Thoroughly enjoyed your post. Where to begin? I feel your pain about soldiering on when a book isn't lighting me up immediately. I've only just trained myself to set a book aside and move on, mainly because I'm not getting any younger, and So Many Books. But I still feel guilty doing it. Two come to mind that I wasn't in love with, until I was. Many years ago I was on the verge of setting aside Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Hard to believe now. It took until about the halfway point, and that book is a chonk! but now it is one of my favorites. More recently, we read David Grann's The Wager for book club and I was meh about it at first. Totally worth pressing on.
I haven't read Tom Lake, but we read The Dutch House recently for book club and it was very enjoyable.
Thanks for the tips on the MLK, G-Man, and the Wilder. Can't wait to get going on those. I also enjoyed Team of Rivals. Have you read any of Walter Isaacson's biographies? Loved the Da Vinci. And the Jobs is staring me down from my TBR shelf as we speak.
Oh, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell! I love that book, too, and agree--it takes time to sink in. I haven't read any Isaacson; adding Da Vinci to my list now. Thank you!
Chocolate cake will cure what ails you. And it's kind of nice that it's not that easy to get--I'm talking about chocolate cake with flour and frosting. So it always feels like a treat when you find it.
Okay I am sooo shocked you made it out of McNally Jackson without a book--I could NEVER. It’s always their staff recommended sections that gets me. Or the Irish lit section. Great reviews!! How was Happy-Go-Lucky?
It was so hard! I ate chocolate cake with chocolate frosting as a reward afterward. I don't think I wandered into Irish lit; that would've gotten me for sure. I loved Happy-Go-Lucky--both funny and moving. Highly recommend getting it on audio. Sedaris reads it, and his delivery adds a lot.
Never occurred to me to read anything else by Thornton after reading Our Town in high school, but the bridge book is now on my list.
Please let me know if you get to it! I'd love to discuss. It's an unusual book--and short.
Thoroughly enjoyed your post. Where to begin? I feel your pain about soldiering on when a book isn't lighting me up immediately. I've only just trained myself to set a book aside and move on, mainly because I'm not getting any younger, and So Many Books. But I still feel guilty doing it. Two come to mind that I wasn't in love with, until I was. Many years ago I was on the verge of setting aside Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Hard to believe now. It took until about the halfway point, and that book is a chonk! but now it is one of my favorites. More recently, we read David Grann's The Wager for book club and I was meh about it at first. Totally worth pressing on.
I haven't read Tom Lake, but we read The Dutch House recently for book club and it was very enjoyable.
Thanks for the tips on the MLK, G-Man, and the Wilder. Can't wait to get going on those. I also enjoyed Team of Rivals. Have you read any of Walter Isaacson's biographies? Loved the Da Vinci. And the Jobs is staring me down from my TBR shelf as we speak.
Oh, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell! I love that book, too, and agree--it takes time to sink in. I haven't read any Isaacson; adding Da Vinci to my list now. Thank you!
Whole corn in grits is a tremendous culinary failure. But the chocolate cake is a win! Thank you for the review of King! It will be next in my list.
I can’t think of a biography that is set up like fiction, moving back in time. Autobiographies ... sure, but they are necessarily biased.
Chocolate cake will cure what ails you. And it's kind of nice that it's not that easy to get--I'm talking about chocolate cake with flour and frosting. So it always feels like a treat when you find it.
Okay I am sooo shocked you made it out of McNally Jackson without a book--I could NEVER. It’s always their staff recommended sections that gets me. Or the Irish lit section. Great reviews!! How was Happy-Go-Lucky?
It was so hard! I ate chocolate cake with chocolate frosting as a reward afterward. I don't think I wandered into Irish lit; that would've gotten me for sure. I loved Happy-Go-Lucky--both funny and moving. Highly recommend getting it on audio. Sedaris reads it, and his delivery adds a lot.