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Mic Minneman's avatar

New to your sub, and I love this format. I also ran across some Peter Heller recs recently but also haven’t read him. Maybe it’s time to take the plunge - right after I finish Woodworking, which I am loving.

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Chrissie Whitley's avatar

And, thank you. 🥰

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Chrissie Whitley's avatar

That’s how I felt after gathering info for this post — maybe it’s time to take the plunge on Heller. And I’ve heard nothing but good things about Woodworking! 👏

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Lauren Flanagan's avatar

I have Celine and Winds of War on my unread shelves too! I recently picked up Winds at a used bookstore because one of the older members of my book club whose taste I trust highly recommended it. It's definitely a chonker though!

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Chrissie Whitley's avatar

It IS a chonker! But, it definitely comes with high acclaim and praise. So it must be worth it. I was so surprised at the tight timeline. It ends with the bombing of Pearl Harbor…so it’s just from late spring or so in 1939 to December 1941!

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Natalie A.'s avatar

I love this idea and will be eager to hear if it works (as far as helping you get through the books on your shelves). I also have The Girl He Used to Know on my shelf and am not sure why... it was before I started using tags on StoryGraph to remind me who/what recommended a book. I really enjoyed Eligible and also am a P&P superfan, so I hope you enjoy it too. I found it not too close a retelling, which tends to work best for me.

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Chrissie Whitley's avatar

Oh that's good to hear about Eligible! That works best for me, too... Kind of the same thing as the "live action" Disney adaptations — for the most part, if I can say all the lines with the "new" movie...it didn't need to be re-made.

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Catherine Gilmore's avatar

Look at you, trying to give your TBR a little love. Are you thinking a Substack post featuring them is going to silence their grumbles? Good luck.

I enjoyed Eligible, but it's not my favorite of her novels. Heller is hit or miss for me.

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Chrissie Whitley's avatar

No, I don’t think anything of the kind. My books don’t talk to me — so no grumbles. They just stare. But they’re patient, so I keep them around.

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LeAnne Hale's avatar

And you know you don’t want to read anything described in any way as a Hallmark movie. 😂

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Chrissie Whitley's avatar

Right?! Good grief...that phrase, which I only spotted when writing this up, gave me pause.

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LeAnne Hale's avatar

I read and enjoyed Celine a few years ago. I like but don’t love Peter Heller, but I do think he is a good writer and I greatly appreciated this older protagonist to his apparently based on his mother! I think you would enjoy it. And Curtis Sittenfeld is very hit or miss for me, but Eligible is one of her books I loved. I remember finding it charming and quite funny.

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Chrissie Whitley's avatar

I think the only Sittenfeld I've read was Rodham, but I own Romantic Comedy (yet another unread BOTM). But these either really work or they are too close to the source book to read...like I never could make it through Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, even though the concept was delightful.

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