Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Year of Pleasures

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 6,306 ratings · 827 reviews

In this rich and deeply satisfying novel by the beloved author of The Art of Mending, and Open House, a resilient woman embarks upon an unforgettable journey of adventure, self-discovery, and renewal.

Betta Nolan moves to a small town after the death of her husband to try to begin anew. Pursuing a dream of a different kind of life, she is determined to find pleasure in her...more

Paperback, 206 pages

Published March 28th 2006 by Ballantine (first published 2005)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Best Women's Fiction Novels

22nd out of 324 books — 400 voters

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

Best Adult Female Friendship Books

57th out of 297 books — 495 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

May 08, 2008 E rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

For unknown reasons, probably just coincidence of book pile-up, I seem to have read several books about grief in the last few months. While this one is not characterized by any particular depth of insight or profundities, I found tears running down my face several times as the middle-aged protagonist learns to cope with the early days and months after her husband's death from cancer. The focus is on her decision to move to a new town and begin a new life, which she does very quickly after his de...more

5 likes · like · see review

Dec 02, 2007 Lain rated it 2 of 5 stars

Over the past few years, there have been some standouts dealing with women rediscovering themselves. Lolly Winston's "Good Grief" comes immediately to mind, as does Sue Monk Kidd's "The Mermaid Chair." Going back a bit further, Berg's own "Pull of the Moon" is a classic in its descriptive realism -- one of the author's many strengths.

Unfortunately, "Year of Pleasures" comes nowhere close to Berg's best. It is shallow, even with its topic -- the death of a spouse. It is unbelievable, even with i...more

10 likes · like · see review

Jun 25, 2008 JoAnn/QuAppelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book by Elizabeth Berg was lovely. It follows Betta, a 50-something widow, along her path of grief following the death of her beloved husband. The book, however, was a bit too "enchanted" for me....even though Betta was suffering from the loss of her husband, somehow things just fell into place too easily for her. Finding the perfect house the first day in a new town, and having friends rush to her aid after not corresponding with them for 30 years --these were things that were just too goo...more

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 09, 2007 Kate rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit

This was sort of a wimpy novel. Not bad. Not that good. I didn't hate it. It's a hallmark card of a book. Newly single woman makes a life for herself kind of a book. Not much tension. Not much deep insight. Just sort of blah, but a sweet blah. Twinkies are a sweet blah. So is "The Year of Pleasures."

7 likes · like · see review

Jul 26, 2009 Darlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

In spite of my wariness in the first few pages, this book captured me heart and soul. But before I continue, I need to add a note that I've been adding to my earlier 'first reads' reviews.

In reading other reviews AND going back over the directions, I see I'm supposed to state that this book was a gift from the author. I did place it on my 'first reads' shelf, but that probably isn't disclosure enough. I truly apologize and assure all that gift or not, it doesn't change my honest thoughts regardi...more In spite of my wariness in the first few pages, this book captured me heart and soul. But before I continue, I need to add a note that I've been adding to my earlier 'first reads' reviews.

In reading other reviews AND going back over the directions, I see I'm supposed to state that this book was a gift from the author. I did place it on my 'first reads' shelf, but that probably isn't disclosure enough. I truly apologize and assure all that gift or not, it doesn't change my honest thoughts regarding this book.

Elizabeth Berg does have a way of expressing YOUR feelings. In the first few pages, she describes death as a ride you’re not prepared for.

“Someone had to die first. It turned out to be John. Nothing more. Nothing less…In a way my situation reminded me of a little girl I’d once seen exiting a roller coaster at a state fair, all wide eyes and pale face and shaky knees. When her brother asked if she’d like to ride again, she said, ‘Not until I’m way readier.’ I felt myself trapped in line for a ride I was not nearly ready for…”

Occasionally, a scene feels almost awkward such as the man making change for the raspberry cone or the less familiar word (exophthalmic, somnambulating) seems out of place with its surroundings. Mostly though, Berg can make you feel.

