I just read Empire of Cotton, which while a bit too academic fundamentally changed the way I view the 19C. It argues that the cotton value chain, which was the enabling first step of the industrial revolution, was dependent of slavery, imperialism, and the coercion of a strong central state to get started. Very thought provoking.
What @katliamom said re: A Little Life. And I just picked up Fates and Furies from the library, so that is next after Purity (or will it be Did You Ever Have a Family? decisions, decisions!). @nottelling, I am about 75% through Purity and I look forward to getting back to it every time I put it down in a way that has been missing from my reading for a while. I am sure there are many points to pick at with the plotting, but I really enjoy how he describes the characters in such detail and the relationships, especially the crucial one in the second to last part that I am reading, are engrossing.
Thanks all for suggesting Liane Moriarty books somewhere on this thread. I just read The Last Anniversary (loved) and now reading Big Little Lies (like). Next up.. The Husbandâs Secret.
Has anyone read Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller? It is the story of any 8 year old girl whose survivalist father takes her âon vacationâ from their home in London to a remote cabin in the forests of Europe and then tells her that everyone else in the world is dead. I read it in two days. It was almost impossible to put it down and, at the end, it struck me emotionally in a profound way. I highly recommend it.
âŠshould be A Spool of Blue Thread. Sorry.
@alwaysamom, that is in my pile (along with 150+ other books!)âŠsounds great and will have to bring it to the front of the queue.
Added it to my list @alwaysamom. Loving the Louise Penny and Maisie Dobbs books now but am adding in others along the way. Really looking forward to the new Robert Crais book. Also picked up a David Baldacci in an Audible sale but reading him after Louise Penny is doing no favor for him.
Just started A Little Life and am excited to see such rave reviews here. Dying to read Purity too.
I just finished an excellent non-fiction title that would be great for a book club read as well called Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Bryan is an African-American who defends people who have had unfair trials and are on death row. His book was both moving and horrifying at the same time.
Just finished Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. I liked it a lot, but for me it didnât quite live up to its acclaim. I love her descriptions and her writing generally, and the book kept me engaged from start to finish. I guess my biggest problem with it is that I didnât buy one of its central premises.
What I like the best about it is her rich imaginative detail in scenes and in incidents.
I donât want to say too much because of spoilers, so I canât really explain what gave me pause.
It would be a great book club choice because there is a lot to discuss.
Will be picking up Purity next.
oops, duplication!
So literary fiction seems to be making a strong showing in the fall movie line-up, from previews I just saw.
Thereâs Brooklyn, the adaptation of the Colm Toibin novel. Thatâs one of my favorite books of the last ten years, and I feel very proprietary and protective toward it. The preview looked a bit too melodramatic. But, the screenplay adaptation was done by Nick Hornby so we are in good hands there.
And then thereâs Room. I was blown away by the novel ny Emma Donoghue, but I donât think I will be able to take the movie. Just too painful. I think I am going to skip it no matter how strong the reviews.
Any thoughts? Have there been any film adaptations of literary fiction novels that youâve felt were worthy of the original? One that comes to mind is The Hours, which I thought was BETTER than the book. Others are few and far between. Rebecca. Room With A View. What else?
ETA: To Kill A Mockingbird, of course!
Brokeback Mountain was as good as the novella. I think it helped that the original was so short that they didnât leave anything out.
I liked the movie of A Passage to India, but they left a lot out. I think generally novels make better mini-series.
I was supposed to see Brooklyn at TIFF but had a conflict that night. Two of my Ds who saw it, and who also loved the book, thought it was very good. They loved Saoirse Ronan as Eilis. It is, by all accounts, a beautiful little movie that is a good companion to the beautiful little book that Toibin wrote.
My favorite screen adaptation is the one done of Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. One of my all time favorite books and also one of my all time favorite movies.
I thought the movie version of Atonement did a good job. (Speaking of Saoirse Ronan.)
Oh yeah, I had forgotten about Atonement.
And I just thought of another one â The Dead, based on the James Joyce story. Such a beautiful, beautiful film (and story, of course!)
Shamefully, Iâve never read OR seen the Wonder Boys! Maybe that will be on the agenda for today instead of Jonathan Franzen!
Glad to hear that Brooklynâs film incarnation holds up.
The Wonder Boys is the rare (to me, anyway) example of a movie I loved and when I subsequently tried the book, did not like it at all!
@nottelling , The Kite Runner. Amazing book, amazing movie, very true to the book.
And I agree w/ MathmomâŠAtonement.
I finished A Spool of Blue Thread and I donât think I could have been more disappointed. What the heck? I was really enjoying it as I do love books about family dynamics but it just sort of petered out, IMO. LOL. Maybe that WAS the pointâŠstuff happens and you move on. Now, Iâll always be wondering about the myserious Denny.
@VaBluebird, now that youâve finished the book, you might enjoy reading the CC Book Club thread from June: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1765265-a-spool-of-blue-thread-june-cc-book-club-selection-p1.html