Dear Great Book Guru,  As we begin the month of February, thoughts turn to- yes- Valentine’s Day.  My friends and I are planning a rather unique Valentine’s celebration: dinner, discussion, and dessert at the Metropolitan Bistro. We have the reservation…now we need the book. Any suggestions? 

Lover of  Books and Such

Dear Lover of Books and Such,  My book group just finished  THE SELLOUT by Paul Beatty and I must say some loved it and others found it too painful to finish. If you think your friends enjoy satire, dark humor, and a provocative read, this might be just the book for you.  The narrator is nameless- referred to only as “Me”- the son of a fanatical black psychologist also known as “The Whisperer” for his educational experiments and ability to talk down suicidal neighbors.   The Whisperer is killed early in the novel by LA police in “a driving while black” incident in the beleaguered town of Dickens, California.  Me becomes a farmer in this semi- rural about to be gentrified locale- growing watermelons.  Shot through with racial satire, the book is a painful expose of imbedded racism in a supposedly post-racial America. He ends up in the U.S. Supreme Court after he reintroduces segregation into his local school (“apartheid worked to unify South Africa”) and taking on an elderly friend ( who was the understudy for Buckwheat in the “Little Rascals”) as his slave at the friend’s insistence.  Black History month, Maya Angelou, P.C. academics and countless  icons are all dissected by our narrator until we are left looking  at the shameful missteps of our nation. First American winner of the Booker Prize, this book is not for the fainthearted – but for everyone else- highly recommended!