Thoughts on LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK by Kathleen Rooney

I reread Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk last week. It was just as good the second time around. Here is my original review from April 2017.

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

by Kathleen Rooney

St. Martin's Press, 2017

287 pages

Summary: (from goodreads)

It’s the last day of 1984, and 85-year-old Lillian Boxfish is about to take a walk.

As she traverses a grittier Manhattan, a city anxious after an attack by a still-at-large subway vigilante, she encounters bartenders, bodega clerks, chauffeurs, security guards, bohemians, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be—in surprising moments of generosity and grace. While she strolls, Lillian recalls a long and eventful life that included a brief reign as the highest-paid advertising woman in America—a career cut short by marriage, motherhood, divorce, and a breakdown.

A love letter to city life—however shiny or sleazy—Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America: from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic; the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop.

My thoughts:

Meandering, thoughtful, light on plot. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, a novel about a woman and the city she cherishes, is truly a delightful read.

I opened the book, discovered endpapers imprinted with a map of Manhattan detailing Lillian's journey, and instantly fell in love.

On New Year's Eve in 1984, 85-year-old  Lillian Boxfish takes a long walk around Manhattan. From her Murray Hill apartment, to Battery Park, St. Vincent's Hospital, and eventually Macy's in Herald Square, with stops at restaurants, a bodega, a house party in Chelsea, and Penn Station, the walk chronicles her interactions with old friends and random strangers, as well as her ruminations on life and the city she loves.

Not all that much actually happens in this novel, but Lillian's interactions with clerks, restaurant patrons, and would-be muggers will make you laugh and may even bring a tear to your eye. I especially enjoyed her reflections on career (she was a Macy's advertising executive in the 1930s), love, marriage, and motherhood.

By the way, Lillian Boxfish is loosely based on the life of Margaret Fishback. Don't miss the author's note at the end.

Pearls of wisdom from Lillian:

“No one survives the future.” 

“Time only goes in that one direction.” 

“Any day you walk down a street and find nothing new but nothing missing counts as a good day in a city you love.” 

“Here’s some free advice: Make an honest assessment of the choices you’ve made before you look askance at somebody else’s.” 

“The point of living in the world is just to stay interested.” 

“If you love something, know that it will leave on a day you are far from ready.” 

“... my true religion is actually civility. Please note that I do not call my faith “politeness.” That’s part of it, yes, but I say civility because I believe that good manners are essential to the preservation of humanity— one’s own and others’— but only to the extent that that civility is honest and reasonable, not merely the mindless handmaiden of propriety.”

My rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Recent Reading: Six Short Reviews

Lighthouse at Saybrook Point Marina

Several days ago I shared our Hurricane Ian update and now, as promised, here is my fall reading update. As you can imagine, through late September and most of October I couldn't concentrate on reading anything. Eventually audiobooks returned to my daily routine and by mid-November I began to read print books, too... what a relief! 

Here are the books I've read and/or listened to since the storm:

Dinners with Ruth:A Memoir on the Power of Friendships

by Nina Totenberg, narrated by the author

I've followed Nina Totenberg's reporting for years, but knew nothing about her career path or personal life prior to listening to this memoir. Be aware that the focus is not on RBG as the title might lead you to believe. Rather, it is the story of Totenberg's long career and how strong female friendships, primarily with RBG and Cokie Roberts, have enriched her life. I'm glad I listened to this one.

Justice on the Brink: A Requiem for the Supreme Court

by Linda Greenhouse, narrated by Beth Hicks

I heard Linda Greenhouse, journalist and Yale Law School lecturer, on R.J. Julia's "Just the Right Book!" podcast when this book was originally published last year. At that time, the after-the-colon subtitle was The Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Rise of Amy Coney Barrett, and Twelve Months That Transformed the Supreme Court. After Roe v. Wade was overturned this past June, Greenhouse added an update and changed the title. I listened to the newer edition.

This book made for some fascinating listening. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know of my fascination with the Supreme Court. There's not much new information here, but having the events and significant cases of the past couple of years laid out chronologically, alongside relevant background information, was an illuminating (and infuriating!) review. 

