The Civil War is wearily entering its last, grisly year. Inman, a Confederate
soldier recovering from his wounds in a Confederate hospital, walks out and heads
for his home on Cold Mountain and to Ada, the woman he loves. Inman's
unforgettable odyssey through the soon-to-be-defeated South is interwoven with
the story of Ada's own struggles on her rundown farm. As Ada and Inman's lives
begin finally to converge, they discover unsuspected truths about themselves and
each other, and about the new world that is being born from the ruins of the old.
"A great read--a stirring Civil War tale told with epic sweep [and] loaded with
vivid historical detail." --People
"Heartbreakingly beautiful...elegantly told and convincing down to the last
haunting detail." --John Berendt
1998 PULITZER PRIZE WINNERS
Already well-known to the public, Philip Roth and Katharine Graham have recently
returned to the national spotlight with books that have each earned one of the
country's top literary honors. One is a luminous novel by a great American
writer, the other an acclaimed autobiography of an extraordinary American woman.
Both have become favorites with reading groups across the country.
American Pastoral
by Philip Roth
National Bestseller / Pulitzer Prize Winner
Seymour "Swede" Levov comes of age just after World War II, in a thriving and
triumphant America. He becomes a legendary high school athlete, the diligent
inheritor of his father's factory, and a devoted husband and father. But his
carefully constructed life begins to collapse as he and America face the
challenges of the turbulent sixties, and he witnesses his adored daughter turn
first into a rebellious adolescent and then into a revolutionary terrorist. As he
watches in bewilderment, everything he treasures is blown up by an angry girl's
bomb and a changing American sensibility.
"One of Roth's most powerful novels everÉmoving, generous and ambitiousÉ
a fiercely affecting work of art." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Personal History
by Katharine Graham
National Bestseller / Pulitzer Prize winner
In this critically acclaimed memoir, the woman who piloted The Washington Post
through the crises of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate now tells her story with
courage, candor, and dignity.
The daughter of a multimillionaire father who
bought the down-and-out Washington Post at auction and a cultured but neglectful
mother, Graham grew up amid material wealth and emotional isolation. She married
Phil Graham, a brilliant, charismatic man--who advised John F. Kennedy and Lyndon
B. Johnson--only to watch him plunge into mental illness and ultimately take his
own life. But it was in the aftermath of her husband's suicide that this
self-effacing woman came into her own, shrugging off her grief and insecurity to
enter the profane boys' club of the newspaper business. In chronicling her
career, Graham produces a book whose unflinching revelations are equaled by her
acute grasp of their larger significance--and makes her personal history
emblematic of the triumph and transformation of American women in our time.
"Disarmingly candid and immensely readable . . . an invaluable inside glimpse of
the most critical turning points in American journalism." --Time
MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE, CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Passion. Murder. Intrigue. Mysteries and courtroom thrillers are an increasingly
popular choice for reading groups looking for smart, fast-paced selections for
intelligent readers. These works by Chris Bohjalian, Patrick McGrath, Arturo
Prez-Reverte, and Bernard Lefkowitz will have you turning pages well into the
night.
Midwives
by Chris Bohjalian
On an icy winter night in a small rural town, seasoned midwife Sibyl Danforth is
forced to make a life-or-death decision that will change her life forever.
Trapped by the weather in an isolated farmhouse, she performs a cesarean section
on a woman she believes has died of a stroke during labor. But what if the woman
was still alive during the surgery? The hair-raising story of the death and of
the subsequent trial of Sibyl Danforth result in a gripping combination of
courtroom thriller and domestic drama that adds up to a lyrical and suspenseful
work of art.
"Astonishingly powerful. . . . It will thrill readers who cherish their worn copies of To Kill a Mockingbird." --People
Asylum
by Patrick McGrath
Stella Raphael lives with her husband, a forensic psychiatrist, on the grounds of
a high-security mental hospital in rural England. When she meets the brilliant
sculptor Edgar Stark, a patient at the asylum, she enters into an obsessive and
passionate love affair. Even her discovery that Edgar brutally murdered his wife
in a jealous rage fails to deter Stella from her growing passion, and eventually
her love for him precipitates an appalling tragedy and irreversibly changes the
course of several lives.
"A tour de force of suspense." --San Francisco Chronicle
The Club Dumas
by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
Rare-book sleuth Lucas Corso is hired to authenticate a manuscript chapter of
Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers, discovered after its owner's mysterious
death. The assignment leads Corso to become the target of devil worshippers and
unscrupulous bibliophiles as, aided by an enigmatic beauty, he travels across
Europe in pursuit of a sinister and seemingly omniscient killer. Part mystery,
part puzzle, part witty intertextual game, The Club Dumas is a wholly original
thriller in the tradition of Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino.
"Erudite, funny, loopy, brilliant . . . action-adventure spiced with dollops of idiosyncrasy." --Philadelphia Inquirer
Our Guys
by Bernard Lefkowitz
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year / An Edgar Award Finalist
Read a Q & A with the author.
Glen Ridge is an affluent, idyllic suburb, the kind of town that exemplifies the
American Dream. What went wrong in Paradise? In March 1989, thirteen teenage boys
lured a retarded girl into a basement where four of them gang-raped her while
several others looked on. The boys were the most popular athletes in high school.
