We shipped The Instructions, by Adam Levin, to our Book Club members yesterday, a full month ahead of publication. There are whispers that this is one of McSweeney’s best yet; those signed up will get to delve into this thick tome and decide for themselves. Interested? Click here to join (we’ll ship for another week).
There’s a video trailer for Levin’s novel, which is about a revolution of sorts, and while it doesn’t reveal much about the book, you might find it helpful for future schemes.
The Instructions also made the Chicagoist’s Back-to-Indoors Reading List, though with September and October’s colors and clear skies, reading outside is still highly suggested.
“His character’s don’t solve mysteries, have magical powers, or live in the future,” Seattle-based The Stranger writes about our most infamous Book Club author. “But in his new novel Richard Yates, Tao Lin shows us the way we live now.” Lin scored the cover slot of this month’s issue, a serious portrait meant to emulate Time’s cover of “Great American Novelist” Jonathan Franzen. Even better, he scored the chance to pen the autobiographical article too.
The Suffolk Journal isn’t quite as complementary. It’s review, “Don’t Believe the Hype,” claims that “Lin’s writing style makes it difficult for readers to summon their effort to turn to the next page.”
For maybe the 900th time this month, Tao Lin gets interviewed by another hip publication, the LA Times. So why read another interview? Because this one has a new twist, zoning in on Tao’s relationship to music as a writer.
In its “Discoveries” section, the LA Times also brushes upon Lan Samantha Chang‘s new book, All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost. Reviewer Susan Salter Reynolds notes how Chang “treats her characters with great respect.”
The San Francisco LitQuake schedule has been released, and most of your favorite Book Club authors are going to make appearances. Don’t miss Tao Lin read at The Booksmith on October 4th; Doug Dorst at LitQuake’s first ever surf-themed reading event on October 4th, at, where else, Ocean Beach; Lan Samantha Chang reading from her novel at Book Passage in the Ferry Building on Tuesday, the 5th; and Adam Levin in conversation with Eli Horowitz on October 5th at the Jewish Community Center.
