Friday, December 6, 2013

Not Fiction Book Discussion Titles for 2014

In his National Book Award-winning The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, George Packer creates a montage of biographical sketches and cultural memes to describe the "unwinding" over the last three decades of the America most of us take for granted, "when the coil that held Americans together in its secure and sometimes stifling grip first gave way." In The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean, Philip Caputo recounts his epic journey across the United States, Airstream in tow, asking Americans "What holds us together?"

In our discussions in 2014, we will take a virtual road trip through American history and culture, reading some intriguing books on the topic published within the last year or two and contemplating what unites us and what threatens to divide us. Packer suggests that "The unwinding is nothing new. There have been unwindings every generation or two . . . Each decline brought renewal, each implosion released energy, out of each unwinding came a new cohesion. . . . In the unwinding, everything changes and nothing lasts, except for the voices, American voices . . . dreaming aloud late at night on a front porch as trucks rush by in the darkness."

We hope you will join us for the journey--see the titles and dates posted on the right side of this page.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Readalikes: If you enjoyed December's selection . . .

If you enjoyed The Dangerous Animals Club by Stephen Tobolowsky, then you might also enjoy Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin, which we read in 2010, and Bossypants by Tina Fey, which we read in 2012. Like The Dangerous Animals Club, both Born Standing Up and Bossypants are memoirs of how these actors discovered their passion for comedy and turned that passion into a successful career, written in their authors' signature comedic style.