Category Archives: Great Reads

Dee enjoyed

• Susan Orleans, The Library Book (LA Public Library);
• Madeleine Miller, Circe;
• RichardPowers, The Overstory – with Eric Rutkow American Canopy);
• Mona Hanna-Attisha, What the Eyes Don’t See (Flint Water Crisis)

Allan liked

• Diane Setterfield’s three novels:  Bellman and Black, The Thirteenths Tale (which Dee dismissed as “Gothic”), and Once Upon a River.
• Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead by the 2018 Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk,and a funny book
•  The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine.

From Judy Kennedy, 7/2/19:

I’m about 2/3rds of the way through a brand new novel that I think many of you would like — THE GUEST BOOK by Sarah Blake — available as a hardcover or an audio book but not in paperback until next year.   The publisher advertises it by saying “If you’re going to read one book this summer make it this modern-day classic,” which is what caught my eye and made me buy a copy.

Remember the discussion we had several months about “special places?”   Well, if that resonated with you because your family had a summer camp or cottage on a lake (Marian) or an island (Liz) or in the mountains (me) — you’ll identify big time with this book.  A 3 generation saga focused on the three matriarchs of a once very wealthy family (grandmother/mother/daughter) who buys an island off the coast of Maine (near Vinalhaven) in the 30s with a large summer cottage on it as a family retreat, it’s really a story of the island (or such a special place) and how it bonds and divides the various family members for half a century, both keeping and sharing their deepest secrets and feelings.

The book is quite long but I’ve been relishing it because of the good descriptive writing and beautiful character development, once you sort them all out.  Like a good Russian novel, I had to keep a family tree going on a separate piece of paper at first until I got to know them and their relationships, but it was well worth the trouble.

Another book suggestion for the group – “The Which Way Tree” by Elizabeth Crook.  Told in the delightful voice of an uneducated teenager from Texas hill country in 1866.  A mixed bag of characters try to catch a panther with sometimes hilarious, sometimes disastrous results.
 — Carol Benson

Book List from the Williamstown weekend, October 12-14, 2018

The Overstory, Richard Powers
Manhattan Beach, Jennifer Egan
The Fire This Time, Jesmyn Ward
Sing Unburied Sing, Jesmyn Ward
Sapiens, a Brief History of Mankind, Yuval Noah Harari
Exit West, Mohsin Hamid
Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders
The Weight of Ink, Rachel Kadish
The Girl Who Wrote in Silk, Kelli Estes
The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death can Teach Us about Living Fully, Frank Ostaseski
The Art of Flourishing, Jeffrey Rubin
The Creative Habit, Twyla Tharp

From Judy Kennedy:  Here’s what one of our favorite authors, Chris Bohjalian, has been reading this summer.  Thought some of you might be interested in his choices.  By the way, his new novel, The Flight Attendant, is one of his best — and very timely, since it’s about Russian spying, not flying!  Thanks, Judy

Some of you have asked what I’ve been reading this summer – before the summer comes to an end.  In alphabetical order, here are some of my favorites. I can recommend them all with unfettered enthusiasm:

• Cristina Alger, The Banker’s Wife
• Jennifer Egan, Manhattan Beach
• Megan Maclean Weir, The Book of Essie
• Stephen King, The Outsider
• Ann Mah, The Lost Vintage
• Paula McLain, Love and Ruins
• Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer

I’m currently reading (and loving):

• Megan Abbot, Give Me Your Hand
• Jodi Picoult, A Spark of Light

Editor’s note:  Another Louise Penny from Mette Lian on 11/11/18:  “Kingdom of the Blind“.  I guess I’m going to have to start with her first book and get reading!  I’m busy reading “Sapiens” which is both astonishing and fascinating.   

From Freya Olafson and Judy Kennedy:  THE SATURDAY PROFILE

An Affable Canadian Author With a Penchant for Murder

From Dee, July 25, 2018:  I’ve also been reading Louise Penny books, and just thought about the Eastern Townships she writes about.  We drove to Montreal through some of them in May, and stopped for lunch in Frelighsbourg,certainly bigger than Three Pines, but we ate lunch in a delightful Bistro – Aux deux clochers – that seemed like an inspiration for the Bistro in the Louise Penny books – a charming restaurant with a patio over a brook, and a regular clientele, mostly speaking French, who came in to share lunch with each other. It certainly had the aura of Three Pines, if not the bucolic setting!

My guess is that most of us know and love someone with mental health issues — and we all have suffered with them and because of them.  If you want to look into a mirror and see the dynamics of that relationship clearly — your very own relationship perhaps, certainly mine for over twenty years —  read THE VELVETEEN DAUGHTER by Laurel Davis Huber, published last year by She Writes Press.  Huber the author is a Smith graduate and it shows in her beautiful writing and emotional openness on a subject that deserves more discussion and understanding.

The book is a “fictionalized memoir” of Margery Williams Bianco, the author of one of the most beloved children’s books of all times, THE VELVETEEN RABBIT, and her daughter Pamela Bianco, a world-renowned child prodigy artist who struggles with severe depression and the symptoms of what we now call Bi-Polar Disease or one of the many other such diseases with similar symptoms and results.  In addition, what hooked me on the book was this tag line from it’s promotion which delivered big time on its promise:  “It is also a fascinating look at the glamorous art world of Europe and New York in the early twentieth century with a supporting cast of luminaries including Eugene O’Neill, Pablo Picasso, and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney who provide a vivid backdrop to this multifaceted, illuminating story of art, family, and the consequences of genius touched by madness.”

It’s surely one of the best books I’ve read in a long, long time — and we were fortunate enough to have the author join our book club discussion last month which was fascinating and insightful.  She and her husband split their time between New Jersey and Maine.  We caught her when she was up north but she is available as a speaker elsewhere and seems to enjoy it.  

Know we have avid readers in our group. Found this on LitHub. Other “state” choices?  –Rocki Hill Hughes