Comments on: Books read in February 2018

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 16:33:19 +0000

In reply to Jessica.

@Jessica – thanks, that was an auto-correct in my blogging program. Sometimes these auto-corrects are not so helpful. I went in and fixed it 🙂

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 15:57:09 +0000

Hello, first a little correction: Memories of My Melancholy Whores, by Gabriela García Márquez, is Gabriel not Gabriela.

Second, my recommendation: if you like Latin American writers you can go with Isabel Allende: Eva Luna, Paula or The sum of our days (La suma de los días).

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 15:52:28 +0000

In reply to Morana. @Morana- ooh, that is a good list! Bookmarked!

By: Morana

Morana — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 14:12:18 +0000

Thank you for the BuzzFeed list, novellas are my favorite form of fiction and a few of my favorites are on that list, I’ll have to check out some of the other ones. I’m currently listening to Great Courses “A Day’s Read” which discusses great works of literature you can read in a day (30 minute University lecture on each book) – just the list of books they cover is worth checking out: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/a-day-s-read.html
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was my introduction to Capote and is one of my favorite books ever. It is very different from the movie, and also different from many of his short stories, which I love and recommend. I also recommend Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories.

By: Allison

Allison — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 06:00:58 +0000

I don’t think we share the same favorites in books, but a few that come to mind that miiight resonate- ‘Animal, Vegetable Miracle’ by Barbara Kingsolver. I liked how the story flowed with different viewpoints and information sprinkled in.
I reread the whole Betsy Tacy series recently. Your daughter might enjoy the early ones (if you like reading together) and the high school and later ones are just enjoyable quick reads.

By: Sheila

Sheila — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 22:50:57 +0000

If you’re an Anne of Green Gables fan you might really like The Gift of Wings…an autobiography of Lucy Maud Montgomery. It got bogged down in a few places….but it was one shocking thing after another about her life. Quite interesting. If you don’t want to give up your romantic notions of her though, I’d probably avoid it.

By: Meghan

Meghan — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 20:36:00 +0000

In reply to liz.

That’s how old I was, too — I think it’s a lovely, cozy read still, but you have to know that going in.
I finally got around to reading Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho and it was delightful. One review of it when it came out a few years ago described it as “Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but not boring”; exactly spot-on. Otherwise, I’ve been reading my way through a couple of ecology/outdoors books that have come across my desk at work (all serendipitously) and just finished The Nature Fix by Florence Williams, which was super (and inspired by the books I’d been working on).

By: liz

liz — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 20:15:23 +0000

I loved the James Herriott oeuvre, but I read it when I was probably 10 or 12– it’s really suited for a romantic animal lover in that age group. I’d probably be bored by it now.

I’ve been working through Middlemarch since Xmas and love it–trying to follow some of your suggestions for insterstitial moments of reading so that it’s not just 3 pages before I fall asleep at night.

By: Connie C

Connie C — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 19:42:56 +0000

I just read The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn. Couldn’t put it down until I was done.

By: Kimmie

Kimmie — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 16:41:26 +0000

I always come straight to your website on the last day of the month to see what you’ve been reading! I felt the same about All Creatures Great and Small- it was fine but repetitive and I had no interest in continuing the series.

As for wow books, the best one I’ve read recently is Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin. I really, really enjoyed it.

And for some of my favorite all-time books, here is a post I wrote about books I love to reread: https://calmlybykimmie.blogspot.com/2018/02/10-books-i-could-reread-forever.html