A Gate at the Stairs discussion

Dear feisties,

Happy post-Thanksgiving and hope everyone's had a good weekend.

Tai's last message said that it seems unclear who's bringing the next book selection possibilities. If there is something of a void here, there are two books that we might toss into the mix.

The first is Lorrie Moore's "Birds of America," which is a collection of short stories, or her novel "A Gate at the Stairs." We almost voted for the "Gate" book a year or two ago. I haven't read either but have heard that Moore is supposed to be a superb writer and both volumes gathered lots of glowing - brightly glowing - reviews. The other possibility is "Let the Great World Spin" by Colum McCann. This came out within the last couple of years and is a novel set in New York City in the 70s. Also lots of brightly glowing reviews.

So just a couple of ideas of things that look promising (at least to me). If someone's on the job for book nominating, please feel free to ignore these ...

See you all in a week!

Roger

Since you posted this on a public discussion board, I am going to jump in with a suggestion. I absolutely loved Birds of America. The characters and stories have depth and there is much to talk about from the author's wry humor, to some very touching pieces. However, The Gate at the Stairs was very scattered, and left me wondering what the point was. There were too many plot threads and it never really came together in any sort of satisfactory resolution. Hope you enjoy whatever you choose.