There's a Thomas Pynchon book for everyone. Here's which one to read next
If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. Whatever book club you're in, Thomas Pynchon has you covered. Many of us consider him the best American writer since F. Scott Fitzgerald. Turns out that Pynchon's perennially Nobel-touted shelf offers a book for each book club category featured in this year's L.A. Times Festival of Books issue, from politics to romance. Maybe you've heard Pynchon's notoriously hard-
Column: Book club skeptic? So was Roxane Gay. Here's what converted her
This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. I was never much of a book club person. While I love reading, one of its greatest pleasures is the way I can immerse myself in the world of a good book, in solitude. Alone. Without any static from the world beyond
“I felt seen and appreciated. Truly, it was a gift. It always is when I meet with book clubs.”
Leverages warmth, gratitude, and emotional satisfaction to persuade the reader that book clubs are valuable, using the author's personal emotional experience as the primary evidence.
“These were some of the most beautiful women I had ever seen in my life. They had impeccable style. They held forth on any number of topics with ease and grace.”
Exploits admiration and aesthetic appreciation to build positive emotional association with book clubs, using flattery and compliment-laden description where neutral reporting of the event would suffice.
“Book clubs are portrayed as a way for women to briefly free themselves from the shackles of domestic responsibility, sticky children, feckless husbands.”
Frames book clubs through a stereotypically dismissive cultural lens (women escaping domestic drudgery) only to subvert it later, but the one-sided framing directs interpretation by presupposing the negative stereotype before the positive correction.
Essay: Why rich women pay me to tell them what to read
This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. When I tell people I have a job facilitating book clubs, the first response is almost always, "That's a job?" Boy, is it. I work for a company that employs people like me: writers with doctorates, a need for cash
“They love to read, and they want to do it as efficiently as possible.”
Frames the book club members' motivation with the charged and trivializing word 'efficiently' (implying mere time-saving commodity) where a neutral description of their engagement goals would suffice.
“we're all left a little breathless, looking around at each other, as though something magical has occurred”
Leverages a sense of shared wonder and intimacy to emotionally reinforce the value of the book club facilitation, using crescendo language ('something magical has occurred') that does persuasive work beyond neutral description.
“almost always does the trick”
The colloquial 'does the trick' frames literary recommendation as a gimmick or magic trick rather than thoughtful curation, subtly trivializing the literary process.
There's a Thomas Pynchon book for everyone. Here's which one to read next
If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. Whatever book club you're in, Thomas Pynchon has you covered. Many of us consider him the best American writer since F. Scott Fitzgerald. Turns out that Pynchon's peren
“Pynchon may be best tackled among friends, with each contributor volunteering their insights and interpretations to inspire the rest”
Invokes collective wisdom and social collaboration ('among friends,' 'each contributor') to pressure readers toward group engagement rather than individual reading.
“Hyperventilatingly funny, emetically horrifying, aphrodisiacally romantic”
Stacking extreme, emotionally charged adverbs ('hyperventilatingly,' 'emetically,' 'aphrodisiacally') where more moderate descriptors exist, amplifying the book's intensity beyond what a neutral review would convey.
“Many of us consider him the best American writer since F. Scott Fitzgerald”
Substitutes unspecified collective opinion ('many of us') and a prestigious comparison to Fitzgerald for evidence of the author's claim.
Value for value. If this tool is useful to you, help us keep it free for everyone.
Give Back