Book Club Blessings

April 14, 2012

I’d never read anything by Anna Quindlen before I started this month’s Book Club selection, Blessings. The novel is so beautifully written, I decided to do a little research on the author. Ms. Quindlen started her writing career as a journalist. Her nationally syndicated op-ed column for the New York Times, called "Public and Private," became only the third one in the paper’s history to be written by a woman. Her work has appeared in virtually every major newspaper and magazine in the country.

How did I miss this woman?! She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992! My only excuse is I’m more of a fiction reader and she’s been so busy in the journalism world that until 1995 that she only wrote a few novels in her spare time. But still…

Blessings is her fourth novel since she quit the newspaper biz. Almost every book she’s written has been made into a movie. Stars like Meryl Streep and Mary Tyler Moore have portrayed her characters. With the release of A Short Guide to a Happy Life in 2000, Quindlen became the first writer ever to have books appear on the fiction, nonfiction, and self-help New York Times Best Seller lists.

Blessings is the wonderful, heartwarming story of a baby left on a doorstep who transforms two strangers into a family. Don’t miss this author like I did. Check out a copy of Blessings and join us for Book Club on May 4th at 10 a.m.

Laura M.
Kearney Branch