Pre-2017
The Spectator Bird
Wallace Stegner
1972
From Wikipedia: The book tells the story of retired literary agent Joe Allston, who receives a postcard from an old friend, a Danish countess named Astrid. Joe initially hides the postcard from his wife, Ruth. However, he soon reveals to her not only its existence but that of a diary Joe kept twenty years before, when Joe and Ruth met Astrid while visiting Denmark. The Allstons took the trip in the wake of the death of their only child, Curtis, with whom Joe fought constantly.
Lucy Barton
Elizabeth Strout
2016
Homegoing
Yaa Gyasi
2016
From Wikipedia: Each chapter in the novel follows a different descendant of an Asante woman named Maame, starting with her two daughters, separated by circumstance: Effia marries James Collins, the British governor in charge of Cape Coast Castle, while her half-sister Esi is held captive in the dungeons below. Subsequent chapters follow their children and following generations.
Sensational book. Yah.
A Star Called Henry
Roddy Doyle
2004
Weird, preposterous, meandering story about the Easter Rebellion. Nah.
Love Medicine
Louise Erdrich
2013
The Round House
Louise Erdrich
2012
Rape aftermath on Indian reservation. Great. Yah.
LaRose
Louise Erdrich
2016
Acccidental hunting death of neighbor family's boy has long-term repercussions. LaRose from the survivor family "lent" to the neighbor with deceased child. Big yah.
2017
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mohsin Hamid
2007
Pakastani (?) student educated in the USA meets troubled girl who eventually commits suicide. He returns to Pakistan (?) and may have become radicalized. Yah.
Exit West
Mohsin Hamid
2017
Sort of magic realism tales about the movement West of a couple fleeing from chaos in their home country. There are a series of stops culminating in some sort of enclave in Great Britain.
Smile
Roddy Doyle
2017
Confusing, depressing psychological thriller. Nah.
Lucy Barton
Elizabeth Strout
2017
2018
Anything is possible
Elizabeth Strout
2017
Connected chapters taking place in Lucy Barton's home area. She is in a couple. Mostly sadness mixed with resilience.
Manhattan Beach
Jennifer Egan
2017
Liked the story a lot. Wish the author would have stayed with the female lead instead of veering to the guy who owned the house on Manhattan Beach. Yah.
Lincoln at the Bardo
George Saunders
2017
Ninth hour
Alice McDermot
2017
Destitute widow is brought to Convent with baby to work in laundry. Life and personality of nuns and their calling and the growing relationship between them, mother and child. Yah.
The Spectator Bird
Wallace Stegner
1972
From Wikipedia: The book tells the story of retired literary agent Joe Allston, who receives a postcard from an old friend, a Danish countess named Astrid. Joe initially hides the postcard from his wife, Ruth. However, he soon reveals to her not only its existence but that of a diary Joe kept twenty years before, when Joe and Ruth met Astrid while visiting Denmark. The Allstons took the trip in the wake of the death of their only child, Curtis, with whom Joe fought constantly.
Stegner moves the novel's narration back and forth between the present day, as Joe struggles with the physical and emotional degradations of older age, and Denmark, where Joe and Ruth get caught up in the strange, almost Gothic world of Astrid and her ostracized aristocratic family. It transpires that Joe became romantically involved with Astrid—to what degree Ruth hopes to find out—and still has unresolved feelings about her. The novel is both an intriguing, witty observation of Americans returning to the "old country" during post-World War II Europe, as well as a deep meditation on the blessings and frustrations of a long marriage.
Lucy Barton
Elizabeth Strout
2016
Homegoing
Yaa Gyasi
2016
From Wikipedia: Each chapter in the novel follows a different descendant of an Asante woman named Maame, starting with her two daughters, separated by circumstance: Effia marries James Collins, the British governor in charge of Cape Coast Castle, while her half-sister Esi is held captive in the dungeons below. Subsequent chapters follow their children and following generations.
Sensational book. Yah.
A Star Called Henry
Roddy Doyle
2004
Weird, preposterous, meandering story about the Easter Rebellion. Nah.
Love Medicine
Louise Erdrich
2013
The Round House
Louise Erdrich
2012
Rape aftermath on Indian reservation. Great. Yah.
LaRose
Louise Erdrich
2016
Acccidental hunting death of neighbor family's boy has long-term repercussions. LaRose from the survivor family "lent" to the neighbor with deceased child. Big yah.
2017
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mohsin Hamid
2007
Pakastani (?) student educated in the USA meets troubled girl who eventually commits suicide. He returns to Pakistan (?) and may have become radicalized. Yah.
Exit West
Mohsin Hamid
2017
Sort of magic realism tales about the movement West of a couple fleeing from chaos in their home country. There are a series of stops culminating in some sort of enclave in Great Britain.
Smile
Roddy Doyle
2017
Confusing, depressing psychological thriller. Nah.
Lucy Barton
Elizabeth Strout
2017
2018
Anything is possible
Elizabeth Strout
2017
Connected chapters taking place in Lucy Barton's home area. She is in a couple. Mostly sadness mixed with resilience.
Manhattan Beach
Jennifer Egan
2017
Liked the story a lot. Wish the author would have stayed with the female lead instead of veering to the guy who owned the house on Manhattan Beach. Yah.
Lincoln at the Bardo
George Saunders
2017
Ninth hour
Alice McDermot
2017
Destitute widow is brought to Convent with baby to work in laundry. Life and personality of nuns and their calling and the growing relationship between them, mother and child. Yah.
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