I have been reading a lot this summer and have these to recommend.

Manhattan Beach - Jennifer Egan
Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
Britt Marie was Here - Fredrik Backman
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane - Lisa See

I am currently reading The Last Hours by Minette Walters and find it historically fascinating. Set at the time of the Black Plague.

Has anyone else got books to recommend?

I've just finished a remarkable novel that I bought on the strength of a review in the NY Times. It is "Stoner" by John Williams and I recommend it to anyone who likes good prose. Nothing to do with drugs ... I'll be interested in others' opinions.

[www.amazon.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2018 06:49AM by TPANDAV.

Tpandav I read this a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.

"The Lie of the Land" Amanda Craig
"My Sweet Revenge" Jane Fallon
Both easy summer reading

I have only just read Catherine Chidgey's 'The Wish Child.' Don't know why I've left it so long - it is excellent.

I've requested 'Eleanor Oliphant is definitely fine' from my library and look forward to reading it.

A book I just finished and that left me feeling rather dispirited is a book by Barbara Ehrenreich called 'Nickel and Dimed'. She is an American journalist and about 20 years ago she decided to take on low-paid jobs to find out what it is like to survive on such wages. It was very difficult and it showed how hard it is to pay rent and buy food etc on those wages and that you can't do it without working two jobs. Rentals were often so expensive, even for run-down places, that many had to live in cars or rent a room in really awful motels. Looks like motel room renting seems to be a quite common thing. She started off at Key West and ended her research in the Mid-West. It was hard wherever she was. That was 20 years ago. The book has been re-issued and it's sad to read that nothing much has changed. The writer is a white American and she mentioned how much more difficult it is for African-Americans. She wrote that it is just plain wrong to blame the poor for being in poverty and that all they have to do is get off the couch and get a job. If you do not have strong family support, not much education and perhaps ill-health, you are basically stuffed and never get anywhere despite working your butt off. No wonder some people give up. By the way, the book was a required text at several US universities but at Duke University the Republican student group took out advertisements against the author, labelling her a Marxist communist. What a cop-out. Anyway, that research throws some light on the plight of the homeless here and how sad it is that we are following the American economic model so much. Thank goodness we have much better back-up systems in place and I would tip readily realising now the plight of the low wage earners. End of rant!

Chris, I loved NIckled and Dimed too although as you say it was depressing - but very eye-opening. My summer reading has been the book about Trump, Fire and Fury. It doesn't sound like summer reading I know but I was surprised at what a rattling good read it was.

Carolyn, Fire & Fury is on the list (after I've read Eleanor Elephant), especially since I listed to Kim Hill's interview with the author on Radio NZ last Saturday.

Edited to Eleanor Oliphant. Spell check did its usual thing!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2018 11:31AM by Chris.

I started The Dry by Jane Harper last night and am totally engrossed already.
Friends have given it high praise and I can see why.

If you haven't read The Dry then I would highly recommend it. I am now onto he sequel.

Has anyone else read The Party Line? A NZ book set in the Waikato area in the 1970s.
It brought back many memories to me but it was a prickly read.

Helen, after reading your post and then finding the precis for this book, I've just gone and reserved it from my local library here in Adelaide! Can't wait to read it. Thanks for the recommendation

Heather be warned that it isn't a particularly happy book - I wonder if NZ novelists ever do write happy books. Nicky Pellegrino may be the only one...
It is well written and an easy read although the subject matter is gritty.

Tks for the heads up Helen - I gathered from the precis that it will be a bit grim. I seem to be in a 'gritty' frame of mind with my reading lately.

Hi Helen - picked up The Party Line from the library yesterday and have just finished it! Good thing it's a long weekend here as I just sat and read, though it's not a large book. I'm left with more questions than answers!

I have just read The Scandal by Fredrik Backman and must say it is one of the best books I have read in a very long time.
I haven't been able to put it down.

Women in the Wilderness
Miriam Lancewood

Loved it and it really made me think about how we really dont need all the stuff we have amongst other things.
Vanessa


[www.stuff.co.nz]

Apparently this is another goodie too (My Aunties recommendation - an avid reader and book club goer)
Cutting for Stone
Abraham-Verghese


Over One Million Copies Sold. National Bestseller. Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother's death and their father's disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles--and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.


[www.fishpond.co.nz]

Excellent thanks Vanessa. I will download it onto my kindle today.
Currently reading "White Dog Fell from the Sky" which feels as though it is going to evolve into a great read.

I have just finished reading The Dry after reading your post Helen. I thoroughly enjoyed it, thank you.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
amazing book about India