The Book Club: Sept 6

Today The Book Club comes from Melbourne Writers’ Festival with special guests Jon Ronson & Will Self joining the usual suspects to discuss ‘Preparation for the Next Life’ by Atticus Lish as well as Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast.

Preparation for the Next Life
This month we take a look at the astounding and powerful debut novel from American author Atticus Lish, Preparation for the Next Life. Described as an unsentimental love story, it tells the story of Zou Lei, a half-Uighur, half-Chinese woman who has found her way to Queens, New York after slipping into America through the back door. Building her life by slaving in the kitchens of New York restaurants she meets Brad Skinner, a returned soldier suffering PTSD after three tours of Afghanistan. A love affair begins and a new life together seems possible… if they can survive everything the world throws at them.

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant
This month’s classic is one of Jennifer’s picks; New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast’s graphic memoir Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? A brutally honest and often hilarious account of her aging parents, including her father’s struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease. It will make you laugh, cry and stay with you long after you have read it.

6pm Sunday 6 September.