In July we devoured Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. This book has made it on many a book club reading list, and spoke especially to the introverts among us! Eleanor wasn't the most likable character at the start, but she definitely grew on us, and we found ourselves happily cheering her on as the book progressed. These are several of our favorite Eleanor quotes, simultaneously funny, odd, and thoughtful:
- “I have often noticed that people who routinely wear sportswear are the least likely sort to participate in athletic activity.”
- “The moment hung in time like a drop of honey from a spoon, heavy, golden.”
- “It turned out that if you saw the same person with some degree of regularity, then the conversation was immediately pleasant and comfortable—you could pick up where you left off, as it were, rather than having to start afresh each time.”
- “Your voice changes when you’re smiling, it alters the sound somehow.”
Book quotes are like little gems that we love to store and save for a rainy day. We often find ourselves highlighting passages and lines that stick out in particular. Reading is such a treat! We hope we can do it more.
For August, we're reading not one...but two books. It seems like everyone is on holiday this month, with time for beach reading, cafe reading, Sunday morning readings. There is always a time and a place to read. We're reading both books at the Lady M headquarters, but feel free to select one and read along with us. These are our August books:
- Pachinko by Min Jin Lee - Get ready to dive deep, Pachinko will tug at your heartstrings as it explores four generations of families in Korea. From happy moments to the devastating, Min Jin Lee gracefully leads the reader through it all. It's a long novel and completely engrossing from start to end. For those who've read Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (which has also been made into a wonderful movie), Pachinko will ring familiar in many ways with the multi-generational family thread.
- Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner - This seems to be the book of late summer, and we see people reading this all over NYC, where the novel is set. The novel follows the story of a doctor whose ex-wife drops their kids off with one afternoon... and then she simply disappears. You hear three perspectives of this relationship, from the beginning to what went very, very wrong,. There is no villain and there is no hero; the beauty of this book is that all sides are heard equally, against the background of New York City's Upper East Side.
P.S. We're making book club official here at Lady M. Sign up and join here! We're doing a cake giveaway for one lucky book club winner. See you back for book club in a few weeks!
Till then,
Lady M
Till then,
Lady M