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.
