The Accidental Tourist
Tyler is a prolific, Pulitzer-winning author; The New York Times calls this one of her best. I've been meaning to read Anne Tyler for years, and when podcast guest Rebecca Smith (Jane Austen's 5x great niece) said she thought Tyler should be recommended reading for Jane Austen fans, I finally took the plunge. This was a favorite on a recent What Should I Read Next? episode. An enjoyable read that wasn't anything like I expected, and was relatable in surprising ways.
Publisher’s description:
“POIGNANT . . . FUNNY . . . THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST IS ONE OF HER BEST. . . . [TYLER] HAS NEVER BEEN STRONGER.”
–The New York Times
Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up-ends Macon’s insular world–and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life.
“BITTERSWEET . . . EVOCATIVE . . . It’s easy to forget this is the warm lull of fiction; you half-expect to run into her characters at the dry cleaners . . . Tyler [is] a writer of great compassion.”
–The Boston Globe
“Tyler has given us an endlessly diverting book whose strength gathers gradually to become a genuinely thrilling one.”
–Los Angeles Times
“A DELIGHT . . . A GRACEFUL COMIC NOVEL ABOUT GETTING THROUGH LIFE.”
–The Wall Street Journal