Books you might enjoy ( if you haven’t already read) The Namesake by Jhumpra Lahiri The Italian Teacher The Dutch House Ohio Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead The Door by Magda Szagbo Underground Time by Delphine de Vigan The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy Now We Shall Be Entirely Free Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton The Overstory The Blowout by Rachel Maddow You Need To Talk To Someone

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

I read The Namesake when it was first published and loved it. Some of the others are on my TBR! Thanks for the recommendations. Happy new year!

_A Fine Balance_ and _A Place for Us_ ... both just brilliant!

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

I loved them so much!

A Place for Us was also my favorite book this year. I loved it so much. There were two aspects of the book that hit me the hardest. One was the descriptions of Amar and how much his parents struggled to parent him and understand him, yet how much they loved him. I am the parent of a sometimes “difficult” child and so many of the passages felt like they were written just for me and expressed my feelings much better than I every could have. The other part has to do with religion and the tensions among families of varying degrees of belief - especially if your family of origin is very devout. (This also hit very close to home!) I am very interested to read A Fine Balance. Thanks for the great list!

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

I hope you like A Fine Balance! Place for Us is SUCH a good book--I have a foster son, so the parental understandings and misunderstandings hit me very hard.

Well, I definitely need to read the first two. You make Cranford sound so charming and The Five so compelling.

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

I think you would like both of them.

I'm about half way through _The Bluest Eye_ and I am astonished by how powerful and assured it is considering its her first novel.

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

It really is just astounding that she emerged so fully formed as a writer. Maybe that comes down to that she was older when she published The Bluest Eye, but I really think she just knew what she was doing and what she wanted to say.

I've only read Educated and Cranford of your picks. I was a teen when I tried to read Cranford and it didn't resonate but must try again. Educated is excellent sparked the best discussion in my bookgroup, especially around memory and recollections, how these can be viewed so differently. The Five sounds fascinating - one of my ancestors was a woman transported to Australia from a workhouse during the Victorian era. They wanted more women in the Colonies and offered free passage to young women. Newspaper accounts talk of how the ship was almost shipwreaked on arrival.

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

That's fascinating! And it is interesting how your perception of books can drastically change over time.

I loved all the things about A Place For Us that you did, especially how the ending was structured. Miriam sticks the landing! Conversely, the ending of Daisy Jones kept it at a four star level for me after I had adored the rest of the book.

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

That's fair--I really didn't like the way it ended, but I enjoyed the rest enough to allow it to coast. And that ending of A Place for Us STILL gets me! So good!

I read Educated last year, too, and it was one of my top reads. I love The Bluest Eye - one of my all-time favorites!

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

They are both so good!

Love The Best We Could Do! You’ll really Like Good Talk by Mira Jacob, I think they both use art and words so effectively to talk about some really important topics. Great list, Greg!

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

You nailed one of the books I will be talking about in my "almost" favorites of 2019. I very nearly included it here but arbitrarily decided that I needed to stick to 10 books only. Good Talk is incredible!

@SixMinutesForMe

4 жыл бұрын

Ahh you’re already onto it! 😊

I adored A Place For Us ❤️ it is probably my favorite this year. I definitely sobbed over the last part of the book. My buddy read message for that section was a mess 😂

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

I finished it in the morning before I started work and had to go about my day as if I wasn't emotionally devastated. Such a good book!

You had me at A Fine Balance...

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

I loved that book so much. I'm going to read another book by Mistry this year!

The Gifts of the Body sounds intriguing. I'll have to look out for that one. Since you loved The Best We Could Do, have you read Marcelino Truong's graphic memoir Such a Lovely Little War? It's similar in that it's both an interrogation of the author's family history - and specifically of their relationship to mid-20th century Vietnamese history - but is quite different in tone. Part of that is probably just because of the ages of the authors and their family class backgrounds, but I think there's a different angle of approach as well (plus the difference in American vs French comics traditions). I might be biased because I read them very close together, but they make for interesting pairing.

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the recommendation--that sounds right up my alley, and I added it to my Goodreads TBR!

A Fine Balance is an all-time favorite of mine. I reread it about 5 yrs ago and got even more out of it. I think it's time for another reread. hmm, that reminds me, I still have Seth's A Suitable Boy still on my TBR shelf. and I am determined to reread Liu's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy this year. 2020: the year of the chunker (re)reads! great list! and I can guess at least one that will show up on your least fav list!

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

The least favorites are posting today, and I bet that whatever you are thinking, you're probably right! :-) I also have A Suitable Boy on my TBR.

@madhulikaP

4 жыл бұрын

A fine balance is also one of my favorites but not sure if I can reread. It was a sob fest. Suitable boy is soo big !

I have Daisy Jones on my shelf but I disliked Evelyn Hugo so much that now I’m afraid to pick it up. Loved Educated and after seeing Tara Westover, it has left a lasting impact on me. Need to get to The Five! Happy New Year!

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

It would be interesting to see what you think of Daisy Jones as I've heard mostly negative things about her other books and positive things about Daisy Jones. Happy new year!

oooh I always love me a good family saga, definitely need to check out a place for us!

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

I hope you love it!

I have to say, I am super impressed that you said that the PM at the time is Indira Gandhi even though it's not mentioned in the book. It means you took that extra step to find out and that's so impressive

Educated is one of my favorite memoirs.

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

It's so good!

Please read Lullaby by Leila Slimani. It is originally in French and has been translated.

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

I have read both that one and Adele--loved both!

Did you end up reading 10 minutes and 38 second in this strange world? Elif shafak's style of writing is beautiful

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

I did not get to it in 2019, but I am definitely looking forward to it in 2020.

Oh my, A Place For Us, yes yes yes to the final chapter with the father as making this book. It broke me. (I did find early parts of the book slow but the construction made sense from building up characters). As a Muslim, this was interesting as it showed a minority sect that you don’t see often

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

Absolutely--I hope we get to see more representation like this moving forward. It was such a breath of fresh air.

@zehrazaidi4293

4 жыл бұрын

Supposedly Fun I am from the same background as that family and almost stopped in my tracks reading my sect covered in a book. Didn’t think it would hit me so hard.

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

@@zehrazaidi4293 I'm glad you got to have that experience, because I have the opposite: I'm so used to reading stories about white men in America that I've practically become allergic to stories with those protagonists. Representation matters.

A whole bunch of us are reading all of Toni Morrison during 2020. We would love to have you join us for any books you would like to join in for. (If you want to join the Voxer discussion group, message me at hannahsbooks and I will be happy to add you.)

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

I would love to do it, but I don't know if I would get to all of her books in 2020. Is there potentially room for someone who might do some but not all?

@HannahsBooks

4 жыл бұрын

Supposedly Fun Absolutely. Folks are joining in for one book, several, or all. You are always welcome. We’ll go through the eleven novels in order of publication, one per month. (If you want a calendar, you can find one in the notes of my recent ToniMorrison2020 video.)

@SupposedlyFun

4 жыл бұрын

@@HannahsBooks I'll send you a message on Voxer! Thanks.