The Hoosier Authors Book Club enters its 11th year with five planned book discussions.
The second meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Lew Wallace Carriage House, 200 Wallace Ave. The General Lew Wallace Study & Museum’s book club will discuss “If This Isn’t Nice What Is? The Graduation Speeches and other Words to Live By” by Kurt Vonnegut and Dan Wakefiled.
“If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?” is not a novel, but a 2013 collection of Vonnegut’s commencement speeches, selected and introduced by his friend Wakefield. The book gathers Vonnegut’s popular and often humorous advice for graduates, reflecting his unique blend of irony, joy, and seriousness, and has been re-released in expanded edition.
Vonnegut was a man of discipline, a champion of literary style, a modern sage, and a poetic shaman of happiness. After the publication of his now-legendary 1969 satirical novel Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut added another point of excellence to his résumé: He became one of the country’s most celebrated and sought-after commencement speakers, and like other masters — he bestowed his gift of wit and wisdom upon throngs of eager young people entering the so-called “real world.” This collection of selected speeches reveals Vonnegut’s poignant and heartening remarks to young people.
A limited number of books will be available for check-out at the Carriage House at the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum. If you can’t attend the discussion in person, you can attend by Zoom. Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/mTlbCj5DRgKMLWlhdcx_JA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Other books that will be read by the Hoosier Authors Book Club this year include: “Rabbit Hutch” by Tess Gunty on June 18; “Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance” by A’Lelia Bundles on Sept. 17; and “When Knighthood was in Flower” by Charles Major on Oct. 15.
All discussions are free and open to the public. Meetings are held in the ADA-compliant Carriage House Interpretive Center. For more information about the Hoosier Authors Book Club visit https://www.ben-hur.com/programs/hoosier-authors-book-club/.