I want to say this is a “light and easy read” but it’s hard when it FEELS much more. Highly recommended. Take a chance on it. As one of Ms. Berg’s characters states: “You have to keep taking risks or you die inside.”

What did I personally get out of this book?

1. An introduction to Elizabeth Berg (yes, this is my first Berg reading)

2. To appreciate what you have while you can
After John’s death, Betta is remembering a snowstorm that she frantically worried about his safety driving home. Calling him every few minutes to assure his safety, she was finally told to stop calling him, he’d see her when he got home. Relieved that he made it safely, she nevertheless snubs him the rest of the night.
“I’d wanted to punish him for being short with me when my only sin was concern. I should have watched a movie with him. Under a blanket. Eating popcorn for dinner. I should have uncorked the most expensive bottle of champagne we had and fling my arms around him. I hoped we never had to realize all the opportunities we missed in this life.”

3. That I WILL read more from this author! (less)

1 like · like · see review

Jul 07, 2009 Beth F. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: goodreads-first-reads, it-made-me-cry, 2009, general-fiction, tnbbc-summer-2009

Elizabeth Berg has a way with words, that’s for sure. Although I’m not entirely convinced that the appeal of her stories have universal draw for all women. I was 22 or 23 when I read Open House by Elizabeth Berg and I didn’t particularly care for it. I couldn’t identify with the main character and so the emotional aspect of the book fell flat for me.

After the passage of several years, my life at the time of reading my second Elizabeth Berg novel is dramatically different and I suspect that was...more Elizabeth Berg has a way with words, that’s for sure. Although I’m not entirely convinced that the appeal of her stories have universal draw for all women. I was 22 or 23 when I read Open House by Elizabeth Berg and I didn’t particularly care for it. I couldn’t identify with the main character and so the emotional aspect of the book fell flat for me.

After the passage of several years, my life at the time of reading my second Elizabeth Berg novel is dramatically different and I suspect that was a contributing factor in my higher rating this time around. However, I can’t justify giving this book anything above 3 stars because even though it made me cry and even though I intend to pass it on to an older woman now that I’m done with it (either my mom or my mother-in-law), it didn’t speak to me like it might speak to someone who was in a similar situation or similar demographic as the main character, the recently widowed Betta Nolan, age 55.

I am married, so I can imagine (to some extent) what it would be like to lose my husband to an unexpected illness. But I’m also a newlywed, married less than a year and I don’t want to imagine what it would be like to lose my husband. Since we’re both young and in good health, I have the luxury of ignoring those thoughts and what-ifs and of telling myself that the possibility of something like that happening is prayerfully still decades away. But the main character even admits at one point that becoming a widow at 55 is not the same as being widowed at 35 or 85. At 35 you could marry again. Those around you might even expect it. And at 85 there is comfort in knowing that it’s only temporary and your own death isn’t too terribly far off either.

One important aspect of this book that did catch my attention is the whole concept of women friends. When Betta got married, she lost touch with some of her best female friends and after his death, feels compelled to track them down and reconnect. They do, and it turns out to be a very, very good thing.

On several occasions, my mom has solicited advice to me on the importance of keeping female friends and making new female friends whenever the opportunity arises. They can be fun to be around when things are going okay and they can helpful in more ways than you can ever imagine when things aren’t okay. We’ve also discussed our own friendships with women who are in different age brackets than our own and reached the conclusion that 10-15 years in either direction, give or take, seems to be the best place to make true friends. Any more or less than that and you tend to end up with a friendship that is based more on becoming or having a mentor, which I’m not saying is a bad thing, but it is different than the kinship than can result from having a friend who is relatively close to your own age. The point being that this was how I felt while reading this book. The main character is 25 years older than I am and so reading this book I felt drawn to her in the way a daughter might feel drawn to a mother whereas there might be a bigger draw for a reader who feels connected to the main character as a friend to a another friend.

