Anne Tyler fans?

[SpikeWithoutASoul]

Just read my first Anne Tyler and absolutely loved it. It was her newest one, French Braid. Is it typical of her books? Can anyone recommend others I am likely to enjoy?

Anyone?

I love Anne Tyler. My personal favourites are Ladder of Years and A Patchwork Planet

Ladder of Years and Digging to America

I love Anne Tyler. I like her 'mid period' books best, my two favourites are Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant and A Patchwork Planet.

I also really liked Ladder of Years, Saint Maybe, Breathing Lessons, An Accidental Tourist.

She has written so many good books, you have lots more to enjoy!

Thanks all. Looks like Ladder of Years should be next up.

I love Anne Tyler. Back When We We’re Grown Ups, the Accidental Tourist, The Beginner’s Goodbye, A Patchwork Planet are some of my favourites. Even her novels I don’t love have some excellent passages that I will re-read.

P.S. I really liked French Braid too! ‘Redhead by the side of the road’ is another very good recent novel of hers.

I loved Clock Dance. I need to read more of her books.

Absolutely adore Anne Tyler, especially her early work.
Accidental Tourist, Breathing Lessons and Saint Maybe to name a few.

Of her many novels I didn’t especially warm to Vinegar Girl. It was written as part of a literary project to deliver contemporary versions of Shakespeare and as such I didn’t feel it was her true voice.

If you like Anne Tyler you might also like Carol Sheilds, Elizabeth Berg or Anita Shreve

A Spool of Blue Thread is brilliant.

I agree that if you enjoy Anne Tyler you’ll probably like Carol Shields.

Breathing Lessons, Ladder of Years and Patchwork Planet are three of my favourites.

The first book I read of hers was the Amateur Marriage and then I read everything else I could find, I came to an abrupt stop at The Blue Spool? Just couldn't get going with it
She is a fantastic author, lucky you having them all to read for the first time!

Really not worth the time spent reading it, so disappointed after seeing it recommended on the bookclub on TV .

Adding my vote for The Accidental Tourist (and watch the great film with William Hurt and Geena Davis).

I agree with the other recommendation. Ladder of Years is especially good: one I reread periodically.

You're in for a treat!

And yes to Carol Shields: every one a gem.

Never even heard of Carol Shields. TBR pile is growing!

She's a delight!

Her breakthrough novel was The Stone Diaries, which won a Pulitzer. Larry's Party, Happenstance, Republic of Love and Small Ceremonies followed, then her final - and magnificent - book, Unless.

Also, have you read The Shipping News by Annie Proulx? It's similarly wonderful.

I’ve just this minute ordered the Stone Diaries.

I actually got halfway through the Shipping News last month. A friend recommended it to me based on our shared love of Elisabeth Strout. It’s very unlike me to abandon a book, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

I love Anne Tyler and Unless by Carol Shields would make my all time Top 5. Something about that story will always stay with me, it's haunting.
I love Anne Patchett too and I think you might enjoy Kent Haruf. A lot of the Alice Hoffman books have a bit of magic in them but I think an Anne Tyler fan might like her writing.
I'd also recommend A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.
I couldn't get through The Shipping News either and Vinegar girl is the one Anne Tyler book I didn't enjoy.

Finished Ladder of Years. Loved the writing so much. Struggled with the ending. Now fifty pages into Breathing Lessons. Already the main character is plotting to leave her husband to start a new life and reminiscing about her past attraction to an elderly man in a care home! Are these themes in all her books or is it just a coincidence that I’ve started with two similar ones?

I can't remember reading an Anne Tyler book that I didn't enjoy at all, though I'm sure I enjoyed some books more than others. But I've realised that, as I started reading her books 34 years ago, some of them are long overdue for a reread. A couple of her early novels were hidden at the end of a long reading list for a course on America in the 1960s and 1970s, one of only a ridiculously small number of women on that list. I also remember going to see a film version of The Accidental Tourist at the cinema.

I agree with the recommendations of Ann Patchett, and scrolled down thinking I'd suggest her. Kent Haruf sadly only wrote a few novels before dying a few years ago aged 71, but the three I've read are beautiful. I'm still delaying reading the third book in his trilogy starting with Plainsong because I'm sure it will be wonderful but terribly sad.

Other writers you might enjoy include Alison Lurie and Lorrie Moore.

You've just picked similar ones. Try Patchwork Planet or Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant next. Or even Saint Maybe.

Love Anne Tyler - Digging to America is good

She's such a good writer, but , for me, she is surpassed by Elizabeth Strout.
My 2 favourites are St Maybe and Dinner at the Homeick Restaurant.

I love her style of writing and how you really engage with the characters. Prefer her earlier works my favourites being a slipping down life and celestial navigation

Ladder of Years is excellent but I also struggled with the ending. It actually made me mad the first time I read it. Tyler won the Pulitzer for Breathing Lessons but it's not one of my favorites. My top 5 Anne Tyler recommendations would be as follows:

1) Patchwork Planet
2) The Accidental Tourist
3) The Amateur Marriage
4) Ladder of Years
5) Digging to America

You can't really go wrong with any of her novels though. She's the best. Enjoy.