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Monday, January 30, 2012

Books Two Love Stories for You Tonight

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 3:29 PM

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1. I can't recommend Stewart O'Nan's novels enough. His book Last Night at the Lobster, about the staff's final day at a Red Lobster restaurant, is, no shit, one of the best American novels of the last ten years. I have already Suggested it, but O'Nan is reading tonight from his new novel The Odds: A Love Story. While it's not quite the perfect book that Lobster is, it's still an excellent book, about a soon-to-be-divorced couple taking one last trip to Niagara Falls to see if their relationship has a chance of surviving. (They're also there to watch a Heart concert, and you soon find out that they're there for another, possibly illegal, reason, too.) You can read The Odds in an afternoon, and it'll be one of the best afternoons of your winter. He's reading at the downtown library tonight, and you should absolutely go.

2. But The Odds is far from the only love story in town tonight. Third Place Books is hosting John Green tonight, too. Green is an obscenely popular young adult novelist who the internet absolutely adores. The Fault in Our Stars is his newest book. It's about a love affair between two young people, one of whom has thyroid cancer. Many critical reviews of the book include embarrassed accounts of the critics breaking down in tears. So be warned.

3. Find everything else going on tonight in our readings calendar.

Comments (2) RSS

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Last Night at the Lobster is a really great book, and it's a short one too. You could easily read it in one sitting and it's a complete pleasure.

Posted by Soo on January 30, 2012 at 3:43 PM

The John Green event has been sold out for a few weeks now. So, unless you've already ordered the book/got your event ticket, you won't be able to get in. I believe they're actually closing down ALL of Third Place Books at 6pm today for this event, as he's touring with his brother Hank Green and there will be performances and songs and silliness, too.

I read the book in two evenings, and I laughed aloud several times, and I wept like crazy, too. It's fantastic stuff.

Posted by Tracy on January 30, 2012 at 3:52 PM