Next one in the series, Comfort Me with Apples, by Ruth Reichel. I read it many moons ago, but book club liked Tender at the Bone, so they wanted to continue the memoir. Can't wait to see it with new eyes since I will be much older.

This is so funny. I am reading John of John (wonderful, BTW). The National Theatre in London films their plays live and shows them for one day in the USA. I always go. It's an inexpensive way to see the plays, and, clearly, I am not in London. Yesterday, when I was finding my seat, there were two people with John of John open on their laps, reading as they waited for the curtain. We talked about it. They were further along into it. A chance meeting of strangers!

Ann Patchett's Whistler was very good. As I started reading it, I wasn't so sure. It seemed a little "adorable". But as I kept reading, I realized that the the connection that the two main characters had was pure and perfect.Worth the wait from the library.

Enjoyed reading Reichl’s Save Me the Plums and now food essays that she edited. Could not imagine being at the helm of venerable Gourmet Mag for the demise.

Just finished Ann Patchett’s Whistler. Didn’t much care for Tom Lake and wasn't sure about this one either for more than 3/4 of the book. It was clear that the book was working its way to some big reveal to come at the end. But what wasn’t clear was whether the end was going to be a cheap plot twist or just more of the overdone and underexplained bond between the child and father figure. But the book redeemed itself as a whole, because the oversized sentiments revealed their roots at the end, which is the beginning.

What felt like overblown flimsy and frilly sentiments showed their origins credibly (e.g., ”meet my daughter” annoyingly repeated over and over is actually an inside joke calling back to a practical tip from one of the characters to the other at a desperate moment decades earlier).

Overall, a solid book (with some pretension to literature). The writing was adequate, but the author/book rests anyway on the characters, the events, and the connection.

Agree, nutsabout, the book's high point was the characterization, more than the plot.

I finished The Wedding People, and actually thought it was better than I expected it to be. It does seem like fluff, but it did have depth. It was a very good read, but I can't say it was lifechanging or anything on that level. Four stars for me.

I just started I See You Called in Dead (truly just started) which seems like it will be entertaining ...at a minimum

I am listening to-- rather than reading-- a series of books written by ECR Lorac, the pen name of Edith Caroline Rivett, a contemporary of Agatha Christie during the golden age of detective fiction. She wrote other detective series under the name Carol Carnac. They are good, solid books, perhaps a bit more consistent than Christie was --although the died younger which may account for that--but her work has largely been forgotten, in contrast to that of Christie.

I don't really have time to read without doing something else, so I have to listen, and the stories have to be easy enough to follow that I can do so when working on something else. And sometimes I do have to go back a bit and listen again.

I am in between holds at the library, and I am too busy to go there to get a "real" book. I found The Black Tulip, by Alexander Dumas pere on Project Guttenberg. It's no Count of Monte Cristo, but, really, what is? LOL

Ive tried The Black Tulip a couple of times and it was a DNF.

Just finished Rainwater by Sandra Brown. It was reasonably good. Good people, bad people, some historical events in the background. … not much depth, sweet.

I understand it’s based on a real story.

I have a signed copy of Whistler sitting next to me, as I just got home from seeing Ann Patchett herself speak in Boston. She was great! I want to be her friend. Looking forward to reading it.

It was a full house…er, church.

I am going to try again with The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. It's been back and forth to the library so many times. Maybe this trip is the charm.

Sueb20, wouldn't you love to go to Patchett's bookstore? I think it's in Nashville?

Faftris, I am literally planning a trip with my two best friends!

Last night, Ann Patchett was asked what she is reading now. She then listed her favorite books of 2026, and I furiously took notes. Here they are.

Also, saw this somewhere today.

I just finished The Road To Tender Hearts. I liked the author’s sense of humor. I don’t know if I loved the story, but I’d give it 4 stars anyway for the author’s style.

I just finished I See You've Called in Dead by John Kenney- wow. It was so touching. I really did not know what to expect from it. It started out cute and entertaining. It remained entertaining but as it went on, it sure grew. I highly recommend it. 4.5 to 5 stars for me. I'm glad it was mentioned in previous months' posts here. I'm going to look for more of his books.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I sometimes find real gems in our library's book displays. This is a classic novel that I had never read and really loved it - 5 stars.

Stacey, look into Ann Petry. She was a Harlem Renaissance writer, and her novels are wonderful.

Love Ann Petry. Just finished Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. It was simply marvelous. Pathos without manipulation, characters that ring true, simple writing made powerful by its simplicity, and a plot without artifice. Loved it.

