Book Clubs | Book Chatter

The Lonely Hearts Book Club
By Lucy Gilmore
Sourcebooks Casablanca, 9781728256214, March 2023, 368 pp.

The Short of It:

Probably my favorite book of the year. Books featuring other books win me over every time.

The Rest of It:

Sloane is naturally curious by nature which makes her an excellent librarian. As excellent as she is, she likes to keep to herself. She’s engaged to a successful chiropractor and their plans for the future seem promising.

Enter Arthur McLachlan. An old, crotchety patron who finds Sloane to be terribly insipid and boring. He dismisses everyone he meets and sends all the other librarians running for cover. Sloane’s love of books and reading encourages her to spew forth with banter that is not at all welcome. Or is it?

When Arthur’s regular visits to the library stop, Sloane grows worried and seeks his whereabouts. This leads to the introduction of many, wonderful characters. I won’t name them because you must meet them yourselves. As these people gather around Arthur, they all realize that although they do okay on their own, they are really meant to do life together, in community so a book club is formed.

It’s SO MUCH MORE than a book club. These are wonderful, flawed characters, all searching for love and friendship. It’s a feel good read and we all need those these days. Highly recommend.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. Books about books get me every time. You can thank me later.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

The Swimmers
By Julie Otsuka
Knopf, 9780593321331, February 2022, 192pp.

The Short of It:

This slim novel packs a punch.

The Rest of It:

When the story opens, we meet the swimmers. A group of people who frequent the community pool for laps, sometimes social interaction, but mostly as a form of therapy. The busyness of their lives comes to a halt once they submerge themselves in the water. All the noise of the world is drowned out and they are left with their thoughts as trivial as some of them may be.

As their routines unfold daily, Otsuka takes note of each detail. Almost in a checklist format. We learn about the rules of the pool and how some of the swimmers follow them religiously, and some not so much but never enough to lose their pool privileges because it’s clear that each of them value that time in the water.

The second half of the story focuses on a startling flaw that appears in the form of a crack, along the bottom of the pool. What does it mean? Is it just cosmetic? Will it grow larger? Does it represent a larger issue that could jeopardize their cherished swim time? As with most changes in routine, the appearance of this crack does not go over well.

In fact, we see how it affects these swimmers, specifically Alice who is suffering from dementia. Her time in the pool, and the regular interaction with the other swimmers is what holds her memory together but as soon as that is disrupted, her memory begins to slip away even more quickly. Her daughter relays to the reader her mother’s time in the Japanese internment camp and how bits of those memories float around untethered only to disappear all together.

The Swimmers is a little sad but also wonderful. Otsuka brings importance to every minute detail.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Chatting with friends about books and life…