January Book Group E-mail: Book Group Night & Hot Paperback Titles

Parrot & Olivier in America
by Peter Carey

Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize and a finalist for the National Book Award, Peter Carey's Parrot, a poor Englishman, and Olivier, a French aristocrat based on Alexis de Tocqueville, form an unlikely friendship when they flee to the New World. The stark differences in the pair's upbringing forms an ideal backdrop to Carey's story about the early years of the American democratic experiment in this funny, provoking novel from a master storyteller.

La's Orchestra Saves the World
by Alexander McCall Smith

La's perfect life falls apart: first, her marriage, then, unexpected widowhood and finally, the outset of World War II. Taking solace in an ancestral home in the English countryside, La finds purpose in her wartime efforts, the routines of rural life and conducting an amateur orchestra. An intimate look at the generational and social changes affecting women, many of whom were suddenly independent for the first time in their lives, Alexander McCall Smith's stand-alone novel is a celebration of bravery in difficult times and the small comforts and pleasures of life.

Bloodroot
by Amy Greene

A wild and mysterious girl, orphan Myra Lamb grew up with her bewitched grandmother on the remote Bloodroot Mountain. When she falls for the alcoholic and abusive John Odom, whose attempts to tear Myra from her earthbound heritage end with her twins in foster homes, Myra returns to seek the comfort of her grandmother's secretive powers. An Appalachian epic told through a myriad of voices, Greene captures the dialect of the Smoky Mountains and the vividness of broken lives with visceral allure.

The Imperfectionists
by Tom Rachman

Tom Rachman's debut novel, set in Rome, follows the mixed-up lives of ex-pat American journalists working for an English-language newspaper. Each chapter is told by a different reporter or editor; each voice is distinct, arresting, and cleverly observes the foibles and follies of the human condition. As the journalists battle the changing landscape of news in the modern era, Rachman unites their search for meaning in the fissures of everyday life with emotional truth and marvelous prose.

The Way Home
by George Pelecanos

The trust and hope of a father for his son is tested in this compelling thriller about love and forgiveness. Chris Flynn is trying to get his life back together after years of drug abuse and a stint in juvenile prison, only to have his ambitions derailed when he discovers fifty thousand dollars beneath the floorboards of a house he is helping his father remodel. Pelecanos' advocacy for reform of the juvenile justice system influences this story of a young man's attempts to overcome his past and the continual punishment of a society unforgiving of reformed former inmates.

Shadow Tag
by Louise Erdrich

Irene's husband, Gil, an accomplished painter who frequently exploits Irene and her Native American heritage for his sensual yet humiliating portraits, has been reading her diaries, so she begins to record two diaries. In one, she writers her real thoughts and feelings on her marriage and life with Gil while the other, meant for her husband, is a manipulative parody of her emotions. Their marriage doesn't unravel so much as shatters; their three children are thrown into the hurricane of emotional fallout as Irene's alcoholism and Gil's increasingly foreboding dark side make escape impossible in this bleak, yet wholly compelling novel from the author of The Plague of Doves.

Forthcoming in paperback in February.
Call 202-364-1919 or e-mail to reserve copies for your book group.

Just Kids
by Patti Smith

Patti Smith's National Book Award-winning memoir is the story of two young artists living in New York during the cataclysmic cultural shifts of the '60's and '70s: Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe, who would later scandalize with his provocative, homoerotic photographs. In 1969, however, Smith and Mapplethorpe were innocent, enthusiastic and in love, young people bound together in the world of art, poetry, politics, and the sexual revolution. Tender and tough, Smith's memento mori is a tribute, not just to Mapplethorpe, but to a bohemian New York world of artists surviving together in the two decades before Reagan and AIDS.

The Big Short
by Michael Lewis

A follow-up to his bestselling Liar's Poker, Lewis examines the personalities and the policies behind the largest recession in recent years. A financial insider himself, Lewis picks apart the black hole of the subprime mortgage market, its impact on real estate investing, and the handful of analysts who predicted - but who were ignored - the inevitable financial implosion that rippled throughout global economic markets. Lewis's witty writing, combined with real-life moments of absurdity, make this summarily dry topic engaging. The Big Short is an intriguing peak at individual lives caught within the larger, systemic world of greed and power.

Forthcoming in paperback in February.
Call 202-364-1919 or e-mail to reserve copies for your book group.