Welcome to a semi-regular series that answers the question: What should my book group read next? The titles featured were chosen for their complexity and ability to sustain a discussion, as well as for having enough copies at the Seattle Public Library (as of this posting) for a book group of 8-12 members to place holds and each get a copy without a long wait. This month’s selections feature: kaleidoscopic historical fiction about Cortés’s arrival in Tenochtitlan; historical fiction reimagining an American classic; nonfiction that examines the origins of scarcity; a novel about policing the mind; and nonfiction that reflects on our very human relationship with technology.
Find these titles in our catalog here: Book Clubs: What to Read.
You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue
Enrigue reimagines the 1519 arrival of Spanish conquistadors to the Aztec city Tenochtitlan and the fateful meeting between Cortés and Moctezuma, as seen through an ensemble of perspectives from both men’s entourages, culminating in a revenge that rewrites history.
James by Percival Everett
Everett’s award-winner imagines the events of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, an enslaved man who hides on Jackson Island to avoid being sold away from his family, where he meets Huck Finn. From this perspective we see Jim in his fullness, from the way he is with his family to his humor and intelligence.
Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
Klein and Thompson ask: What is at the root of the many scarcities facing the United States? From housing, to infrastructure, to workforce development, the two take aim at what they see as the overreach of government regulations.
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
In a future where even dreams are monitored, Sara is held in a detention center after being informed that her dreams indicate she will harm her husband. As minor infractions extend her stay – and that of the other women being held – a new resident questions the status quo and inspires a rebellion.
Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara
Vara interrogates the embedding of technology in our lives through her own personal stories, from Amazon’s ubiquity to ChatGPT to generative AI image creation – both the way this continues a long ongoing relationship with technology, as well as reshapes our very methods of communication.
~ posted by Andrea G.