A Spool of Blue Thread

This is about the Whitshank family, and I can't say much more than that as I found it quite an odd book about a slightly odd family!

THe family depicted seemed authentic but then i haven't really been around any of the types of people depicted in the book

I'm not a rereader. Once I've read a book, or watched a movie, I don't feel the need to revisit that experience. So it speaks to the magnitude of my love for Anne Tyler's writing and this story that I not only reread it, but that nearly a year after I first read it, I actually felt a deep desire to run to the library that very day just so I could get my hands on it once again as soon as possible. This sweeping novel follows several generations of the Whitshank family of Baltimore. The thing I love about this book, is that none of the characters are perfect, just like people aren't perfect in real life. One minute I found myself relating or even sympathizing with a character, only to be repulsed by them on the next page. Tyler has a knack for writing people, not just characters, but real people. And the house...the house is a character all its own. From its construction to its renovation to its openness and warmness, each Whitshank drama, or lack thereof, plays out around the kitchen table, the front porch, the kitchen, and the bedrooms of this home whose description is so lovely that I wanted to pack up and move in. Another thing I love about this book, that others might have a qualm with, is the lack of climax and dramatic tension. For the most part, this is a character study and a collection of stories comprised from three generations of a family that is just as close, distant, likable, misunderstood, messed up family as any other. The title is a fitting one, as you can follow the unspooling of blue thread from the decisions of one man down through the generations to his son, then his grandsons, and finally his great-grandsons. I highly recommend this to anyone who's looking for a great book to curl up with this fall.

I am not sure why I have not read everything Anne Tyler has written. She is such a keen observer and storyteller. This is about family and love. Well, just life in general. Simple things that make life good, simple things that can screw stuff up.

Another read that I just picked up through the library app that was thoroughly surprising and enjoyable. On the face of it, it might not be a book with huge plots, but it doesn't need to be. It is a fascinating navigation of a family, its history, its relationships, and the pivotal roles within them. In less skilled hands the book could have felt rambling and without purpose, but I absolutely adored it, and it was only when I was finished did I reflect that I've read books with similar "not much happening" (in terms of, no big plot twist or major event central to the story) that I decidedly did not enjoy. But I never felt as if I was waiting for an event, or a big twist, because the story centered on the events of several lives over three generations, and there is enough in the day to day and the small dramas there that you don't need something 'massive' to anchor interest. The book made me think more about my own relationship with family, and made me feel guilty that I haven't spoken to my grandmothers lately. So much of Abby's anxieties regarding her son could have been cleared up by just broaching the subject - by just picking up the phone - and it made me sad to think of all the fears and assumptions that might run wild, when you fail to 'use your words'. So I'd thorougly recommend this book. Even to my Grandmothers, who I should probably call today...

Som many people enjoyed this book, but I couldn’t find any sort of joy in reading this one , the whole premise or plot was missing to me and the character not enjoyable to read about.

Sigh. I'm such a sucker for Anne Tyler.