Anyone read Laurie Colwin? I just reread “Happy All the Time” and just think her writing is exquisite. The characters are not the deepest, most complicated in the world, but it’s the perfect reading for me in the middle of a semester when I don’t have much free time.
I don’t like to pay for hardcovers, but I am happy to read them from the library. Which is how I got my hands on it this week, after being on the waitlist for a while. Wait til you find out what is hidden near Three Pines!!
garland, are you my sister-in-law? She’s been telling me to read her for ages, but I’ve never gotten around to it.
I am reading the new Brandson Sanderson set in his Mistborn world. He’s doing sort of an interesting thing. Three medieval-ish fantasies, followed by three industrial revolutions fantasies, three set in the future fantasies all set in the same world. So far it’s fun. The woman the hero is betrothed to is a fun character. Reminds me a lot of Hero from C S Harris’s Sebastian St Cyr’s books if anyone has read those.
@alh Read “A Man Called Ove” - charming, funny, life affirming, a good catharsis for A little Life. I am at 1/4 of A little Life and dread to go on since I have this foreboding feeling of what’s happening next.
@garland - I love Laurie Colwin essays on cooking “Home Cooking” and “More Home Cooking”. It’s like having a friend in the kitchen with you.
Thank you! I couldn’t sleep one night while I was reading A Little Life. I could sleep when I was done. Hope that helps.
That’s a nice way to put it, @alh – I had a similar reaction.
After Elena Ferrante’s superb quartet of novels, and A Little Life, I’ve come across some duds. So I’m reading Emma Bovary. Classics are a good way to go during a lull.
@ccreader - I just finished A Man Called Ove and I loved it! Such a sweet little book.
^ next on my list.
I just read the beginning of Dispatches from Pluto.
Sort of my current life: old farm house in the middle of nowhere; a community that includes locals returned “home” after much more exotic existences.
It will be interesting to see this world through the eyes of an outsider.
adding: though I don’t believe I’m really an outsider (because I grew up in a very similar community) I am probably the most “outsider” my neighbors can imagine. Like the author, I was only able to buy in the community because of local insider connections.
already I wince for him describing a 1920 house with six acres as a plantation
@garland Happy All The Time is one of my favorite books, ever. I used to describe it as experimental fiction: what if you dispensed entirely with drama, plot, tension . . . ?
Laurie Colwin was really unique. But in the world of high-quality chick lit, I think of Elinor Lipman as being a close cousin. Try The Inn At Lake Divine.
Thanks, @JHS, I will look for that book!
I just finished State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. It was awesome. She is such a great writer, really has the gift.
Ditto all of the comments about A Little Life. Tough to take at times, but excellent. I am still thinking about it a couple weeks after finishing.
I recently finished reading The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan. It was excellent, but often brutal. If anyone is looking for a beautifully written book on how being a prisoner of war can be experience that defines one’s life, this this book.
I am at the end of the chapter called, “The Happy Years”, of A Little Life.
Cannot put it down. I don’t know how it’s going to end!
However, can someone recommend good funny/happy book?
I went back a little and found someone mentioned A Man Called Ove - that it’s charming and funny. I think I will try that one next.
Let us know what you think of it. I found it to be a little gem of a book.
@JHS and @garland - Inn at Lake Divine is a wonderful read! My favorite Elinor Lipman – I think lots of folks on this thread would enjoy it. And me, it sounds like I need to check out Laurie Colwin.
Speaking of good chick-lit, I really liked books by Ann Hood: Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine and Something Blue are among her best.
@garland I really like Laurie Colwin’s cooking books. She has one of my all time favorite gingerbread recipes in on of those books–really dark, moist, spicy!
Another vote for Inn at Lake Divine as well as Ann Hood.
@alwaysamom I’m pretty much 100% audiobook now and the narrator of the Penny books is part of the allure of the books. Of course, I think he sounds exactly like the Chief Inspector should sound. He is really magnificent. He also brings to life the other characters too, including the inanimate ones.