Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Jami Attenberg!

-
Two of my favorite things about having a blog, even one I don't post to nearly often enough lately, are:

1. Having a record of my thoughts on books for the last (almost) 13 years.

2. Making all the rules

These two favorite things converge in My Hall of Fame. There are two ways to get into My Hall of Fame. First, write a book I love so much that it defies my rating scale and earns 6 stars out of 5. Second, write (at least) two books I rate 5 stars. (Because I make the rules, authors can be in the Hall of Fame for both reasons.)

Today, I'm thrilled to induct Jami Attenberg into My Hall of Fame! Yesterday, I had the pleasure of reading her latest novel, All This Could Be Yours, in a single day. The novel itself takes place in a single day, so it was fitting to spend a day with this dysfunctional family and Jami's gorgeous writing. All This Could Be Yours is the second Jami Attenberg book I've rated 5 stars. The first was All Grown Up, which was one of my favorite reads of 2017. I already considered Attenberg one of my favorite authors, and one whose next book I always eagerly anticipate. I'd been waiting to read All This Could Be Yours so I could savor it in a single day, near the holidays. But it's also to know there's a book by an author you love that you have yet to read. I do, I realize, still have her first three books to read, as I started with The Middlesteins. One of my 2020 reading resolutions is to read more of the backlists (and in some cases frontlists) of my list of favorite authors and Hall of Fame authors.

Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Jami Attenberg! I'm already eagerly awaiting your next book, but I'll try to patiently wait a few years while you write it.

Want to read Jami Attenberg? Buy her books from Amazon:

As an affiliate, I receive a small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you for helping to support my book habits that bring more content to this blog!

Comments

  1. raidergirl3December 23, 2019 at 6:03 PM

    Noted! I’m always excited to see a new addition to your HoF. I wish my library had her newest book, but there are 3 older books to investigate.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Happy reading!

Popular posts from this blog

book review: A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

-
Image
The backstory: A Dangerous Place  is the eleventh historical mystery featuring Maisie Dobbs. My reviews of the other eleven (plus Winspear's stand alone historical novel) are in my Book Review Database . The basics: Set four years after the last Maisie Dobbs novel, Leaving Everything Most Loved , in A Dangerous Place , we meet up with Maisie in Gibraltar in 1927 during the Spanish Civil War. She gets off her England-bound ship in Gibraltar because she's not quite ready to return. Note: this review contains spoilers about what happened in those four years of Maisie's life between books, all of which are revealed in this novel's first thirty pages.  My thoughts: Sunday I wrote about the Maisie Mail I received. These postcards appear in the book itself, along with many others. After setting the stage in Gibraltar in the opening pages (Maisie stumbles upon a dead body), Winspear recounts the last four years of Maisie's life in the form of postcards, letters, an...
Read more

book review: Run by Ann Patchett

-
Image
The backstory: After loving State of Wonder  ( my review ), I set out to read all of Ann Patchett's books. The basics: Run  is the story of the Doyle family: Bernard, an Irish Catholic ex-mayor of Boston, his deceased wife Bernadette, their adult son Sullivan, and their two adopted college ages sons, Tip and Teddy, who are biological brothers. My thoughts: I'm beginning to think Ann Patchett is my soul sister. Her writing reaches me deeply, and I've adored everything she's written. It was a special treat to read Run , the novel of hers I knew the least about going in. Although I had the framework of two of her novels and one memoir, I didn't know what to expect. Run  isn't as universally loved as some of her other works, so I was particularly curious to see how it measured up. Admittedly, Run  started off slowly for me. It took two chapters to really get into the heart of the story, but once it happened, I was hooked. One of the things I love most about ...
Read more

book review: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

-
Image
The backstory: Gilead  won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2004, and was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2006. The basics: As Rev. Ames nears the end of his life in the 1950's, he begins a letter to his young son because Ames realizes his son is too young to really know him. Gilead  is that letter. My thoughts: Gilead  is a novel I'm been meaning to read for years. It's a character-driven, Midwestern narrative by one of our best contemporary writers. It should be a novel I love, yet I struggled to finish it and admit I was wowed by neither the story nor the writing. Gilead  seemed almost stream-of-consciousness at first. I appreciated that Robinson jumped right in: this novel is a letter from father to son; the reader's ignorance of these two characters is not the focus. As the novel progressed, more details began to be filled in, and the reader begins to understand the characters, setting and purpose. I enjoyed the ...
Read more