Huntington Public Library Adult Reading Challenge

  This is Vonnegut's first novel. Hard for me to believe that - it has so much happening here and so much to say about how people derive meaning and sense of identity. In some ways, the science fiction elements haven't aged well (he couldn't predict self-driving cars despite all the other tasks automated?), and there are some troubling gender politics. But I recommend it for both dystopia fans and Vonnegut fans. As always, there are some turns of phrase that capture an entire philosophy in 9 words.

  This book was excellent. It admittedly took some time to get into because the narrator is so unlikable - a fact that the author talks about in interviews. The questions it raises about who has the right to tell which stories, what we owe the dead, and to what extent ideas and art belong the artist make it well worth it to push through. The look into the publishing world and the extent to which bestsellers are chosen before they sell their first copy is also fascinating though it seems obvious once pointed out. Juniper Song misrepresents both herself and her work. This book follows her as she interacts with her friends, publishes a best seller, is found out as a fraud, and rationalizes every choice along the way. Simultaneously, we come to know parts of Athena Lu - a young and brilliant writer who dies early in her career. Which of the women is more virtuous? More morally bankrupt?

This book is the basis for the Academy Awards nominee "American Fiction." Protagonist Monk Ellison is an author, although not well-known and often rejected by publishers for his latest book. Angry at the rise of unsophisticated and popular writing, he ventures into an arena of satire he's unable to escape.

  "Master of the Universe," Sherman McCoy gets into trouble when he ventures out of his familiar Manhattan neighborhood. This is actually a reread (read it in 1987 or so when it was first written). It is one of my favorite books of all time. Tom Wolfe captures a moment in New York history with this often funny, often disturbing portrait of the 1980s.

  The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida chronicles the life of a war photographer who has woken up dead in what seems to be a celestial visa office. Told in a series of flashbacks, Maali has ‘seven moons’ to try and solve the mystery of his death and to help unveil a cache of photos that will rock war-torn Sri Lanka. It is storytelling at its best, weaving gender identity, politics, and magical realism.