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Light Years
Light Years | James Salter
12 posts | 10 read | 29 to read
This exquisite, resonant novel by PEN/Faulkner winner James Salter is a brilliant portrait of a marriage by a contemporary American master. It is the story of Nedra and Viri, whose favored life is centered around dinners, ingenious games with their children, enviable friends, and near-perfect days passed skating on a frozen river or sunning on the beach. But even as he lingers over the surface of their marriage, Salter lets us see the fine cracks that are spreading through it, flaws that will eventually mar the lovely picture beyond repair. Seductive, witty, and elegantly nuanced, Light Years is a classic novel of an entire generation that discovered the limits of its own happinessand then felt compelled to destroy it.
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BittersweetBooks
Light Years | James Salter
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He was reaching that age, when the world becomes suddenly more beautiful, when it reveals itself in a special way...the world was opening itself, as if to allow, now that life was shortening, one long, passionate look, and all that had been withheld would finally be given 🌿🦋

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Blaire
Light Years | James Salter
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Pickpick

Nedra and Viri‘s marriage and lives told through a series of vignettes about dinners, parenting, conversations, friendships, and affairs. It follows the arc of their marriage. The sentences are some of the most perfect and evocative I‘ve ever read. I know I‘ll return to this book many times. It is full of underlines. One to savor.

Centique Beautiful review! 6y
BarbaraBB An all-time favourite for me ❤️ 6y
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Blaire @BarbaraBB I will definitely be reading more salter. There‘s a great Paris review write up on light years by Lahiri - one of my favorite authors - published after Salter‘s death. 6y
BarbaraBB Oh really? I like her too. But it is in French I guess? 6y
BarbaraBB Thank you, I am going to read it right now! 6y
Blaire @BarbaraBB enjoy! 6y
46 likes2 stack adds8 comments
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Blaire
Light Years | James Salter
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Sneaking in some early morning reading (but I hear my daughter stirring). The writing in this book is so gorgeous it is blowing me away! I ended up buying a hard copy so I can fill it with underlines. Some are simple, some are complex, but they are all so rich. “Life is weather. Life is meals.” “When she said good night her face seemed already washed as if in preparation.”

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Tamra
Light Years | James Salter
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Kindle Deal!

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Linds
Light Years | James Salter
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BarbaraBB I loved this book 😍 6y
Linds @BarbaraBB it was so excellent! I just checked A Sport and a Pastime out from the library to read next! 6y
4 likes2 comments
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Linds
Light Years | James Salter
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Life is weather. Life is meals.

Blaire I loved this quote as well. Such beautiful writing. 6y
7 likes1 comment
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BarbaraBB
Light Years | James Salter
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Architect Viri and the beautiful Nedra are the perfect couple. They have left NYC to live in a large Victorian house just outside the city. They live the life. Expensive wines and food, extravagant holidays, country dinners, huge birthday parties for the children, fabulous decorations and lavish presents for Christmas, extravagant Easter-egg hunts--until the marriage breaks up. #CantBuyMeLove

#HeyJune

Cinfhen I‘ve already stacked this but now I‘m eager to find it!!! Thanks for the reminder 💛 6y
ephemeralwaltz I've been meaning to read this one as well! 6y
67 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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ReadingEnvy
Light Years | James Salter
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Pickpick

I can't decide if I think this book is sad or hopeful, but definitely thought-provoking about marriage and identity as we age. I marked up a bunch of pages to revisit before writing a longer review in Goodreads but I know this is one I'll keep in my collection and revisit.

Well-ReadNeck Oooh, sounds intriguing! Stacking!!! 8y
Ericmanciniwriter I really liked his newer book "All that Is" 8y
ReadingEnvy @Eamann I will look for it! 8y
50 likes5 stack adds3 comments
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ReadingEnvy
Light Years | James Salter
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Lindy Does anyone have an ordinary life? I love stories that illuminate the beauty in seemingly ordinary lives. 8y
ReadingEnvy @Lindy I do too! In this one the wife in the marriage makes huge changes in her life because of this fear. 8y
Lindy @ReadingEnvy I keep meaning to give James Salter another chance. I gave up on All That Is mostly because I was in the wrong mood. 8y
ReadingEnvy @Lindy I only recently even heard of him. I had been trying to read this before bed and feeling like it was nothing. I'm finding I'm more invested in the light of day, but still find it to be rather fragmented. 8y
AThousandLives87 This sounds like an interesting story! 8y
44 likes5 comments
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ReadingEnvy
Light Years | James Salter
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Thanksgiving Eve morning - husband still has to work so I have a quiet day. Listening to Spotify, baking my annual cranberry but bread, and trying to finish these two books I feel I've been reading forever.

RealLifeReading Sounds like a good morning! 8y
ReadingEnvy @RealLifeReading bliss 🌟🌟 8y
48 likes2 comments
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squarepeginroundhole
Light Years | James Salter
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Pickpick

#recommendsday I absolutely loved this book when I read it a few years ago before he died. The writing is beautiful. On a sentence to sentence level, this book is one of the tops. The funny thing is that this is the only book I like of his. I've tried some others and couldn't get into them for some reason or other. Stylistically this seems to be the standout for me.

mauveandrosysky I read A Sport and a Pastime recently and wasn't crazy about it, but I've been meaning to give him another chance. Sounds like this will be the one! 8y
squarepeginroundhole @mauveandrosysky Me too. I have copy of Sport and couldn't even make it quarter way. This one is very different IMO, much more mature writing. 8y
squarepeginroundhole @Skiles I haven't tried that one. I may give it a go. Thx. 8y
34 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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Gulfsidemusing
Light Years | James Salter
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Reading James Salter. Finally!

SharonGoforth Love your pic! 8y
squarepeginroundhole I absolutely loved this book. I hope u enjoy it too. Looking forward to your review. 8y
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Gulfsidemusing @squarepeginroundhole The gorgeous writing struck me immediately! Not sure where the story is going yet, but enjoying the ride. 8y
LeahBergen I love the Morgan Library 😃 8y
Gulfsidemusing @LeahBergen So do I! Was there last year for the Hemingway exhibit. 8y
39 likes1 stack add6 comments