@zeebamom, I sent it to D2 for her birthday last spring, and she was supposed to bring it home for me late this summer but forgot. 
So I got it at the library. It has been quite some time since I read any of them, but this one is quite stand alone, I don’t think you need to refresh. It also (so far) is R & H together in the same environment, which are my favorites; I don’t like it when she splits them up geographically.
I enjoyed Purity, but have liked all of Franzen’s door stoppers. Speaking of which, just started City on Fire, and this book is so heavy it is difficult to hold for my bed-time reading. I must really be getting old!
I need to check this thread more often.
- I spent most of August and September reading the last book of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan series, *The Story of the Lost Child*. (I was reading it in Italian; if I had been reading it in English, it would probably have taken me half a week. My daughter bought it the day it came out in English, and there was a brief moment when we were together and on the same page of the book. She finished it the next day; I finished it two weeks later.)
Anyway, it may not be worth recommending, because if you are into Ferrante you have probably read it by now, and if you are not into Ferrante you won’t read it. If you don’t know whether you are into Ferrante, you should definitely check out My Brilliant Friend, the first book in the series (of four). My daughter and I are nuts about the series; my wife petered out about a quarter of the way into book #2, not liking any of the characters.
- Based on the recent review in The New Yorker, and on having just read his penultimate book, *Ways of Going Home*, I am excited to read Alejandro Zambras' *My Documents*. He is a minimalist, thirtysomething Chilean writer who is all about playing with the relationship between author and text, but he's clever and engaging about it, so it's not annoying, and it's not at all artier-than-thou. (There's a lot of Paul Auster in his writing, but I find Auster really annoying, and Zambra is fun.) Zambras is also emerging as something of a standard-bearer for millennial Latinos who have come of age since the great traumas of the 70s-90s.
- I am completely in love with two *noir*-ish graphic novels (or rather graphic serials): *The Private Eye*, by Brian Vaughn, Marcos Martin, and Muntsa Vicente, and *Blacksad*, by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido. The former takes place in a dystopian future Los Angeles where the roles of press and police have essentially merged and personality is the last secret. People disguise themselves with elaborate costumes, the richer they are the more elaborate the costumes, which makes for great graphic noveldom. The latter exists in a sort of late-40s, early-50s version of Raymond Chandler world, except more NY/Chicago than LA (and it spreads out across the country). And everyone is an anthropomorphic animal. The central character, John Blacksad, is a very sexy black cat and detective for hire; the police, of course, are German shepherds. There are white-supremacist polar bears and, literally, a literary lion. Race is important in the book.
- Films that capture the book: Recently, I thought Paul Thomas Anderson's *Inherent Vice* did an amazing job of translating (minor) Thomas Pynchon to the screen, including coming up with the cinematic equivalents of Pynchon's homage to Chandler. Another relatively recent literary adaptation that I admire a ton is *The Wings of the Dove*, which also develops a visual style that has a good deal of the beauty and heft of James' prose. And I have always thought Philip Kaufman did a great job of turning Tom Wolfe's *The Right Stuff* into a movie. Also . . . *Short Cuts/i, and *Fast Times At Ridgemont High/i.
I’m about to finish the 4th and final volume of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels. Highly recommended.
@JHS, Alejandro Zambra sounds interesting.
Just read Empty Mansions, the story of Hugette Clark. Fascinating story about the youngest daughter of the copper magnate W.A. Clark and her reclusive lifestyle amongst a vast fortune and unlived in homes. She died in 2012 at the age of 105, sparking a huge lawsuit over her remaining assets.
“Speak” by Louisa Hall is just gorgeous, I don’t know exactly how to describe it. In an age of artificial intelligence it’s about how our memories, experiences and need to connect with others makes us human. It jumps around in time and point of view, but it’s not jarring or unwieldy or the least bit confusing. That’s a paltry little blurb but I found it to be life affirming and beautifully written. It’s actually a fairly quick read, each chapter could be read while waiting somewhere, Dr.'s office, soccer practice, ballet class etc. or you could be like me and stay up reading it until 4:00 a.m. whichever suits you best.
