Looking at the calendar to plan ahead for our Book Group weekends, it occurred to me that in order not to get too close to Christmas we ought to have our December discussion slightly earlier in the month than usual, so to allow enough time to fit everything in I thought I'd choose two titles in one go today and give us all a bit of a head start.
For November I've chosen Wallace Stegner, an American writer new to me, and his novel Crossing to Safety, which was first published in 1987 and which is so warmly recommended by Norm.
It follows the increasingly complex and close friendship of two married couples from the 1930s to the 70s, and is, according to the Washington Post, "a magnificently crafted story ...brimming with wisdom". Sid Lang and Larry Morgan are both members of the English department of the University of Wisconsin when their wives meet and find they have much in common. The story is told from the perspective of the now ageing Larry, and is "an exploration of the struggle of four people to come to terms with the trials and tragedies of everyday life."
For December, let's have a complete change of continent, period and mood with George and Weedon Grossmith's The Diary of a Nobody, first published in serial form in Punch in the late 1880s. It "created a cultural icon, an English archetype. Anxious, accident-prone, occasionally waspish, Charles Pooter has come to epitomize English suburban life [which] is hilariously and painfully familiar in its small-mindedness and its essential decency. Both celebration and critique, The Diary of a Nobody has often been imitated, but never bettered."
I've done my usual spot checks and found that both books appear on library catalogues, while of course they are available through retailers. As to dates for your diary, let's talk about Crossing to Safety from Saturday, 21st. November, and The Diary of a Nobody from Saturday, 12th. December. If you haven't taken part before but you like the sound of these books, please join us!
