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New paperback releases offer good choices for reading groups
By Dave Eggers Vintage, $14 368 pages, ISBN 1400033543
By Chris Hedges Anchor, $12.95 224 pages, ISBN 1400034639
By Maile Meloy Scribner, $12 176 pages, ISBN 0743246853
By Sarah Stone Anchor, $13 304 pages, ISBN 0385721838
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The controversial author and mastermind behind the magazine McSweeney's delivers a fascinating, frenetic,
first novel. Narrator Will has suffered the death of a friend and a mean beating by a gang of roughnecks,
but he's also come into big money—$80,000, to be exact. Driven, in part by guilt, Will decides to give
away the cash, a choice that leads to the wild, wiggy, six-day trip he takes with his pal, Hand. Without map
or plan, the pair hop from airport to airport, continent to continent, touching down in Senegal and London
(among other places) and distributing free cash to a varied cast of cabbies, hookers and farmers, many of
whom are suspicious of the generosity thrust upon them. Written in Eggers' trademark intrepid prose, this
whirlwind book is grandly scaled, fast-paced, often hilarious—a challenging work from one of America's
most audacious authors. A reading group guide is available in print and online at www.vintagebooks.com/read.
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A foreign correspondent for nearly two decades, Hedges offers a lucid, insightful study of the nature of war and its hold on the human psyche. The author has covered conflicts in the Balkans and the Middle East, and he draws on those experiences here, as he examines the historical and modern-day perceptions of war, as well as its repercussions on society. As Hedges concedes, war may be equated with the pursuit of a noble political cause, and it can inspire feelings of national pride, but its drawbacks more often than not outweigh its virtues. His exploration of how war became a cultural institution is timely and illuminating—invaluable in helping readers understand our country's compulsion to engage in combat. A reading group guide is available in print and online at www.anchorbooks.com.
This luminous, acclaimed collection of stories, set primarily in the American West, follows a varied cast of characters as they experience life-changing epiphanies during their daily routines. Stories like "A Stakes Horse" and "Ranch Girl" deliver the flavor of Meloy's native Montana, while "Aqua Boulevard," a melancholy tale centered around an aging Parisian, captures the feel of France. Meloy writes convincingly of ranchers and students, jockeys and lawyers, moving with ease from contemporary America to World War II-era Europe over the course of the book. Told in a minimalist style, these spare stories—many of them award-winners—have earned Meloy comparisons to Raymond Carver. A review of her new novel, Liars and Saints, appears in the "New Voices" section of this issue.
This debut novel tells the story of Anne, a young human rights activist from San Francisco who is on assignment in Burundi. After a year in Africa, she has fallen in love with the continent and with Jean-Pierre, a government official and Tutsi confederate. When an election puts the rival Hutus in charge, however, violence ensues, countless people are left dead, and Anne learns the dark truth about her boyfriend and his family. Evacuated from Burundi along with her colleagues, Anne returns to San Francisco, only to find that troubles are tearing through her own family. Caught between two countries, torn by her sense of duty, Anne must decide where her true loyalties lie and in what direction her life will flow. Stone, who spent two years in Africa, writes with grace and authority about Burundi's politics and culture. A reading group guide is available in print and online at www.anchorbooks.com.