The library will host a six-title book discussion series beginning in January:
Are They Mysteries?
At least since Edmund Wilson asked, “Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?,” debate has raged over the literary merits of mystery fiction. In recent years, however, some writers of acknowledged literary aspirations and accomplishments have unapologetically adopted not only the subject matter of crime novels (murder and vice have never been entirely absent from literary novels), but even the forms and tropes of the genre. This book discussion series will consider six such works by critically acclaimed writers. Will fiction lovers who don’t care for mysteries be repulsed by the tawdry trappings of the crime novel? Will mystery fans find the satisfaction in these works that they expect from more representative examples of the genre? To explore these questions, we will read:
Monday, January 18: Christine Falls by Benjamin Black, aka Booker Prize-winner John Banville
Monday, February 15: Theft by two-time Booker Prize-winner Peter Carey
Monday, March 15: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon
Monday, April 19: Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction
Monday, May 17: The City & the City by New York Times bestseller China Miéville
Monday, June 21: Inherent Vice by National Book Award-winner Thomas Pynchon
Discussions will be held on the third Monday of the month at the Haverhill Corner Library and will be free and open to the public.
Copies of the books are available to borrow from the library, thanks to the New Hampshire Humanities Council and the Woodsville Book Store.
