Mason faculty, staff and students: Unite!
Fall for the Book wants everyone to join together — in reading! — as part of our third annual Mason|Reads program. And then to come together in person to meet the author behind the book during our 13th annual festival.
In past years, the campus community has focused on novels by Sherman Alexie, E.L. Doctorow and Ann Patchett. This year, Mason|Reads turns your attention to another bestselling book: Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan. She is this year’s recipient of the Fairfax Prize for literary excellence, being awarded by Fall for the Book on Tuesday, September 20.
In the novel, a San Francisco-based dealer in Chinese antiquities plans an art expedition in Burma for a dozen of her friends — and then dies under mysterious circumstances. The tour continues without her (or so they think, since her spirit is tagging along for the journey), and soon the group — a mix of “the lovelorn, the infertile, the sex-starved, the hypochondriacs, the arrogant, the insecure, the paranoid and the self-absorbed,” according to USA Today — encounters difficulties aplenty among the natives in a clash of cultures, histories, attitudes, and more. The San Francisco Chroniclecalled the book “a superbly executed, goodhearted farce that is part romance and part mystery with a political bent.”
Getting involved in Mason|Reads is easy:
But Fall for the Book wants to make it even easier — so we’ll be giving away copies of Saving Fish From Drowning on a first-come, first-served basis on Mason’s campuses between July 4th and Welcome Week. Stay tuned at Fall for the Book’s homepage and at our Facebook page for more information on when you can get your free copy.
Then mark your calendars for two great events on Tuesday, September 20: an afternoon book discussion (time to-be-determined) on Saving Fish From Drowning, and then Tan’s acceptance of the Fairfax Prize at 7:30 p.m., in the Concert Hall, Center for the Arts on Mason’s Fairfax campus. As with all Fall for the Book events, admission is free and open to the public — and don’t forget to bring your book for Tan to sign!