Sam Lipsyte has always been a funny, engrossing writer, but with this latest novel the author of Home Land, Venus Drive and The Subject Steve is staking his claim as the city's singular source for mordant laughter.
The Ask is the story of Milo Burke, a more-or-less employed development officer at a small university whose further solvency depends on his wooing of one major, mysterious donor. The book discusses, with varying levels of terror, "work, war, sex, class, child rearing, romantic comedies, Benjamin Franklin, cooking shows on death row, and the eroticization of chicken wire." Sam will be here to discuss the book with his celebrated editor at FSG, Lorin Stein.
Ongoing Events
•THE SPANISH LANGUAGE DISCUSSION GROUP• Led by Javier Molea, this group meets Saturdays at noon in the Spanish literature section downstairs. It's open to all who wish to practice their Spanish while discussing literature.
•OUR FICTION BOOK CLUB•Led by Sarah McNally and Chris Jackson, this discussion group meets the first Monday of every month, at 7pm downstairs. They'll be discussing A Death in the Family by James Agee on April 3rd.
•OUR ART & BEAUTY BOOK CLUB•Led by Adjua Greaves, this discussion group meets the second Wednesday of every month, at 7pm downstairs. On April 14th the book club will be discussing The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure and Human Evolution by Denis Dutton.
•OUR GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB•Led by Angela Williams and Evan Narcisse, this discussion group meets the first Thursday of every month, at 7pm downstairs. At our next meeting on April 6th, the book club will be discussing The Fixer by Joe Sacco.
•KIDS STORYTIME• Resident storyteller Yvonne Brooks leads a storytime with with arts and crafts for kids ages 3 - 7, every Saturday at noon in the children’s section. Baby Storytime with storyteller Stewart Dawes takes place on Friday at 4:00 PM for ages 0 - 2.
NOTE All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated. For more information about store events, email events coordinator Dustin Kurtz.
