Dave Eggers book consumed in two days

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Princeton Library has this table of book club books and I occasionally browse through them. They're not current books, necessarily, just books that the people seem to be popular with book clubs at the moment. A month ago, I checked out A Tree Grows in Brooklyn because I never got to  it when I was younger. I read four pages, felt depressed by her scrounging for tin,  and put it aside. My guess is that the girl will find that the tree is her one steadfast friend through her years of poverty and painful girlhood lessons. But I could be wrong.

Instead, I checked out a Graham Green book, The Heart of the Matter. I read half of it, and then realized that I wasn't sure if the story was set in Africa during WWI or Syria during WWII or possibly current day Dominican Republic. The main character's name is Scobie, and so that made him hard to take seriously. I couldn't decide if it was a novel of intrigue, socio-political critique, or an historical account of racial relations in whatever country.  Instead, I read Dave Eggers A Hologram for the King. I actually started reading it in the library, somewhat skeptical (I was one of the few people I know who didn't love A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius). Something about the main character that I liked immediately, and though the story of a failing, middle aged white guy trying to make it with this last minute business venture isn't a plot I typically warm to, I read the book in about two days. And guess what, they're making it into a movie starring...Tom Hanks, of course. I like Tom Hanks, but only in so far as I am still in awe that he made it this far after starting on Bosom Buddies. I recommend the book--though it feels like the final message has something to do with the futility of life.

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