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👋 Hello readers!👋 I'm extra excited to announce next month's read — because it was just longlisted for the National Book Award in fiction. I will be honest and say that The Index of Self-Destructive Acts — which, on the surface, is about baseball and politics — did not immediately strike me as my kind of book. But believe me when I say I could not put it down once I started.
Christopher Beha's novel — which Colum McCann describes as "a significant novel, beautifully crafted and deeply felt" — follows Sam Waxworth, a data journalist who gets a cushy job as a columnist after successfully predicting the outcome of the 2008 presidential election. When he's assigned a profile of disgraced opinion columnist Frank Doyle, he's surprised to find he actually likes him, and as he gets to know Frank's family — his wife Kit, whose family-run investment bank is failing; his son, Eddie, who’s just returned from a tour in Iraq; and his daughter, Margo, an academic who’d rather be a poet — his life philosophy that everything can be quantified is challenged. It's a masterful interplay of big, fraught themes of privilege, race, wealth, and ethics, and feels perfect for this very moment. Read an excerpt.
❤️ 📚 Arianna Giveaway To celebrate, we've got some (US-only) giveaways: Tin House is offering 10 copies with signed bookplates, and Libro.fm is offering 5 free audiobook downloads.
Want a shot at one of these great prizes? Respond to this email by Monday, September 28, 6pm ET, and tell us about your favorite book about families — and be sure to include your address. Winners will be randomly selected. Good luck!
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