Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.
This is the story of Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright. The two main characters, Mamah and Frank are beautifully vivid. You feel like you know them personally. The pace moves along and doesn't keep you waiting. You are never bored. There are twists and turns in the plot that keep you wanting more. The tone is dramatic, romantic, mysterious, sad and at some times humorous. The settings - the houses, Europe and Oak Park, Illinois - are explicitly detailed. You can picture them in your mind. I loved this book and appreciated a resolved ending, though not the way I would have liked it to end.
Son by Lois Lowry
The conclusion of The Giver. The plot is divided into 3 parts - before, between and beyond. It begins with Claire, a 14 year old birthmother in the town that Lowry established in The Giver. The pacing can get confusing, especially if you have not read the others in the series. It jumps back and forth between all 4 books. The characters are well defined and well developed. Lowry has brought back all the characters from all the books in the series. The story has an ending, but Son still leaves you with many questions.
Recommendations:
I recommended books by Terri Thayer to Sharon Coffman. She is new to mysteries and is a quilter and these are cozy quilting mysteries.
I also recommended the Mommy Track Mysteries to Melanie Brevis - she's a new mommy again.
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ReplyDeleteAnother bittersweet biographical novel you may enjoy is Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Fowler- a great character driven story of the Jazz Age celebrity and her relationship with F. Scott.
ReplyDeleteHi Sharyn -
ReplyDeleteSince you liked Loving Frank, I would recommend another historical fiction book: The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin. It has everything you listed in Loving Frank: 1) Vivid characters (Charles and Anne Lindbergh). Not a spoiler but just a heads-up: Charles is not the heroic, clean-cut guy from the history books. 2) The story moves along – chronicling everything that happens to the couple as they age (particularly their run-ins with the press, the kidnapping of their first child and Charles’ fall from grace as an American hero). 3) The tone is similar – romantic, dramatic, definitely sad and reflective. 4) The settings are well-described, especially the Hawaiian dwelling and their house in New Jersey. 5) There is a resolved ending, although, like with Loving Frank, maybe not what you wanted to see. It’s truly a bittersweet tale and I learned a lot about the Lindberghs and their life together.
*Based on what I’ve read so far, I would also recommend Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler. (again historical fiction). Like with Anne Lindbergh, there’s more than meets the eye with Zelda – and it reveals more of the shades of gray of the Fitzgeralds’ marriage.
Since you liked Son, I would recommend Safekeeping by Karen Hesse. Although I think of this as more “post-apocalyptic” as opposed to dystopian, since it takes place in the wake of disaster, it is another book about a young teenager searching for people she holds near and dear (in this case her parents) in a world which is suddenly chaotic and insecure. Certainly suspenseful, this book is also introspective and shows how one girl learns to survive and forge new friendships when everything she has known about her country / government and taken for granted is gone. One criticism I’ve read about the book is that everything ties up too neatly at the end – I think Lowry does a better job of leaving questions unanswered and in that way gives the reader more to ponder. One difference is that it is a stand-alone book – not part of a series like Son. Despite the differences, the developed characters and pacing of the book make Safekeeping a good read-alike.
*Thanks for your suggestion! A non-fiction book in response to that: I just finished the new “Scary Mommy” book: Motherhood Comes Naturally (and other vicious lies) by Jill Smokler. HILARIOUS!! And so, so true.
*BTW, a big thank you too for Hadley’s ADORABLE gift! Thank you note and birth announcement (I know, I know – only took me 3 ½ months to get this together!) are on their way soon!
Sharyn, here are two titles I am recommending to you! Hope you enjoy them!
ReplyDeleteWhen in Doubt Add Butter - Beth Harbison
Summary: Bestseller Harbison (Shoe Addicts Anonymous) dazzles in her latest, a perfect blend of chick lit and women’s fiction that tells the story of private chef Gemma Craig and her bumpy road to happily-ever-after. In her late 30s, Gemma has abandoned the corporate lifestyle to follow her first love: cooking. With five regular clients ranging from a boisterous Russian family to an allergy-prone housewife, she’s making a go of it. Happily single, Gemma has a red-hot one-night stand with a guy she meets in a bar, and trades flirty notes with “Mr. Tuesday,” a high-powered lawyer she cooks for yet has never met. Because of some past trauma, Gemma is determined to keep to her well-defined life plan, but complications that arise from the one-night tumble turn her plans upside down. Forced to deal with the past, Gemma struggles to figure out how it will influence her future with a genuinely surprising twist. Gemma is a sweetly flawed everywoman readers will immediately identify with, and the supporting cast of secondary characters contribute texture and color to this engaging tale. Absolutely first-rate.
Genre: Mainstream fiction; Women's lives and relationships; Women's romantic fiction
The Girl's Guide to Love and Supper Clubs - Dana Bate
Summary: Set in present-day Washington, D.C., Bate’s engaging debut concerns 26-year-old Hannah Sugarman, who continues to let her overbearing, well-meaning parents dictate her life’s trajectory. After her disenchanted boyfriend, Adam Prescott, leaves her for her nemesis Millie Roberts, Hannah moves into Blake Fischer’s basement apartment. Eager to turn over a new leaf and egged on by her best friend Rachel, Hannah decides to covertly pursue her culinary dreams by hosting a series of imaginative, albeit illegal, supperclubs. After a series of mishaps render Hannah’s apartment unfit for guests, she and Rachel decide to utilize Blake’s impressive kitchen and home without his knowledge. Blake slowly transitions from landlord to friend, but as he works for a congressman and has political aspirations, it becomes clear that he’s against operating an unlicensed business and would never approve of Hannah’s secret life. As her business grows more popular, Hannah grapples with what to do. Bate’s writing is smart and compelling, especially as she chronicles why Hannah’s tedious think-tank job proves to be a wrong fit and also captures the magic and frustration of dating a seemingly perfect guy who never has any time for Hannah. Even Bate’s implausible happy ending feels right.
Genre: Chick lit
Hello, you're the second of my two victims to get recommendations from me based on the annotations that you wrote. I'm recommending Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, based on your impression of Son by Lois Lowry. Like Son, the Atwood title is futuristic and not particularly optimistic. It captures the concept of a future dystopia in a way that is surprising and unpleasantly plausible. Hardly a laugh a minute but there are many interesting concepts woven through the pages. A note of warning. The book contains some songs. I listened to the audiobook, which required listening to someone singing the songs. The print version would make it easier to read/scan those sections!
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