Here we are about to slide into May - ALREADY!
My last book of the month is More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen. This is my first by this author and I was pleased to see there are many more titles, both fiction and nonfiction, for me to check out.
I liked this book about relationships, friendships and discovery. Polly Goodman is a character I could see having as a friend. She is a high school English teacher, dealing with IVF treatments with support from her best friend Sarah and her lovely husband Mark. The husband is a large animal vet at the Bronx zoo and the little bits about his interactions, with both people and the animals, are great.
Polly meets with her three friends for a book club, a book they never read, and they hash out all sorts of topics. On Polly's birthday one of her gifts is a DNA test kit. It was meant as a joke but opened up Pandora's Box.
Another character who will win the supporting actor category, in my opinion, is Polly's brother Garrison. He's supportive, funny and he needed more page time in this story. When they meet and she tells him about the DNA test ...well, that conversation is great. He keeps her grounded for the most part.
"I love you, Garrison said. I'm all you've got. Live with it."
"Oh, Gar, you are so much more than enough."
Polly and Garrison's father Jack is on the fast road with dementia, a sad progression , and their mother Mary is a judge. There are surprises about the relationships and I think it was written well.
There are many other characters who are very realistically written. I loved Sarah, Helen Mark's parents Lou and Skipper, and tolerated Jamie.
The thing about you, Polly, is that you’re lucky. You let life in. I know because I don’t, and I’m fine with that. I never have. But you want, and you give, and you open your arms to everyone but her.
Topics include cancer, DNA testing, infertility, friendship, love. Rounded to 4 stars
📚📚📚 Nonfiction is on the agenda next 📚📚📚
I just started Felicty Cloake's book Red Sauce, Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey It's about traveling via bicycle through the British Isles and researching the different sorts of regional specialties for breakfast. She has friends she meets up with, other biking enthusiasts, and they enjoy the riding, the eating and scenery throughout the country.
That's it. Hope everyone is well, your weather is good, your book stacks are filled with all you want and life is good for you.
Yeah finding out DNA test results like Polly's might not be good. Though I sort of like that show Finding Your Roots on PBS, full of interesting findings, lol. I'm glad you liked this Quindlen. Many of her novels are quite sad ... like One True Thing from 1984! Her novel Miller's Valley was pretty poignant too. I have read this one ... and liked how it winds around some.
ReplyDeleteHi Susan, I can't imagine I'd find surprises yet you hear of many cases where there it is...surprise! Plus I'd honestly rather not know if I am predisposed to a medical condition. It would probably ruin the rest of my life and I am alread on that last leg here, so being healthy I just want to enjoy each day as it comes.
DeleteDefinitely adding Quindlen to my list of authors to read. Also just added some Jodi Picoult. Have you read any of her work?
I've done a DNA test (as has my dad, maternal grandparents, and husband) and was kind of disappointed to find no secrets or surprises. I'm about half Irish and the rest mostly English/Scottish/Welsh. My cousin did find out she had 3 or 4 half siblings she had no idea about and my husband found out his great-grandfather had an affair that produced a child. The siblings weren't that much of a surprise but my husband was a bit shocked as his great-grandfather was supposed to be very upstanding and respectable. It's put a more interesting spin on researching him. I want the stories more than I want to learn about myself so that may shift my outlook on tests though. In a twist that entertained us all greatly my grandfather's mother (born 1890ish) who was really a terrible person and incredibly racist ended up being 2% Nigerian. That still makes me smile when I think about it. She would have been absolutely horrified! This sounds like an interesting book and this is an author I really need to read.
ReplyDeleteAlso I received your letter and have serious stationary envy! I don't do any linkups right now. I'm just not on top of things enough to manage linking up regularly - especially to challenges. I'm also incredibly envious of the bookstore with the piebrary. That may be the most genius thing I've ever heard of!
Katherine, that's a hilarious story about the mean woman finding out she was even a tiny bit Nigerian. You know it bugged her immensely. When I was doing genealogy at a state library two old women went to the desk and asked what the term Mulatto meant. Whne old it was one balc parent and one white, they slammed the book shut, walked away and I never saw them there again!
DeleteGreat surprise on your cousin and your husband's family too.
Oh, the piebrary was amazing. I just got their newsletter and found out David Sedaris is speaking there this monthg, but tickets are sold out.
My hold on that Anna Quindlen book was suspended but, since I'm not really into my current read, I just unsuspended it. I've read most of her books and even met her at an event at Random House in NYC... memorably, the same day as the Sandy Hook school shooting! I think nonfiction is really where she really shines. My favorite is her essay collection Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake. Miller's Valley and One True Thing are my favorite of her novels. Object Lessons is also memorable as the first book our playgroup turned book group read back in the 90s. The kids all started school but the moms enjoyed each others company and wanted to keep meeting, so we became a book club. I was the last of the original members to move away, but the group is still meeting in central NY.
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, thanks for the tips on Quindlen books. I enjoyed reading this ne and thought the characters were fleshed out well. That's a cool story about meeting her and about your book club. I plan to add many of her books to my loooong list.
DeleteAnna Quindlen does such a great job with domestic stories. You're in for a treat with her backlist! I've read 12 of her books (fiction & nonfiction). Reviews can be found here if you have a lot of time! Lol! As others have mentioned, some of her novels are quite sad. Every Last One had me bawling, as did One True Thing.
ReplyDeleteLes, I am definitely in for more Quindlen. It;'s always such a pleasure to discover an author new to me. Especially those with lots of books out.
DeleteI love Anna Quindlen's nonfiction, but I'm not a fan of her fiction. I just looked back and I've read and enjoyed four of her nonfiction books, but I've only read one of her fiction books. So maybe I should try more fiction before I pass judgment!
ReplyDeleteDeb, I plan to try her nonfiction as soon as I catch up on my library books. I liked this novel so I would probably try another of her fiction works. But everyone is telling me nonfiction is the best of her work.
DeleteBoth books sound great.
ReplyDeleteI personally have dealt with virtually all the issues you mention Quinlan includes in More Than Enough. With regards to the DNA issue--my mother never knew who her father was, so we went down the DNA path and while we did find some of her relatives on her mother's side, we were never able to find a good candidate for her father. She passed away not knowing her full history.