So not a bad book overall, but for me it definitely read like a Lifetime movie that was filmed for the benefit of somebody else. (less)

8 likes · like · see review

Mar 04, 2009 Jacqueline rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: womens-fiction, general-contemporary-fiction, first-reads, for-review, drr

Elizabeth Berg writes like she is your girlfriend and she is telling you the story about someone she knows and cares greatly about.

As with all of her books, they touch upon the real human side of life. Betta Nolan's husband dies and she is faced with the propect of living alone. She decides to drive until she finds a place where she would like to live and sell her house in Boston and move to the new property.

She does find this little town and decides to look for a place to stay. As she is look...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 07, 2008 Sue rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-general

From my blog:
I couldn't quite get into The Year of Pleasures, written by Elizabeth Berg, although the subject matter was important - how a woman begins life again after her husband unexpectedly dies.

This story was just too neat, and Bette Nolan's life during the year after her husband died just doesn't ring true to me. Nothing is so easy.

The book might be a good summer read, when one doesn't want to concentrate too much on anything. I would say it ranks very high under a list I would call roman...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 28, 2008 Holli rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book, could hardly put it down, but after it was over I did feel a little dissatisfied. The review below has some good points, the plot does wander a bit, but the story kept me interested. I enjoyed reading about their marriage, a marriage that was happy and fulfilling (like mine) and I could easily put myself in Betta’s place and experience what it would be like to grieve the loss of a soul mate. I liked the fact that she had all the money she needed, at least tha...more I really enjoyed reading this book, could hardly put it down, but after it was over I did feel a little dissatisfied. The review below has some good points, the plot does wander a bit, but the story kept me interested. I enjoyed reading about their marriage, a marriage that was happy and fulfilling (like mine) and I could easily put myself in Betta’s place and experience what it would be like to grieve the loss of a soul mate. I liked the fact that she had all the money she needed, at least that part of her life was in place. I liked the descriptions of her house and her domestic activities, baking and cooking, etc. I also enjoyed fantasizing about going to a shop like What A Woman Wants. It was a great summer time read. I also like the way Berg writes; she has a certain depth:

How are poets able to unzip what they see around them, calling forth a truer essence from behind a common fact? Why, reading a verse about a pear, do you see past the fruit in so transcendent a way? There are circumstances under which food is not just food—Jane Hirshfield, in her poem “Pillow,” calls a provolone sandwich just that. But this is always true about food, as it is always true about a thousand aspects of daily life that we do not, cannot, fully appreciate—there is only so much room inside, and we are a busy species. It takes the poets to make for a divine displacement. The poets and death. Before, cookbooks were interesting to me, comforting. Now they served as testimony to my own kind of faith. , p. 112.

In a grocery store, I’d once heard a woman who looked to be in her eighties say to her companion, “Every day I think I’m back in my thirties, and then every morning I get up and look in the mirror.” her companion, a woman at least as old as she, leaned over to grab her friend’s wrist and confide with a Parkinsonian tremble, “You know, I always say this: I still feel like a girl inside.” I’d looked at their bowed backs, their tight perms, the single-sized cans of baked beans in their carts, thinking, “Me too.” It seemed impossible that I was so far away from standing sleepily before my dresser drawer, pulling out white cotton underpants and a T-shirt, then dressing quickly and racing out the door without so much as a key to weigh me down. P. 123-124.

I love that. She says so much with that image of the girl and the white underwear! I also like the way she tells these little stories throughout the novel, seems so much like real life. Something reminds her of something she overheard or someone she knew and she tells the story and it makes such a beautiful connection and provides such depth and authenticity to the character.

