63 pages • 2 hours read
Anne TylerA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.
A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler, Knopf Doubleday, 2016
Like French Braid, Tyler focuses on a single family around one Baltimore home over four generations.
Selected Short Stories of John O’Hara, by John O’Hara, Modern Library, 2003
Like Tyler, O’Hara chronicles the lives of individuals in the northeastern corridor, tuning in on the social rules that guide their lives and following different generations of families; O’Hara’s keen ear for dialogue and unsparing honesty rivals Tyler’s.
Dorothy Parker's Complete Stories, Dorothy Parker, Penguin Classics, 2002
Like Tyler, Parker crossed literary genres, being known more as a poet and playwright than a fiction author; living a generation earlier than Tyler, Parker writes incisively and, humorously about the sort of characters one finds in Tyler’s books and stories.
No Family Is Perfect: A Guide to Embracing the Messy Reality, by Lucy Blake, Welbeck Publishing, 2022
A researcher, Blake provides an optimistic view of how to achieve realistic expectations of family members.
Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul, by Shaun McNiff, Shambhala, 2004
Not a how-to book about art but rather a therapist’s explanation of how art naturally unleashes the full spectrum of human potential.
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