Book Talk Tuesday: Just Breathe

I’ve been reading Susan Wiggs for about a year now but hadn’t yet caught Just Breathe.

After requesting it at the library, I finally had my hands on it.

Sarah Moon is a freelance cartoonist whose cartoon strip seems to echo her real life. Sarah’s husband is recently recovered from cancer. Their lives were so consumed by his illness that they forgot how to be themselves, how to be married, and how to be a couple.

Sarah moves back to her hometown in northern California but soon discovers she’s pregnant.

I enjoyed this one a lot. Sarah vividly remembers what it was like to be an outcast in high school. Her art combined with her unflinchingly honest take on high school life made her feel odd and like an outcast. She’s surprised when she reconnects to a few of her former classmates and learns that who you were as a teenager is not necessarily indicative of who you become as an adult.

I recommend this one and give it a thumbs up!

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Book Talk Tuesday: The Goodbye Quilt

I’ve been a Susan Wiggs fan for about a year now and I’ve read six or seven of her books. I’ve even reviewed several of them here. I enjoy sewing and knitting and quilting so when I saw The Goodbye Quilt I knew I wanted to read it.

It’s very different from Susan’s other books.

 

 

The Goodbye Quilt is a gentle story about a mom and her daughter driving across the country to deliver the daughter to her prestigious college.

Linda is a quilter working on a memory quilt for Molly’s dorm room. Both mother and daughter use the journey to work out some issues. Molly is in love and leaving her boyfriend under protest.

Linda gave up a college education and is firm that Molly not lose her opportunity.

The ending is satisfactory with an epilogue far into the future so the reader can see the results of all the decisions made on the pages of the book.

This is the kind of story that is easy to imagine was sparked by a real event. It’s also the kind of story that a previously unpublished writer would find impossible to sell.

Susan Wiggs fans will enjoy it. I wouldn’t recommend it as your first Susan Wiggs book. Start with one or three of the Lakeshore Chronicles,   then pick up The Goodbye Quilt.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite author who’s written an atypical book?

Off the top of my head, I can think of John Grisham and his sports books instead of the legal thrillers. Also James Patterson – a friend told me recently that she loved Suzanne’s Diary For Nicholas and she felt Patterson was better at writing romance than his usual stuff. Last week’s review mentioned Earlene Fowler and her quilting mysteries as well as her two stand alones.

Anyone else?

Book Talk Tuesday: Finding New Favorites

How do you find new authors?

I often find my newest favorites when a friend recommends a new-to-me writer.

That’s how I found Margaret Maron, Kristan Higgins, J.D. Robb, and Jodi Picoult.

Some I find all on my own. Agatha Christie, Claire Cook, Dick Francis, and Harlan Coban.

Several friends have been raving about Susan Wiggs so I’ve recently read three of hers. They’re very good and I enjoyed them.

But I didn’t flip for them as my friends did and it got me wondering why. She’s often marketed with other writers I enjoy, like Luanne Rice.

                               

 

I’ve come up some possibilities and I have to read a bit more of her to see if I’m right.

• Not enough humor. They’re straight women’s fiction and I like a little of the light side, a la Kristan Higgins or Kristin Billerbeck.
• I need to read some of her newer books. As I looked at her website, I noticed the three I’ve read any of her newest releases.
• No cute pets, like in Claire Cook’s novels.

I’ll get back to reading and let you know if I narrow it down.

In all likelihood though, I’m not reading her best, most recent work. I’ll fix that and post again.

Anyone love Susan Wiggs and have a recommendation of a newer book of hers to try?