11 Comments
User's avatar
Clare Egan's avatar

Thanks so much for these suggestions. My TBR list just got even longer! :)

Expand full comment
Hoang Samuelson's avatar

You're welcome!

Expand full comment
Rita Fennell's avatar

Thanks for the list, like the sound of Trust and Counterfeit. I think you definitely read in the place you’re at. I used to love books where people bought a ramshackle house somewhere warm and made a go of life. In the end I did the same and now it feels kind of done and time to move onto something new, these two look a good place to start!

Expand full comment
Hoang Samuelson's avatar

Hi Rita, thanks for reading! (no pun intended). I appreciate your nice words. I think you might really enjoy Trust and Counterfeit. Both of those books had the kind of endings that makes you go "huh"- not necessarily shocking, per se, but make you think deeper about certain things, which it did for me!

Expand full comment
Rita Fennell's avatar

Thanks I’ll give them a try!

Expand full comment
Ruth Stroud's avatar

I haven’t kept track of numbers of books I’ve read, though I’ve listened to many as I walked, cleaned or cooked, including several of Marg’s recommendations (thanks, Marg!). Lessons in Chemistry, which I liked, was one. I enjoyed reading your list and your “blurbs” on each. It’s provocative to question how our reading reflects our own story. Some of my favorites are family sagas, often multigenerational with an immigrant twist linked to history, perhaps because I’m a child of immigrants too. I’m reading one now called Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg that is about an Italian mixed Jewish-Catholic family set in Turin against the backdrop of fascist Italy during World War 2. It closely mirrors the author’s own story, which is something that also strikes s nerve for me. Maybe we’re all searching for our own story when we read--or sometimes just an escape from it! 😅 Great topic, Hoang!

Expand full comment
Hoang Samuelson's avatar

You make a good point, Ruth. We tend to choose the kind of books that mirror our own story or fits the kind of story that we want to tell. I will have to check out the book you mentioned, as I'm also a fan of family sagas especially in historical fiction. Thanks!

Expand full comment
Marg Moon's avatar

Hi Hoang! Great post and especially your opening quote, which I agree with 100%

Thanks so much for the shout out, I really appreciate it. I'm looking forward to watching the TV series of Lessons in Chemistry. It will be interesting to see how it translates onto the screen.

I also love books about women defying the conventions of society, and especially books where women start over or reinvent themselves. I'm sure this says a lot about me :)

Expand full comment
Hoang Samuelson's avatar

No problem. Thanks for reading. I actually read a few books that you talked about, but Lessons was the best one out of all. I'm also excited to see how the book is represented on screen!

Expand full comment
Mark Isero's avatar

Wow, 64 books! Maybe it's time for me to take a year offline.

Expand full comment
Hoang Samuelson's avatar

You don’t need to do that, Mark! Unless you really want to 😂 many of the books I read were on audio, so I listened while doing things like driving or household chores. You can definitely get a lot of reading done this way!

Expand full comment