What are you currently reading?
The Iliad by Homer
Lock In by John Scalzi
What did you just finish reading?
Mission: Impossible by Peter Borsocchini
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
What do you think you’ll read next?
The Group by Mary McCarthy
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Sometimes you read a book by an author you’ve never heard of, just by chance–you grab it off the shelf at a library because the cover is pretty, or it happens to be on an end cap so it catches your eye. And when you start reading you are immediately hooked on that author so completely that you must read everything they’ve ever written.
That is what happened with Ann Patchett. I don’t remember exactly how I came across Bel Canto, but I know it was something serendipitous. It wasn’t a new book when I read it, it was just something I had randomly picked up. I hadn’t read any of Patchett’s other books, but since reading Bel Canto, I have read and purchased many. Not all…yet. Her prose is unbelievably beautiful, her stories so well thought out, her characters diverse and excruciatingly human.
Bel Canto is the story of a botched political kidnapping. What should have taken only a few hours becomes a months-long hostage situation. Enemies become friends as language barriers slowly break down and lives are shared.
This is a book that I can, and have, read over and over and over again, for all of the reasons I gave earlier. It always makes me wish I enjoyed opera, and sometimes I will listen to some of the pieces Patchett mentions…but I still prefer instruments to such high pitched voice. The way she describes Roxanne Coss though, the experience is lovely.
As I’ve said before with Patchett’s books, pick her up when you want something on the slower end. There is some action, some romance, some suspense, but it’s not bam bam bam in your face. Her writing is very well balanced, and so you keep turning pages and forget about everything else (I was almost late to yoga this morning!). Make this your next read after one of those hard hitting trilogies. you won’t be disappointed!
What are you currently reading?
The Iliad by Homer
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
What did you just finish reading?
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin
Backpacks and Brastraps with Savannah Grace
Before I Go by Colleen Oakley
What do you think you’ll read next?
The Regulators by Richard Bachman
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
I’ve talked about Ann Patchett on this blog before, but I’ve recently collected more of her books, and they are right in my eye line when I’m sitting at my desk. I can’t wait to read Bel Canto again soon. It is one of my absolute favorite books. The prose is just spot on.
I had a pretty great book haul in September. Some new books, some used ones. Even a free one, thanks to a Twitter contest! Here’s what I picked up:
I’ve blogged about most of these already, so I’ll keep this short. But LOOK at that gorgeous purple Drop Caps from Penguin Books! Sorry if you follow me on Twitter and get annoyed by my constant retweets, but it was well worth it. Even the pages are purple on the outside!
The bottom green book I threw in to the picture because technically…I own it. But, that’s definitely a husband book. I may read it, eventually, when it makes it way into my TBR rotation. We’ll see if I even understand it. It’ll be awhile before that happens though.
And of course, I finally have a Sherlock book. I’ve read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, but I haven’t yet read this one. I couldn’t resist it, when I saw it on the clearance rack!
You’ve just started to work at a bookstore or library – what are your top ten go-to book recommendations?
These are not the usual three that I give when people ask for my three favorite books, but they rank pretty high. And, since I just picked them up on clearance at Half-Price this week, I’m anxious to reread them soon.
Bel Canto was the first book by Ann Patchett that I read, and the beauty of the prose instantly attracted me to her work. I’m thinking about sneaking it in before I reread Game of Thrones now that I have it in my library.
If you love dogs, and haven’t read The Art of Racing in the Rain, what are you doing with your life? This is such a lovely book. You’ll definitely hug your furry friend much tighter after this.
Memoirs of a Geisha transports the reader to another culture, another time. Even in the cruelty of WWII, the magic of a geisha works on you, and everything is lovely for a little while. At least until the makeup is washed away.
These books are must reads in my opinion. Must owns, really. I was so glad to finally grab them for myself.
I’ve reviewed Ann Patchett here before, and I just love her writing style. It’s simple, but her voice always changes to fit the characters–and those characters are never the same from book to book.
Taft is one of her lesser known books, but just as well written as Bel Canto and Run. It follows an ex-blues musician, a drummer, through his life behind a bar. He runs a Memphis club called Muddy’s, an honest living, since he’s trying to convince his ex-wife to bring his son back home from Florida. He hires a young girl as a waitress, and becomes close with her and her brother…and that situation brings trouble to his bar and his life.
Ann Patchett does a great job of capturing a Memphis old school bluesy club voice for the narration. You feel like you’re sitting on a stool listening to some bartender telling a story as he polishes glasses with an old white cloth. The characters are diverse, but linear. Patchett gives you only the people you need to know about and no more.
I did have some trouble determining the time period for this book, and I wish she would have given a better sense of setting at the beginning. At first, because of the voice, I was thinking 60s/70s, but the longer the book went on, the later the period seemed. Then, towards the end, the boy mentions Michael Jordan, so it must be at least the early 90s. Parts of the book could span that long, but it’s really hard to figure out exactly what space of time you’re in.
Taft is a simple, linear read about simple folks. There’s nothing terribly complicated about this. Some questionable morals at parts, but for the most part, it’s about good people just trying to get through life. As always with Ann Patchett’s writing, the prose is beautiful, and so I’d recommend it if you want a break from more twisted plots.
Contrary to the title, this isn’t actually a story about marriage at all. Rather, it is a collection of stories, about lots of things–marriage is only one of them.
In this collection, one of my very favorite authors, Ann Patchett, shares pieces of her life–friends, family, loves and losses, books. It is a window into her mind.
I told you yesterday that I mostly find biographies boring. However, I love memoirs. I always find it interesting to hear first-person narratives about a person’s life, to hear them share the things that are most important to them, and the little details too. I like to know the things that made them them.
This is especially true of the authors I love. It helps me to understand their books, when I can go into their background, and hear what formed their psyche. Patchett talks a lot about her books and the path she took to write them: her love of opera formed Bel Canto, a trip to Brazil inspired State of Wonder. I got to hear about her friendship with Lucy Grealy, which will be helpful later, since I have not yet read Truth and Beauty.
It’s next to impossible to be unbiased in this review, because I love her work so much. There was no chance I wouldn’t love hearing something in her own voice. If you haven’t read anything by Ann Patchett, you should. My favorite is Bel Canto. I need to reread that soon, I think.
I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend. You probably won’t see a post from me tomorrow as we are having company, but I’ll be back to our regular broadcasted program on Monday.
As I Lay Reading 