this book? it’s a good one.
i first read Ann Patchett when we lived in the jungle. Bel Canto was so popular…there was no way i could be interested in it 😉 but then i lived in the middle of the rainforest without electricity or tv or a wireless connection. there was only one other English speaker in our village. and we talked alot. but i also read many books. big books–Moby Dick, War and Peace. important books–Small Is Beautiful. but so many books i never would have chosen had i a library card in hand. Cold Mountain, Snow Falling on Cedars, Bel Canto–there’s a reason they were popular. good, good stories, lush descriptions, lovely language that gave breath to the characters. as much as i liked Patchett’s most decorated book, her Patron Saint of Liars is still my favorite. a Catholic home for young mothers? it’s not surprising that i was drawn to it.
(this is Ann in the snow that’s almost a character in its own right.) Run is populated with Catholics as well. and there are a few descriptions of the religious life that rival Mark Saltzman’s Lying Awake. descriptions that make me swoon. descriptions that make me want to be a nun.
so go check this one out. it’s a good day spent in its pages.
I haven’t read run, but I really liked Truth and Beauty, her memoir of her friendship with Lucy Greeley.
How I miss the Peace Corps library! I have to admit that I did yank copies of Bel Canto and Patron Saint of Liars to bring back with me!
i just put in an order with paperback swap for Run and Lying Awake. looking forward to reading!
thank you for the nudge. (i almost feel like you wrote that book review just for me! *hee*)
i spent part of yesterday at a midwifery clinic and thought of you so often! i wanted to sit down with a cup of tea and talk, talk, talk.
oh, Byl! i miss you. and my copy of Laurel’s Kitchen? it’s from the PC library. don’t tell Charlie.
tonia–of course i did have you in mind….and, yes to that cup of tea.