This is a short one to share some of my 2020 reads. Hope you find some inspiration!
Favorite English language book: The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles because of the main character's integrity and good values make her a real heroine to me. I like historical fiction and this novel is based in New York, 1938. It is a fantastic sociological portrait of the life of the priviledged and not-so-priviledged young people living 'the dream' in one of the world's most exciting cities. I loved A Gentleman in Moscow from the same author. Amor Towles does not disappoint with a style of writing that captures the imagination and doesn't let it go...
Favorite French language book: La nuit de feu from Eric Emmanuel Schmitt - a true story about an awakening that happens on a cold and very dark desert night when the possibility of dying alone is very real for a young man.. The young man in questions later became a philosopher and writer. Schmitt is one of France's most loved contemporary philosophers.
Close seconds: Clin d'oeil au temps qui passe by Antonine Maillet and Educated by Tara Westover. Clin d'oeil is well-written by one of French Canada's premier authors and intellectuals. Maillet has led a very stimulating and admirable life which she recounts with the sagacity that only comes with age.
Tara Westover's Educated is a biographical novel that takes place in a Mormon family whose father is bipolar. Westover's story is almost too incredible to believe and one can only admire her for breaking free from the chains of her family and religion.
Do not recommend: Le mur mitoyen and La route du Lilas and I must say I have forgotten what happens in The Turn of the Key.
Most of the books featured here are my two book clubs' selections. While it is good to pick up a book you may not otherwise have read, some can be less pleasing.
Elinor Florence's two books: Wildwood and A Bird's Eye View are very very enjoyable reads. This author hails from Western Canada. Wildwood is about a young American mother who is near penniless when she inherits a house in the Peace River area of Alberta and A Bird's Eye View is about a girl from the Canadian Prairies who enlists in WWII to become an aerial photographic interpreter and a hero.
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