Tom Lake

By Ann Patchett,

Book cover of Tom Lake

Book description

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER * THE NO. 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A REESE WITHERSPOON AND BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK 'A new Ann Patchett novel is always cause for celebration ... and Tom Lake is one of her best' i 'This comforting summer read has it all…

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Why read it?

30 authors picked Tom Lake as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I loved Meryl Streep’s narration. I’m not sure I’d have liked the book otherwise.

I have loved every book by Ann Patchett that I have ever read from Bel Canto to State of Wonder to the Dutch House. She is such a gifted writer whose plots are always intriguing and full of twists and turns. Tom Lake was of the same high quality, yet wholly fresh and distinct from Patchett's other works, especially in terms of the interesting settings. I love the way she uses humor in her writing and little moments of affection between characters. The bond between the mother Laura and her three daughters is richly drawn and totally believable. Furthermore, it…

This quiet book made a big impression, bringing me back to the early days of the pandemic and the ways it brought my family together for precious time with one another, and how this wonderful aspect contrasted with the terrible repercussions of the virus for the world. I loved the flipping back and forth from present to past as the plot unfolded, and the window into the mother-daughter relationship. And the voice narration by Meryl Streep in the audiobook was the most delicious treat,

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Book cover of Paper Dolls

Paper Dolls by Robert Tucker,

Paper Dolls is the memoir of a girl who becomes a young woman in a passionate search for an enduring friendship. Deprived of her older sister, Tess Vanderveer, by the neediness of an Irish ghetto girl, Dove Delaney, Gwen also loses the friendship of Millie Dietz, the beautiful daughter of…

A story steeped in contentment, Tom Lake is like a pleasurable summer walk filled with frequent stops to admire the beauty. The novel is in fact set in a cherry orchard where a mother gives her Covid-bound adult daughters all the details of her long-ago romance with a famous Hollywood actor. Gorgeous and poignant, like daily life can be if given a chance.

The portrait of a family, in all its messy beauty, working together as they hear their mother's history. Simply unforgettable.

I started reading Tom Lake at a writing residency and it quickly became an important part of my morning routine. I've read most of Ann Patchett's novels, and this was my absolute favorite. The combination of the close ties between a mother and her daughters on a cherry farm during the COVID-19 pandemic and the memories of the main character, Lara's, found family during a production of "Our Town" might seem treacly at first, but this novel confronts real problems, from the future of raising children during a changing climate to the capriciousness of memory, and the love that can…

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Book cover of Rooted in Sunrise

Rooted in Sunrise by Beth Dotson Brown,

Ava Winston likes her life of routine in Lexington, Kentucky. Then a tornado blows it away. Ava is safe in the basement, but when she emerges, only one corner of her home stands. Rather than crumbling under the loss, she feels a load lifted. Maybe something beyond the familiar is…

I will read anything by Ann Patchett, but this was a sublime read. The family who hovers over the story and the story of a long ago love affair, and the melding of Our Town into the whole sensibility of the American vision, was a total delight.

While everyone is housebound by Covid, Lara explains (with redactions) to her three daughters the summer she spent as an aspiring actress in summer stock at Tom lake, and the mad actor and future movie star who was her boyfriend. A wonderful exploration of what makes love, and what doesn't, as lara's daughters piece together the people their parents were before their birth.
It will compel any reader to wonder what their own children think of their lives before those children's existence, and how wrong they may be about it all.

Ultimately, it's the rich characters and the way they relate as a family that draws me in, as always.

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Book cover of Shearwater Storm

Shearwater Storm by Arthur Winer,

Charlotte Rose’s quiet life on a remote island is forever changed the day Michael Cordero, injured and bleeding, steers his ketch, Shearwater, into her cove. Charlotte tends to Michael’s wounds, using the skills she’s learned caring for her husband and son, who are away fishing for salmon. As Michael recovers,…

This book hit a few nerves about how our past doesn't always carry us it to the future. It's a story about youth and naiveté and then the well measured switch into adulthood and parenting.

Meryl Streep was the reader and at no time could I hear her voice. Her gift to become others was incredible and always had the ability to lead me to whatever place or emotion was intended.

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Book cover of Paper Dolls

Paper Dolls by Robert Tucker,

Paper Dolls is the memoir of a girl who becomes a young woman in a passionate search for an enduring friendship. Deprived of her older sister, Tess Vanderveer, by the neediness of an Irish ghetto girl, Dove Delaney, Gwen also loses the friendship of Millie Dietz, the beautiful daughter of…

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