I have managed to fit in a bit of reading since I posted in January. Here are some of the books I have read since then. I have been making an effort to find books or authors from The Little Black Book of Books: Over a century of the greatest books, writers, characters, passages and events that rocked the literary world. I mentioned this book in a previous post.
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler ( an author from The Little Black Book of Books )
“It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon. . . ”
“This is how Abby Whitshank always describes the day she fell in love with Red in July 1959. The Whitshanks are one of those families that radiate an indefinable kind of specialness, but like all families, their stories 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.”
Complex family relationships and difficulties in communication between family members play a big part in this novel which is set in America.
Paradime by Alan Glynne
This was a thriller. I read it so quickly I couldn’t wait to find out how it would all end up.
“Danny Lynch didn’t sign up for this, but right now, it’s all he’s got. Three weeks ago, he was working at a chow hall in Afghanistan and―more or less―doing fine. Sure, this meant living in a war zone, but he was never in the line of fire and, frankly, the money was hard to resist. Then Danny saw something he shouldn’t have, and now he’s back in New York City, haunted by what sent him home and lucky to be employed at all, even if that means dicing carrots for ten hours a day in a stuffy Midtown restaurant. The job’s one saving grace? A sight line from his prep station in the kitchen to a coveted corner table in the main room. For Danny, this is a window into the lives of some of Barcadero’s flashy clientele―and one evening, he sees a man who looks exactly like him.
Teddy Trager is the visionary founder of the billion-dollar investment firm Paradime Capital. He has everything Danny never knew he wanted―cashmere suits, a sleek sports car . . . privilege, power―and the closer Danny looks at Trager the more fixated he becomes.”
The Lost Language of Cranes by David Leavitt ( A title from The Little Black Book of Books )
This is a beautifully written book.
“Owen and Rose are facing serious challenges to their married life of routine and monotony as New York City grows and changes around them. They spend most Sundays apart; while Rose buries herself in crosswords and newspapers, Owen visits gay porn theaters. But when they discover they may lose their apartment and their son, prompted by his new relationship, reveals his homosexuality, their lives cannot continue as they were. Owen and Rose are forced to confront not only their son’s revelation but also Owen’s latent homosexuality.
Poignant and lingering, this is a tale of love and relationships, secrets and unspoken desires.”
This was a very moving book and so sad in parts but well worth reading although if you are squeamish about overly-detailed sex scenes maybe it wouldn’t be to your taste.
More books in a later post.
Gippsland Granny 