Who Doesn't Love a Classic? discussion

We LOVE the classics, but it's not all we read!

Please leave your reviews of books that are NOT classics here!

If you read a book that IS a classic (Originally Published BEFORE 1950), please put that review as a NEW topic in the CLASSICS REVIEWS 2017 folder.
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First published in 1988, this is too new to be a classic. But it's very good ...



Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler – 4****
I’ve had this on my TBR for ages, and just never got to it. I wish I hadn’t waited so long, but then again, maybe my own years of marriage help me better understand Maggie and Ira’s relationship. I love the way Tyler reveals her characters to the reader. Their actions – small and large – and statements show the reader who these people are. Their hopes, dreams, frustrations, and regrets become evident over the course of the novel. Their lives may be ordinary; the novel is anything but.
LINK to my review

Exodus – Leon Uris – 3.5***
This is an epic novel covering the history of the Jewish people’s efforts to return to Palestine and form an independent state. I felt that Uris couldn’t make up his mind whether he was writing an epic romance, a war novel or a history of the formation of Israel. It certainly made me think. And I’m glad I finally read this novel.
LINK to my review

The Penelopiad – Margaret Atwood – 3***
Atwood takes the story of the faithful Penelope, waiting 20 years for Odysseus to return from the Trojan War, and reimagines it. I liked this intelligent, savvy woman.
LINK to my review

NONfiction memoir .... first published 1942.


West With the Night – Beryl Markham – 5*****
Markham was an independent woman who lived life to the fullest, and on her own terms. While there has been significant controversy over whether she actually wrote this memoir (vs her third husband ghost-writing it for her), I still highly recommend it! Full of vivid imagery and really gives a sense of what life was like for the colonialists in Kenya in the early part of the 20th century.
LINK to my review

Eligible – Curtis Sittenfeld – 4****
The subtitle is all the synopsis you need: A Modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. This is the fourth installment of the planned retellings that comprise The Austen Project, wherein contemporary authors tackle one of Austen’s works and reimagine it in a modern setting. All told, I found it entertaining and fun. Definitely helps if you’ve read the original, though it spoils any surprises as you anticipate “when will they …?” or “how will she include …..?”
LINK to my review

Columbine – Dave Cullen – 4****
Gripping, fascinating, and horrifying. Cullen has done extensive research and made every effort to remain an impartial journalist, ferreting out facts and revealing them without judgment. The result is perhaps even more disturbing than what I thought I knew about it.
LINK to my review

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry – Gabrielle Zavin – 3***
One snowy December evening A.J. Fikry finds that someone has left a baby between the shelves in his bookstore. This is a fable about second chances and the redemptive power of love. It’s a somewhat quiet story, as novels go, but it is full of the drama of every day existence. I also loved all the literary references.
LINK to my review

This made for a GREAT book club discussion ...



We Are Called to Rise – Laura McBride – 4****
McBride’s debut novel tells the story of four different people whose lives intersect as the result of one split-second choice. The novel is told by each of these four characters in turn. I was immediately drawn into their personal stories. McBride does a great job of writing these characters, making them real to the reader. I thought the ending was a little too contrived, but that was really my only complaint. I look forward to reading her next book.
LINK to my review

Jane Steele – Lindsay Faye – 3.5***
Lindsay Faye’s re-telling of Jane Eyre , is an imaginative romp. Readers of the classic will recognize many plot elements, but Faye has let her imagination run wild. The story is still set in the same era as Bronte’s classic novel, but this Jane is a serial killer. If that makes you gasp is horror … well give the book a chance. It’s great fun to read
LINK to my review

Under This Unbroken Sky – Shandi Mitchell – 5*****
This debut work just about broke my heart. Mitchell’s writing is luminous and poetic in places, making the landscape and weather central characters in the drama that unfolds in the last 1930s on the plains of Northern Canada. The novel touches on the immigrant experience, the harsh realities of prairie life, domestic abuse, faith, friendship, charity, pride, survival and forgiveness. This is a book, and an author, that deserves a wider audience.
LINK to my review

Eventide - Kent Haruf – 5*****
Continuing the story of the residents of fictional Holt, Colorado, the novel features some of the same characters that readers came to love in Plainsong . Life can be hard in Holt. Accidents cause injury and death. Alcohol fuels violent tendencies and foolish behavior. Then again, some people rise to the occasion and help one another, moving forward with courage and grace. I came late to the party when it comes to reading Haruf. But better late than never.
LINK to my review

Living To Tell the Tale - Gabriel Garcia Marquez – 3***
This is the first in a planned three-volume autobiography, taking the reader from Marquez’s birth in 1927 to his young adulthood in the mid 1950s. In recounting his early life, the author also tells the history of Columbia – the politics, culture, troubles and triumphs of the people. Magical realism is a style that is ingrained in the oral story-telling traditions of Latin America, and I loved those little hints of magical realism in this work. Reminded me of listening to my grandparents recount tales of their own childhoods.
LINK to my review