I read Stoner,( link to goodreads info and notice 4.35 rating!).

I don't know where I saw it mentioned.

It was published in 1965. As I look at goodreads now, so many current reviews so I guess a lot of people saw it wherever it was that I did.

I had never heard of it, but it was very well received in its time. It was definitely a different era, taking place in the first half of the 20th century. It was beautifully written, and a very different book for me. At times especially in the baginning I wasn't sure if I'd stick with it but it did draw me in, and I really was impressed. I often find endings are too neat and tidy or rushed... but I must say in this book, I thought the ending was perfectly done and actually the highlight of the book. I gave it 4.5 stars.

I picked up Stoner from a Free Little LIbrary a few months back and have been looking forward to reading it. I just finished The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff. I found it haunting and beautiful, but I think both of my book groups would condemn it as bleak and sad. But I'm a fan of Faulkner et al., so I give it a 4.

I was talking (moaning?) to a neighbor that I needed a good book, one too-good-to-put-down. She asked if I'd read any Grisham. Well...no. At the library The Testament starred at me from the shelves so home it came. I'm about a quarter of the way through and it's fulfilling my friend's promise. It was published in early 1999 so it's only taken me a mere 26+ years to give him a try. Geez!

Juneroses- I have read all his books and they are great. Happy reading.

I'm reading a Grisham now...Sparring Partners. I enjoy reading him when I travel as he's engaging enough to keep your interest up, but not too taxing for the multiple interruptions during a flight. One time DH and I took a road trip with lots of driving so I got Runaway Jury on tape for us to listen to. We were actually anxious to get driving again so we could hear more of the story. It is very different from the movie.

Playing for Pizza is another good Grisham book. I liked A Painted House. It is different from Grisham’s usual story line.

Has anyone read The Land in Winter? If so, would you recommend it?

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth. As I read the beginning of this book where an elderly woman who lives alone is pestered by a young girl, I thought it was a repeat of A Man Called Ove. But it's far more intricate and complex than that novel. It's a book with lots of twists, turns and surprises and I liked it very much. For the enjoyment that I got from reading and the respectful treatment of women, 5 stars.

I just started Mad Mabel, Stacey ... I am not too far but enjoying it so far.

I just read March by Geraldine Brooks. It was a good read, and at parts I thought it was really great, but at many other parts I had to push myself to continue.

I see it won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006. It was well done, but I seem to have a thing with PP winners... where the majority of the ones I've read, have not been among my favorites or most memorable.

It's focused on the "other half" of Little Women, about the father and his experiences during the Civil War, loosely based on the Alcott family. That part was really interesting .

Overall I'd give it 3.5 stars.

I think that sometimes the Pulitzer goes to books or plays that are "of the moment". Usually, that's a good thing, but this year's Angel Down looks a little weird to me. Apparently, it's one long sentence. I saw Liberation, which won for Drama. It was really wonderful--about a women's consciousness raising group in the '70's.

I too stumbled upon Stoner but by a different path from kkay. I read a wonderful short story by John McGahern and started looking for his other works. When I searched McGahern on Libby, for some reason that still puzzles me, it brought up Stoner. Finished it last week.

Great writing and a very good book. I found it unusual for many reasons. First, the writing, which was stark, stoical, yet so nuanced as to catch the wispiest of moods and emotions. Second, the characters. The wife, for instance, is inexplicably and perversely cold and punitive, and her character forms the spine of the main character Stoner's life for the entirety of the book. With other books, I'd find myself viewing it as a weakness in the author that makes a character's actions so opaque. With Stoner, however, this obstinate yet mysterious tendency of the wife didn't feel like the author's failure, but just part of Stoner's life.

Having been an academic in my first professional life, I also loved the university setting, the characters, faculty squabbles, and the bumpy path of scholarship.

Overall, a lovely book. A quiet, stoical meditation on life.

Tender at the Bone, by Ruth Reichel. She doesn't seem to write two books in the same manner. Though, I find them all delightful. We aren't that far into it, so there are no in depth conversations. Nonetheless, it is a joy, as the other books have been.

I loved both Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples (the sequel)- by Ruth Reichel. They are both memoirs and easily my favorites of hers.

