Tag Archives: Jonathan Tropper

‘One Last Thing Before I Go’ by Jonathan Tropper

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , , ,

Bravo! It’s as good as This is Where I Leave You.

I’ve read lots of Jonathan Tropper since I happened across This is Where I Leave You a year ago. It was a remarkable book – it had me laughing out loud and bawling my eyes out within the space of one page. The books I’ve read of Tropper’s since then have been terrific but lacked the emotional vulnerability of This is Where I Leave You. Until now. Tropper’s latest book, One Last Thing Before I Go, has it all – lots of laughs, plenty of tears and beautifully vivid characters.

One Last Thing Before I Go is the story of Drew Silver, a guy who has made the odd mistake in life – his fleeting fame as the drummer for a one-hit wonder rock band is nearly a decade behind him. He lives in the Versailles, an apartment building filled almost exclusively with divorced men like him, and makes a living playing in wedding bands. His ex-wife, Denise, is about to marry a guy Silver can’t quite bring himself to hate. And his Princeton-bound teenage daughter Casey has just confided in him that she’s pregnant—because Silver is the one she cares least about letting down. Continue reading →

Top Ten Tuesday – Top Ten Books on my Fall (Spring!) TBR List

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , ,

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new ‘top ten’ challenge is posted – anyone can join in. This week’s topic is ‘Top Ten Books On Your Fall *or in my case Spring* TBR List’.

I would love, love, love to list a whole bunch of brand new and ‘coming soon’ books but I’m sticking to my Mount TBR challenge and going with the following ten: Continue reading →

Top Ten Tuesday – ‘Lad Lit’ for readers who love Nick Hornby

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

lad-lit dick-lit

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new ‘top ten’ challenge is posted – anyone can join in. This week’s topic is a ‘read alike’ – in other words, pick a book and then suggest ten similar books that readers might also enjoy.

The book I have selected is Nick Hornby’s About a Boy. Hornby is perhaps the godfather of ‘lad lit’ (also known as ‘dick-lit’) – whilst I don’t ever imagine my husband would be tempted by my bookshelf full of Candace Bushnell, Sophie Kinsella and Jennifer Weiner, I often stray into ‘lad lit’ – basically they’re still stories about relationships (from a male perspective) and they’re usually very funny. So the same as chick-lit, without the hot pink cover!

If you haven’t read any Nick Hornby, start with that (and no, seeing the movie of About a Boy starring Hugh Grant doesn’t count). Here are ten more lad-lit titles to check out: Continue reading →

Top Ten Tuesday – Beach Reads

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly feature created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new ‘top ten’ challenge is posted. I haven’t participated until now but this week’s topic – Top 10 Books I’d Recommend As Great Beach Reads – reeled me in simply because I have a bit of checklist for beach reads.

Specifically, I like them to be light and easy-to-read (so that I can read a little, doze in the sun, read some more, have a swim…). That said, I don’t want complete trash! I want a book that is well written and with a decent plot (this rules out lots of chick-lit which you can pick up for a couple of dollars from the bargain bin at the newsagent of your holiday destination). So here’s my list (in no particular order) – Continue reading →

‘The First Husband’ by Laura Dave

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , , , ,

There’s a lot to say for another author’s testimonial on the jacket of a book. On the strength of Jonathan Tropper’s recommendation (that this book “Positively shines with wisdom and intelligence“), I picked up The First Husband by Laura Dave.

The First Husband is the story of Annie, a travel writer based in Los Angeles and happily ensconced in life with partner Nick, a film director who has just had his first major break. But there’s trouble ahead – Nick reunites with an old flame and dumps Annie. Annie, seemingly on the re-bound meets Griffin. And marries him. No surprises that Nick returns on the scene declaring he made a mistake letting Annie go.

You can probably guess exactly how this book ends (and you’re probably right). However that doesn’t stop The First Husband being a thoroughly enjoyable, light read. Continue reading →

Authors that tweet

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with , , , , ,

I recently came across an interesting article in the New York Times about why, or why not, authors tweet.

I unashamedly love Twitter. It’s my only foray into social media and I enjoy the pithiness, punchiness and bite-sized style of information. I follow a handful of authors – Jonathan Tropper, Judy Blume, Bret Easton Ellis, children’s author Oliver Jeffers, Jennifer Weiner, Maggie Alderson and a few more.

What do I expect out of following authors? Honestly, not that much! I like their insights and commentary on everyday and topical stuff – Maggie Alderson’s thoughts on ‘denim on denim’, Jennifer Weiner’s blow-by-blow descriptions of The Bachelor, Easton Ellis’s bizarre rantings and Judy Blume’s little snippets about life in Key West.

So I was interested to read why Jeffrey Eugenides, author of the recently released The Marriage Plot, was not a fan of social media –

“In “A Note From Jeffrey Eugenides to Readers,” he described his joy at meeting them, but concluded by saying he doesn’t know when or if he’ll post on the (Facebook) page again: “It’s better, I think, for readers not to communicate too directly with an author because the author is, strangely enough, beside the point.””

In contrast, author Mat Johnson’s take on Twitter is this –

“Twitter lets me hijack the promotion plane, sidestep the literary establishment and connect directly to my current and potential audience. . . . It’s a meritocracy; if you’re interesting, you get followed.”

Nice. I ought to start following you Mr Johnson.

Looking for authors to follow? Find lists of Twitter handles here, here and here.

‘The Book of Joe’ by Jonathan Tropper

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , ,

When I first read a book by Jonathan Tropper (This is Where I Leave You), I enjoyed it so much that I had to make a conscious effort not to race out and read everything he’d written in one go. Instead, I bought all of his books and have stretched out the reading joy, allowing myself one every few months. A weird kind of torture, yes, but necessary so that I don’t overload (I had an Elinor Lipman binge once and still regret it). So my pre-Christmas Tropper was The Book of Joe.

The Book of Joe is about a thirty-something guy, Joe Goffman, who writes a savage bestselling novel about his hometown, Bush Falls. After fifteen years of absence, he returns to Bush Falls and needless to say there’s no fanfare. Instead, Joe has to face some painful memories and repair broken relationships. Continue reading →