And although rumors of the rape began quickly circulating through the town, it
was weeks before anyone reported it to the police and years before the boys
finally went to trial. Why did the town's supposedly responsible
adults--including teachers, coaches, parents, and law-enforcement officers--turn
a blind eye to the increasingly violent and aberrant behavior of Glen Ridge's
golden boys? In Our Guys, noted author and journalist Bernard Lefkowitz creates a
deeply disturbing portrait of an all-American town and the value system that
shapes its children's characters.
"Riveting.... In a way that makes that for compulsive reading, Lefkowitz has exposed the substrata of evil in a seemingly idyllic town. Most troubling of all, you come away with the realization that what happened in Glen Ridge could happen anywhere."
--Jonathon Harr, author of A Civil Action
A discussion question from the Vintage Reading Group Guide:
- Lefkowitz implies that there are two justice systems in America: one for the affluent and one for everyone else. Does this seem a fair assessment of the situation? What other prominent legal cases in recent years might illustrate your point?
ACCLAIMED CONTEMPORARY FICTION
A perennial favorite among reading groups, these unique voices in contemporary
fiction will touch your heart and challenge your mind. From the painful throes
of adolescence to the crises of midlife, Bernhard Schlink, Richard Russo, Seamus
Deane, and Karin Cook chronicle the triumphs and pitfalls of life with
compassion, style, and humor.
Straight Man
by Richard Russo
Fast approaching fifty, Hank Devereaux is headed full-speed into a midlife
crisis: he despises his job as English professor at a mediocre university and his
status as a "novelist" who has not written any fiction for twenty years. He fears
he may have prostate cancer, and he suspects his wife of having an affair. Over
the course of a single convoluted week, the hapless Hank goes through a series of
hilarious and harrowing adventures which eventually take him to the brink of
insanity, and which bring to life the fraught, unvoiced currents that run between
parents and children, husbands and wives.
"There is a big, wry heart beating at the center of Russo's fiction." --The New Yorker
A discussion question from the Vintage Reading Group Guide:
- "Teddy belongs to that vast majority who believe that love isn't something you kid about. I don't see how you could not kid about love and still claim to have a sense of humor" [p. 7]. Is this the real Hank talking, or is it part of the compulsive cynicism that his mental state has engendered? Is it in fact a cynical observation, or simply a true one?
The Reader
by Bernhard Schlink
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is
rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover--then she
inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees Hanna, he is a young law student
and she is on trial for a hideous Nazi war crime. As he watches her refuse to
defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that his former lover may be
guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.
Hailed for its coiled
eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, The Reader is a
compelling story of love and secrets, crime and compassion. Full of controversial
issues and provocative discussion topics, it is an ideal choice for reading
groups.
"A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel. From the
first page, [The Reader] ensnares both heart and mind." --Los Angeles Times
A discussion question from the Vintage Reading Group Guide:
- In a novel so suffused with guilt, how is Michael guilty? Does his narrative serve as a way of putting himself on trial? What verdict does he reach?
Reading In the Dark
by Seamus Deane
Set in postwar Northern Ireland, Seamus Deane's first novel is the transfixing
story of a family laboring under a crushing past, and of a boy who refuses to
adhere to the family's unspoken pact of silence. An uncle may have died a hero of
the IRA--or absconded to America. A grandfather may have killed one man and
ordered the deaths of many more. Once Deane's unnamed narrator begins to piece
together the fragments of his family's tortured history, he cannot leave it
alone, pursuing the truth until it turns his family against him and ultimately
drives him away from his home. Told in a poetic language that is dense with the
felt immediacy of daily life, it is a coming-of-age story that is searing and
unforgettable.
"Luminous . . . gripping . . . It possesses the compassion and wit of Angela's Ashes combined with the aching regret of an Irish ballad." --The New York Times
A discussion question from the Vintage Reading Group Guide:
- The border between Northern Ireland and County Donegal lies just outside the city of Derry, and the narrator and his friends often take long walks into the country over the border. What is the symbolic importance of border-crossing? Of the contrast between countryside and city? What does Donegal signify for the boy's family?
What Girls Learn
by Karin Cook
The year Tilden turns twelve, her mother, Frances, falls in love and moves the
family north. Soon Tilden and her rebellious younger sister are facing a new
household, a new school, and the awkward, alluring terrain of adolescence. Then
Frances discovers a lump in her breast, and the girls must face the potential
loss of their adored mother as well. A story of loss and grief that is
nevertheless full of hope, humor, and wisdom, What Girls Learn reminds us that
what seems secure is never entirely safe, and that growing up means not only
learning to love but learning to accept the impermanence of life.
"Cook triumphs completely. . . in her achingly nuanced depiction of a young girl's fierce love for her brave mother." --The New Times Book Review
A discussion question from the Vintage Reading Group Guide:
- "Siblings," Karin Cook has said in an interview, "can split up feelings and reactions and polarize in the face of illness and death." How do Elizabeth and Tilden illustrate this principle? In what ways do they polarize?
