What’s It About? (From Booklist)In this intricate tale of love, loss, and redemption, Wolitzer, author most recently of The Doctor’s Daughter (2006), tells the story of three women whose paths cross during a summer in the Hamptons. Lissy Snyder, an insecure second wife, is uncertain of her place in her husband’s heart and feels intimidated by her stepchildren. To help cement her position in Hamptons society, Lissy decides to host a book club for other young socialites and hires an eccentric former English professor, Angela Graves, to lead the group. Angela guides her pupils through books such as Madame Bovary, inspiring both Lissy and her day girl, Michelle, to reexamine their relationships with the men in their lives. Meanwhile, Angela herself is haunted by a years-old love affair. Wolitzer’s subtle analysis reveals the underlying hopes and tensions that guide each woman’s daily life as she struggles to come to terms with her own choices and mistakes, led, in part, by the heroines of the books Angela has chosen.
Why This? This one was a no-brainer for me since I love reading book where the characters mention or discuss other books, so it should be even better when the characters are discussing other books in a book club. It’s also fun to see the parallels between the characters in the book and the characters in the stories that they are reading. Most of the books that I have read which I read that have lots of references to other books have been non-fiction, like Reading Lolita in Tehran, which I loved, and How To Read and Why. This definitely falls into the less serious side of that category and I am looking forward to learning about the women and hear all about the books that they are reading. I’ll probably save it to read as a treat after I’ve read some heavy titles.
I just finished my Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger and there were a ton of references to other book. Some were discussed and others just mentioned. That made reading the book a lot of fun. Do you like it when books discuss other books? What books have you read which reference lots of other books?
I love when books discuss other books! Of course my mind is a blank at the moment, but it’s a lot of fun when they do!
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My mind goes blank too when I try to answer other people’s book questions. The two books I mentioned really stuck with me but I am sure that I have read a lot of others that do the same thing. Jane Austen Book Club did it too. That was my fist Ursula Le Guin reference.
I can’t think of any books that reference other books either. Maybe it all just goes over my head.
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No, I doubt it. It’s just hard to remember things when people ask.
I like the idea of reading a book that references other books as it always inspires me to read more! I read a book called So Many Books So Little Time (can’t remember the author) who chronicled a year of her reading. I was inspired to read several books I wouldn’t have otherwise.
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I would love to read something like that Kathleen. It’s just that I have a case of the title.
You are on a Hamptons kick! But I do love it when books mention other books, have characters reading books I’ve read, or otherwise seem bookish.
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I know. They just seem to keep coming up!
I really love books that discuss other books. The only ones I can think of right now are non-fiction, though…Nick Hornby’s Believer columns, Book by Book by Michael Dirda…
Oh, wait! I finished The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt yesterday and it’s full of references to the children’s literature that was published at the time: The Wind in the Willows, Peter Pan, E. Nesbit, Kipling…made me love it even more
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I love books where books are discussed or mentioned inside too! Must be a bookie thing! I’ll be on the lookout for this one. Of course, I can’t think of any off the top of my head, my brain is refusing to cooperate…as usual.
I’m excited you read My Most Excellent Year! I just adored that book, I can’t wait to hear what you thought of it.
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I like the sound of this new book as well as the one you just finished. I too like books that mention books the characters are reading. Makes them seem more real.
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I love books that discuss other books, too. I liked watching the movie The Jane Austen Book Club and would like to read the book! I also have read other books about people reading books. Does this make me a huge nerd? Maybe. But I like it anyway! I am putting this one on the list.
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