Five books that are basically country and western songs

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Nicole Hill suggested five books that, like country and western songs, tell "stories of agony and ecstasy, soaring highs and mighty powerful lows, heartache and hard living," including:

The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain

Based on the romance and marriage of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, there’s no way this sordid tale could end up as anything but ache, passion, booze, and more and bigger ache. It may be set in Paris, but this window into the disintegration of a burning love is just a jukebox shy of a honky-tonk tearjerker straight out the mouth of Tammy Wynette.

Oh, it ain’t always glamourous to be the first wife/Especially when the man is Hemingway/He drinks all night and day/What is happiness anyway?/Who’s that woman in my bed—is this my life?

Learn about the other entries on the list.

The Paris Wife is also one of Wai Chee Dimock's five top books on Hemingway in Paris and made Kirkus Reviews list of the best historical fiction titles of 2011.

The Page 69 Test: The Paris Wife.

--Marshal Zeringue