me before you
storyteller’s daughter
calling me home
sweetness of forgetting
Beautiful Ruins–Jess Walter.
Takes a little while to warm up to, because it jumps around a lot and you don’t know the connections between the characters for a while, but about a third of the way in I was hooked. Gorgeous writing, funny, memorable and sympathetic characters. I really liked it! Even Richard Burton makes a cameo appearance.
definitely recommend!
I really enjoyed Beautiful Ruins too. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a great job.
I’m enjoying Life After Life by Kate Atkinson now - hard to put down.
Just finished Rules of Civility.
Really enjoyed it for what it is.
Need a book recommendation. Something “masculine” which I will also enjoy. No lengthy battle scenes, please. Historical fiction, biography, anything goes. Needs to be good but not too daunting.
For the record I loved Cloud Atlas, Rules of Civility, The Road, Dog Stars, if that helps at all.
CJ I loved Unbroken about Louie Zamperini who was on a WW2 bomber and was a POW. I gave it to my Dad who also liked it.
Flight Behavior
The Glass House
The Fugu Plan
Destiny of theRepublic --about President Garfield
CJaneRead - I’ll suggest Defending Jacob by W. Landy, a suspense novel with courtroom drama and told in first-person (unreliable narrator)–well written & hard to predict. <a href=“‘Defending Jacob,’ by William Landay - The New York Times”>‘Defending Jacob,’ by William Landay - The New York Times;
BTW, I also loved Unbroken–great suggestion.
“At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom” by Amy Hempel, a collection of short stories.
I have to admit, I like the short story format. It requires measured words and phrases, stories cut down to the essentials. Amy Hempel is better at this than anybody on the planet. Why she isn’t one of the most famous authors ever is beyond me.
This book has ruined my enjoyment of anything I have read since. I find myself thinking, “Amy Hempel wouldn’t have written that garbage sentence.” “Amy Hempel wouldn’t have used that cliche.” “Amy Hempel would have told this story so much better.”
CJane, take a look at Calico Joe (John Grisham). I would classify it as “masculine”–it is about baseball–but I enjoyed it. I listened to it twice on audiobook, once alone, and again on a road trip with my husband.
Thanks for all the suggestions… and keep 'em coming, please!
I have read Unbroken – loved it. Defending Jacob-- liked it, but liked the similarly-themed “We Need to Talk About Kevin” even more.
Will definitely check out all the suggestions.
We Need to Talk about Kevin kept me up nights. So difficult yet so compelling.
Recently discovered Middlemarch. I loved it so much.
Best recent book: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. As soon as I put it down I picked it up again to try and figure it out. Great read.
Agree with you, zm.
Currently slogging my way through A Time in Between. Am about a third way through-- anyone else finish this one? Is it worth perservering?
Just re-read The Great Gatsby (wanted to refresh myself before the movie comes out). Loved it all over again.
BTW, finally read Life of Pi recently and I’m wondering if I’m the only one who was underwhelmed?? The middle was hard to get through–all the fishing & detailed passages about gutting turtles . . .
About to start Gatsby,ELY. Please share your favorite lines, scenes, insights etc.
Ditto on Life of Pi, BTW.
cartera45, I am also reading Kate Atkinson’s “Life After Life.” At first I found the concept kind of pretentious and book repetitive and boring. But once Ursula finally got a little bit older I became more intrigued. About 2/3 through it now and liking it, although sometimes if I put it down and come back later I get confused about exactly which situation Ursula is in. On the plus side, when I don’t like the direction her life is going, I know there will be another opportunity for something better!
lafalum, I’m listening to the audiobook and I think the excellent narrator is really a plus. I love the way the author weaves the same little details into the various situations. I imagine she had to use a big roadmap diagram to keep it all straight. I am approaching the end and sorry to see it end.
Just read Wide Sargasso Sea. I may be the last person in the country to have read it, and the only one who didn’t know it was the story of Mr. Rochester’s famously mad wife in the attic.
At the end, some names started ringing bells…Bertha…Grace Poole…but honestly I didn’t have a clue!
I know I’m late to the game, but I just finished The Orchardist this afternoon. Definitely one of the best books I have read in a very long time.