From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

Anything Is Possible (Amgash, #2)

Elizabeth Strout

Start date: June 15, 2019

Finish date: July 1, 2019

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Mary Anne

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Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
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What Members Thought

Jun 17, 2017 Barbara rated it it was amazing

Since Alice Munro isn't writing anymore, Elizabeth Strout has become my favorite contemporary practicing writer. Her seemingly simple writing hits me right in my solar plexus and I know exactly what she means and who these people are. This is a gifted expansion of My Name is Lucy Barton. ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Jun 17, 2019 Ruth rated it really liked it

I liked this book a lot. Strout is almost up there with Alice Munro.

However, it's been years since I read Lucy Barton. I wish I could have remembered more about that book when reading this. The other however, is that I kept getting the people in this book mixed up from one story to the other. I wish I'd thought to make a score card. Or that there had been one of those charts of who is who like they give you in monster novels like War and Peace. I think I'd have gotten a lot more out of it if th ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

May 04, 2017 Kate rated it really liked it

A nice follow-up to My Name is Lucy Barton with some familiar faces. Strout does an excellent job of saying a lot about the quiet moments in our lives.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 28, 2017 angeleen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley, favorites

"Anything is Possible" is a collection of interconnected, short stories related to Strout's previous book, "My Name is Lucy Barton". Strout is in the running for my favorite living author so I was very excited to read her latest book. I was not disappointed. Strout gives us more stories about characters we met or heard about in "My Name is Lucy Barton". She explores small town life, poverty, family, relationships, loneliness - her usual themes that I enjoy so much. The collection is artfully wri ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 25, 2017 Clifford rated it it was amazing

Shelves: novels, shortstorycollections

Some wonderfully creepy characters inhabit these pages. Strout is a fantastic writer and story teller.

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 09, 2017 Joyce rated it liked it

Shelves: 100-nyt-books, set-in-the-midwest

In the tradition of Olive Kitteridge, this is another tale told through stories that briefly connect to Lucy Barton, the subject of her last book. Sad, sweet, fascinating.

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May 24, 2017 Jennifer rated it really liked it

Strout is a master of interconnected short stories. Each story is tied to more than one of the other stories about the people in this small town. Beautiful writing.

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May 01, 2017 Sara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audios-owned

Beautifully observed and written, a volume of linked stories mostly about small-town, middle-aged characters that somehow survived their childhoods. Very dark. Really has churned me up, and I'm not sure how it's all going to shake out for me.

ETA: A month later, I'm bumping it up to five stars, because the book has stayed with me as the apex of fiction writing. Really well done. ...more

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