I love listening to Maureen Corrigan on NPR's Fresh Air when she reviews books. She does a wonderful job of describing a book, and I've found some great ones thanks to her. Recently, she discussed the books by Laurie Colwin, an author from the 1970's who I'd never heard of but whose books looked somewhat familiar to me.
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/24/365227833/decades-later-laurie-colwins-books-will-not-let-you-down
Coincidentally, BookBub had one of Colwin's books on sale a few weeks later so I grabbed it for my Kindle. Happy All the Time is a story about two young male long-time friends, Guido and Vincent, who are well educated, urban and a tad nerdy in an age that the word "nerdy" wasn't around. Through the course of the book, they meet and fall in love with two very difficult women, Holly and Misty. Both the women are aloof and distant while the two men are emotional and caring - an interesting twist on the typical stereotypes we usually see in books and in life.
The plot? Pretty nonexistent. They meet, they marry, life goes on. But we know these characters, their relationships and their many quirks. The writing is clean - no flowery stuff here. And even though this was written 30 years ago, it could have been written this year (with the exception of the non-stop smoking and the reference to public telephones). I'd like to try reading one of her books about food which Maureen also refers to and likes. - June
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