From Publishers Weekly
The familiar protagonist of Berg's 13th novel (after The Art of Mending) is a Boston widow of several months, 55-year-old Betta Nolan, who fulfills her dying husband's dream of moving out to the Midwest and starting a new life. "It will give me peace to know that what you will do is exactly what we talked about," says John commandingly before dying of liver cancer; Betta, an author of children's books, sells their Beacon Hill brownstone and takes off, buying an oversized Victorian in the small town of Stewart, Ill., 49 miles from Chicago. Lonely, she finds herself tracking down three former college roommates from the late 1960s, Lorraine, Maddy and Susanna, whom she ditched once she met John. The women reappear one by one and help give her the courage to open a shop called What a Woman Wants (it'll sell "all different stuff that women loved. Beautiful things, but unusual too. Like antique birdcages with orchids growing in them"). Meanwhile, she begins to make friends in town, notably with attractive young handyman Matthew and natty oldster Tom Bartlett. Berg is a pro at putting together an affecting saga of interest to women of a certain age, yet here she seems to be writing in her sleep. There is little effort at cohesion—rather, a kind of serendipitous plot that goes every which way and a series of tentative, aborted romances. The impression readers will be left with is of a woman endlessly nurturing and rarely satisfied.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Apr 11, 2008 Janice Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book! It's about resilience, forgiveness and getting a second chance at happiness. It's about a woman in her 50's who looses her husband and best friend. Although I am lucky enough to still have my husband with me, I do know what it's like to have your world turned upside down and go from being a married couple to being alone. I could also relate to Betta's reluctance to accept help and support from family and friends at first, but then she begins to recognize God's hand in their co...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 11, 2008 Annie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This novel was a quick read for me but I really enjoyed it. The premise is simple; a middle aged woman, in order to keep a promise to her recently deceased husband, sells their home and moves to a small town in the midwest. The book tells of her grieving process, new friends she makes, old friends she reconnects with, and the possibilty and pleasures of life. The funny thing about this novel was that nothing drastic happens in the story, but the author made the main character and people around h...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 11, 2011 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jen by: Antof9

Shelves: a-gift

I can't decide how to categorize this book. I think I'd say it's chic lit-ish, but it's a bit different than your usual chic lit in that its pretty serious - the story of a woman who has lost her husband to cancer and is now trying to fulfill a promise to him in moving on with her life.

I appreciated the honest depiction of grief ... its complete irrationality and the way it can change from hour to hour. Elizabeth Berg chronicles all of it - the sadness and the despair, the happiness and the guil...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 31, 2011 Nicki M rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bestfriends, american, cancer, library-book, relationships, grief, new-life, elizabeth-berg

There is something really comforting about this book and in they way that the author has written this. I know its about death and new beginnings which is emotional, but its also like putting on your favourite snuggly clothes. I really like the way Elizabeth Berg describes the ordinariness of life in such a sumptuous way. I think I could read this book more than once and that I'd feel satisfied every time I read it. The characters and situations are so real and easy to like and get involved with....more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 04, 2013 Book Concierge rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: concierge, contemporary-fiction, library, strong-women, women-writers, audio

Book on CD narrated by Sandra Burr

After her husband dies, Betta Nolan sells their Boston home and moves to a small town in Illinois to begin a new phase in her life. It was something they two of them had talked about and when she happened on the Victorian she immediately fell in love with the place. Now she finds herself at loose ends. Starting over is much easier said than done and she is still grieving. Making new friends and reaching out to old friends she hasn’t seen in decades help her to a...more

like · see review

Dec 10, 2012 Zoya rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Zoya by: The author herself, after I'd read THE ART OF MENDING, which I'd come across by accident in the library, attracted by the title.

I borrowed this book from the library and love it enough that I'm going to buy my own copy. It contains so much wisdom with which I can relate that I wish to return to it for the lessons I kept unwrapping like sweet tissue covered chocolate. The author begins the book chronicling memories of a journey that evoke a trip I recently took to Europe and more specifically Cornwall (where I actually drove) this past summer, and her language made the scenery jump vibrantly off the page. The writing is s...more

like · see review

Aug 28, 2012 Lee Fullbright rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am big-time in love, and it’s been a while since I’ve felt this way.

