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Diane Joy Charney's avatar

Many thanks to Kathy for inviting me to write my first ever guest post and to my husband for encouraging me to follow through. I am grateful for this opportunity and proud to have done it. It feels especially lovely for this piece to have appeared on Thanksgiving. Like Margaret Renkl’s column for the New York Times, Kathy’s Substack brings food for thought every week. I am in awe of the discipline and talent it takes to produce such rich work as this.

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Kathy Leonard Czepiel's avatar

Thank YOU, Diane! Your post was perfect, and I love that you gave everyone a question to think about, too. (Apologies if I made it sound like my question in the edit--it was yours!!) I've been trying to think about the last book that made me cry. It was probably Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

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David Nash's avatar

I just finished Foster by Claire Keegan it evoked the same feelings as Stoner by John Williams but more acutely.

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Kathy Leonard Czepiel's avatar

LOVE that story!

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Lauren Flanagan's avatar

A writer I'm grateful to for making me cry is Cormac McCarthy. The ending of The Road undid me.

I just finished I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell and it was brilliant. It didn't quite make me cry, but I got close. I'm looking forward to trying her fiction now.

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Kathy Leonard Czepiel's avatar

The Road is in my big TBR pile. But do I want to be undone?

We've just been commenting on Maggie O'Farrell's brilliance in another recent post.

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Lauren Flanagan's avatar

It is definitely dark but I'm biased and would say yes! (It's in my top 10)

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Kathy Leonard Czepiel's avatar

Wow, that's a convincing endorsement!

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