21st Century Literature discussion

In The History of Love, Krauss draws on her own family story. Her maternal grandparents were born in Germany and Ukraine, and immigrated to London; her paternal grandparents were originally from Hungary and the then Polish city of Slonim, and they immigrated to New York City. Krauss dedicates The History of Love to her four grandparents.

In part one, Leo Gursky answers an ad to model nude for an art class in order to "leave an imprint of his existence." I wonder how much the desire to pay tribute to the author's grandparents drove her writing of this book.

Book Drum has an awesome collection of photographs and descriptions - page by page - of definitions and locations. Great site to keep as a reference while reading this book.

http://www.bookdrum.com/books/the-his...

I've not seen this collection before. Very interesting. Thanks sharing.

What a great reference, Thing Two! Adds some helpful and informative context to the book.

Lily wrote: "What a great reference, Thing Two! Adds some helpful and informative context to the book."

Yes, I especially liked the Beatles in Yiddish. :)

Finally, this arrived from the library - it is next in my to read pile, so I look forward to joining the discussions. The collection you posted, Thing Two, looks like it will be useful - thanks!

I keep reading of people who didn't want to read this book because of the title. I wonder if the author considered this when selecting a title - that the book sounds like a romance novel, when it really isn't.

Thanks for sharing the Bookdrum link T2! I am reading The History of Love now and this is definitely adding to the overall experience. :) I also referenced this as I was working through a different novel earlier this week. What a great find!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...

An eclectic list from someone who considers his taste "medium-brow, male and parochial" and yet The History of Love makes the cut.

I just finished this book, and am still processing. My first thought is that The History of Love by Krause was one of the best books I have read in the past few years.

This, however, is despite the fact that I found "The History of Love" -- the book inside the book -- almost unreadably bad, and it almost ruined it for me. People who thought they were made of glass? Who are connected by string?

I wish Krause had only referred to The History of Love and not quoted it. Like the horror movie monster that is scarier when we can't see it on screen, the book in the book would have been better if I hadn't read it.

Still great, but I kept cringing at those points.

The History of Love and The Book Thief tied for my 2 favorite books read in 2006. I loved it!

Matthew wrote: "I just finished this book, and am still processing. My first thought is that The History of Love by Krause was one of the best books I have read in the past few years.

This, however, is despite th..."

Interesting point about Leo's book being so unreadable, and yet his "friend" still stole it from him.

Thing Two wrote: "I keep reading of people who didn't want to read this book because of the title. I wonder if the author considered this when selecting a title - that the book sounds like a romance novel, when it r..."

I recently read this book. I avoided it for a long time because the title was a turn off for me. I finally got around to reading it because I committed to reading this year at least one book by the authors on the 2010 New Yorker 20 under 40 list. I thought it was great.