 

Signal Fires

by Dani Shapiro, narrated by the author

Beautifully written, skillfully constructed, and incredibly moving  - I loved this book! It was a read/listen combination for me and Shapiro's narration was just perfect. I borrowed the ebook from the library, but have since purchased a copy to keep on my shelf. I've been a fan of this author for years, especially her recent memoirs, but this is her first novel in twenty years. It's a contender for my favorite book of the year... highly recommended.

Diary of a Void: A Novel

by Emi Yagi, translated by David Boyd and Lucy North

narrated by Nancy Wu

As the only woman at her new workplace... Ms. Shibata is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can't clear away her colleagues' dirty cups--because she's pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is . . . Ms. Shibata is not pregnant. (from goodreads)

The premise here is unusual and it eventually turns just plain weird, but this short novel is surprisingly engaging. I enjoyed Nancy Wu's narration of Convenience Store Woman and it made for a pleasant 4 1/2 hours here, too. 

 

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz

Cara Romero, in her mid-50s, loses her factory job in the Great Recession and must meet with a job counselor in order to qualify for benefits.

 Over the course of twelve sessions, Cara recounts her tempestuous love affairs, her alternately biting and loving relationships with her neighbor Lulu and her sister Angela, her struggles with debt, gentrification and loss, and, eventually, what really happened between her and her estranged son, Fernando. As Cara confronts her darkest secrets and regrets, we see a woman buffeted by life but still full of fight.

It took a little while to get used to Cara's voice, but I eventually grew to understand and appreciate her. I'm so glad I persevered!

My Policeman: A Novel

by Bethan Roberts

narrated by Piers Hampton, Emma Powell

"I considered starting with these words: I no longer want to kill you - because I really don't, but then decided you would think this far too melodramatic. You've always hated melodrama, and I don't want to upset you now, not in the state you're in, not at what may be the end of your life."

This novel grabbed me with the opening lines (above) and held me through the final sentence. It is lushly written and heartbreaking. Set in mid-20th century England, My Policeman  is loosely based on novelist E. M. Forster's relationship with policeman Bob Buckingham. In the novel, museum curator Patrick Hazelwood randomly meets a young policeman, Tom Burgess, following a street incident and is immediately attracted to him. Tom is married to Marion and trying to lead a conventional life, but is also drawn to Patrick... and a relationship develops. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Patrick and Marion. The reader never hears directly from Tom, the policeman.

As a read/listen combination, the audio production employs dual narrators to make the most of alternating perspectives. It was very well done.

The novel was originally published in 2012 and a new film adaptation is currently available on amazon prime video. I plan to watch it this weekend.

Two Reviews: The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff and The Pedant in the Kitchen by Julian Barnes

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff

Hachette Books, 2008

364 pages

Hyperion Audiobooks, 2008

narrated by Nicole Roberts

13 hours and 6 minutes

Motivation for reading: Taming the TBR! This book has been on my shelf since 2008.

Publisher's summary:

In the wake of a disastrous affair with her older, married archeology professor at Stanford, brilliant Wilhelmina Cooper arrives back at the doorstep of her hippie mother-turned-born-again-Christian's house in Templeton, New York - a storybook town her ancestors founded that sits on the shores of Lake Glimmerglass. Upon her arrival, a prehistoric monster surfaces in the lake, bringing a feeding frenzy to the quiet town. And Willie learns she has a mystery father her mother has kept secret for Willie's entire life.

The beautiful, broody Willie is told that the key to her biological father's identity lies somewhere in her twisted family tree. She finds more than she bargained for as a chorus of voices from the town's past, some sinister, all fascinating, rise up around her to tell their side of the story. In the end, dark secrets come to light, past and present day are blurred, and old mysteries are finally put to rest.

My thoughts:

This was just an okay read for me. It's well-written and clever, but hard to follow at times... especially while listening.

