For our November Unabridged Book Club pick, we had so much fun reading this classic novel, Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (Amazon | Bookshop.org). We also shared our pairings including Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, and Fannie Flagg’s Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man. Sara, Jen, and Ashley all have different levels of experience with this classic novel, so it was super fun discussing our personal experiences with it!
Bookish Check-in
Ashley - T.J. Klune’s Under the Whispering Door (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Jen - Dexter Filkins’s The Forever War (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Sara - Andrea Bartz’s We Were Never Here (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Our Unabridged Book Club Pick
Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Our Pairings
Ashley - Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Jen - Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Sara - Fannie Flagg’s Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Mentioned in Episode
Anne of Green Gables adaptation (1985)
Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Brina Starler’s Anne of Manhattan (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Anne of Green Gables graphic novel (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Roald Dahl's Matilda (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Hena Khan's More to the Story (Amazon | Bookshop.org) - Don't miss episode 175 discussing Retellings of Classics!
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Bookish Check-in
Ashley was reading . . .
T.J. Klune’s Under the Whispering Door (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
"Welcome to Charon's Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.
"When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.
"And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.
"But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.
"Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home."
Jen was reading . . .
Dexter Filkins’s The Forever War (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
"The definitive account of America's conflict with Islamic fundamentalism and a searing exploration of its human costs—an instant classic of war reporting from the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. "Through the eyes of Dexter Filkins, a foreign correspondent for the New York Times, we witness the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, the aftermath of the attack on New York on September 11th, and the American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Filkins is the only American journalist to have reported on all these events, and his experiences are conveyed in a riveting narrative filled with unforgettable characters and astonishing scenes.
"Brilliant and fearless, The Forever War is not just about America's wars after 9/11, but about the nature of war itself."
Sara was reading . . .
Andrea Bartz’s We Were Never Here (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
"Emily is having the time of her life—she’s in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of the trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she brought back to their room attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking: The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year’s trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can’t believe it’s happened again—can lightning really strike twice?
"Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving headfirst into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their cover-ups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can Emily outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom—even her life?"
Our Unabridged Book Club Pick
Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
"Eleven-year-old Anne Shirley has never known a real home. Since her parents' deaths, she's bounced around to foster homes and orphanages. When she is sent by mistake to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert at the snug white farmhouse called Green Gables, she wants to stay forever. But Anne is not the sturdy boy Matthew and Marilla were expecting.
"She's a mischievous, talkative redheaded girl with a fierce temper, who tumbles into one scrape after another. Anne is not like anybody else, the Cuthberts agree; she is special, a girl with an enormous imagination. All she's ever wanted is to belong somewhere. And the longer she stays at Green Gables, the harder it is for anyone to imagine life without her."
Our Pairings
Ashley recommended . . .
Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
"It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.
"For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. 'I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.'"
Jen recommended . . .
Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
"Grown-up Meg, tomboyish Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. The four March sisters couldn't be more different. But with their father away at war, and their mother working to support the family, they have to rely on one another. Whether they're putting on a play, forming a secret society, or celebrating Christmas, there's one thing they can't help wondering: Will Father return home safely?"
Sara recommended . . .
Fannie Flagg’s Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
"In Fannie Flagg’s high-spirited first novel, we meet Daisy Fay Harper in the spring of 1952, where she’s 'not doing much except sitting around waiting for the sixth grade.' When she leaves Shell Beach, Mississippi, in September 1959, she is packed up and ready for the Miss America Pageant, vowing 'I won’t come back until I’m somebody.' But in our hearts she already is.
"Sassy and irreverent from the get-go, Daisy Fay takes us on a rollicking journey through her formative years on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. There, at The End of the Road of the South, the family malt shop freezer holds unspeakable things, society maven Mrs. Dot hosts Junior Debutante meetings and shares inspired thoughts for the week (such as 'sincerity is as valuable as radium'), and Daisy Fay’s Daddy hatches a quick-cash scheme that involves resurrecting his daughter from the dead in a carefully orchestrated miracle. Along the way, Daisy Fay does a lot of growing up, emerging as one of the most hilarious, appealing, and prized characters in modern fiction."
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