Posted by Candice on Saturday, Feb 27, 2016
B.Y.O.Book, the Library's books-in-bars group, is ready to welcome the spring--it's time for a few good books, some good food and drink, and a lot of great conversation! In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize awards, we've picked three past winners. We hope you can join us to read and discuss one, or all, of them.
March 22, 6-7 p.m., is our first meet-up; join us at Share Wine Lounge & Small Plate Bistro, in the Sheraton to discuss The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz. Winner of the Pulitzer for Fiction in 2008, the book follows Oscar -- a Dominican American, an overweight, geeky teenage nerd--as he tries to navigate his everyday life, fulfill his dream of becoming a writer and, more important, finding love -- all in the face of a family curse that has haunted the Wao's for generations.. I think Michiko Kakutani said it best, in a review for The New York Times: "...a wondrous, not-so-brief first novel that is so original it can only be described as Mario Vargas Llosa meets “Star Trek” meets David Foster Wallace meets Kanye West." Readers, how can you resist?
You can register for the event, and check our catalog for a copy of the book--we've got print copies as well as CD, ebook and eaudio. We will also have a bookclub kit at the Info Desk soon, so give us a call to see if there are any available copies.
Future dates and titles are April 26 (Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner, at Northside Bistro) and May 24 (The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss, at the Mill). We hope to see you there!
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About the Author
I work at the Info Desk on the second floor, and I select books for the adult nonfiction collection. I have a degree in anthropology, which really helps in selecting...well...almost anything. I also manage the Art To Go collection of framed prints and original art, and the nonfiction DVDs.
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In no particular order:... more
This was an enlightening and uplifting read. The story of jazz-era Detroit, told through the lives of some of its most mesmerizing and affecting Black residents. The book begins with the narrator, Ziggy, recounting what he calls the "Caramel Camelot," the area and world of Detroit where Black families had migrated to, and having found solid employment in the burgeoning auto industry, made their homes in the neighborhoods where they could buy houses and support enterprises (ie, jazz clubs, schools, hospitals, stores, restaurants, etc.) run by their people and for their people. It's a book that shows the reader what once was, what's been lost, and just possibly, what could be again. -Candice