Louise Erdrich is really good at what she does! I’ve only read one of her books - The Round House - and it was really good. I especially love how she highlights what it means to be Native American
Fab video, fab selection. Loved my mum getting a shout out. Hahaha. I really need to read The Swimmers. I am also intrigued for Trust as I’ve seen so many raves.
Night Crawling definitely sounds interesting. Also, I think maybe because you’ve not really being drawn to Shafak, might have affected your experience with Island of Missing trees
Best books I’ve read so far this year The Colony by Audrey Magee Devotion by Hannah Kent Foster by Claire Keegan I’m currently listening to the audio of Young Mungo which is very good. Best books so far this month What Willow Says Elena Knows Great Circle was my best book of 2021. I’d also recommend Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr ☕️📕📖📚🍀👋☘️
Still Life and Great Circle both made me so happy and I can't help but link them together in my mind for that reason. I think they're both incredible novels and really similar in terms of the way that the characters all feel like real dimensional people, although I haven't heard anyone else make that comparison so very likely it's all in my head! Maggie Shipstead aside, I think my favourite (fiction) book of the year so far has to be Cleopatra and Frankenstein ❤️ I was hooked from the first page and that generally only happens for me with non-fic and memoir
So glad you liked Stoner and Any Human Heart, they are two favourites of mine that really surprised me when I read them. I loved The Sentence so excited to read The Night Watchman!
Wow, 60 books is enormous. I have finished 24 and it s an ok number for me. My best one this year is from 2012, but since I read it this year...that was Richard Ford's "Canada".
Louise Erdrich is WONDERFUL! I think you would particularly like Shadow Tag. I'm just starting The Sentence. Best book I've read so far this year is Bewilderment by Richard Powers (and I'm keen to read The Overstory too). Biggest disappointment is Count the Ways by Joyce Maynard.
Bewilderment is just beautiful, one of my favourite books of last year. I also love Louise Erdrich. Have only read The Night Watchman and The Sentence, but have just found Love Medicine in a charity shop!
I had the exact same experience with Great Circle. I didn’t really want to read it but then I impulse bought it because it was on the Women’s Prize shortlist. I loved it, one of my favourites. I love her writing.
I've just finished the best book I've read this year, which is Detransition, Baby. Can't remember the last time a book made me reflect so much in general, but also specifically on how gender can affect so much of our lives. Fascinating stuff.
For the longest time, Cold Earth by Sarah Moss, which I read in January, was my number one book this year. It has since been surpassed (just barely) by The Trees by Percival Everett, Don’t Cry For Me by Daniel Black, and The Stranding by Kate Sawyer, which is currently my number one. All of them made me cry, but the last two caused oceans of tears. All highly recommended.
@@GKReads I think everyone’s eyes roll when they read the description of The Stranding, particularly the whale bit. Mine did too. But it is so much more than that description. The most beautiful characters and story. I definitely recommend giving it a go.
I am obsessed with Louise Erdrich after reading The Sentence. I’m just finishing up her trilogy that starts with The Plague of Doves. It’s so so good, highly recommend.
I visited a bookshop last weekend for the first time in ages and the two books I bought were Trust and Night crawling. Look toward to seeing your thoughts. And yes I had the same feelings about Island of Missing Trees. It just didn’t feel like a complete story.
Very excited for Nightcrawling, it sounds a bit like an Ivy Pochoda novel and I love her. Plus I think Leila Mottley was a student of Ruth Ozeki’s at Smith College and I thought The Book of Form and Emptiness was brilliant. I am with you though, one of the few not blown away by the Elif Shafak…..
I honestly don't know if I can pick a favourite so far. There are a handful that could win it on any given day. I did read A Little Life, so obviously that ranks pretty high, but I also really loved Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason, Pastoral by Andre Alexis, and Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejide. Biggest disappoint for me so far is The Promise by Damon Galgut. It should've been a 5 star read, and yet I just didn't connect with it.
I also found The Island of Missing Trees very disappointing, I had just read 10 minutes and 38 seconds in this world, which I thought was pretty close to perfect and Isle of Missing Trees was not that book.
If you want to give Elif Shafak one more go, maybe try Honour. That's where I started and I loved it. But maybe she is (sadly) just not for you. :( RIP dreams of loving Elif.