The inspiration for Samuel Park’s impressive first novel, “This Burns My Heart” (2011), came from an episode in his mother’s life. He was intrigued by the idea that on the day before her wedding, another man had begged her to choose him instead of her intended. She told him no and went ahead with...
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The year is 1940, and President Roosevelt stands firm in his commitment to keep America out of the war. Europe is in the throes of the Nazi takeover, and London is suffering under the Blitz, yet life in America goes on as usual. In Sarah Blake’s brilliant 2010 novel “The Postmistress,” readers follow three...
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When I picked up Thrity Umrigar’s newest novel, “The World We Found” (2012) at the bookstore, I expected to read a poignant story about the reunion of three college classmates from Bombay in the 1970s with their friend who emigrated to the United States. I knew from Umrigar’s earlier novel “The Space Between Us”...
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“Noah’s Compass” Written by Anne Tyler I’ve been thinking a lot about Liam Pennywell over the last few days. Wondering how he’s getting along. Whether he and Barbara will be spending any holidays with the kids over the next months … That’s what Anne Tyler does to me. She introduces me to a character...
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“The Paris Wife” Written by Paula McLain I’m downright dizzy from the hours I’ve just spent with young Ernest Hemingway and his appealing wife, Hadley, in the apartments and cafés of the Left Bank of Paris in the 1920s. It’s exhilarating! One day we’re listening to Gertrude Stein tell Ernest to stick to strong,...
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Simon Mawer’s latest novel “The Glass Room” (2009) will keep any book club talking for hours on end. In my group we didn’t even wait to get our coats off before we began an animated discussion. The story is set in Czechoslovakia during the 1920s and ‘30s at the time of Hitler’s rise to...
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“Mudbound” Written by Hillary Jordan When I looked at the title of Hillary Jordan’s “Mudbound” (2009) on my book club list, my heart sank. It sounded like the last book in the world I’d like to read during the excessively wet spring we’ve had, but I grudgingly picked it up. Yet in spite of...
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“Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” Written by Helen Simonson After many false starts, Helen Simonson finally discovered the winning ticket to writing her first published novel. She tells an interviewer she put aside her early efforts at an edgy sort of book that people might expect from a 30-something woman and sat down instead to...
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“Labor Day” Written by Joyce Maynard Joyce Maynard. Just her name conjures up so many images for me that my curiosity impelled me to pick up her recently released paperback, “Labor Day.” In the 1980s Maynard wrote a syndicated column, “Domestic Affairs,” that I, as a new mother, followed religiously. Her daily reports of...
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“The Art of Racing in the Rain” Written by Garth Stein I wanted to give this writing business a try because some guy named Garth Stein, who wrote a couple of books, let a dog tell the story in his newest book, “The Art of Racing in the Rain.” It seems like it’s some...
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