177. The Book That Matters Most

Rating:  ☆☆☆

Recommended by:

Author:   Ann Hood

Genre:  Fiction, Romance

358 pages, published August 9, 2016

Reading Format:  Audio Book

 

Summary

After her 25 year marriage has fallen apart when her husband leaves her for another woman and with her two grown children pursuing their own lives outside of the country, Ava is at loose ends.  She joins a book group, looking for companionship and a place to get her moorings.  When Ava’s friend and the book group’s leader announces that the year’s theme is for each member to present the book that matters most to them, Ava rediscovers a book from her childhood that helped her through the untimely deaths of her sister and mother. Alternating with Ava’s story is that of her troubled daughter Maggie, who, living in Paris, descends into a destructive relationship with an older man.  Ava’s mission to find that book and its enigmatic author takes her on a quest that unravels the secrets of her past and offers her and Maggie the chance to remake their lives.

 

Quotes 

“It mattered most to me then because of where I was in my life. So in a way, there isn’t just one book that matters most, there might be several, or even a dozen.”

 

“When you read a book, and who you are when you read it, makes it matter or not.”

 

“Could a writer understand how her book had saved someone long ago, when the world was a fragile, scary place and the people she loved weren’t in it anymore? Could a writer understand that her book had mattered more than anything?”

 

“If you wait long enough, someone had told him once, you settle into being married.”

 

My Take

As a book lover, I was intrigued to listen to The Book That Matters Most.  In fact, the thing I liked most about this book was seeing what book was chosen by each character as mattering most in their lives.  I also loved To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, and Catcher in the Rye.  I haven’t read the other selections (Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina, Slaughter House Five, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), but am intrigued to do so after finishing The Book That Matters Most.  The other parts of the book that focus on Eva and her daughter were fine, but a bit clichéd.