nomadreader

Welcome to the discussion of The Giant's House  by Elizabeth McCracken! Need a refresher? Check out my review of The Giant's House . 1. I had misgivings about this novel having the subtitle "a romance" given the age difference between the characters. By the end, I was won over, but it's still far from a traditional romance. What elements of romance are present? What elements of romance are lacking? 2. As a librarian, I'm immensely curious: what were you reactions to the details of librarianship? Were you as fascinated as I was? 3. Let's talk about Peggy. While I adored her often irreverent and always honest look at herself and the world, she's not a traditionally likeable character. What did you think of Peggy? 4. What surprised you in this novel?  5. To whom would you recommend this title? I encourage you to subscribe to the comments for this post to keep up to date. I use a threaded comment system, so you can reply to earlier comme...

The backstory: The Giant's House , Elizabeth McCracken's first novel, is the first pick in The Backlist Book Club . It was also a finalist for the 1996 National Book Award . The basics: Set in 1950's Cape Cod, The Giant's House  is the story of an unlikely friendship between public librarian Peggy Cort and James, the giant of the title. Peggy and James meet at the library when he comes with class at the age of eleven and already over six feet tall. My thoughts: I confess: I was nervous going into this novel. It came highly recommended from a friend whose reading taste I trust immensely, and I always have a pang of 'but what if I don't like it?' In this case, however, I spent a lot of time contemplating which title to pick for the first pick of The Backlist Book Club. I know the success or failure won't hinge on the first selection, but I really wanted to love the first pick. And I did. Despite my misgivings of this novel being billed as a lov...

I read a lot of recent fiction. As I spend so much of my reading time reading prize lists, most of the titles I pick up were published this year or last year. I'll never manage to fill in all of the reading gaps and keep up with what's being published, but today I'm launching a new monthly initiative: The Backlist Book Club. On the first of each month I'll announce a backlist title. I'll read it sometime during the month and post my review in the middle of the month. On the last day of the month, I'll host a discussion of the title with others who have read it. I invite you all to join me! Why backlist? As someone who reads a lot, friends and family members ask me if I've read ( insert name of famous literary success here ). Often, the answer is no. How can I, someone who reads so much more than they do, not have read this great book they've read? The list of authors I want to read is ridiculously long (as is the one of authors whose work I've ...