Life on the Mekong Book Club

The first pick in the LOTM Book Club has been made. I'm looking for Oprah-like influence on the reading choices of America's middle-aged suburban women, and everyone else while I'm at it.

And why not? If the title is anything to go on, this is going to be a book for the ages.

The Brief & Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders.

Welcome to Inner Horner, a nation so small it can only accommodate one citizen at a time. The other six citizens must wait their turns in the Short-Term Residency Zone of the surrounding country of Outer Horner. It's a long-standing arrangement between the fantastical, not-exactly-human citizens of the two countries. But when Inner Horner suddenly shrinks, forcing three-quarters of the citizen then in residence over the border into Outer Horner territory, the Outer Hornerites declare an Invasion In Progress--having fallen under the spell of the power-hungry and demagogic Phil.

So begins The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. Fueled by Saunders's unrivaled wit, outlandish imagination, and incisive political sensibility, here is a deeply strange yet strangely familiar fable of power and impotence, justice and injustice--an Animal Farm for our times.

Seeing as this blog is a one-way conversation, the book club probably won't have alot of interesting discussion. But the title of the book is enough to get everyone to at least buy it, if not actually read it.

Marty Kagan and I ordered our copies today.