For the longest time (since even before The Angry Woman Suite came out in March, and my husband’s death in May), I’ve been reading only magazines before falling asleep at night—no time for the commitments books require (and this from someone who at one point routinely read 4-5 books a week—geez, did I have no other life back then?).

And then a friend handed me a copy of Elizabeth Berg’s The Year of Pleasures (pub. 2005), and I’...more

like · see review

Jul 30, 2012 Athornton rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'd probably give this book 3 1/2 stars (which is way better than some of the other stuff that I have been reading lately)! I'm still not convinced that this is the best name for this book. The story revolves around a woman who has lost her husband to cancer, decides to sell their house (which they were discussing doing) and moves from Boston to the midwest. She randomly stops in a town in Illinois and decides to buy a large house there and rebuild her life. Having said that, "A Year of Pleasure...more

like · see review

Jun 30, 2012 Stacy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Betta Nolan is recently widowed and feeling alone in the world. With no family, her husband had been the center of her universe and now in her mid-fifties she is set to embark on an adventure. She sells her home in Boston and buys a large Victorian home in a small town outside of Chicago. She chose the town at random and bought the house on a whim and she has her weak moments where she thinks she has made a big mistake. Betta is still grieving and by making a few new friends and finding old ones...more

like · see review

Mar 16, 2012 Marie rated it 2 of 5 stars

A word of advice for recent newlyweds, or anyone in a relationship for that matter, who want to read this book: don't! It is beyond sad. 55 year old Betta Nolan's husband, John, recently passed away from cancer. Before he died she promised him she would do what they had always planned to do together, so she sells her house and moves to the Midwest where she begins to meet the locals. Berg writes so well about the grief one feels from missing a loved one and as a newlywed I felt so sad reading ab...more

like · see review

Feb 24, 2011 Susan O'Bryant rated it 5 of 5 stars

This exquisite novel was so well-crafted and beautifully written, filled with memorable characters. I found a lot of myself in the main character, Betta. She loves her husband deeply, almost too much if there is such a thing, as do I. They did not have children; neither do we (although that is still a hopeful possibility with us). One thing that Betta had that I do not is a group of friends from her college days with whom she lost touch, but reunited with later. I don't have a close-knit bunch o...more

like · see review

Apr 27, 2010 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Betta Nolan loses her beloved husband, John, to cancer. Betta and John were perfectly matched companions, neither finding the need to have many close friends. After John's death, she doesn't know quite what to do with herself. So, she decides to honor John's wish for her to go for one of their dreams without him: to live in a little midwest town. She sells their Boston brownstone and hits the road.

Betta stops at one of the first towns she comes too, and buys a house immediately. She realizes ho...more

like · see review

Apr 26, 2009 Nalana rated it 3 of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book from readinggroupguides.com. It also had a preview of her new book coming out next week.

I have never read a book about the grief of a widow on such a personal level. It was overall a good book - heartwrenching parts and other less believable parts. There were lines in the text that were worthy of writing down and refecting upon, especially for those of us who are not widows. Quotes about life, about living, about marriage; all well written and insigh...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 12, 2009 Ronnie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

Elizabeth Berg’s newest novel, The Year of Pleasures, finds its central character, Etta Nolan, devastated by the death of her husband. The two of them had been so devoted to each other, so compatible and so self-contained. “Complete unto yourselves,” in the words of Sheila, her neighbor, who found this off-putting. Unable to have children, Etta and John decided not to adopt, although they both loved children. She lost touch with her college roommates, from whom she had been inseparable, and had...more Elizabeth Berg’s newest novel, The Year of Pleasures, finds its central character, Etta Nolan, devastated by the death of her husband. The two of them had been so devoted to each other, so compatible and so self-contained. “Complete unto yourselves,” in the words of Sheila, her neighbor, who found this off-putting. Unable to have children, Etta and John decided not to adopt, although they both loved children. She lost touch with her college roommates, from whom she had been inseparable, and had no close friends other than her husband. No wonder she felt adrift.

