Dear Readers,
I’m back! Thank you for your patience as it took me a whole month longer than I’d previously announced to get a new book pick to you. To be totally honest, I was so busy opening my shop that it kept slipping my mind. That, and I haven’t reading a book since April. I suppose this is just how life happens — waves of interruption come and go, but eventually we come back to our habits. So, with this new book selection, I hope to return to my reading habits, because accountability is a powerful tool. That’s right — I’m admitting that I haven’t actually read this book selection yet. When a work reaches a certain echelon of critical acclaim, one can assume it’s a pretty safe bet, and that’s exactly what The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster is.
As advertised, this is a trilogy! Choose your own adventure! It’s made up of three short novels, which you could read individually or all in one go. I’m especially excited about these post-modern detective stories because it’s a genre we haven’t yet read in this book club, and I’m sure they’ll give me lots of inspiration to plan us a really fun field trip for late September.
From the publisher:
The remarkable, acclaimed series of interconnected detective novels City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room, from New York Times bestselling author Paul Auster
“Exhilarating . . . a brilliant investigation of the storyteller’s art guided by a writer-detective who’s never satisfied with just the facts.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
City of Glass: As a result of a strange phone call in the middle of the night, Quinn, a writer of detective stories, becomes enmeshed in a case more puzzling than any he might have written.
Ghosts: Blue, a student of Brown, has been hired by White to spy on Black. From a window of a rented room on Orange Street, Blue keeps watch on his subject, who is across the street, staring out of his own window.
The Locked Room: Fanshawe has disappeared, leaving behind his wife and baby and a cache of extraordinary novels, plays, and poems. What happened to him and why is the narrator, Fanshawe’s boyhood friend, lured obsessively into his life?
Moving at the breathless pace of a thriller, this is a uniquely stylized trilogy of detective novels that The Washington Post Book World has classified as “post-existential private eye. . . . It’s as if Kafka has gotten hooked on the gumshoe game and penned his own ever-spiraling version.”
With that, I’ll leave you to your reading and will reappear in your inbox in a couple of weeks.
Yours in fiction,
Caroline
Where to find it:
Because this is an older book by a popular writer, it should be east to find in larger independent bookstores, at well-stocked used bookstores and at the library. For a little adventure, take a little field trip downtown to The Mysterious Bookshop.
Where to read about the book and/or its author:
Paul Auster died earlier this year, and his NYT obituary did a beautiful job of illuminating his life and work. Read it here.
Information:
ISBN: 9780140131550
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Page count: 384
Publication Date: 1987
This sounds like it’s right up my street! I’m so excited for this pick!!! Thank you, Caroline. ❤️🕵️♂️🕰️🌃🔍✨