2008

Arlington Park

Our book group choice for October 2008 is Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk. Arlington Park, a modern-day English suburb very much like its American counterparts, is a place devoted to the profitable ordinariness of life. Amidst its leafy avenues and comfortable houses, its residents live out the dubious accomplishments of civilization: material prosperity, personal freedom, and moral indifference.

Arlington Park Read More »

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Our book group choice for September 2008 is What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. Equal parts training log, travelogue, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and takes us to places ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running Read More »

Mister Pip

Our book group choice in August 2008 is Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. On a copper-rich tropical island shattered by war, where the teachers have fled with most everyone else, only one white man chooses to stay behind: the eccentric Mr. Watts, object of much curiosity and scorn, who sweeps out the ruined schoolhouse and begins to read to the

Mister Pip Read More »

The Big Sleep

Our book choice for April 2008 is The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. Summoned to the home of the fabulously wealthy General Sternwood, cynical private investigator Philip Marlowe is hired to deal with a blackmailer shaking down the General’s sensuous, thumb-sucking daughter Carmen.

The Big Sleep Read More »