on the list?
I’ve read A Spool of Blue Thread. I loved parts of it and some parts, not so much. I don’t think it is her best but she’s local to me so I’m thrilled to see her on the short list.
Members of an online book club I’m in have been raving about Chigozie Obioma’s The Fisherman, so it’s on my to-read list.
I have The Fisherman in my pile, so time to move it up! I enjoyed A Spool of Blue Thread, but am not sure it is Booker worthy. I did love A Little Life and would be happy to see that one win. None of the others are super compelling to me at the moment.
I am reading (and loving!) Jonathan Franzen’s Purity; has anyone else delved in yet?
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About the Booker short list:
I was fairly bored by A Spool of Blue Thread, but plodded through it.
I LOVED A Little Life, and read day and night until I finished
I was disappointed to discover that The Year of the Runaways won’t be available in the U.S. until next year.
I’m now reading the thoroughly delightful A Man Called Ove.
Just looked at my “want to read” list and realized it is 87 books long. That does not include the 5 library books I haven’t started yet.
I might need to stop reading this thread 
I sort of over Anne Tyler. I loved her early books, and have faithfully read each new one, but I never really got into A Spool of Blue Thread. Honestly, I just didn’t really believe in the characters. It’s probably silly of me, but I liked the idea of the Booker prize not including American books. Haven’t read any of the others. I just finished the two books for the CC Bookclub (Circling the Sun and West with the Night) and now I’m reading Out of Africa and also just rewatched the movie of the latter, which has some of the same characters, but from a different point of view. It’s sort of a surreal experience since the facts don’t line up in any of them!
Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover” and I’m not the one who needed it most. H bought copies for all his associates and for kids.
I just finished reading Annie’s Ghost by Steve Luxenberg. It’s a personal and historical story about Steve’s ( and his family’s) journey after finding out that he had an aunt that his mom kept a secret her whole life. The aunt, Annie, had been institutionalized at the age of 23 and stayed there until her death several decades later.
The institution, Eloise, is here in SE Michigan and a hospital that I used to go to all the time. My dad worked at one of the hospitals on the grounds long after it closed down and my sister and I used to “ghost hunt” in the old buildings when I was pretty young (she’s 5 years older).
Anyway I thought it was a great piece that highlighted many different silent stories in our very recent history. It was very personal to me (and relevant to my work) but would be an interesting read for anyone interested in modern American history or family/immigration history.
Just got A Blue Spool of Thread from the library and I really like it! One chapter in.
I listened to Bel Canto audio. Very good! I have nixed this one for years as the description of the content just didn’t sound that good to me. I was wrong. Amazing writing.
Just finished Love Anthony by Lisa Genova. I’m loving everything she writes, although Still Alice may still be my favorite. Left Neglected was really good, too.
@GoldenWest – please please post a mini-review of Purity when you are done! I haven’t been motivated to pick it up, partially because I’ve heard it is even more schematic on plot than Freedom or The Corrections and I find Franzen’s plotting weak already. (Did NOT like the whole environmental subplot of Freedom, or the rock star thing. Or the Lithuania subplot in The Corrections. Really, he should stay away from business or professional organizations of any kind).
However, his characters’ over-the-top rants, and the slightly mean piling-on-of-humiliating-detail in his descriptions of characters are so delicious that it is worth putting up with the clunky plotting, generally. Would love to hear how that balance plays out here.
I just can’t bring myself to pick up A Little Life, despite its emergence as THE book of the year. How grueling was it?
Next in my To-Be-Read list is Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies. I really like her. Anyone read it yet? I think I’ll download that one next on Audible.
@nottelling – please let us know what you think of Fates and Furies.
As to A Little Life – parts of it are grueling. But for me, the book had a weird hypnotic quality; I just couldn’t put it down. In the end, I’d give if 4 out of 5 stars (it’s not without its faults) but I will say that I was completely, and absolutely absorbed in it. I read it on the Kindle, so had no sense of its length, and was amazed to find out it’s over 700 pages. Didn’t seem half that long to me.