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Overview
An insightful and drolly satirical novel about contemporary romance--"the kind of book Jane Austen would've written had she been male and hipper."
-Chicago Tribune Look out for Nick Laird's new novel, Modern Gods, coming in June 2017 With his debut novel, Utterly Monkey, Nick Laird won acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic for his deft humor and sharp-eyed powers of observation. In this new novel, disaffected thirty-something college teacher David introduces his former teacher, American artist Ruth Marks, to his friend and flatmate James Glover, unwittingly setting in place a love triangle loaded with tension, guilt, and heartbreak. Set in the London art scene awash with new money and intellectual pretension, Nick Laird's insightful and drolly satirical novel explores the nature of contemporary romance among damaged souls whose hearts and heads never quite line up long enough for them to achieve true happiness.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9780143117339
- ISBN-10: 0143117335
- Publisher: Penguin Books
- Publish Date: November 2010
- Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.45 pounds
- Page Count: 256
- Reading Level: Ages 18-UP
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A reading group guide is available online.
Glover’s Mistake by Nick Laird
Why do matters of the heart so often go awry? Nick Laird searches for an answer to this question in his sharply realized romantic comedy, Glover’s Mistake.The novel’s main character, David Pinner, is an overweight bachelor who teaches English. He’s also the curmudgeon behind an anonymous London arts blog called The Damp Review, where he channels his inner sophistication and sense of daring in snide critiques of the local scene. Things look up for David—or so he believes—when he becomes reacquainted with beautiful American artist Ruth Marks, who was his teacher in college. They strike up a friendship, but Ruth takes a fancy to David’s 23-year-old roommate, James Glover, a handsome bartender. Left out in the cold, David soon formulates a plot that will kill their romance. What transpires between Laird’s likeable threesome makes for unforgettable reading. His portrayal of a seemingly harmless flirtation that has unexpected consequences feels wonderfully authentic, and in the character of David, whose point of view prevails throughout the book, he has created a charming cynic.
A reading group guide is available online.
Love and Summer by William Trevor
Set during the 1950s in the fictional town of Rathmoye, Ireland, William Trevor’s Love and Summer is a powerful tale about a family scandal. Innocent young Ellie Dillahan—an orphan brought up by nuns—is married to a farmer some years her senior. Their union is a loveless one, which doesn’t bother Ellie—until she meets Florian Kilderry. A handsome, roguish bachelor, he’s irresistible to Ellie, even though he intends to leave Ireland. Determined to keep Ellie from destroying her marriage is Miss Connulty, a spinster whose own life was ruined years ago by a passionate affair. As Ellie awakens to womanhood, she finds herself faced with the most difficult decisions of her life—and with the scrutiny of her fellow villagers. Trevor brings Rathmoye and its inhabitants to vivid life in this haunting book. Quiet yet forceful, his narrative style lends tension to a story that’s surprisingly suspenseful. Beautifully composed sentences and clear understanding of human motivations make this novel—Trevor’s 14th—a richly rewarding read.
A reading group guide is available online.
This month's best bets for reading groups
Point Omega by Don DeLillo
The master novelist returns with a short, atmospheric novel that continues in the vein of recent works such as Falling Man, displaying no-frills prose and a scaled-down storyline that leaves plenty for readers to ponder. Filmmaker Jim Finley plans to shoot footage of Richard Elster, a controversial figure who helped launch the Iraq War. Finley hopes his objective, unsparing camera will force Elster to open up and give a truthful account of his involvement with the conflict. But when he arrives at Elster’s desert home, Finley finds his host guarded and reticent. When Elster talks it’s to propound various theories related to time and evolution. He’s a smooth and evasive operator until his daughter, Jessica, drops in from New York. With her arrival, the dynamics between the two men change, new questions arise, and the plot takes an unexpectedly ominous turn. This is DeLillo at his minimalistic best. Forceful in its spareness, his brief, striking work proves that good things do come in small packages.
A reading group guide is available online.
Glover’s Mistake by Nick Laird
Why do matters of the heart so often go awry? Nick Laird searches for an answer to this question in his sharply realized romantic comedy, Glover’s Mistake.The novel’s main character, David Pinner, is an overweight bachelor who teaches English. He’s also the curmudgeon behind an anonymous London arts blog called The Damp Review, where he channels his inner sophistication and sense of daring in snide critiques of the local scene. Things look up for David—or so he believes—when he becomes reacquainted with beautiful American artist Ruth Marks, who was his teacher in college. They strike up a friendship, but Ruth takes a fancy to David’s 23-year-old roommate, James Glover, a handsome bartender. Left out in the cold, David soon formulates a plot that will kill their romance. What transpires between Laird’s likeable threesome makes for unforgettable reading. His portrayal of a seemingly harmless flirtation that has unexpected consequences feels wonderfully authentic, and in the character of David, whose point of view prevails throughout the book, he has created a charming cynic.
A reading group guide is available online.
Love and Summer by William Trevor
Set during the 1950s in the fictional town of Rathmoye, Ireland, William Trevor’s Love and Summer is a powerful tale about a family scandal. Innocent young Ellie Dillahan—an orphan brought up by nuns—is married to a farmer some years her senior. Their union is a loveless one, which doesn’t bother Ellie—until she meets Florian Kilderry. A handsome, roguish bachelor, he’s irresistible to Ellie, even though he intends to leave Ireland. Determined to keep Ellie from destroying her marriage is Miss Connulty, a spinster whose own life was ruined years ago by a passionate affair. As Ellie awakens to womanhood, she finds herself faced with the most difficult decisions of her life—and with the scrutiny of her fellow villagers. Trevor brings Rathmoye and its inhabitants to vivid life in this haunting book. Quiet yet forceful, his narrative style lends tension to a story that’s surprisingly suspenseful. Beautifully composed sentences and clear understanding of human motivations make this novel—Trevor’s 14th—a richly rewarding read.
A reading group guide is available online.