Book Club Encounter at Boswell, A Short Play

An actual conversation from last weekend at Boswell.

Leslie: What are you doing here?

Lynn: I'm picking up my new book club book (slow unveiling), America, America.

Leslie: Well (dramatic flourish), I just my book club's new selection, Middlemarch!

And unveil, and flourish, and scene!

Thank you to all concerned.

So here's a little bit of marketing info on Ethan Canin's America America:

"In the early 1970s, Corey Sifter, the son of working-class parents, becomes a yard boy on the grand estate of the powerful Metarey family. Soon, through the family's generosity, he is a student at a private boarding school and an aide to the great New York senator Henry Bonwiller, who is running for president. Before long, Corey finds himself involved with one of the Metarey daughters as well, and he begins to leave behind the world of his upbringing. As the Bonwiller campaign gains momentum, Corey finds himself caught up in a complex web of events in which loyalty, politics, sex, and gratitude conflict with morality, love, and the truth. Ethan Canin's stunning novel is about America as it was and is, a remarkable exploration of how vanity, greatness, and tragedy combine to change history and fate."

This is the first published book of Canin's I haven't read and I feel incredibly guilty about the whole thing, especially because it involves the city of Buffalo. Don't count me out yet.

And now some marketing info on George Eliot's Middlemarch

"It was George Eliot's ambition to create a world and portray a whole community--tradespeople, middle classes, country gentry--in the rising fictional provincial town of Middlemarch, circa 1830. Vast and crowded, rich in narrative irony and suspense, "Middlemarch" is richer still in character and in its sense of how individual destinies are shaped by and shape the community. "

For a while, Middlemarch showed up in every novel I read. I was miserable to have not read it, but obviously that feeling ebbed, as I still have not read it.

Yes, we've come a long way since we've opened, regarding book clubs. We started with just a few on the hold shelf, and now we've got over 40 clubs registered. You can browse what our clubs are reading in our book club case, and after calendars wind down, we'll be expanding to a larger bay, because we can't fit all the selected titles in the case that's currently being used.

Your book club's purchases get an automatic 10% discount, and they qualify for the Boswell Benefits rebate of 5% more. We ask that at least three club members buy their books through us to qualify.

If your club picks their books annually, I'm happy to present titles that best suit your club. If your club already buys many of their books from us, this service is free. If you currently shop elsewhere or use the library, there is a small charge for this service.