What does she do? She follows the plan she and her husband had for their senior years – she sells their house in Boston which they loved, puts her possessions in storage, gets in her car, and drives to the mid-West looking for a small town in which to put down new roots. She finds a great house, just like the one she and her husband had dreamed of. She makes new friends of various ages and, amazingly, reconnects with her college roommates, who embrace and support their old friend despite the fact that she severed all ties with them after college.

But most of all, she finds the strength to embrace life anew, to grow and take risks, and create a new life for herself alone, relying on her friends, old and new and, more importantly, on herself. Despite its somber starting point of where-do-you-go-with-the-rest-of-your-life-when- you- most-significant-othe- is-gone, it is an optimistic and up-beat book. It is a fast and easy read, punctuated by tears and burst of recognition as Etta rediscovers her own strength.

Aside from Etta, who we see from numerous angles and in different situations as she reaches out to and responds to those she chances to meet in her new circumstances, the characters are only roughly sketched. This leaves it to us to fill in the blanks ourselves, making the story more personal and satisfying.

Though not a new theme, The Year of Pleasures is a satisfying book for women of a certain age who await a new phase in their own lives with some uncertainty yet hope their future brings the joy and satisfaction that Etta finds.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Apr 05, 2009 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Goodreads, and finished it two days after I got it. Really interesting tale of Betta Nolan, who upon the death of her husband takes off on the adventure they had always intended to do together.
Throughout the book you learn that her relationship with John was so incredibly insular that she lost touch with all of those who might have made a safety net around her. In this way, the book serves as a warning to those who do not push beyond the boundari...more

like · see review

Jun 04, 2009 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: goodreads-freebie

It must be admitted I had some good reasons to be predisposed to like this book. Firstly, I won the book in a Goodreads give away. What's not to love about a free book!? Then it came in the mail, and it was by Elizabeth Berg, an author I've actually met & conversed with, not to mention read & enjoyed previously. All that being said, I actually loved the book.

Sometimes, not often, you come across a book that seems to be all about your life. The protagonist is speaking with your inner voic...more It must be admitted I had some good reasons to be predisposed to like this book. Firstly, I won the book in a Goodreads give away. What's not to love about a free book!? Then it came in the mail, and it was by Elizabeth Berg, an author I've actually met & conversed with, not to mention read & enjoyed previously. All that being said, I actually loved the book.

Sometimes, not often, you come across a book that seems to be all about your life. The protagonist is speaking with your inner voice. This hasn't happened for me since Alice Hoffman's "Local Girls". Now there is this book about grief, the beginings of a new life, and rediscovering old friendships. The death of her husband is the starting point for "The Year of Pleasures" and follows the path that Betta Nolan takes honoring her husband's last wishes for her. It is one that requires her to leave behind all she's known and leads her forward to new relationships and back to friendships left behind.

Grief & it's many faces is a topic most of us are painfully familiar with. Berg doesn't touch a single wrong note describing Betta's internal struggle as she moves from the initial paralyzing grief to the realization, as life goes inexorably on, that our lost ones not only want us to go on, they want us to be happy. Okay, I wept. It all felt terribly familiar to me.

The part of the book I loved most, and wished there was more of, was Betta's rediscovery of old friends. I'm sure we've all had those friends that we thought would be there for all our lives, but don't have even the faintest idea where they are 20 years down the line. It was a singular joy to observe two of my best friends rediscovering each other after one's husband passed away. It was a conversation restarted as though they'd been together the day before. Simply beautiful and as effortless as Betta's reconnection with the women who were her friends in college. I certainly wanted to hear the details of Lorraine & Tom's double date.

