Leffingwell Announces Book Club Picks

Military wives and Vietnam vets steer the Mayor's Book Club's dual selections.

Now in its tenth year, the Mayor's Book Club aims to get Austinites all reading and talking about the same book. Make that two books this year: Siobhan Fallon's You Know When the Men Are Gone and Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried.

In Fallon's debut short story collection, published just last month, the role of military wives left behind is explored in thematically linked stories. (Fallon herself is a a military wife based in Fort Hood, Texas.) Longtime Austin resident O'Brien's The Things They Carried – also a collection of related stories – was first published in 1990 and has gone on to become a classic of war fiction. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Critics Circle Award and the title story, inspired by O'Brien's own experiences in the Vietnam War, is regularly anthologized.

Mayor Lee Leffingwell will introduce the authors at a kickoff event on Saturday, March 5, 2pm, at the John Henry Faulk Central Library (800 Guadalupe). Stay tuned for further details about the citywide campaign – years past have seen events like lectures, reading groups, and films, all geared toward getting the town talking.