We just discussed Heaven and Earth at bookgroup on Friday. Most of us really liked it. You have to get used to McBride’s style (similar to Deacon King Kong. The long meandering paragraphs contain so many gems, applicable to today as well as the book’s time frame.
Most of us really liked it, but others agreed that there were too many characters. I liked the way the author pulled the characters together and just went with the flow, figuring the necessary connections would come later. I really liked it overall.
Good to know. My book club did Deacon King Kong and I really couldn’t get in to it. Most of the club liked it but it wasn’t for me. I think I’ll skip Heaven and Earth. Too many other books to read!
I started Heaven and Earth several times and kept putting it down. But the many recommendations made me pick it up again. Once I finally got into it and read for longer periods of time I liked it better. I see it as a portrait of a place in time and the people who inhabited it. I did keep thinking about it after I finished it.
I don’t know where I was 14 years ago when the CC Bookclub read this, or 4 years earlier when it was a bestseller, but I loved Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s Shadow of the Wind. It sucks you into its evocative world. Perfect for an upcoming trip to Spain (and Barcelona in particular).
Has anyone read “Wandering Stars” by Tommy Orange? I really liked his book “There, There” and last night he was interviewed here in my town by Louise Erdrich (she lives here), The library sponsored the event and I did the livestream.
I was lucky enough to be the first to check the ebook out of my library. Anyone who liked There, There will certainly like Wandering Stars, which includes some of the same characters, but also looks back at earlier generations. Those who haven’t read it could give the new book a try, too; it stands on its own. I recommend.
Am in the last third of Lessons in Chemistry and have been enjoying it immensely. The whole dog portion of it is a very creative element. Also, I did not intentionally choose another book with a brilliant and neurodivergent protagonist, but here I am nevertheless.
Another interesting time travel novel my stepdad recommended to me is called Repeat, written by Ken Grimwood.
Wikipedia description: The novel tells of a 43-year-old man who dies and wakes up back in 1963 in his 18-year-old body . He relives his life with all his memories of the previous 25 years intact. This happens repeatedly, with the man playing out his life differently in each cycle.
A couple of weeks ago I was reading a couple of steamy romances by Helen Hoang featuring neurodivergent characters. I particularly enjoyed The Kiss Quotient in which a high functioning autistic woman hires a male escort to teach her how to do sex. It’s very sweet.
Someone here recommended The Ferryman (Cronin) and just wanted to say thanks! I’d stay up all night reading but while I can’t put it down, I CAN fall asleep with it on my lap!
I finally read All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr), highly recommended by many. My husband is anxious to see the movie, so this seemed a good time. Really enjoyed it.
I really loved Replay (it was part thrilling part heartbreaking and really well-paced), so I hoped for a while they’d do a new one, same concept but 1998-2023 or somesuch.