I'm so excited about our next book selection - The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra - a set of interconnected stories spanning generations from the Russian Revolution to modern day Chechnya. The characters and plot lines weave together, reverberate, and intensify into a gut wrenching final few chapters. It's been a long while since a book hit me like this one.
Through discussions and recommendations at previous Book Group meetings, many of you may have read Marra's excellent first novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, also set in Chechnya. For me, this was better and left me eager to re-read and discuss with others. Hence my "quick survey" email last week. Marra is a young writer of spectacular talent and at the top of his game in this fine collection.
Looking forward to a good meeting next Wednesday night in the Used Book Cellar. As always, if you plan to attend can you please shoot me a note to let me know so that I can get the room appropriately configured and provisioned. Thank you.Also in anticipation of our discussion, I'm attaching a link to a fun article from a year or so ago in which Jennifer Egan and George Saunders discuss writing styles.
I was touched by the overwhelming response to my "quick survey." I heard from almost everyone and many of you took the opportunity to write thoughtful supportive messages about the quality of the group and conversation. (A few of you also wrote about the quality of the whisky!) I'll announce the next book shortly, but I'm happy to have an excuse to re-read it and excited about sharing and discussing it with our Group.
Lastly, those of you who were reading and discussing author Yu Hua last summer may want to check out Mark Cecil's post To Live: Yu Hua's Brief Masterpiece on the Grub Street blog.
Not sure how much you all are looking forward to a Patriot-less Super Bowl weekend. But given this blustery Friday morning it's shaping up to be a great time to catch up on some reading. I should remind everyone that we are about half way to our next BBGG meeting for A Visit from the Goon Squad on Wednesday, February 24th at 7pm.
I'm off to a bit of a slow start myself, as I've been immersed in Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton,
an 800+ page tome that came out in 2004 and yet was a surprising best
seller for us over the holidays as a result of the smash Broadway
musical. Whenever I slow down in my reading I flip on the soundtrack for a new wave of inspiration to attack the book. If you don't know the story, check out this great New Yorker piece by Adam Gopnik about the Hip-Hop Case for Progressive Heroism and this amazing production.
Also in the New Yorker this week, a new George Saunders short story: Mother's Day. Enjoy your weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone soon.........