.... just commenting that I loved Buckeye as well.

I did not care for Their Eyes Were Watching Gd though I really expected to. I thought it was interesting and ok, but I just didn't find it special.

I found Buckeye special.

I just started Christy ( <<<---Link). I have no idea where it was recommended or mentioned, but it has great ratings on goodreads and was a best seller in the late 60's.

Patrick Ryan and Ann Patchett are good friends. Just sayin.

Finished The Left and the Lucky by Willy Vlautin. Another ”sweet” ”tender” book, which I guess must be a winning type, for every other book coming out recently seems to be one. The characters didn’t take root (for me at least), and consisted of the familiar variety of flawed, troubled, innocent, sincere, etc.

The author’s sole tool to move the plot along is dialogues — a constant drip-drip of questions and answers filling every page. Every single page has at least four or five ”Russell nodded” or ”Russell shrugged.” For the plot to be carried solely on Russell’s shurgs, nods and shaking of the head to the unending questions from every other character makes for very poor writing. And even leaving aside this oddly unfortunate choice of dialogue as a sole story-telling tool, the writing is basic (not simple but plain basic).

Overall, sophomoric and ok, ”sweet.”

I was not meant to read The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. I gave it the third try, and I wondered why I was putting myself through this agony. In happier news, my copy of Villa Coco ( Andrew Sean Greer) came in. I liked Less, liked Less is Lost less. Pun intended.

Happy Bloomsday to those observing. A very long time ago, DH knew somebody who knew somebody, and we were able to go to the Rosenbach Collection in Philly before the museum opened for visitors. The curator took out the manuscript, and we saw the whole thing, from "Stately, plump Buck Mulligan" to "Yes I said yes". I think that nowadays, they have one page at a time out for display in a glass case, but this was the whole box, all loose sheets. It was one of my best days.

Ok so I interrupted Satantango with the idea of joining a new book club.

The book to read this month was The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club. I read the book but ultimately decided not to attend as my review would be harsh. A series of historical anecdotes clumsily woven together in a breathless Young Adult beach read style.

I think I need to find a happier medium.

Villa Coco seemed like Crazytown, but I am sticking with it and enjoying it more as I go on. I would call it Travels With My Aunt on steroids.

Mothers and Other Strangers by Corey Ann Haydu I’d give it 4 stars & good content for book club discussion. This story is about 2 women & their life long relationships with their mothers, their daughters, their best friend & spans 3 generations though the focus is on the 2nd generation. The story is also about family secrets and the damage they can cause. The book was a bit long but I wanted to know how the character’s stories ended. Great ending!

Well, I just checked back and see I posted when I had just started Christy. It was a very different book, and while it was worth reading and extremely interesting to me, at times I had to really force myself to not give it up. According to goodreads,

"Christy (1967), which was inspired by the story of her mother's time in the mountains teaching the impoverished children of Appalachia. Christy was adapted as a CBS television series, starring Kellie Martin, beginning in 1994."

The descriptions of the conditions , the times, and the people were so vivid. It was also interesting because although it mostly took place in Tennessee mountain country, there were tie ins to Asheville and Philadelphia ( Ardmore and Jefferson Med).

It's a hard book to rate . Although I am no longer in any book clubs I do think it would be a great book for discussion but I can definitely picture some really complaining about it lol.

I guess if I had to give a number rating it would be 3.75.

I did link the goodreads summary in my previous post.

We finished Comfort Me with Apples today. I reiterate, Ruth Reichel is an amazing author. They've elected to read the next book, wish I have also read. Can't wait to read another book by her, because they're all different, and they're all equally good, but I would love to read something I haven't read before! I think Comfort Me has fewer talking points, than the last book or the upcoming book! The upcoming book will be Garlic and Sapphires. Which is also a good book.

What I'm reading, while I'm waiting on everybody else to catch up is, The Wide, Wide Sea. It's by Hampton Sides. I have often commented, multiple times, actually! how my favorite book ever is the book that he wrote about the exploration of the Arctic circle. I find it incredibly interesting that it is juxtaposed?! It's about Captain Cook (actually all the landmarks named after him, he never did that. He's incredibly misunderstood). I'm in the first chapter and it keeps glancing over at the oft wondered about supercontinent that has not been discovered in his time. There's a theory, circulating about the time he is navigating, but there is a continent bigger than Australia. I haven't actually looked up how big Antarctica is compared to Australia? But at this point, others wonder if it exists. I'm pretty sure Cook never makes it there. He says it's too hard, or it's further away than he thinks, something like that. So maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong?!

Link to July 2026