I’m chugging along, very contentedly, through the Gamache books. Mixing in a Maisie Dobbs and reading the lasted Robert Crais. I don’t think it’s going to be my favorite but good to have Elvis Cole, Pike and Maggie back.
I disliked Wolf Hall and the lack of quotation marks irritated me. I wanted to like it as her take on Cromwell is interesting. I keep thinking I should slog through the sequel(s), but life is short.
GMTA, just noticed I’m quoting intparent.
My mom told me about a guideline for trying out books. Subtract your age from 100, and commit to reading that many pages in a book before giving up.
I made myself read a Hundred Years of Solitude because my dd loved it. I found out that I am not a fan of magical realism.
I just checked both Amazon and Barnes & Noble and neither are showing The Nightingale in paperback. It is still on the hardcover NYTIMES Bestseller List and it is still less than a year from original pub date. That has traditionally been the the time framework. Sometimes a paperback release is delayed when the hardcover continues to sell so well. It is the same with All the Light which I loved so much I read it straight through again immediately after I had finished it. There are some paperback books that are summary & analysis about The Nightingale on Amazon’s site.
I’ve tried to read a Hundred Years of Solitude several times. Not a fan either. I did like Allende’s House of the Spirits, so apparently I can read some magical realism. 
Good, there is hope for me as House of Spirits is my book club’s February book!
I had never heard of Laurie Corwin before reading this thread. Then I read a book in which the character, an author, says Corwin is her favorite author. Without this thread, I would have assumed Corwin was fictional!
@bookmama22, it is paperback, but it is the British edition (just checked with Sis). So sorry! Sometimes HPB has gems and this is one of them.
"do you ever read a book where you just “don’t get it”?
@VaBluebird – Yup! Because I never did “get” Haruki Murakami, I have given up on him entirely. Tried 3 different books and failed with every one. Life’s too short. (I actually loved Wolf Hall, but have met others who were frustrated by the style.)
@katliamom I LOVED Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. I didn’t “get” 1Q84. Parts of it were beautiful but it went on and on and on…I assume there was a lot of symbolism in it, but I sure didn’t “get” it.
I’ve read a number of Haruki Murakami books and liked them all a lot except for Norwegian Wood, which I thought contained too many sad events.
One book that I think just about everybody in the world liked except me was Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto.
I loved Wolf Hall so much that I’ve hesitated reading the next book, fearing that it might somehow not be as good!
I liked Bel Canto except really hated the last scene (without spoiler-ing, that final new couple.) (If I’m remembering right.)
That keeps happening for me with Patchett–same with two things at the end of State of Wonder that made me want to throw the book across the room.
I didn’t “get” The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. The book now resides in my “Unfortunately I Made Myself Finish It” pile.
I liked “Bring Up the Bodies” just as much, if not more, than “Wolf Hall.” I think my mom has read both of them twice, and she, at age 87, usually reserves such honor for works by Dickens and other 19th century authors. And the BBC production of “Wolf Hall” was amazing.
I couldn’t get through “Wolf Hall” either, but I loved the BBC miniseries. In fact, I might try reading the book again and see if I can get through it this time, although there are so many other things on my reading list, I don’t know if I want to take the time.
You guys and your “Nightengale! Nightengale!” made me download it on my kindle…to realize I’d previously read it.
It’s not highbrow literature and I don’t even know if it’s a “best book of the last 6 months,” but I just finished “X” - the latest from Sue Grafton. Very enjoyable. I’ve been reading her books since “A is for Alibi” and can’t believe that she’s almost through the alphabet!
I also loved Bel Canto but hated that ending.. seemed so false to me. An opera version of Bel Canto premiered for Chicago Lyric Opera this year championed by Renee Fleming, the artistic director for Chicago. Sadly the premiere was just about the same time as the terrorist attacks in Paris.
I agree with @rosered55 that Bring Up the Bodies is as good, if not better than Wolf Hall. One difference is that the span of time is much, much shorter in Bring Up the Bodies, so it seems faster-paced.
Loved Bel Canto… somewhat disappointed by State of Wonder, though I gave it extra points for sheer originality.
It’s fun to read posts such as 3370 and 3371 - seeing two different reactions to the same book from two intelligent readers.