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State of Wonder, a novel by Ann Patchett (Harper, 2011). A surprising, often beautiful book.
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Imperfect Birds, a novel by Anne Lamott (Riverhead Books, 2010).
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Too Much Happiness, a collection of short stories by Alice Munro (first international edition by Vintage Books, 2010; originally published in Canada by Toronto's McClelland & Stewart and then in New York by Alfred A. Knopf, 2009).
From Alice Munro's story "Deep-Holes": Sally stumbled along faster than was easy for her, with the diaper bag and the baby Savanna. She couldn't slow down till she had her sons in sight, saw them trotting along taking sidelong looks into the black chambers, still making exaggerated but discreet noises of horror. She was nearly crying with exhaustion and alarm and some familiar sort of seeping rage.
I'd read several of these stories before--they were all from either The New Yorker or Harper's--but most were new to me. "Too Much Happiness," for example, which closes the collection, is about Sophia Kovalevsky, a nineteenth-century mathematician and novelist.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Ann Patchett, Anne Lamott, and Alice Munro
Labels:
Alice Munro,
Ann Patchett,
Anne Lamott,
Harper,
Harper's Magazine,
The New Yorker
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2 comments:
State of Wonder was a very interesting and exciting book. The plot was very unusual with many surprising twists and turns. The author painted a very vivid picture of life in the Amazon rainforest, putting the reader right in the middle of it. I enjoyed reading the book; it was definitely a page-turner! I don't think that I would want to have a baby in my seventies, but the possibility is intriguing! Although this is a work of fiction, the author painted a very real picture!
I agree. State of Wonder and Bel Canto are my favorite of her novels.
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