RSS‘Remainder‘ obsessions linger in memory
By Lynn Carey
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
IF YOU suddenly had millions of dollars, how would you spend it? That’s the core question readers might ask themselves of the Times Book Club’s next selection. One can almost be positive it wouldn’t be spent the way the narrator does in “Remainder,” by Tom McCarthy (Vintage, $13.95, 308 pages).
Our hero, if he can be called that, is the survivor of an unnamed accident — something “fell from the sky” — and, once he comes out of his coma in contemporary London, is given a settlement of 8.5 million pounds. He becomes obsessed with re-creating a place where he remembers feeling “real.” This passion takes over his life and gets more and more bizarre.
McCarthy’s book has been compared to the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and David Mitchell’s “Ghostwritten.” It’s different and compelling, and definitely worth discussing! Join me at any one of three discussions later this month.
• Bookstore discussion: We have lots of opportunities to talk about this book. Marin County: 7 p.m. Thursday, March 22, at Marin Coffee Roasters and Cafe, 546 San Anselmo Ave., San Anselmo, 415-258-9549, hosted by Booksmith, 415-459-7323 (the next book club selection will be 20 percent off at the store, across the street, after the discussion). Contra Costa County: 7 p.m. Monday, March 26, at Diablo Books, 1831 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek. Call 925-943-2400. Alameda County: 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, at A Great Good Place for Books, 6120 La Salle, Oakland. Call 510-339-8210.
• Send comments: Please send your comments by March 28, even if you plan to be at the bookstore discussion.
• Mail comments to: Times Book Club, P.O. Box 8099, Walnut Creek, CA 94596-8099. Include your name, address and day and evening phone numbers in all correspondence, even e-mail.
• E-mail comments to: lcarey@cctimes.com.
• Fax comments to: Times Book Club, 925-943-8265.
• Next Times Book Club “meeting”: Sunday, April 15, in A&E.
Lynn Carey runs the Times Book Club. She can be reached at 925-943-8112 or at lcarey@cctimes.com.