I also really really liked The Paris Novel .. but it is very different from her memoirs or other books (as rob333 points out, few of her books are alike). It was not as universally appreciated -- but I loved it. From my GR review: "This was an absolute delight ... for the senses and the soul. "

(trigger warnings for depiction of child s*xual assault early in the book).

DD1 was at a talk by Anna Quindlen yesterday. DD1 said that it was just delightful. Quindlen's favorite authors are Dickens, Austen, Wharton, Dreiser and George Eliot. My kind of person!

I finished Grisham's Sparring Partners and really enjoyed it. It's 3 novelettes in one. Not for book group but a solid 3+ read. Good for travel or summer reading.

Finished Kin by Tayari Jones. Loved the writing. Some books can be emotionally intense without veering toward the sentimental and soppy. This one could have been one such, but barely escaped the slide to the melodramatic. Overall, great book.

Also finished The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis. Light reading. Adequate to fair.

I read a non fiction book about Multi Level Marketing--- Little Bosses Everywhere,

It referenced another book I read last year on the topic, Ponzinomics , and it built on that.

They were both quite interesting. LBE went into more depth and parts of it were not enthralling so I did skip through some. The personal stories were really fascinating.

The other really interesting piece was just how intertwined both political parties have been and remain.

I couldn't really rate the book but it was worth reading and especially focusing on Amway and Mary Kay.

The Night In Question, Susan Fletcher, is the sort of cozy whodunnit that my mother reads and I usually disdain, but it is nicely written and completely charming. It’s may be too slowly paced for some readers but I don’t mind that.

Several years ago I set out to read every book that had won a Pulitzer for fiction, and I have done that. This also means I need to read Angel Down this year.

I have been an avid reader ever since I learned to read ;in family lore my aunt always told a (possibly apocryphal) story of me reading the newspaper at age 5.

Anyway, the last few years my love of reading has dimmed. I don't find many books that really excite me.

One of my Mother's Day gifts was a file of all of the Nobel prize-winning authors in literature, by year, with their country or origin and their top 3 most acclaimed works. From that list I also got a copy of Satantango, by Krasznahorkai, as part of my gift.

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai. The Swedish Academy honored him "for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art."

I have just started it. It's hard. But I am very excited to embark on my Nobel project. One of the things I began to tire of is that all Pulitzers are about America. I think these new global stories will be rewarding.

PS There are about 100 Pulitzer winners, ~100 Nobel Prizes for Literature, and so it fits in nicely with my 100 workout goal, 100 good deeds goal, and 100 countries goal. I guess maybe I should also strive to live to 100 so I can do all this? tee hee

I would call this strength training. Nice goals!

Im currently re-reading the Wolf Hall series by Hilary Mantel. I read them long ago enough that it seems (pretty much) new to me. Im not getting much sleep as I enjoy reading at night, and can't put the kindle down. I love this stuff.

That series is formidable to pick up, I don’t think I finished the third, but so good when you are actually reading.

It helps that the PBS series was sooo sooo good, I have excellent faces to envision for the cast of characters,

Just finished ”The Magnolia Palace” Fiona Davis. I give it a 4 it would work for a book club discussion. The Author’s Note at end of book is worth a read. The historical facts about the actual Frick Collection that inspired this work of fiction are interesting.

Our book group will be reading James by Percival Everett, so I wanted to read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain first. I vaguely recall reading Tom Sawyer in school so many decades ago, and not enjoying it. I was pleasantly surprised as I enjoyed this one a lot. While Tom Sawyer makes an appearance in this one, I found I really didn't like him anywhere near as much as Huck...which may be why I didn't enjoy Tom Sawyer and wonder even now if I would like it as much. I'm always happy to read a banned book. I found myself not being irked by the use of the 'n' word as it was simply part of the vernacular of the time, even if it is anathema today. It was eye-opening though to see the assumptions that were so rampant about African Americans at that time, what an uphill battle it has been to get any equality for them, and why that battle is still so virulent today.

IAC, I look forward to seeing how James works for me especially after just having read this one.

Just finished This is Where the Serpent Lives by Danial Mueenuddin and thought it was very good. Set in rural, feudal Pakistan in different (post-colonial) time periods. Exert handling of the subtleties of the class, rank, and wealth faultlines. Brisk, sharp writing. Reminded me of The White Tiger a little due to the subject matter, but not in any direct way such as the handling of it.