We choose our books several months ahead. Here are the books we'll be reading in the coming months
September 7th The Road - Cormac McCarthy Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Literature and adapted for the screen in 2009.
An unnamed catastrophe has turned the world into a burned out place of desolation. One man and his son flee the oncoming winter in search of food, shelter and others. Whether this is a vision of hope or nihilism is up for debate.
October 5th Digging to America - Anne Tyler
Back in the early days of Red Deer Readers we read Tyler's 'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant'. Some twelve years later we're reading one of her later novels, again set in Baltimore and again focusing on what it means to be a family. Two couples meet by chance at the airport as they wait to collect their adopted children who are on a plane from Korea. Different races, traditions and generations combine in Anne Tyler's 17th novel.
November 2nd Therese Raquin - Emile Zola
Causing a scandal on its publication in France in 1867, Therese Raquin is the story of an unhappy woman married to her weak and sickly cousin, a man she finds repulsive. When she becomes involved in a passionate and overwhelming affair with her husband's friend, the pair plot to kill the man who stands in the way of their relationship. With elements of illicit love, murder and revenge, this is tragedy on a grand scale.
December 7th Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
The Reign of Henry VIII is well known to most of us at least through the story of his six wives. In her Man Booker prize winning novel Hilary Mantel tells the story of the King's struggle with the Church through the charmer and bully Thomas Cromwell, Cardinal Wolsey's protege and successor. With no male heir England risks being consumed by war between different pretenders to the throne. Henry is desperate to secure an annulment, but the Pope has refused him. Cromwell's political ambition and the King's passion brings these two forces into world changing conflict .
January 4th The Whole Business With Kiffo and the Pitbull - Barry Jonsberg
Two teenagers are changed by their encounter with a new teacher who they distrust and who they believe to be involved in drug dealing - or worse. The young would-be detectives stake out her home and trail her as they seek evidence. Another book written for young adults that has found favour with a more 'mature' readership.
Causing a scandal on its publication in France in 1867, Therese Raquin is the story of an unhappy woman married to her weak and sickly cousin, a man she finds repulsive. When she becomes involved in a passionate and overwhelming affair with her husband's friend, the pair plot to kill the man who stands in the way of their relationship. With elements of illicit love, murder and revenge, this is tragedy on a grand scale.
Two teenagers are changed by their encounter with a new teacher who they distrust and who they believe to be involved in drug dealing - or worse. The young would-be detectives stake out her home and trail her as they seek evidence. Another book written for young adults that has found favour with a more 'mature' readership.
