Birthday Book Recs 37/50 : A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Birthday Book Recs: 37/50
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Cheating a bit with this one. I own a digital copy of this book on my Kindle. But I now own a physical copy … or at least I technically do until someone takes it out of our Little Free Library.
This one’s about the music industry, aging, parenthood, memory. Some would call it a collection of interrelated short stories. I don’t think you can do the audio on this one — sorry to audiobook fans — because some of the chapters are graphically oriented, like the one that’s a PowerPoint presentation. It won the Pulitzer in 2011, and I remember when Entertainment Weekly named it the novel of the decade or something. (Is EW still a thing?) Either way, the NYT named it as one of the best books of the first quarter of the 21st century. (That’s a mouthful, but remember that cool interactive feature they had going?!)
I have this very distinct memory of reading a profile of Egan (and her son’s obsession with baseball and maybe some backyard Brooklyn chickens too?) while sitting in the screened porch of our last house. Like, it is such a distinct memory, and I remember thinking that she must be a member of Mensa or something. I thought it must have been in the NYT Magazine but I can’t find what I’m remembering. (Obviously I’m not a member of Mensa.) But here’s a line from Vogue (and I know I wasn’t reading that): “Egan is a puzzlemaster who conceives of her projects as problems to solve. She is known less for a type of book than her singular intelligence and ambition, which produce works that defy categorization.” Indeed. The Candy House (a sequel of sorts to Goon) was pretty darn amazing too.
So, although this library is operating just fine without my interference — some books are gone, some new ones have been deposited — there is just way too much good stuff for sale at @juliascafeandbooks where I volunteer a couple times per month. Can’t help myself, I guess. I got that whole stack in the last pic for a song, and I’ve put them all in our LFL except for the Elizabeth Strout ones. Which, if you go back to my last rec…you’ll see why. #collectionworthy
You can find all my 50th Birthday Book Recommendations HERE.
originally published on instagram