The town of Templeton is actually Cooperstown, NY, thinly disguised, where Groff grew up. It's also close enough to our former NY home for me to recognize local landmarks and lore. The Temple family in the novel is supposed to represent that of author James Fenimore Cooper. 

Groff's text features many old photographs, drawings, and family trees... things I tend to love in a novel. Unfortunately, as a read/listen combination, I missed being able to refer back to the convoluted Temple family tree. The story itself was interesting enough, but the local references really kept me engaged.

My rating: Three stars, with an extra half for the familiar setting and pleasant audio narration.

The Pedant in the Kitchen

by Julian Barnes, narrated by Simon Vance

Recorded Books, 2021

2 hours and 29 minutes

The Pedant in the Kitchen is a perfect comfort for anyone who has ever been defeated by a cookbook. The Pedant's ambition is simple. He wants to cook tasty, nutritious food; he wants not to poison his friends; and he wants to expand, slowly and with pleasure, his culinary repertoire.

Who knew author Julian Barnes likes to cook? Ever since Audrey mentioned this book years ago, I've kept an eye out for a copy. Libraries, book stores, and used book sales repeatedly turned up nothing. This short collection of essays has been around since 2003 but an audio version (narrated by Simon Vance, no less)  was just produced last year.  I was shocked to discover it available for download via hoopla!

Barnes discusses everything from cookbooks (how many is too many?) and the size of an "average" onion to approved culinary shortcuts and his tendency to hoard kitchen gadgets.  I recognized my own culinary tendencies and hang ups in nearly every essay and often found myself nodding in agreement or laughing out loud. I highly recommend this short collection and am certain it's every bit as good in print.

June Mini-Reviews: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, and The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

 

 The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

Houghton Mifflin 2007

245 pages

Blackstone Audio, 2007

narrated by Anne Flosnik

7 hours and 18 minutes

Maggie O'Farrell was on my 2022 list of Must-Try Authors and this was the perfect place to start - a book that has it all! A propelling plot, fully-developed characters, and beautiful writing made this reading experience a real pleasure. Family secrets, a Victorian insane asylum, and a setting in Scotland further added to the appeal.

I started out reading this book on my kindle, but added in the audio when I discovered that it's currently free in the audible plus catalog. I listened on my walks and read in every spare minute at home. The perfect ending packs a punch! Now I'm ready for more Maggie O'Farrell. Do you have a favorite to recommend?

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

W. W. Norton Company, 2016

(originally published in 1966)

176 pages

Wide Sargasso Sea  has been on my wish list and my Classics Club list for years. The novel is, of course, an imagining of Bertha Rochester's life before she became the "madwoman in the attic" in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. It offers the reader an opportunity to look at Brontë’s story from a different perspective. Since I reread Jane Eyre last summer, it made sense to pick up Rhys's novel while  the details are still fairly fresh in my mind.

The writing in Wide Sargasso Sea  is as lush and atmospheric as its Caribbean setting and is what I most appreciated about the novel. The story shifts viewpoints between Antoinette (as we learn Bertha prefers to be called) and a young Englishman we assume to be Rochester. Both are sympathetically portrayed, especially Antionette, but I found the storyline to be slow and a bit confusing at times. 

Pick this up if you love beautiful writing and are curious to learn how the "madwoman" may have come to inhabit Mr. Rochester's attic.

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

St. Martin's Press, 2021

464 pages

audio edition narrated by Julia Whelan

Mcmillan Audio, 2021

15 hours and 2 minutes

This novel of the Dust Bowl novel is the July selection for a library book group  I plan to join next week.  It's about Elsa Martinelli, a farmer's wife in Texas who, after being abandoned by her husband, takes her two children and leaves to find work/a better life in California. 

This story is laden with misery... misery on the farm in Texas as the land gradually dies, misery on the journey west and in the filthy, disease-ridden migrant camps of California, and finally, the misery of surviving at the mercy of big cotton growers. Since this is a  Kirstin Hannah novel, the pages turn quickly... but the misery is unrelenting! 

