Oh happy day! It's time for another batch of books to read together! We have another round of voting completed and we have another batch of great books to read together. The book for June 2024 is One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin. Feel free to read our book club books in any order that you choose and when you've finished reading, come back here and tell us what you think. Please label spoilers. We have a new trick for hiding spoilers. Type whatever you want and then highlight the spoiler portion and click the + button above and select Spoiler. If that doesn't work (seems to be funky on Macs) just highlight your text and change the color to white >>>This is a super secret spoiler alert!<<< like I did right there. Spoiler Friendship stories are the best Just a note, anyone is welcome to join in with our book club reading at any time and join in the discussion! The more the merrier! Happy reading!
Oops, I’ll have to read something else in June. I just finished this book, after picking it up from the library barely more than 24 hours ago. I didn’t even stay up past my bedtime. I love so much about this book, I think it’s one of the best I’ve ever read. I love the premise, I love the characters, I love how the stories unfold, and I love the surprises here and there. It made both laugh and cry. I wrote some thoughts about it in my journal so I will refer to that and participate in the discussion this summer as more people read it.
1000% agree! I listened to the audiobook & the two different narrators were SO GOOD. The last hour (not sure what chapters those would be...) I was ugly crying while doing laundry & house chores! Highly recommend the audio on this one!
Ok... I just finished this one and it was just okay for me. Funny that Amie said she loved the audio version, because that was the main thing I didn't like. Here's what I wrote on Goodreads: This book started out so strong, but seemed to falter about mid-way through. I think about 90% of what lost my interest was that I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator for Margot was an obviously old woman, which is appropriate for Margot, but she was so mush-mouthed in speech that it was hard to listen too. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I could have read it and imagined her voice instead. The story was good, but again, mostly Margot's story. I know Lenni was younger and didn't have as much of a story, but I would have liked to hear more about her life too. I felt like Margot's story took over the book and the more chapters dedicated to her, the less I felt the connection between her and Lenni. I LOVED Father Arthur. He was a gem! Overall a decent book... but I don't recommend the audio version!
Maybe you'll find a chance to read the paper version someday @Karen I agree it turned out to be more about Margot than Lenni but I don't remember being troubled by that. In my review on Storygraph I said it was one of the best books I ever read. In my journal I wondered if any passers by saw me tearful at the end. I might write more another time. I'm too tired to read through all my journal entries about it now.
It took me a long time to finish this book as this year was so stressful, I couldn't relax enough to read. I enjoyed it, the way the story was told through the process they created to document their 100 years. I love how it showcased how even a small life lived in a hospital can impact so many people. We all do.
I hate when life gets in the way of reading, but I totally get it. I've been there too! Glad you enjoyed it once you were able to read it. I thought the letters was a cool way to tell their stories too.
