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do you decide what to read next? Do you scour book reviews,
or do you ask trusted friends for recommendations? If you're in
a reading group, you probably do a little of both. Allow us to
make a few suggestions. Below you'll find a number of outstanding
novels, books that will appeal to every taste, books with emotional
depth, books that exercise the intellect, and books that are sure
to spark some lively discussions.
February 2008
Nonfiction
The
World Is Flat
by Thomas L. Friedman
Thomas Friedman applies his unusually sharp insights into
world events in his bestselling book The
World Is Flat. In
it, he demystifies the global economy and international politics
with clear writing, useful metaphors, and concrete examples
and anecdotes. His timely thesis that technology has "flattened" the
world for globalization will stimulate lively book-group
discussion.
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Nonfiction
A
Three Dog Life
by Abigail Thomas
One night, when Abigail Thomas's husband, Rich, is out walking
their dog, he becomes the victim of a hit-and-run accident
that causes major, and irreparable, brain trauma. He is given
to rages, hallucinations, and paranoia and must be admitted
to an institution. Thomas's touching, dispassionate, and
at times darkly humorous memoir recounts her life in the
wake of Rich's accident: how she moved from Manhattan to
a small town to be near him, how she adopted two more dogs
for company, and what Rich's memory loss taught her about
the nature of the present, the past, and the future.
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Fiction
Snow
by Orhan Pamuk
Dread, yearning, identity, intrigue, and the lethal chemistry between secular doubt and Islamic fanaticism are the elements that Orhan Pamuk brings together in this masterful, disquieting novel. An exiled poet returns to Turkey and travels to the forlorn city of Kars. His ostensible purpose is to report on a wave of suicides among religious girls forbidden to wear their head-scarves. But he is also drawn by his memories of a radiant woman, now recently divorced. Touching, slyly comic, and humming with cerebral suspense, Snow is immensely relevant to the present moment.
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Young Adult
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation
by M.T. Anderson
At the center of Anderson's adept novel lie questions of nature versus nurture, and science versus humanism. Amid his details of the American Revolution, Anderson also paints a disturbing portrait of race in America. Octavian is an African American boy who lives with his mother in a house run by rational philosophers. He is being raised with every advantage, but he soon learns the excellent education and upbringing he has been given are only components of a larger, dark experiment.
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Looking for more? Browse last month's Borders
Book Club selections.
LATEST EPISODE!
Elizabeth Gilbert discusses Eat, Pray, Love
In this episode, the Borders Book Club members found themselves engaged in a book discussion that was by turns passionate, sad, and very, very funny.
In her mid-30s, Elizabeth Gilbert saw her marriage unravel. The experience made her rethink what was most important to her in life and prompted a one-year quest of self-discovery. Eat, Pray, Love is her bestselling memoir, a remarkable account that's as smartly written as it is uplifting. Watch now.
Oprah's Book Club
Fiction
Nonfiction
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