My son gave me James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store for my birthday, and I was absorbed by the story and the heart. The writing is fantastic; I want to revisit his other books.
I see upthread that this one doesn’t have too many fans, but I gave it five stars in my reading journal.
Thanks! @zeebamom
I finished Doris Kearns Goodwin’s An Unfinished Love Story a few days ago. If you read nonfiction, particularly history, you would likely enjoy this book. So many similarities between the turmoil of the 1960s and what we are living through now, good & bad. I knew her husband was an author, but I was unaware of his role as a speechwriter & key aide for both JFK & LBJ.
Thanks for the review. I’m looking forward to reading it.
I enjoyed it also. Had no idea about her husband’s role in all those events.
I really enjoyed This Summer Will Be Different. Now I want to visit PEI.
I saw this list and thought I’d post it. Some CC people might be interested in Of Boys And Men: Why The Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, And What To Do About It, based off some discussions on other threads.
I am reading Martyr! right now and felt so accomplished when this year’s list dropped!
Just finished “ A Town called Solace” , Canadian author, Mary Lawsons book. Loved this one, as I loved her three other books, Crow Lake, The other side of the bridge, and Road Ends.
Anne Tyler raved about this author years ago. Quick read
I recently read Sandwich by Catherine Newman. The blurb by Ann Patchett caught my eye, and then it was on my bedside table!
Definitely not one of the best books I’ve read – but many of the themes in it are familiar ones (and of interest) to this CC crowd. It’s the story, told by the mom, of a one week family vacation on Cape Cod in the cottage they rent every year. The children are now older (college and beyond.) It’s a fast, easy read that touches on everything from relationships with adult children, reconfigured marital relationships, menopause, regrets, aging parents, etc.
It made me think of this community.
Sandwich is on my Want To Read list. I like that kind of family drama/bonding/age transition kind of read.
The Expat by Hansen Shi. Reads like a modern Grisham. Fast paced and intrigue. In the “summer reading” category. And a lot of college references that I won’t spoil.
Since we visit family on Cape Cod every year, I put the ebook on hold at my library… along with 217 others on the waiting list (but there are 16 copies)
I read Sandwich last week. I enjoyed it. Not a literary masterpiece, but entertaining and relatable (We also spend time on the Cape most summers). A quick read.
I know this is supposed to be “best” but providing a PSA to warn people off the supposed Michael Crichton book Eruption that came out a couple months ago. Was a Crichton fan so I tried it, even though I knew it had been allegedly “finished” by James Patterson who I knew to be an awful writer.
But even setting my expectations low it turned out to be on the worst books I ever bothered to finish. Just epically bad. Worse than average fan fiction and way worse than most of the self published authors I have read. Read at your own risk and only if you don’t mind feeling at the end that you wasted your time.
I was so happy to see the kindle book We Begin at the End for $1.99 today! I had it on my watch list since people recommended it here.
I might be the only person on this thread who still hasn’t read Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, but just in case thre’s anyone else out there, the Kindle version is only $1.99 today (8/25).
And I might be the only person on this thread who tried reading it but gave it up because I didn’t like it! (And it was a gift from my mother!)
D loaned me her copy a few years ago and I made it through due to sheer perseverance. No desire to read any of the subsequent books. You aren’t the only one who didn’t find the story compelling.
I read all the hoopla and thought maybe I should read it. And then I read even more hoopla and decided nah.
