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By: QUEEN 003
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2025-04-16 10:02:03 |
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Our group was unanimous that Ann Patchett's writing is a joy. Her facility with the English language and the originality of her turn of phrase are beyond admirable. This collection of memoirs and speeches is, in a way, quite random, but together the stories, told so beautifully, create a lovely view of life, friendship, families, love and, very touchingly, death. We have all shared our copies of other Ann Patchett books from our own bookshelves. Can't get enough of her. |
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By: WHITBY 002
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2025-03-12 10:03:22 |
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Not being short story fans, we did not expect much from this book but we all loved it. Ann Patchett is one of our favourite authors and we enjoy her writing. Each essay revealed a lot about the author ands led to a great discussion on friendship and family relationships. Highly recommended. |
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By: CHCH 037
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2025-01-15 10:26:32 |
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We definitely recommend this book. It's very well-written with affecting reflections on life and relationships which led to interesting group discussions on writing, publishing, family and friends, the nature of friendship and life choices. |
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By: WHAKA 003
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2024-11-21 11:52:43 |
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This book was universally loved by our readers. Different chapters (essays) resonated with members individually. Ann Patchett is one of the great writers of our time. |
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By: CHCH 064
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2024-08-07 10:15:01 |
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Mixed reception - very insular writing but some stories touched some of us. Questions were very good, especially the discussion of death. |
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By: KATIK 010
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2024-06-17 11:47:32 |
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All loved this. Essay collection good to dip in and out of. Lots to think about and discuss. Treasuring these precious days we have. |
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By: AUCK 038
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2024-06-10 10:11:15 |
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Loved this collection of essays, especially the first one about Ann's father, also the final ones! |
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By: NELS 023
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2024-03-06 09:54:09 |
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We all loved this book and admired the way the author shared personal stories and thoughts so generously. Those people who were not familiar with her writing are now avid fans. |
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By: NAP 011
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2023-10-27 20:19:11 |
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This book received mixed reviews from being absolutely loved by 2 members (so much so that one member purchased the book to gift to friends) to being mildly enjoyed by the majority of the group. Robust discussion about which essays were the most interesting. Some members enjoyed randomly selecting essays to read anywhere in the book rather than the usual process of starting at the beginning! |
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By: NGARB 001
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2023-10-19 14:41:33 |
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Most of these short stories resonated in some way with our members and invoked some interesting discussion. |
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By: WELL 130
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2023-09-13 12:49:21 |
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We all really enjoyed these essays. Ann is an open and talented author. |
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By: AUCK 234
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2023-09-13 12:47:53 |
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Didn't particularly enjoy it. |
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By: AUCK 014
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2023-08-16 16:02:30 |
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All appreciated the book for the quality of the writing and how the essays revealed Ann Patchett, the person as well as the writer. Some delightful characters were described and some deeply personal observations were made, of herself and others. However, some found the writing a bit dull and repetitive, preferring a narrative style rather than disconnected essays. |
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By: CHCH 052
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2023-08-16 12:14:16 |
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Delightful insight into Ann's life, and what/whom she holds dear. |
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By: WHANG 018
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2023-08-03 11:36:58 |
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Most enjoyed the book - the fact that it was written as short stories was enjoyed. |
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By: DUNED 015
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2023-06-19 12:06:57 |
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All but one of us loved this book unreservedly. The one member thought Ann Patchett was rather exploitative of others in her writing about them. |
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By: AUCK 224
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2023-06-13 20:25:23 |
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This was a real love-it / hate-it book. Where some members appreciated the honesty of the various essays, others felt that Ann was showing how wonderful she was. The different styles of essays/stories made it confusing to understand the style/view-points that were being expressed. It did go some way to explaining how Ann works on her novels and the extents she went to with her research. |
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By: NELS 048
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2023-04-24 14:04:42 |
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We loved this book, and the discussion it stimulated was important and relevant to our group of "older" women. |
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By: AUCK 105
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2023-04-20 14:55:09 |
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Two or three of us were not keen on reading a collection of writings and preferred - especially for discussion purpose - a complete novel or non-fiction book. We all however liked and admired the author for her humility, openness and amazing kindness. She is an inspiration. |
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By: WARK 003
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2023-04-19 14:39:25 |
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Although none of us enjoyed it, we had a very good discussion, and thought the questions were very adept in provoking it. We thought that although most of the essays seemed to be about various people, the underlying theme was herself, "See what a kind, generous person I am". A disappointment, as most of us like her novels. |
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By: AUCK 037
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2023-04-03 10:47:17 |
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Because it was a collection of memoir and essay style pieces we had lots of topics which led to an energetic discussion. We got to know Ann Patchett the wife, friend, writer, shopper, declutterer, daughter and the one that members liked most 'There are no children here'. Recommended by our group. |
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By: CHCH 054
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2023-03-13 12:14:05 |
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We all enjoyed it and finished it! |
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By: HOKITIK 004
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2022-11-01 21:48:36 |
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Some of us have read Ann Patchett and love her writing style. In this book we enjoyed how she takes simple life stories and leaves us with a new perspective or emotion as well as a connection to her through her detailed and varied relationships. Funny, serious, some found it not engaging enough, others appreciated each short essay that could be read in a sitting. But we all came away realising, once again, that our relationships with others are most precious. |
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