@intparent awesome…I can’t wait to get to it!
Also mixed reviews for Fates and Furies
I am reading The Nature of the Beast and the latest Gamache book is a good one. I am savouring it because I know it’s going to be a several month wait until the one she’s currently writing is out!
p.s. My husband loved the Gamache mugs and shirt I got him for Christmas. And the licorice pipe that was included put a big smile on his face.
I’m sure this book has been discussed but I am currently reading The Nightingale and can hardly put it down. Kristen Hannah makes the characters and scenery come alive in this historical fiction account of WWII life in German-occupied France. And it certainly has me wondering what I’d do in similar circumstances. Cooperate? Resist? How far does one go? Especially with children depending on you? Very thought-provoking.
I loved The Nightingale! Very interesting and hard to put down. Right now I’m nearing the end of the second of Elena Ferrante’s four Neapolitan novels about the life-long friendship of two women in Naples. Really well-written, fascinating story that’s very engrossing. I can’t wait to read the others, although I’m sure I’ll be sad when they’re over.
I’m reading the Nightingale now.
Oooh, I loved the Nightingale too! I felt so drawn in. And yes, it does make you wonder what you would do, what your neighbors and friends would do?
@mathmom, try Family Happiness next, that’s my favorite of hers. I’m in the middle of Bill Clegg’s Did You Ever Have a Family and it’s very good. I also didn’t love Fates and Furies, but I found the writing to be absolutely incredible.
@Mom2jl – This Ferrante fan got hooked on the Neapolitan novels before the 4th volume was published. Waiting for it was excruciating!
I’m now starting Purity, though it sounds like I should put Nightingale on the what-to-read-next list.
@PollyC, I agree with Fates and Furies, in the end I found it simply frustrating, but I agree about the writing. And thanks to CC I’ve discovered Laurie Colwyn, whom I began reading with Family Happiness. Good times.
I absolutely loved “The Nightingale”. Had it out of the library on my Kindle but I plan to buy a copy to keep when it is released in paperback. Bought Book 1 of the Ferrante books, planning to take on vacation with me next month. Next up for me is Patty Smith’s M Train and re-reading the J.K. Rowling writing as Gailbraith, Career of Evil.
PollyC- Glad you are enjoying “Did You Ever Have a Family” - it’s on my list.
I read Laurie Colwin years ago but sounds like maybe it’s re-read time.
I haven’t read Laurie Colwin, but you guys are inspiring me to try it. Can someone please recommend the best book of hers to start with?
I would start with Happy All the Time.
I just finished M Train. Glad I read it, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as Patti Smith’s earlier memoir Just Kids.
I just finished The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., which my S gave me for Christmas. Remarkable book. Remarkable insight into relationships, especially dating relationships.
There are many blurbs praising its wit, intelligence, observation, and so forth, but the one that speaks to me the most says “That most unusual and wondrous of things: a novel that wants to educate our hearts.”
FYI, The Nightingale is available in PB - I found it a half price books for $6 and gave it to my sister in her Christmas stocking. She is enjoying it.
Not a specific book, but I love just about everything I’ve read from Europa Editions, which is the publisher for Elana Ferrante’s books. A lot of translated books, but very, very well done.
I was inspired by one of Laurie Colwin’s books about food to try to bake bread, using her “foolproof” recipe. The loaf was a miserable failure. Not always one to give up, I found a more explicit recipe, succeeded, and have been baking bread since.
Just finished Purity cuz I got it as a Christmas present. Did not love it. I think I’ve given Franzen as much of my time as I’m going to. Keep wanting to like his books, and there’s a lot of interesting stuff, but ye gods, the man needs an editor to stand up to him, and a shrink to deal with his Mommy issues.
do you ever read a book where you just “don’t get it”? I am trying for the second time to read Wolf Hall and just cannot grasp this writing style. It must me *me and not them, LOL, as it’s a blockbuster. But it is just unbelievably boring and dull and uninformative. I’ll keep slogging on for a bit but it escapes me. Do you ever feel like this about books that others love?
Ah… I have to say that I love Wolf Hall. It is dense, but I found it pretty compelling. Waiting very impatiently for The Mirror and the Light (last in the trilogy) – I think she is dragging her feet because she doesn’t want to write about his death. But I know what you mean. The popular book I have started more times than I can count and quit because I just can’t get into it is A Confederacy of Dunces. Just do NOT like it. Life is too short to read books that don’t speak to you – best to move on to something that does. 