Maps and Legends

The next book for 'club is Maps and Legends, suggested by our own G.Z. It's a book of essays by Michael Chabon on (what else) books and genre writing, which sounds like the perfect follow-up to uber-genre noir novel The Big Sleep.

From Booklist:

Chabon declares, “I read for entertainment, and I write to entertain. Period.” But of course there’s much more to his vivid and mischievous literary manifesto in 16 parts than that. A writer of prodigious literary gifts, Chabon brings the velocity, verve, and emotional richness intrinsic to the best of short stories to his exceptionally canny and stirring essays. Musing over the various literary traditions he riffs on in his many-faceted novels, he concludes, “All novels are sequels; influence is bliss.” Chabon zestfully praises the many allures of genre fiction and celebrates writers, among them Vonnegut and Byatt, who infuse their fiction with “the Trickster spirit of genre-bending and stylistic play.”

February Recap!

This weekend we discussed The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss. The book got a mixed review, but, as usual, we had a great conversation. I have a review on Bookish, and, please, y'all should feel free to post your own in a new entry or comments!

There seemed to be a convergence of the minds that our next book should be a "hard-boiled detective story" - and thus we somewhat collaboratively agreed that we'll read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler next, ya see? It's the first in his Philip Marlowe series. Date: March 27th! Tip: I notice they have quite a few cheap copies on Amazon used.