Well, last week I asked our North Shore Reading Roundup readers what they do when they’re deep into a book and suddenly realize they’ve read it before. This week I’m wondering about the opposite problem. What do you do when a book simply won’t sprout? You water it with time, you give it a few more pages, you hope something takes root, yet nothing grows.
I heard from the Reading Farmer this week, a reader who doesn’t have time to fuss with long reviews but knows a healthy crop of good books when she sees one. She sent a small harvest of titles.
She says she likes anything by Kate Quinn, who is known for her historical fiction. I’ve read The Alice Network and agree with the Reading Farmer that the author “totally engages.” The story follows two women whose lives braid together across decades, one searching for answers and one carrying the weight of her past work as a spy. Quinn plants tension early and tends it carefully, and by the time the plot ripens, you’re already too invested to set it down.
I hadn’t heard of the other recommendations the Reading Farmer plucked to send my way. Two of them are by Karl Marlantes. Deep River is a sweeping Finnish American saga set in the Pacific Northwest. She called it a thick story that’s hard to put down, and that fits a novel built around family, logging camps, labor struggles, and the stubborn hope that keeps people pushing through hard seasons. Matterhorn takes readers into the Vietnam War. She warned me it’s a tougher read, but she still called it another page turner.
For something lighter, she pointed me toward Sipsworth by Simon Booy, an English novel she described as a super fun quickie with a happy message. She rounded out her list with The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston, an Australian novel with humor and a few life lessons tucked inside.
The Reading Farmer may not send long reviews, but she knows how to pick a good row to plant.
As for me, I finished rereading This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. I did consider not finishing it, since the story came back to me as I was reading, but I didn’t remember the end until I arrived there. It’s a story about four children on the run during the Great Depression, following the river toward whatever future might meet them, and the writing is steady and warm in that way Krueger does so well. Even on a second read, it felt like walking an old trail and noticing new stones underfoot.
I’m still thinking about This Tender Land and how a reread can feel familiar and surprising all at once. Next time we’ll talk about the book that has me slowed up again, unless it finally decides to take root. Until then, tell me what’s blooming, what’s wilting, and what you’re harvesting from your own reading fields.
Write to sarahwritesnsj@yahoo. com to tell me about all things books! What do you do when you can’t get into a novel? Do you give up? When? Twenty pages in? Fifty? What books are you reading now? Tell me whether your own reading rows look anything like the ones we walked through today. Can’t wait to hear from you! And always remember to ask your local bookstores for these titles and more.
