I have been reading more than usual these past few weeks while my shoulder and arm are healing. It has been such a pleasure to lie around, guilt free, and catch up with some favorite authors. Here’s last week’s list:
THE DUTCH HOUSE by Ann Patchett
Patchett has long been a favorite of mine. Her writing seems so effortless. The Dutch House is a multi-generational story of love, loss, revenge and reconciliation. Goodreads rates Patchett’s novel as 4.3 on a scale of 1-5. While I enjoyed this story, I am still wondering why Patchett made some of the plot choices.
OLIVE AGAIN by Elizabeth Strout
Olive Kitteridge is back. I love this cantankerous Mainer. She is a curmudgeon with a tender heart. Last night I read this description of a conversation Olive is having with her adult son and I feel exactly the same way when my adult sons come to visit: “He spoke a great deal about his podiatry practice…the insurance he had to pay, the insurance that his patients had, Olive didn’t care what he talked about….On and on he talked, her son….She would stay here forever to hear this. He could recite the alphabet to her and she would sit here and listen to it.”
PALACE WALK by Naguib Mahfouz
This is the first book of The Cairo Trilogy by the acclaimed Egyptian writer, Nobel Prize winner and author of 34 novels and more than 350 short stories. I have begun this novel several times and it hasn’t really grabbed me, so it brings up the “so many books, so little time” issue. It’s an important story, so I believe this time I might finish it. We’ll see.
And what are you reading this week?
Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash
