Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett and Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts

I finished two books this week. One was literature and the other was pure escapism.

Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett was the book club book for the month. It engendered a very interesting discussion. Ann Patchett is the author of Bel Canto and several other books. Truth and Beauty is her story of her friendship with Lucy Grealy, the author of Autobiography of a Face.

The book is subtitled, "A Friendship" so I assumed it would paint a positive picture of friendship and would give me insight into what makes a good friendship. It did neither. None of the book club ladies liked the picture of Lucy painted in this book and in fact the lady next to me said that she found Ann Patchett to be passive aggressive. She thought this book was Patchett's way of getting back at Lucy. I agree.

I did enjoy reading Truth and Beauty for it picture of a codependent friendship. Patchett is a wonderful story teller. I found Truth and Beauty to be engaging.

While I was reading Truth and Beauty I decided I needed some escapism too. So I read Nora Robert's Chesapeake Blue. I think I like her books so much because I like the people in her books. They are pure fantasy but they are just real enough to draw you in and make you enjoy them.

Comments

[Claude]

1.

I too would have thought that anything subtitled 'a friendship' would deal with what a good friendship is. But I guess there's no knowing what goes through people's minds :D I guess I won't put that book on my reading list then!