Meet online to discuss this month’s book. As a writers group, we are particularly interested in looking at how these books can inform our own writing.
Be ready to share what you think about the book as a reader and what you think about it as a writer. If you wish, also bring ideas of books for future sessions. While the classics are great, we plan to focus on more recent works.
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This month we are reading An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. The novel tells an unusual first contact story where the aliens appear without any sort of explanation. It features lots of humor and a strong narrative voice.
From the Back Cover:
The Carls just appeared.
Roaming through New York City at three AM, twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship—like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor—April and her best friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world—from Beijing to Buenos Aires—and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.
Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety, and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.