I'm sure, for the most part, this is an accurate representation the time, but to me it bordered on being emotionally manipulative. So while I compulsively tore through The Four Winds, it mostly made me want to reread John Steinbeck's classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath. I need to be reminded how a master handles the same subject. I'm also planning to watch The Dust Bowl, Ken Burns PBS documentary.

Book Brief: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

 Lessons in Chemistry 

by Bonnie Garmus

 Doubleday Books, 2022

400 pages

audio edition  narrated by Miranda Raison

Random House Audio, 2022

11 hours and 55 minutes

source: library ebook, audible audio

Goodreads summary:

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with--of all things--her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ("combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride") proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry  is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.

My thoughts:

This is the  buzzy book of the season and with good reason! Elizabeth Zott is one of the most memorable characters I've come across in a very long time, and the supporting cast of characters (including the dog Six-thirty) is superb. 

However, 

...this was not the book I was expecting. The cover implies light and breezy, while the blurb describes the novel as  "laugh-out-loud funny."  I experienced something much more substantial and serious. Garmis offers some pretty grim social commentary on the status of women during the 1960s, which somehow feels even heavier in light of last Friday's Supreme Court ruling.

Lessons in Chemistry  is still a wonderful read. (Trigger warning for a sexual assault scene early in the novel.)  But I do recommend you read, rather than listen. The repeated mispronunciation of Jack LaLanne's name was annoying, but the mispronunciation of multiple chemical names/terms drove me to distraction. I had to give up on the audio and switch to print.

If you're looking for a summer read that's a bit more serious and will easily lend itself to discussion, I recommend Lessons in Chemistry.

My rating:

Book Brief: The Absolutist by John Boyne

 

The Absolutist by John Boyne

Doubleday, 2011

309 pages

Motivation for reading:

John Boyne has been on my radar for years, but Les's recent review convinced me the time had come to try one of his novels.

Source: ebook borrowed from the library

Publisher's summary (from goodreads):

It is September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War. 

But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan's visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it. As Tristan recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will - from their first meeting on the training grounds at Aldershot to their farewell in the trenches of northern France. The intensity of their bond brought Tristan happiness and self-discovery as well as confusion and unbearable pain. 

The Absolutist  is a masterful tale of passion, jealousy, heroism, and betrayal set in one of the most gruesome trenches of France during World War I. This novel will keep readers on the edge of their seats until its most extraordinary and unexpected conclusion, and will stay with them long after they've turned the last page.

My thoughts:

The stars aligned for a great reading experience last week. It started with Les's review, which appeared just as I was about to select my next book. Then, consulting goodreads, I found several other trusted blogging friends loved it, too. And finally, the ebook was available for immediate download from my library.

Choosing this book was a bit of a departure for me -  I do not read war books. Novels focused on life back home or women at Bletchley Park, for example, are fine, but I prefer not to go to the front. The Absolutist  took me right into the trenches. In addition to the actual fighting, descriptive details of lice infestation, unrelenting mud, and physical hardship made for tough reading at times... but it was all relevant, even necessary, to the story.

The writing itself was excellent and the character development superb. I loved getting to know Tristan and Will and also appreciated the way Boyne portrayed minor characters. The ending literally took my breath away.

I know many of you have read John Boyne and I will definitely seek out more of his work. Are they all this intense? What do you suggest I read next?

My rating:

Book Brief: A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson

 A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson

Vintage Digital, 2021

302 pages

ebook, borrowed from the library

My first 5-star book of 2022, A Town Called Solace  was a classic case of the right book at the right time. I've been aware of Canadian author Mary Lawson for a long time - probably since Crow Lake  was published twenty (!) years ago - but had never read her. After hearing Anne Bogel recommend Lawson's latest novel to a guest on her What Should I Read Next?  podcast, I looked into it and decided to give it a try myself.

Set in Canada's northern reaches, the novel is told from the alternating perspectives of three very different characters, each in the midst of a crisis. First is Clara, an 8-year-old whose sister has run away. She spends hours looking out the living room window awaiting her return. What she sees instead is a stranger, a man in this 30s, carrying boxes into her elderly neighbor's home. The neighbor is in the hospital and Clara is taking care of her cat. 

