Good Reads & Views

The Whole Town’s Talking by Fannie Flagg
Fiction

What it’s about: When Swedish immigrant Lordor Nordstrom founded the Missouri town of Elmwood Springs, he set aside a beautiful parcel for the town cemetery. Over the course of more than a century, this novel tells the interconnected stories of Elmwood Springs’s inhabitants—later the inhabitants of the cemetery after they pass away.

Why you might like it: A book about the dead might sound macabre, but in Fannie Flagg’s capable hands it is endearing and funny: “I went to your funeral and sent you flowers.” “Thank you. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to reciprocate.”

Reviewers say: “Flagg does a clever job of tracking her clan of interconnected families through the decades...[She] doesn’t stray far from her winsome and winning formula: adorable town with a cute history, check. Quirky characters, check” (Kirkus).

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The Clergyman’s Wife by Molly Greely
Fiction

What it’s about: This gentle, thoughtful novel tells the story of Charlotte Collins, nee Lucas, from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.  If you read it, you may remember that after Elizabeth rejected the pompous Mr. Collins’s marriage proposal, her friend Charlotte accepted it for the security it offered. This book takes up Charlotte’s married life three years later. Charlotte does not feel love or even companionship with her husband, but not until she befriends Mr. Travis, one of the local farmers, does she start to appreciate how empty her life has been.

Why you might like it: The first-person narration takes the reader deep into Charlotte’s world, from restrained depictions of her marriage to evocative descriptions of the natural world. If you enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, this novel allows you to spend more time in the Austen universe. 

Reviewers say: "Austenites will appreciate her faithful depiction of favorite familiar characters while creating a new story for them" (Library Journal).

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Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Fiction 

What it’s about: Pride and Prejudice has been transported to modern-day Cincinnati!  Liz Bennet is a magazine editor and Fitzwilliam Darcy is a neurosurgeon in this hilarious retelling of Jane Austen’s classic. Level-headed Liz and sweet-tempered Jane come home from New York City after Mr. Bennet has a heart attack and find the family’s finances are in terrible shape.  Mrs. Bennet’s solution? Getting her oldest daughter married to an ER doctor who had appeared on a reality TV dating show.

Is it for you?  If you like character-driven stories with bantering dialog and witty narration, this book will keep you smiling, if not laughing out loud, all the way through.

Reviewers say: Sittenfeld’s “charming retelling is a delightful romp for not only Austen devotees but lovers of romantic comedies and sly satire, as well” (Booklist); “Sittenfeld's inclusion of a Bachelor-like reality show is a brilliant parallel to the scrutiny placed on characters in the neighborhood balls of Jane Austen's novels” (Library Reads).

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