All Vienna Lit meetings take place at the library of the English and American Studies Department of the University of Vienna. Find their website here.
2019 – January
(picture by bookishbeck)
On January 28, the group will discuss “Midwinter” by Fiona Melrose.
“Father and son farmers in Suffolk recall their past life in Zambia – and the events that now haunt them – in this vivid debut. Two young men steal a boat, at night, in bad weather: it is a stupid, drunken prank that goes nightmarishly wrong. The opening scenes of Fiona Melrose’s debut, Midwinter, could hardly be more gripping; but the novel she hangs on the hook of that action-packed beginning is something quieter, broader, and more considered than it initially gives you reason to expect.”
-Melissa Harrison, The Guardian
2018 – October
On October 22, 2018, the group will discuss Andrew Sean Greer’s “Less”, the Winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction. The book is a satirical comedy novel covering themes such as romantic love, LGBT relationships, age and travel, as the novel’s eponymous hero Arthur Less travels the world on a literary tour to escape the engagement of his former lover.
2018 – September
On October 17, 2018, the group discussed “The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage” by Philipp Pullman, a fantasy novel that stands as a sort of prequel to Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy but can also be read as a standalone novel. While the original trilogy will soon be turned into a mini-series by the BBC starring Dafne Keen (“Logan”) and James McAvoy, this book follows resourceful eleven-year-old Malcom Polstead as his whole life is turned upside down by a nearly all-consuming flood.
