Classics Book Group

In 2012, WORD will be taking a journey through the fantastic catalog of NYRB Classics, focusing on the Brits. On the second Saturday of each month at noon, we'll meet to discuss a book or part of a book, as listed below. Join for one, some, or all of the meetings---just read the book and show up! (You don't even have to talk if you don't want to.) All books are 10% off in the month before their discussion.

If you want to talk about the books or share a link or something in-between meetings, join our Facebook group that's just for this book group.

Book List

Mr. Fortune (Paperback)

By Adam Mars-Jones, Sylvia Townsend Warner

$14.95

ISBN-13: 9781590174586
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 8/2011

Other Editions of this Title

Mr. Fortune is the first book up for discussion, on February 11th. It's hard to categorize, but perhaps it's fair to say that it reads as Heart of Darkness might have if Conrad had a sense of satire? Much like its setting, it's dangerously languid.

 

 

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A House and Its Head (Paperback)

By Ivy Compton-Burnett, Francine Prose

$17.95

ISBN-13: 9780940322646
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 3/2001

Other Editions of this Title

Next up is A House and Its Head, which we'll discuss March 10th. It is perfect for those in the grip of Downton Abbey fever.

 

 

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Hav (Paperback)

By Ursula K. Le Guin, Jan Morris

$15.95

ISBN-13: 9781590174494
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 8/2011

Other Editions of this Title

On April 14th, we'll discuss Hav, perhaps the world's only work of speculative fiction travel writing.

 

 

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The Fox in the Attic (Paperback)

By Richard Hughes, Hilary Mantel

$17.95

ISBN-13: 9780940322295
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 3/2000

Other Editions of this Title

Then The Fox in the Attic on May 12th. Set against the unstable world of Europe between World Wars as well as the unstable impulses of a man who thinks he's been wronged.

 

 

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Great Granny Webster (Paperback)

By Caroline Blackwood, Honor Moore

$14.00

ISBN-13: 9781590170076
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 8/2002

Next up is Great Granny Webster, on June 9th. Blackwood was raised in the aristocracy (heiress to the Guinness fortune!) and later in life, used that experience to produce this dark and witty look at the craziness that only the rich can inhabit.

 

 

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Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky: A London Trilogy (Paperback)

By Susanna Moore, Patrick Hamilton

$17.95

ISBN-13: 9781590172568
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 1/2008

Other Editions of this Title

Followed by Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky, perhaps the most British book ever written. From the man who brought you Gaslight, a sort-of trilogy full of characters worth loving and hating in equal measure. Due to the length of this book, we'll devote two discussions to it: the first on July 14th and the second on August 11th.

 

 

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Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard (Paperback)

By George Macdonald Fraser, Arthur Conan Doyle

$18.95

ISBN-13: 9780940322738
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 4/2001

Other Editions of this Title

Then a trip into what Arthur Conan Doyle got up to after he killed off Sherlock Holmes, with discussion of The Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard. We'll discuss it September 8th.

 

 

 

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Fancies and Goodnights (Paperback)

By Ray Bradbury, John Collier

$19.95

ISBN-13: 9781590170519
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 5/2003

Fancies and Goodnights, which we'll discuss on October 13th and November 11th, is a collection of some of the strangest short stories you'll ever read from one of the best authors you haven't read yet.

 

 

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Rogue Male (Paperback)

By Victoria Nelson, Geoffrey Household

$14.00

ISBN-13: 9781590172438
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics, 11/2007

Other Editions of this Title

And to finish out the year, we'll discuss on December 8th Rogue Male. It's full of the sort of violent holiday cheer you can only get from a book about an assassin who can't decide whether to kill the dictator whose compound he has just infiltrated, and the consequences of his choice. Good stuff.

 

 

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