Unbroken by Laura Hilllenbrand. It was hard to put down. I also really liked The Warmth of Other Suns. It’s about the great migration of African Americans during the early part of the twentieth century.
I agree that Unbroken was quite compelling. Although the setting is the Pacific Theatre of WWII, it is a story of the human spirit, fortitude, endurance and ultimately forgiveness.
I decided this year to read some books that I had either never read, or went through them perhaps 35-40 years ago. Dickens was as I expected because I still remembered Oliver Twist; Thomas Hardy - Mayor of Casterbridge was great.
I just didn’t get Catch 22 - not at all, and Atlas Shrugged isn’t working out very well primarily because I didn’t get the large print version..
Henry James is wasted on the young and is worth reading after 30, imho. Graham Greene and Somerset Maugham, too. fwiw
PG, pardon my ignorance - have never read anything by Henry James. What would you recommend - is the listing of his works in Wiki something you agree with? Literally dozens of novels and short stories… Maybe you can recommend some poetry 101 too ..
For poetry, Walt Whitman, Wallace Stevens and Jorie Graham are great poets for grown ups…particularly Stevens and Graham.
For James, before I say anything, can you tolerate long and convoluted scentences? If so, Portrait of a Lady, Wings of the Dove, The Ambasadors and The Golden Bowl.
If you are only going to read one? Read Wings of the Dove, though Potrait is “easier” and maybe more entertaining.
YMMV
James, The Golden Bowl. I read both Maugham and Greene in HS and loved them both. I am reading Twain’s Life on the Mississippi. Downloaded it for free on my iPad with original illustrations. It is amazing. Just finished Corrections by Franzen. Needed something very different. Corrections is brilliant though
Just finished “The Radioactive Boy Scout”, by Ken Silverstein. True story of a kid who built a nuclear breeder reactor in his back yard near Detroit in the 1990s. Scary tale of what can happen when a profoundly gifted kid has no supervision/mentoring…
I really enjoyed Henry James in my late 20s. I read a bunch in a row, but I have to admit I got bogged down by the Ambassadors and didn’t finish it. I liked Portrait of a Lady best, I think because I was living in Europe at the time, and it’s basically about the differences between Americans and Europeans. Daisy Miller has the advantage of being relatively short. There’s a nice Masterpiece Theater (from their very first season) of The Spoils of Poynton.
Poetry I’m a big fan of Wallace Stevens, Theordore Roethke, Auden. William Carlos Williams, Yeats, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks.
Don’t forget “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James. Short, scary, and un-put-downable!
Best book I’ve read in years was Griftopia by Matt Taibbi. Really well done explanation of the financial meltdown (and lots of Ayn Rand mentions, Dad<em>of</em>3, although not in a positive way.) Did make my blood pressure go up 30 points, though.
Reading We Need To Talk About Kevin right now and I’m finding it very engrossing. Also read Madame Bovary and liked it much more than I thought I would.
Just finished “Wolf Hall,” by Hilary Mantel, her novel about Thomas Cromwell that won the Man Booker prize two years ago. I loved it. More than any book I’ve read in quite a while. And I’m not someone who’s ever been particularly fascinated by the Tudors.
I agree, Wolf Hall is exceptional. Did you know that’s only part 1? Mantel is working on another novel that will follow Cromwell’s career until his death.
I really didn’t like Wolf Hall. Irritated me. I’m somewhat fascinated by the Tudors, but I didn’t like the way it was written. I did however like getting an alternate point of view about the sainted Man for all Seasons.
I’m not very good at ready good for you novels. I’m putting down rereading War and Peace yet again . (I’m about a third of the way through) to read Connie Willis’ *All Clear *a time travel novel set during the Blitz.
The first is a great fiction about the black help in Jackson, Mississippi in the 60’s.
The second is a most amazing memoir about growing up in a most unusual and dysfunctional family.
You will NOT be disappointed!
I’ve got Willis’ The Doomsday Book sitting on my bedside table - to be read as soon as I clear up a couple others. (CC Book Club - Water for Elephants discussion to start on April 1 :)) The Doomsday Book came highly recommended; I’m looking forward to it. I’ve also heard good things about her time travels’ set during the Blitz.
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”- wonderful book. Non-fiction about the woman whose cancerous cells were the first human cells to be cultivated outside of the human body. Sounds boring but definitely kept my attention as it discussed not only the scientific procedures developed in the 50’s in terms I easily understood, but the human story behind the donor and the moral issues of how people were used as guinea pigs.
ignatius, Doomsday Book was the first Willis I read. It’s very good, but depressing. She can be quite funny, but doesn’t let it out in her long fiction often. I recommend Bellwether and To Say Nothing of the Dog if you like a bit of levity.
I’ve heard the author of the Henrietta Lacks book interviewed several times on NPR. It sounds fascinating.
I like books by Dorothy Gillman for interesting escapism. She writes about clairvoyance and fictional ordinary people doing extraordinary things, like her heroine Emily Pollifax, a 60ish retired housewife who starts working as a special agent for the CIA. I also like, “The Cheapskate Next Door.”