I’d been in quite a slump lately, not liking anything and starting to wonder if it was me. Then I started Tiny Little Thing, my 3rd Beatriz Williams, and finally! I like something! I didn’t love it quite as much as A Certain Age but it’s good enough to make me want to read everything else she’s written. I’ll definitely read Along the Infinite Sea to finish up the Schuyler sisters series, but I think I’ll hold off on the rest for a while. Why? In case I ever need a surefire way out of a slump again, of course!
Other dependable authors I have on standby:
Elin Hilderbrand. Queen of the summer novel. Some are better than others but I always fall in love with her setting and characters and I feel like I’m right there. I’m dying to visit Nantucket in the summer someday and maybe even catch her on a run. I love that she’s doing a Christmas series now, because the only thing I love more than summer is Christmas.
Richard Yates. A couple years ago I read Revolutionary Road and decided to spend the summer reading all of his books. I did end up reading three others in my summer of Yates but then stopped so I could have more to look forward to someday. Really killer domestic dramas, have never been disappointed. Fun fact: Elaine’s dad on Seinfeld is based on Richard Yates.
Maeve Binchy. I haven’t read that many of hers but she’s always reliably good if not great. She has a pretty large body of work so I can always dip into the Maeve Binchy well if I need to. I feel the same way about Kate Morton.
Finally, one of my all time favorite authors, Anne Tyler. I read Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant when I was 13 and I’ve been an Anne Tyler fangirl ever since. Because I love her so much, I have read most of her books, but I’ve missed a couple along the way and I’ll get to them someday. I also really want to reread A Slipping-Down Life as an adult because that one always stuck with me. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant might still be my favorite but I also loved A Spool of Blue Thread and The Amateur Marriage and Ladder of Years and pretty much everything she’s ever written. John Irving once wrote that he was such a fan of Charles Dickens that he has kept one of his books unread, that he was saving it for last, as if he would be on his deathbed one day and able to request one final read. If I could choose my own last read, it would be an Anne Tyler.