Liam, the stranger, had known the elderly neighbor (Mrs. Orchard) when he was a young child. After leaving his wife and quitting his job, he is currently at loose ends.

Finally we hear from Mrs. Orchard. While in the hospital, she speaks to her dead husband and recalls events from the distant past which involved Liam. 

I absolutely loved this book! The narrative voice of each character is spot on and the chapters flow seamlessly one into the next. As the novel unfolds, the reader gradually pieces the story together. Lawson's beautiful writing makes for an even richer reading experience. 

A Town Called Solace has earned a spot on my goodreads favorites shelf and I added all of Lawson's previous novels to my wish list. Since my mother's library does not own a copy, I ordered one and had it delivered to her. She read it immediately and loved it, too. My sister will read it next.

If you enjoy character-driven novels, this one has my highest recommendation.

My rating:

Book Brief: Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

Free Food for Millionaires

by Min Jin Lee

Grand Central Publishing, 2007

577 pages 

audiobook

narrated by Shelly Frasier

Tantor Audio, 2007

19 hours and 56 minutes 

Motivation for reading: 
I loved Pachinko and was curious about the author's earlier work.

Source:
ebook, purchased as a kindle daily deal
audio, downloaded from the library via hoopla

Publisher's summary:

Free Food for Millionaires, the debut novel from Min Jin Lee, takes on daunting themes of love, money, race, and belief systems in this mostly satisfying tale. Casey Han is a Princeton grad, class of '93, and it is her conflicts, relationships, and temperament that inform the novel. She is the child of immigrant Korean parents who work in the same laundry in Queens where they have always worked and are trying hard to hang on to their culture. Casey has catapulted out of that life on scholarships but now that college is over, she hasn't the same opportunities as her white friends, even though she has acquired all of their expensive habits.

The concept of free food for millionaires is the perfect irony that describes much of what Casey faces. Walter, one of her bosses, says, when a huge buffet lunch is delivered to the floor: "It's free food for millionaires... In the International Equities Department--that is, Asia, Europe, and Japan Sales--the group you're interviewing for--whichever desk that sells a deal buys lunch for everyone in the department."

Opening paragraph:

1

OPTIONS  

Competence can be a curse.
As a capable young woman, Casey Hahn felt compelled to choose respectability and success. But it was glamour and insight that she craved. A Korean immigrant who'd grown up in a dim, blue-collar neighborhood in Queens, she'd hoped for a bright, glittering life beyond the workhorse struggles of her parents, who managed a Manhattan dry cleaner. 

My thoughts:

Free Food for Millionaires  is a big, exciting novel about... well, almost everything! Money and power, race and culture, love and sex, class, education, privilege, identity, and even fashion. It focuses on a Korean-American community in New York City in the 1990s, and I simply couldn't put it down.

This book is so good, yet so different from Lee's more recent novel, Pachinko (my thoughts) and, in the words of my 80-something mother, a lot "racier" too. Set in 1990s NYC, this fast-paced novel with multiple characters and plot lines will keep you turning its nearly 600 pages.

The audiobook, narrated by Shelly Frasier, was very well done. I enjoyed switching back and forth between print and audio... listening on my morning walks and reading in the evenings. That has become my preferred reading method these days.

An interesting aside, this novel was edited by Bill Clegg, author of Did You Ever Have a Family - a personal favorite from 2015.

My rating:

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Book Brief: Tin Man by Sarah Winman

Tin Man
by Sarah Winman
 G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2018
214 pages

Motivation for reading: Blogger reviews... so many friends loved it.

Source:
hardcover book, borrowed from the library
audiobook, downloaded via Overdrive from the library

Publisher's summary:
A novel celebrating love in all of its forms and the little moments that make up the life of an autoworker in a small working-class town.

This is almost a love story. But it's not as simple as that.