Another book I finished a few months ago that I really enjoyed is “The Physician” by Noah Gordon, it’s a very engaging story that takes place in 12th (I think, could be earlier) Century Europe and the Middle East. An English barber/surgeon with a special gift travels to Persia to learn to become a doctor. He has so many exciting adventures, inhabits such a rich, well researched world and every character we meet in the book is so very human and multi-dimensional. It’s a very visual book with good dialogue and a compelling premise. I think it was made into a movie, but I didn’t see it and don’t really want to because the book was so good.
Thanks for all of the recommendations. Looks like I’m gonna have to fire up my Kindle!
Lovely Bookclub tonight. We read Moving Day by Jonathan Stone. Think, Gone Girl type twister. The author spent an hour via FaceTime chatting with our group. Each and every of our questions/criticisms were mentioned by the men who have the current movie option. He described the kernel,idea which let to the book, how it was rejected by all typical publishers, sat in his desk for 15 years, then won a prize as best crime story of the year..
Someone ask d about his inspirational n for the main character, Stanley. Jon talked of his father, who went from the Yeshiva to the Marines. Yet his mother was no way like Stanley’s mother.
Our book club just read Being Mortal by Gwande. I highly recommend it. I wish I had read it before my parents died. It is a worthwhile read about the end of our lives and not too depressing.
Has anyone read the new Atwood book?
My three most recent books:
The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins. It’s a compulsively readable suspense story. If you liked Gone Girl, you’ll probably like this. I don’t want to say any more. 
A Noble Masquerade. When I picked this up, I was looking for a light easy read, and it was that, but that’s about all I can say to recommend it. The plot was utterly predictable, and the writing was pedestrian at best, and in many places, distractingly odd.
My Brilliant Friend. Thank you, thank you to those who recommended this one! It’s so beautifully written, and Lila is one of the most fascinating characters I’ve read in a long time. I didn’t realize it when I started, but it’s the first in a quartet. I bought the second book before I finished the first, but had planned to read Steve Jobs in between. That was before I reached the end. Now I know I’ll have to finish the series before I can go on to something else.
Then this morning on Morning Edition, I heard about ANOTHER book to add to my list, Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff. The reviewer said this: “The secrets here are character secrets, not plot secrets. And they are revealed in ways that sometimes take your breath away. You have to wait almost until the last page of the book to get to the last of the secrets.” I mean, come on! I’m supposed to resist that?? So many books, so little time!
Fates and Furies was a great read!
Brooklyn…Colm Toibin. Looking forward to the movie
@LasMa, I’m so glad you liked My Brilliant Friend. I recently finished the final volume and was blown away. I can’t stop thinking about these books. I’m tempted to call this series among the most exciting literature in this century. Yea, sounds like hyperbole, but I haven’t been this exhilarated by fiction in a long time. And I read a lot.
Same experience with Elena Ferrante’s quartet. I spent a good part of the summer reading the first three, finishing right on time for the release of the fourth.
I, too, could not stop thinking about them.
I’m still loving the Louise Penny books. Have read 3. Just started Kate Morton’s new book. Also read After You by Moyes - meh.
I am in the middle of the new Louise Penny book and loving it. I recently finished Laurie King’s “Dreaming Spies”, which my Ds and I both thought was a return to form in the Russell & Holmes series, better than the last couple before it. I also just finished “Dead Wake” by Erik Larson about the Lusitania, and it was my favorite book of his so far. A string of good books – what could be better? 
I just came on the mention Kate Morton had a new one out, the lake house, and no, it isn’t about a time traveling mailbox. The tale of a missing boy 70 years later going back and forth in time. Good read, I have been traveling a lot lately and actually ended up paying airport prices for a real book. I hadn’t read a non kindle in years. I don’t miss real books.
I’ve read them all and the newest isn’t available in paperback until next summer so I’ll be on a break from the Three Pines gang until then. I refuse to read on a device and I am not a fan of hardcovers.
*Has anyone read the new Atwood book? *
I have And probably everything else she has ever written. When I first finished it, I was a bit disappointed because it wasn’t as funny (to me) as the Oryx Crake trilogy, but the more I thought about it, the better I liked it. She is one of the few writers I’ve read for decades that I enjoy more and more as time goes on. She has aged so well.
Ferrante books. I was absolutely emotionally shot when I finished them. For some reason I had expected a hopeful ending. When I recover, I will reread them. If anyone would start a book thread here, I would really appreciate it.
Just finished A Little Life - as most of you know, excellent and depressing.
I need a clever and happy read. I need many of those.