By Julie Moos
In her new e-mail newsletter, Jennifer Weiner (author and blogger) writes about the books she enjoyed over the summer. Here's how she describes them:
DIGGING TO AMERICA by Anne Tyler. Two very different families meet cute in the Baltimore airport when the daughters they've adopted from Korea arrive. A funny, moving meditation on the nature of love between parents and children, husbands and wives, and what it means to be an American.
THE BOOK OF JOE by Jonathan Tropper: Boy writes roman a clef-ish novel trashing hometown. Boy, now wealthy, aimless, and suffering from crisis of faith and major writer's block, is forced to return to the town he trashed when his father collapses on the basketball court, with tragic-comic results. My favorite recurring gig is that the hero wakes up each morning to the sound of his opus thumping against his front door, as members of the local book club deliver their reviews.
YOU'RE NOT YOU by Michelle Wildgen: Aimless girl drifting through college and an affair with a married man finds her life redefined when she takes a job caring for an elegant, sophisticated woman in her thirties suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. What could be rote or mawkish in less capable hands is instead moving and wise.
PUG HILL by Alison Pace: Girl in New York City dating Mr. Wrong and lusting after Mr. Unattainable decides to get over her fear of public speaking and enrolls in a course at the New School with funny and unexpected results. A fast, breezy read for anyone who loves dogs, romances, and happy endings.
LISEY'S STORY by Stephen King: This one won't be out until October. I was lucky enough to get an early look. This is vintage King; King at his most generous and observant. It's the story of a writer's life and the life of his wife; a story about where stories come from and the price writers pay to go find them. Scary, heartbreaking, and absolutely unforgettable.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?
Julie is a writer and editor who lives with her husband and son in Safety Harbor, Florida.
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