Ellis and Michael are twelve-year-old boys when they first become friends, and for a long time it is just the two of them, cycling the streets of Oxford, teaching themselves how to swim, discovering poetry, and dodging the fists of overbearing fathers. And then one day this closest of friendships grows into something more.

But then we fast forward a decade or so, to find that Ellis is married to Annie, and Michael is nowhere in sight. Which leads to the question, what happened in the years between?

Tin Man  is a love letter to human kindness and friendship, and to loss and living.


Opening lines:

1950 

All Dora Judd ever told anyone about that night three weeks before Christmas was that she won the painting in a raffle 

She remembered being out in the back garden, as lights from Crowley Car Plant spilled across the darkening sky, smoking her last cigarette, thinking there must be more to life.

One sentence review:
Heartbreaking, but also heartwarming, this beautifully written book has a wistful, almost dreamlike tone... which is perfectly captured in the audio version narrated by the author.

My rating:

Book Brief: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko 

by Min Jin Lee

Grand Central Publishing, 2017

paperback, 500 pages

audiobook

narrated by Allison Hiroto

Hachette Audio, 2017

18 hours and 16 minutes

Motivation for reading: I love a good family saga and knew I'd read this eventually. My daughter gave me the final push to do it NOW.

Source: purchased paperback/audible credit for audio

Publisher's summary:
Pachinko  follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them all. Deserted by her lover, Sunja is saved when a young tubercular minister offers to marry and bring her to Japan.

So begins a sweeping saga of an exceptional family in exile from its homeland and caught in the indifferent arc of history. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, its members are bound together by deep roots as they face enduring questions of faith, family, and identity.

Opening line:

History has failed us, but no matter.

My thoughts:
Steeped in time and place, characters so real and deep, rich in history... there is much to love in this multi-generational family saga and I relished every single page.

Pachinko was a read/listen combination for me. It almost felt like I was living in this novel. I read in every free moment and listened while I walked, cleaned, cooked, gardened, drove...

Allison Hiroto was a new-to-me narrator and I thought her performance was excellent.

Pachinko will certainly be a favorite for 2018. It may even end up on my list of all-time favorites, too. Don't miss this gem!

My rating:

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Book Brief: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

A Spool of Blue Thread

by Anne Tyler

Knopf, 2015

358 pages

Random House Audio, 2015

narrated by Kimberly Farr

13 hours and 23 minutes

Motivation for reading: A book blogger's recent review prompted me to click over to my library's website and discover both the ebook and audiobook were available. Sure wish I could remember whose review it was. Might it have been yours?

Source: ebook and digital audio borrowed from the library

Publisher's summary:
"It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon." This is how Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she fell in love with Red that day in July 1959. The Whitshanks are one of those families that radiate togetherness: an indefinable, enviable kind of specialness. But they are also like all families, in that the stories they tell themselves reveal only part of the picture. Abby and Red and their four grown children have accumulated not only tender moments, laughter, and celebrations, but also jealousies, disappointments, and carefully guarded secrets. from Red's father and mother, newly-arrived in Baltimore in the 1920s, to Abby and Red's grandchildren carrying the family legacy boisterously into the twenty-first century, here are four generations of Whitshanks, their lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that has always been their anchor.

Brimming with all the insight, humour, and generosity of spirit that are the hallmarks of Anne Tyler's work, A Spool of Blue Thread  tells a poignant yet unsentimental story in praise of family in all its emotional complexity. It is a novel to cherish.

Opening paragraph:

PART ONE

Can't Leave Till the Dog Dies 

1

Late one July evening in 1994, Red and Abby Whitshank had a phone call from their son Denny. They were getting ready for bed at the time. Abby was standing at the bureau in her slip, drawing hairpins one by one from her scattery sand-colored topknot. Red, a dark, gaunt man in striped pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt, had just sat down on the edge of the bed to take his socks off; so when the phone rang on the nightstand beside him, he was the one who answered. "Whitshank residence," he said.

