Downtown Owl, Chuck Klosterman’s first novel, has been called a minor masterpiece in the genre we might call small-town quirkiana. Set in the non-descript town of Owl, North Dakota, the story treats us to Klosterman’s gift for creating ” a kind of perfect pitch for the way ordinary people talk.” We come to know the [...]
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It’s springtime and love is in the air, or in the case of this month’s book choice, love and hatred. Adam Ross’s powerful debut novel Mr. Peanut, examines these emotions in one scorching scene after another. David and Alice Pepin have been married for 13 years and David continually declares he has been in love with [...]
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This month’s First Wednesday read , The Little Disturbances of Man, by Grace Paley, let’s us dip into the short stories of “women and men at love.” Paley has been called a wonderful writer–merciless, fresh, comic and unladylike. “Disturbances,” first published in 1959, displays her deft and humorous touch. Whether writing about loving and bickering couples, angry [...]
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As the winter winds howl outside our doors, First Wednesday Book Group readers will be heating up in the desert while reading Finding Nouf, by Zoe Ferrari. This debut novel has been widely praised as a first rate literary mystery that offers a fascinating glimpse into Saudi Arabian Culture. The story centers on Nouf ash-Shrawi, a 16-year old girl [...]
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The December First Wednesday Book Group will explore the path to enlightenment as we journey with W. Somerset Maugham in his 1944 classic, The Razor’s Edge. Sometimes referred to as the prototypical hippie novel, it is the story of a young American named Larry Darrell, who abandons the privileged life and a materialistic fiancée, to [...]
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For the month of November, when many of us are planning to enjoy a significant feast, it seems appropriate that The First Wednesday Book Group will examine, In Defense of Food an Eater’s Manifesto, by Michael Pollan. He states in the introduction that his aim in writing this book is to help us reclaim our [...]
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Cormac McCarthy is often considered to be one of the greatest American novelists living today, and yet, the grim and violent nature of much of his work, has narrowed his reading audience. All the Pretty Horses, October’s First Wednesday Book Group choice, his sixth novel and 1992 National Book Award winner, opens the door to readers eager to [...]
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This September marks the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The First Wednesday Book Group will revisit this traumatic event through the writing of Jonathan Safran Foer, in his novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Readers will follow nine year old protagonist, Oskar Schell on his secret mission through New York to find the lock [...]
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July’s First Wednesday Book Group’s selection is the acclaimed novel Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson. Since its publication in 1980, this coming of age tale set in Fingerbone Idaho, has been hailed by reviewers as a profound, engaging narrative whose lyrical prose, quiet humor, and wisdom marked Robinson as one of the defining American writers of our [...]
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June’s First Wednesday selection, The King of Lies, by John Hart is a gripping page-turner with a Southern Gothic flair. The book opens with the discovery of the body of Ezra Pickens, evil and abusive father to attorney Jackson Workman Pickens, known to all as Work. Amidst the passion and the trauma, this mystery is also [...]
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