Full of characters written cleanly & honestly & emotions that echo your own without the overwrought manipulation some authors resort to. This book was well worth the sunny afternoons on my patio, even if the neighbors must think I looked pretty strange with my beverage on one side & a pile of used Kleenex on the other.

(less)

like · see review

Apr 30, 2009 Ann rated it 1 of 5 stars

This was an okay book -- not terrible but not great either. A sort of "chick flick" kind of book. It was an easy read -- but very superficial -- although you do get involved with the main character -- a woman who is seeking to survive after her husband's death from cancer.

Her story seems somewhat implausible -- she moves across the country, finds a house to buy on her first day at the first little town she stops in, reconnects with her college friends she as had no contact with in over 30 years...more

like · see review

Apr 17, 2009 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

After reading a lot of what my high school English teacher called "beach trash," I was in the mood for something that would actually engage my brain. I found that with A Year of Pleasures. This is a wonderfully written book that I found very enjoyable to read. It was a pleasure to read Elizabeth Berg's exquisitely crafted sentences. Several times over the course of reading the book, I went back and re-read sentences simply because I thought that they were so nicely worded.

The story was also very...more

like · see review

May 06, 2011 Jean rated it 2 of 5 stars

Very disappointing -not the usual realistic, authentic writing that one normally enjoys from Elizabeth Berg. Betta Nolan is a grieving widow who moves to a small town because she promised her dying husband - who by all accounts seems to have been a saint from her description of him. She struggles to come to terms with his death as they were insanely in love (bearing in mind they are both middle-aged). Conveniently, a number of characters enter her life - a perfectly well behaved 10 year old boy...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 19, 2010 Mai rated it 3 of 5 stars

I would have given this one three-and-a-half stars if I could, I think. It was sweetly written, with well-balanced doses of happiness and sadness. For what it's worth, it's one of the few books I've been able to read since my dad's death (four-and-a-half years ago) that deals with the loss of a loved one in a way that was touching but neither offended me nor overwhelmed me with new feelings of loss.

The one thing that bothered me, just a little, but fairly consistently throughout the book is tha...more

like · see review

Apr 11, 2009 Robin rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who like women's fiction

Shelves: 2009-list, fiction

This is a book that I won from Goodreads but I didn't realize it when I received it in the mail until I saw the letter inside the book. Although it's a paperback edition of the novel, it doesn't look like it is because it's packaged as "Come home to Elizabeth Berg" which made me think it was excerpts from a few of her novels. It turns out that it contains the entire novel but also contains a preview of "Home Safe," her forthcoming novel. It's been a number of years since I've read fiction by Ber...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (18)

More editions...

Genres

Womens Fiction > Chick Lit

38 users

Book Club

15 users

Contemporary

13 users

Adult Fiction

12 users

Novels

10 users

Womens Fiction

9 users

Romance

7 users

Adult

7 users

Womens

5 users

Drama

5 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

The Baker's Apprentice
by Judi Hendricks
The Hot Flash Club
by Nancy Thayer
Step-Ball-Change
by Jeanne Ray
The Summer I Dared
by Barbara Delinsky
Eden Close
by Anita Shreve

About Elizabeth Berg

Elizabeth Berg is the New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including We Are All Welcome Here, The Year of Pleasures, The Art of Mending, Say When, True to Form, Never Change, and Open House, which was an Oprah’s Book Club selection in 2000. Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year, and Talk Before Sleep was short-listed for the ABBY Award in 1996. The w...more

More about Elizabeth Berg...

Books by Elizabeth Berg

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Year of Pleas...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from The Year of Pleasures

“There is love in holding and there is love in letting go.” — 169 people liked it

“Don't let your habits become handcuffs” — 54 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Year of Pleasures
avg rating	preview: The Year of Pleasures Goodreads rating: 3.66 (6306 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127395.The_Year_of_Pleasures?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320508530l/127395.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127395.The_Year_of_Pleasures?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg[/url]

The Year of Pleasures

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website