Our February selection is Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize winning author of All the Light We Cannot See. Cloud Cuckoo Land is an imaginative and expansive novel that tells three intertwining stories over a span of hundreds of years, from 15th century Constantinople to present day Idaho to a future time in space. Through his novel, Doerr reminds us of our interconnectedness and the ways in which the stories we are told as children infuse our lives with hope and encourage resilience.
“Not just the best book of the year (or most years), the novel is also a great read. Doerr works literary magic to tell three cleverly entwined stories set centuries apart, celebrating children, and the natural world, and always, especially, libraries. We’ll be talking about this one for a long time.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Cloud Cuckoo Land is a wildly inventive novel that teems with life, straddles an enormous range of experience and learning, and embodies the storytelling gifts that it celebrates. . . . A humane and uplifting book for adults that’s infused with the magic of childhood reading experiences.”
—New York Times Book Review
"If you’re looking for a superb novel, look no further.” —The Washington Post
Cloud Cuckoo Land is a long novel—and a popular one—so get on the waiting list at your library or ask Santa to bring you a big fat book. Discussion begins February 1st. Please join us!
I’m about halfway through. (I got lucky and got it from my library last week.) I think, however, that it’s one I’m going to need to reread in order to get the most out of it. I think this will be my last book of the year!
Wonderful timing! We went to Portland for Xmas and picked it up at Powell’s. I’m about halfway through. It was a steep curve to remember all the characters because I’ve been reading it here and there during vacation, but I’m really enjoying Seymour and Konstance’s story lines.
@VeryHappy The book is big, but it reads quickly. There are a lot of empty pages between chapters and characters. I would say that at least 100 pages are essentially empty. There are lots of easy stopping points throughout the book which I like.
I may have to dig up the kindle that’s been lounging in a basket somewhere downstairs since the beginning of lockdown in order to participate. I’m on the list at the library, but they’ve been closed for a week due to “covid complications.”
Just gave up and bought the book on Amazon, hardcover. It’s supposed to arrive on Sunday. We shall see. I used gift cards I got from pharma company for taking my RX and completing their questions so it was “free.” I was19th on reserve list for library and Feb will be here soon.
Costco was sold out of the book at all stores on our island.
The library reopened and I was able to get the book on CD. This is the only silver lining to having to be back at work in person starting next week - I’ll be able to “read” during my commute.
My Cloud Cuckoo Land book I ordered on Amazon Friday was on our doorstep this morning! That’s some prompt service! I have started the book — very interesting so far.
Just starting out and trying to keep up with the differences. Does the print version mark the shifts more clearly than my audiobook does (which is to say, not at all)?
