Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf ****

This book is our December choice for Book Club- it took maybe three sittings to read it, which was nice, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Addie is a 70-year-old widow, Louis is a widower who lives nearby. One day Addie knocks on Louis' door and wonders if he would come and sleep with her sometimes, for company, not sex. Thus begins a wonderful friendship and a lovely story. The author died before the book was published- he knew he was dying when he wrote this book. 

Elena Ferrante novels

My Brilliant Friend: Book One of the Neapolitan novels

This is the first in a series of four novels about two girls, Lila and the narrator, and their lifelong friendship. As an insight into small- town life in Italy, and the pressures of growing up in that small town, this was interesting, but not enough to make me want to read the remaining three novels. 

May, 2016

Well, I re-read this and I enjoyed it much more the second time. It's very well- written, for one thing. Lila gets married at age 17, so we'll see how that goes. I just saw these two girls, Lila and Elena, as Sophia Loren and Sylvana Mangano, larger than life, voluptuous, fiery.

The Story of a New Name: Book Two of the Neapolitan novels.

July, 2016

Book Two commences with the wedding of Lila and Stefano, and much of this novel is about the tempestuous relationship of these two, so much so that I did get a bit bored with the excessive time devoted to such things as beach vacations. Elena is the narrator, and she has her relationships too, including a bad experience on the beach, some lengthy breaks in her relationship with Lila, and a continued lack of relationship with her mother. Again, her academic career is her main focus, and it becomes obvious that she is much more gifted than she thinks she is.

I found myself rushing to the end- at a certain point for me, books just get too long! It seems a week is about the longest I want to spend on a book- this one was 470 pages and took me 11 days to read, with "rushing". I think I will continue with these books, though. The writing is good, the detail is colourful, and it's a picture of a completely different way of life.

Slow Dancing With A Stranger by Meryl Comer ***

Harvey was a respected surgeon when he showed signs of memory loss. He denied it, as did many of his colleagues, including those who examined him. This is written by his wife, Meryl. Her mother also suffered from Alzheimer's, and for a time, the author, along with a staff of workers, nursed them both in her home.