[fact or fiction]

encore’s Summer Book Club:
Where do you want to go today?

By: Tiffanie Gabrielse

Writing is architecture. It communicates to us. It builds a place, a time and a feeling for us. It induces emotion deep inside. Without communication within architecture, not even a house would be viewed by us in the same way—this is how I approach novels. What is this novel trying to tell me? I’ll often ask. It’s not about the language or the rhythm of its prose; it’s about the place I am transposed to upon reading it.

Thus, the question of why folks should join a book club often perpetuates such dialogue. Do they do it to get out of the house, away from the anti-Christ screaming at them to finish their chores around the home? Perhaps, for some, that’s the reason. But the reason others—and that includes the ever-knowledgeable encore reader—should join a book club is because it can help rediscover the literary diversity that unifies our opinions, judgments and personal reading experiences.

Oh, and it just so happens I have the perfect book club currently accepting members: encore’s Summer Book Club, which has partnered with Pomegranate Books, is now underway. What this means is, it’s all local and enlightening. This includes reading local books, wherein the authors will be offering readings and signings at Pomegranate throughout the summer. So it won’t just be the type of book club that reads and discusses among small groups; it’ll be community interactive for all who join. It’s an opportunity to expand our horizons and share the journey on which books take us.

So the question remains: Where do you want to go today?
Nina de Gramont, author of Gossip of the Starlings, has a good suggestion. De Gramont unveils her first novel by striking at universal themes portrayed by main characters Catherine and Skye.

Themes of sex, money and false feelings of indestructibility never fail to bring our own nostalgia for past youth into the forefront. Reading about the privileged upper class committing acts that endanger them, yet somehow make them feel more alive, never gets old. I’m openly addicted.

This novel is a wonderful world to be in for those of us who didn’t take risks during our teenage years. In de Gramont’s read, we can enjoy living vicariously through the main characters’ relationship as best friends. Their disregard for limits, not human emotion, quenches something deep. It’s like chocolate injected directly into our veins; they satisfy our craving for rich and milky danger while keeping true to human dynamics.

De Gramont agrees. “I read a study that moral decision doesn’t develop in the frontal lobe until the 20s. For me, writing about the dynamics around people, physical settings, the natural world and relationships before moral decision occurs, is satisfying.

“Though my writing isn’t dramatically different from others in form, it took me about two to three years to write,” she continued.
As one may expect of character development and storyline expansion, creating a complex read, especially deriving from layered personalities and insight, would be a process to embrace. Since the writer has so graciously seen the project through for 24 months, it’s up to the reader to offer the same amount of attention to detail while flipping each page.

“If I could live vicariously through one of my characters [in Gossip], I would chose Skye,” she began with a hint of jealousy in her voice. “She’s willing to break free of all the shackles. She’s exciting!”

Our conversation unfolded while de Gramont was house-sitting on Cape Cod, in my home state of Massachusetts. Though she had written before, with 10 years of professional writing under her belt—a winner of the Discovery Award from the New England Booksellers Association for Of Cats and Men, an apologue collection of short stories—Gossip of the Starlings is her first novel. Like any first, there’s going to be a few bumpy areas to overcome.

“I struggled with the first scene occurring on the Cape. I had to get the dynamic of everything right. But I enjoyed writing the last chapter the most.” She chuckled at the irony of that statement. “Not because it’s the last,” she continued, “because it’s the most vivid.

Though some feel it’s sad, I feel the language is justified.”
I asked her, “What distinguishes your novel from others of its genre?” I had pondered the notion that it may read like another version of Dangerous Liaisons. But like a true novelist, an architect, she was in tune with her construction.

“My character’s ideals are different. They aren’t mean. They resonate with you,” she answered. With that, it became obvious that the book wouldn’t be another “old-money-with-a-pretty-face” story. Even though most of these ideas of the upper class suffering from internal torment have some basis in real life, however blurred into one giant fabulous mess, I haven’t found one that actually stems from a real-life event. That is, until after I read Gossip of the Starlings.

“This actually happened to me as a senior in high school,” de Gramount informed. “Some were caught smuggling in coke, and though it did happen, and it was in the papers because it was quite huge, I didn’t mirror the events with research and articles.”

Still, it’s a juicy tale that all encore book club members will take away with a dose of entertainment and insight into a large world that still remains a mystery to us most. To become a part of the book club, head to Pomegranate Books (4418 Park Avenue) to pick up the encore Summer Book Club card, wherein members will receive 15 percent off the purchase of the books featured throughout the summer. Members will have two weeks to complete the book from the announcement of its read (the first being Gossip of the Starlings, so make arrangements to get it now!). Then, we ask readers to e-mail their paragraph (or a few) reviews of the books, which we’ll publish as the review in encore.

Mrs. de Gramont made it quite clear what she would like our club to take away from her novel. With its simplistic, non-philosophical secondary symbolic or metaphorical intention, de Gramont said, “I want you to enjoy it. Put it down and say to yourself, ‘I’d like to read it again.’ That’s what I want—what I hope for.”

Ignorance to knowledge, innocence to experience, and idealism to realism is married best in the summer season, and thus a great first read for encore’s book club. Since de Gramont is a North-Carolina native, it’s highly appropriate. Go to Pomegranate today to pick up a copy before reviews are due, June 25th. And be sure to go to the book store on June 18th to hear de Gramont sign and read from Gossip of the Starlings.

If you’re joining the encore Summer Book Club, please e-mail tiffanie107@hotmail.com for more information and to confirm your membership after you receive your Book Club Card.