BRC Book Club: July 2024

“Classic’ – a book which people praise and don’t read.”

— Mark Twain

Here are some of the stories our team enjoyed this month, in their own words…

Tom Lake: A Novel
Written by Ann Patchett, Audio book read by Meryl Streep

“Okay, I listened to this instead of reading it, but it is a book, and I am reporting on it! This is a rich, delightful story enhanced by Meryl Streep’s poignant narration. A mother decides (finally, after decades of delay) to tell her daughters of a summer romance she had at a theater festival with an actor who went on to become a Bruce Willis type Hollywood action star. Patchett is a master: she weaves Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” throughout the story, deepening the thread of memory that unites the narrative.” —Rich Proctor, Senior Writer

The Thirteenth Tale
Written by Diane Setterfield

“The Thirteenth Tale is a gothic mystery tale… but even more so, it’s a love letter to books and bibliophiles, especially classic gothic literature, adopting and adapting the tropes that make gothic tales feel simultaneously displaced in time and tied to mortality, that evoke the sublime, and send the delicious chills of horror that keep you reading way too late at night. Any fans of the Brontë sisters have a definite leg up in solving the mystery before the final chapters…” —Kat Reinbold, Creative Producer

The Path To Paradise: A Francis Ford Coppola Story
Written by Sam Wasson

“The story of Francis Ford Coppola and his wife Eleanor, the creation of Apocalypse Now, and the creation and destruction of what many hoped would be a Hollywood Valhalla – Zoetrope Studios. Reads like a thriller and reminds you why big swings are worth taking. I couldn’t put it down.” —Brad Shelton, VP of Creative and Story

Mr. Splitfoot
Written by Samantha Hunt

“Readthisbookreadthisbookreadthisbook. To call this book ‘genre’ is reductive to the point of being pejorative. It’s a ghost story in as much as Moby Dick is a fishing story. It deals in massive ideas about female friendship, motherhood, daughterhood, and the toxicity of post-industrial male archetypes all wrapped in the most exquisite, detailed world that is at once full of terror, desperation, ex-urban mundanity, and compassion. A breathless read about getting to the truths that lie beneath the phantasm of family mythology.” — Brendan Griffin, Production Coordinator

SEE OUR PAST READING LISTS:

• September, 2021

• August, 2021

• July, 2021