Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

I picked up Anne Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant yesterday afternoon - I couldn't put it down again until I finally reached the end at one in the morning.

Tyler doesn't just paint an intricate picture of each scene; she constructs a lovingly rendered three dimensional arena for you where all five senses are stimulated, like experiencing a lucid dream. And not one word of description or dialogue is superfluous. Every character was fully formed in my mind's eye with a few beautifully crafted sentences.

Those were my impressions as a reader. My feelings as a writer were mixed; on one hand I was both jealous and intimidated but on the other her writing spurred me on to improve mine, to strive to stimulate the senses and emote.

After all she's a writer's writer, nominated by both Roddy Doyle and Nick Hornby as 'the greatest novelist writing in English.' And when a novel not only comes alive in my imagination but also inspires me, I can't help but recommend it to everyone.