My thoughts:

I've been reading Anne Tyler for decades... starting back in the 1980s with An Accidental Tourist, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, and Saint Maybe. In the mid 90s, our playgroup morphed into a book club (the kids started school, but the moms wanted to keep meeting) and Ladder of Years  was our first selection.

Several years later, I discovered audiobooks. Tyler became my first "audio author" as I listened to The Amateur Marriage, Back When We Were Grownups, and, my favorite, Digging to America.

After joining the book blogging community in 2008, I started reading more classics and nonfiction, and somehow never got around to Anne Tyler's next new novel. Or the one after that, and maybe even another. I really meant to read A Spool of Blue Thread  when it was released in 2015, especially after it was nominated for several awards. Now here we are, midway through 2018, and Tyler has written two more  novels.

So I finally picked up A Spool of Blue Thread  and found myself back in familiar Tyler territory... Baltimore. I found familiar themes and wonderfully complex relationships.
I still love Tyler's description of families, her character development, and they way she delves deep into relationship dynamics. Why did I wait so long?

A note on the audio production: Kimberly Farr's narration was, as always, excellent. Her pacing and tone were just right, and I especially appreciated how she conveyed Nora's (annoyingly) calm, placid demeanor. I was happy to learn she narrated Clock Dance, too.

Bottom line: A Spool of Blue Thread  is a wonderful novel. If, like me, you've been away from Anne Tyler for a while, it's time to go back. Pick up A Spool of Blue Thread  now. I'll bet you'll want to read her new novel, Clock Dance  right away, too.  If you've never read Tyler, this is a great place to start!

My rating:

Book Brief: The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer

The Ten-Year Nap

by Meg Wolitzer

Riverhead, 2008

351 pages

Blackstone audio, 2008

narrated by Alyssa Bresnahan

13 hours and 43 minutes

Motivation for reading: Personal project - I've decided to read my way through Meg Wolitzer's backlist.

Source: hardcover and digital audio borrowed from the library

Publisher's summary:
For a group of four New York friends, the past decade has been largely defined by marriage and motherhood. Educated and reared to believe that they would conquer the world, they then left jobs as corporate lawyers, investment bankers, and film scouts to stay home with their babies. What was meant to be a temporary leave of absence has lasted a decade. Now, at age forty, with the halcyon days of young motherhood behind them and without professions to define them, Amy, Jill, Roberta, and Karen face a life that is not what they were brought up to expect but seems to be the one they have chosen.

But when Amy gets to know a charismatic and successful working mother of three who appears to have fulfilled the classic women's dream of having it all-work, love, family-without having to give anything up, a lifetime's worth of concerns, both practical and existential, opens up. As Amy's obsession with this woman's bustling life grows, it forces the four friends to confront the choices they've made in opting out of their careers-until a series of startling events shatters the peace and, for some of them, changes the landscape entirely.

Opening paragraph:

All around the country, the women were waking up. Their alarm clocks bleated one by one, making soothing or grating sounds or the stirrings of a favorite song. There were hums and beeps and a random burst of radio. There were wind chimes and roaring surf, and the electronic approximation of birdsong and other gentle animal noises. All of it accompanied the passage of time, sliding forward in liquid crystal. Almost everything in these women's homes required a plug. Voltage stuttered through the curls of wire, and if you put your ear to one of these complicated clocks in any of the bedrooms, you could hear the burble of industry deep inside its cavity. Something was quietly happening.

My thoughts:

I'm beginning to think Meg Wolitzer can do no wrong.

The Ten-Year Nap takes an intimate look at the lives of  four Manhattan friends. While they're taking a break to stay home with young children, some long for their old careers, while others dream of forging a new path. Relationship dynamics - with spouses, children, friends - as well as internal conflicts and struggles fill the pages of this novel.

Meg Wolitzer understands women's lives and she's able to infuse her novels with an authentic NYC vibe. Reading her books is enjoyable and rewarding... every time.

This was a read/listen combination for me. The audio production was fine, though unremarkable. There's nothing to especially recommend it, nor any reason to dissuade you from going that route.

I'll read The Wife  next, hopefully before the movie is released next month.

My rating: