I am so thilled that on Tuesday, October 12th, we'll be joined on Book Club Girl on Air by Jess Walter, author of the acclaimed novel, The Financial Lives of the Poets. A former finalist for the National Book Award (for his novel The Zero), Walter received so much praise for The Financial Lives of the Poets when it was published in hardcover last fall. Critics called it "a small masterpiece" (Time), "a superb farce" (NPR's Fresh Air), "dangerously astute" (New York Times) and "a joy to read" (Nick Hornby, Parade).
What happens when small-time reporter Matthew Prior quits his job to gamble everything on a quixotic notion: a Web site devoted to financial journalism in the form of blank verse? Before long, he wakes up to find himself jobless, hobbled with debt, spying on his wife's online flirtation, and six days away from losing his home. . . . Until, one night on a desperate two a.m. run to 7-Eleven, he falls in with some local stoners, and they end up hatching the biggest—and most misbegotten—plan yet.
The Financial Lives of the Poets is a comic and heartfelt novel about how we get to the edge of ruin—and how we begin to make our way back. Walter tells the story of Matt Prior, who’s losing his job, his wife, his house, and his mind—until, all of a sudden, he discovers a way that he might just possibly be able to save it all . . . and have a pretty damn great time doing it.
I have 10 copies of The Financial Lives of the Poets to give away to the first 10 people who comment that they'd like to participate in the show on October 12th. Set your reminder for the show, browse inside the book, check out the reading group guide and catch Walter on tour near you.
