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2 hrs agoLiked by Pandora Sykes

If you haven’t yet read Laurie Colwin’s Goodbye Without Leaving, I highly recommend it. It has a similar clarity as Another Marvellous Thing.

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This post omg! I read my name is Lucy Barton this month and absolutely fell in love! My copy of olive kitteridge arrived today! And happy all the time, have you read it? I did this summer and gave it 5 stars. It was so delightful. I’m glad you put the reissues on my radar. Going to be ordering family happiness and another marvelous thing. I love these slice of life observant heartfelt stories. They remind me I love life and people

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“Slice of life observant” = is a theme well-coined, I shall be returning to that!

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Reading your take on Elizabeth Strout and Laurie Colwin is like seeing the nuanced, intimate choreography of human connections put to page. You articulate that feeling of reading—a calm immersion, a trust in the author’s hands—as beautifully as Strout and Colwin weave the quiet truths of their characters. I think that's what makes both writers so remarkable: they capture the rhythm of ordinary lives with an unflinching gaze. Through Olive’s uncompromising insights and Colwin’s reverence for imperfect love, they give readers characters who feel raw and whole.

It's that balance they strike—a simultaneous comfort and challenge. The sense that you’re drifting on calm waters, yet aware of the complex undercurrents beneath, is rare and delicate. Your description of this "bodily sensation," where a book can bring the peace of a loch in Scotland or the thrill of a rollercoaster, is striking. It reminds us how certain books aren’t just read; they're felt, resonating deeply in ways we can't always explain.

Thank you for bringing that sensation to life through these words—like the writers you admire, you make it a tangible, shared experience.

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That’s a very beautifully written comment! Thank you

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I would like to read your writing, based on this beautifully written comment alone!

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Loved this, thank you Pandora. Goodness you can write! The way you have captured the reading experience was striking. Thank you. I’ve never read anything of Laurie Colvin’s, so excited to dive in.

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