Books: Book Club

BOOK CLUB

WITH ADAM & SAM MORRIS

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More great summer reading recommendations from the owners of Your Brother's Bookstore in downtown Evansville

THE TWILIGHT ROAD by Werner Herzog

Part documentary, part poem, part dream, Herzog immortalizes Hiroo Onoda, the famous Japanese soldier who defended Lubang Island in the Philippines for decades after WWII. With weeks turning to months, months to years, years to decades - time itself becomes surreal as Herzog uses his hypnotic, unimitated style to imagine what Onoda’s life would have been like while fighting his fictitious war. The result is something extraordinarily unique, a glowing meditation on the purpose and meaning we give our own lives.

THE NOVELIST by Jordan Castro

A hilarious debut novel, The Novelist follows a young man over the course of a single morning as he tries, and fails, to write an autographical novel. Something as simple as making coffee can cause the protagonist to remember an embarrassing Instagram post about the ethics of having children that sparked rage, or he might get lost in the idea that doing dishes is both, at once, profound and ordinary. Between his own quotidian rituals, his own inner thoughts and doom scrolling Twitter, this is a novel that focuses on the many small things people do to have a life of stability.

KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY by John Scalzi

What if Godzilla was real and there was a multinational organization devoted to making sure that other giant monsters stay in their own dimension? John Scalzi continues his streak of smart, cynical prose that simultaneously celebrates and pokes fun at a genre he loves. Written during the beginning of the pandemic by an author procrastinating on a different project, it’s as much a palate cleanser for the reader as it apparently was for the author. In Scalzi’s words, “We all need a pop song from time to time, particularly after a stretch of darkness."

HOW TO TELL A STORY by The Moth

Sam is a sucker for stories, and How to Tell a Story is an incredibly useful guide to storytelling that takes an approach he hasn’t seen before. The Moth is a multicity storytelling event where a number of people stand in front of a crowd and tell a true story from their life. It’s that simple. This isn’t a book about writing (although the advice is applicable). It walks you through searching your memories for a story that is impactful and transformative, then developing it to be spoken aloud in a set amount of time. In short, Sam’s already re-reading it.