Monday, April 10, 2017

suggestions, please?


I'm feeling bleary after a bad night, and going to Bakewell market later than my usual 8 a.m. because Boots doesn't open till 9 and Dave needs some Sudafed, so.... I thought I'd do a quick post and ask you a question.

Can you recommend a contemporary novel by a good writer that is a love story? I hesitate to say 'literary fiction' but I don't want something that is cheesy or commercial: I want beautiful, spare writing. Yes, I'm demanding. You already know this. But can you make some suggestions? Please?

A propos of nothing, the sky changed very rapidly this morning for the first hour that I was awake - here it is through my window at 6.20, 6.25 and 6.40 
(It rises further round now so I can no longer lean out of the south facing window and squirm round sideways to take it. I have to take it through my east window and through glass.)









11 comments:

lyn said...

Have you read any of Linda Gillard's novels? Her novels are romantic but there's also a lot of humour & more serious themes as well such as PTSD in Untying the Knot. I also loved House of Silence & The Glass Guardian. Often set in Scotland.

lyn said...

I think you're a Carol Shields fan, Sue, but Republic of Love is my favourite of her books. Rosy Thornton is another favourite. Her most romantic books are Tapestry of Love, Crossed Wires & More Than Love Letters (an epistolary novel). Sue Gee is also excellent. I especially liked Hours of the Night (about a poet's life in rural Wales), Mysteries of Glass (Victorian vicar falls unsuitably in love). Haven't read Letters from Prague but it's on my Kindle (Harriet goes back to Czechoslovakia to find her first love 20 years after they met during '68 revolution). Her new novel, Trio, sounds very good (1937. Young widower, history teacher, becomes involved with a group of musicians). It's been lovely trying to think of authors for you, it brings out all my readers adviser instincts! Off to bed now.

Sue Hepworth said...

Thank you so much for all these suggestions, Lyn. You're so helpful. I will follow them all up - get a sample on kindle and see which I want to buy. re Carol Shields - yes she is one of my favourite authors - I do like Republic of Love, but I like Happenstance even more.

Phoebe said...

What about Mothering Sunday? It doesn't exactly fill the bill but it's wonderful. Closer and also lovely is The Road to Lichfield; I think it's Penelope Lively's first novel. Another possibility is The Needle's Eye, an early, pre-political novel by Margaret Drabble. I remember being totally immersed in that one, mesmerized by the style and totally engaged by the characters.

Sue Hepworth said...

Thank you for these suggestions, Phoebe. I have read Mothering Sunday already. Also, years ago - the Drabble. But I haven't read the Lively and I do like her so I will check it out. Thank you!

Phoebe said...

Here's another: The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman. It's a gentle but not stupid book.

Sue Hepworth said...

Read it! We obviously have similar taste ....

Phoebe said...

...but maybe not in movies!

Sue Hepworth said...

Why do you say that?

Phoebe said...

My liking LaLa Land! But let's see, one of my all-time faves is Eric Rohmer's My Night at Maud's and of course I love The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, among with many others.

Sue Hepworth said...

Of course! Sorry! I forgot all about that. Funnily enough, I went to see A United Kingdom last night and my friend said " Did you see LaLaLand?" And then went on to say exactly what I had said on here - more or less. I don't know your fave film or anything about it. I'll look it up.