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I'd like to start with a big thank you to the entire community for the response to the first book club book, Beat the Reaper.  The amount of initial interest in a book club, along with the subsequent discussion and response pieces, has been overwhelming.  I'm glad that everyone who had feelings about the book (good and bad) has chimed in and contributed to a great discussion.  I've posted a few final club questions for people to chat about on the discussion piece, and the book and community reaction will be discussed thoroughly in an upcoming Murmur podcast.

Enough back-patting from yours truly.  With discussion of Bazell's Beat the Reaper winding down, it's time to announce the next book for the community!  For the rest of January and the start of February, the Murmur Book Club will be reading Lev Grossman's The Magicians.

Here's a (slightly long-winded) description of the book from the novel's jacket;

Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he's still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn't bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin's fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.

At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren't black and white, love and sex aren't simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.

The Magicians is a bit longer than Beat the Reaper at roughly 400 pages, but moves along at a quick clip.  I'll be aiming for the end of the first week of February to post a discussion article - that leaves a little over a month to read the book.  If this starts to seem tight to folks, I can always delay my post a bit.  I know that another possible sticking point is the unfortunate fact that The Magicians has still not seen a paperback release.  However, amazon.com has the book for a very paperback-esque 18.00 (which it is definitely worth), and has used copies as low as ten bucks.  If you've got a Kindle, the price is even lower.  The book also had some commercial and critical acclaim when it was released, so it should be easy to find at your local library.  Hopefully, everyone can get their hands on a copy without breaking the bank.

Now, let's get reading!

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I'll also pair the book with a beer, like I did last month.  I'm not sure how many people partook in the pairing, but I enjoy doing it enough to keep it up until someone complains!

Quentin and the other main characters of The Magicians lead an absolutely hedonistic college existence. While I don't recall anyone sipping on beer at the fictional Brakebills academy, scotch, cognac and other liquors all definitely make appearances, along with lots and lots and lots of wine. Since I'm not really a wine guy, a beer aged in wine barrels makes a lot of sense to me.

Enter the Dogfish Head Red&White.

The Red & White is "a big, belgian-style Wit brewed with coriander and orange peel and fermented with Pinot Noir juice. After fermentation a fraction of the batch is aged in Oregon Pinot Noir barrels, and another fraction is aged on oak staves. The beer is blended together before packaging."  It's a tasty brew, and approachable for beer drinkers and non-beer drinkers alike.  Dogfish Head has national distribution, and you can use their site's "Fish Finder" to track down a bottle.  Again, not part of the club per se, but a fun pairing for the book.

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