Some readers want to read novels with likeable characters.  I agree it’s satisfying to enter a story, care deeply about the outcome for this or that person, even cheer for the protagonist.  The married couple in By Nightfall are not particularly likeable people.  I can imagine many readers describing them as self-absorbed and spoiled.  They work in New York, have jobs in the arts, and have precious lives complete with a loft in SoHo.  But Cunningham is a master of language.  He has an astute sensibility, a way of creating interior lives with the power and lyricism comparable to Virginia Woolf, the writer he emulted so brilliantly in his novel, The Hours. Peter, the main character, is on the cusp of ruining his life, his marriage, his family.  I certainly did not want to cheer for him.  However, the underlying angst, the deeply psychological struggle, and the odd pull of sexuality, made this a riveting book.  This novel has a haunting quality and like a fine foreign film, the images will linger long after the closing scenes.

What is the matter with me that I’ve only just now read something by Vendela Vida?  And such a wonderful author name.  The Lovers is an excellent book, small, tight, and riveting. A woman widowed in her early 50′s returns to Turkey to the small seaside town where she and her husband spent their honeymoon.  The story quickly grows unsettling, but in believable terms and the main character, Yvonne, becomes more and more interesting as she slowly reveals her past.  I read this in two days and barely got anything else done at all.  I intend to read Vida’s earlier novels as soon as I can get my hands on them.  Don’t miss this one!

Two sisters, a love story, the dot com bubble in California, environmental issues and rare books are a recipe for a fantastic novel when in the hands of Allegra Goodman.  Goodman is a fine writer and this is the kind of novel you can hardly wait to get back into when you are doing something else –like trying to write your own novel.  I was reminded now and again of Laurie Colwin when reading this.  Colwin is a writer who wrote wonderfully about young twenty and thirty somethings launching into their grown up lives.  I dearly miss Laurie Colwin and I still pull her books off the shelf to reread several times a year.  In any case, when you are “hungry” for a good book pick up The Cookbook Collector.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

At first I didn’t want to read Freedom, Jonathan Franzen’s new novel. The hooplah, the fanfare, the many over the top reviews made me wary.  Yes, Franzen is a hard-working writer.  He spent eight years writing this book.  But, was this book a masterpiece as some of the early reviewers said?  The decision was taken out of my hands as my book group had chosen Freedom  for our October meeting.  I remember loving The Corrections and so I was hopeful that this novel would not disappoint. 

I had moments of loving Freedom and moments of thinking it was too long and could have used a brave editor. Still, I enjoyed being pulled into Franzen’s fictional world.  The characters were not likeable, but they were complex, interesting, and even maddening and I wanted to stay with them and watch them muddle through the numerous problems of their own making.  Some of the characters were more believable than others.  At times Franzen’s language was utterly stunning and his dialog was always brilliant.  He is a master there.  However, I would not call the novel a masterpiece.  At times his use of point of view was distracting, and the structure sometimes pulled me out of the story.  This novel is a terrific choice for book groups because there is so much to it worthy of discussion and there is far more to it than one might think.  Our group had lots to say and I’m very glad Freedom was our October book.

Bess, one of my readers, passed along this suggestion.  I don’t know Joe Coomer’s work, but I am always happy to learn about a new author and this sounds like a good novel.

Bess said that this book is “entertaining and holds onto you throughout.  It’s about three women who live together on a boat and find out how much in common they all  have.  It takes place in Portsmouth, NH. During one moment, something different happens to each of them at the same time and they escape out to sea on a venture to Prince Edwards Island.  It’s a bit literary, but fascinating.”

Thanks for this, Bess.  I love Portsmouth, NH and I’ve always wanted to go to Prince Edwards Island.  I’ve put this in my books to read notebook.

I’m writing a new novel and not reading as fast as I was in the summer.  Next week I hope to share my thoughts on Jonathan Franzen’s new novel, Freedom.

I haven’t posted in several weeks- my excuse being travel for my own novel, A Slender Thread.  I know it’s Tuesday but tomorrow I am on the road again- one last book trip- so today I’m going to give you two suggestions.  I went to Florence, Italy to do research for my new novel, and I fell in love once again with this beautiful city.  While there, I went to a lecture given by an English author, Christobel Kent.  She spoke about writing novels set in Florence.  Nothing could have been more perfect for me and I quickly went to the English bookstore in Florence to buy two of Kent’s novels, A Florentine Revenge, and A Time of Mourning.  Both are detective fiction, something I don’t usually read, but I loved both books.  I always love a book I don’t want to put down, and beyond all the great descriptions of Florence, Christobel Kent has does a wonderful job of creating fascinating richly layered characters with a retired Italian police inspector, Sandro, and his wife, Luisa.  I now understand the lure of creating a series of dectective stories and I’m already looking forward to reading the next book to see how Sandro and Luisa are doing.  I’m not sure how easy it will be to find these books but they are worth seeking out!

A week from Thursday I’ll weigh in on Freedom, Jonathan Franzen’s new novel.  It’s had lots of press, but it’s long and I need this next week to finish.

There is nothing like a good book to get you through a long flight.  I recently traveled to Italy to do research for my next novel (more on that next week) and I took along The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen.  A good friend put me on to this first novel and it turned out to be just what I needed –entertaining, funny, and a page turner. While this novel had some of the elements of chick-lit –bits on clothes, shoes, make-up, dating –none of this got in the way of a really good story. The author raises serious questions on how we are defined by our role in the family, the meaning of success, and how we continually change and grow as human beings searching for what is important in life.  Pekkanen is an excellent writer and I’m looking forward to her next book.

Thanks to my dear friend whose daughter lives in London, I’ve come to know and love some contemporary English novelists. I’ve already mentionned Rose Tremain and I recently finished The Whole Wide Beauty by Emily Woof.  This novel has many of the components of the modern domestic drama: family, relationships, marriage etc. but it has the added elements of artistic endeavors- in this case poetry and danse.  The main character, Katherine, has an affair with her father’s protege, a poet. This book takes off in unexpected directions and it’s an impressive debut.  I especially loved the way the story ended.  I also loved the essential “Englishness” of this book.  It was a real pleasure to fall into this other world and get carried away, but then, that is what good fiction is all about.