Group Read: Rules of Civility

"On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar with her boardinghouse roommate stretching three dollars as far as it will go when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker with royal blue eyes and a tempered smile, happens to sit at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a yearlong journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool toward the upper echelons of New York society and the executive suites of Condé Nast--rarefied environs where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve."

^A Gentleman in Moscow has an army of adoring fans, here on LT but many of us have not read Amor Towles first novel, Rules of Civility. So, we decided to do a Group Read of it. There will be no time restrictions or penalties for falling behind. Read it at your leisure and share your thoughts with the group. Pretty simple, right? Please avoid any spoilers, early on. Let's not sink the ship before it is out of port.

I will be listening to the audio and I will post my thoughts about this aural experience, once I am under way. I should start it, within a week.

Let's get this party started!!

I'll be reading on Kindle but probably won't start til about Monday or so.

I'm in!

Me, too!

A bit sad that I have already read it but I will keep this thread starred to eavesdrop on the conversations.... ;-)

Maaaaybe.....

Yes!

I was at a library book sale with a friend, back in July, and she warbled about this book. She insisted on buying it for my wife.

My wife having read it and given it a tepid "yeah, it was ok," I will read it. Start by the end of the week.

I have extremely high hopes for it because A Gentleman in Moscow was one of my favorite books this year. Hope I'm not disappointed.

Like Shelley, I’ve read it (really good), so I’ll be eavesdropping.

>8 laytonwoman3rd: No accepting"Maybes", Linda. You can do it!!

I listened to the audio a few years ago. I just went back and read my blog post about it and remembered why I liked it.

I think my copy will be here today. I'm traveling this weekend but should be able to at least start.

It's here! I've read the first three paragraphs. So far- fabulous!

At the Friends of the Library book sale yesterday, I was chatting with Stephanie, a woman in my book club. We chatted about AGiM and then RoC - she may suggest it as her book for the coming book club year. And just then she found a beautiful trade paperback copy. We were both happy. I'm going to read it this month regardless of book club scheduling, but it was nice to see her so excited about finding it.

I'm in but probably won't start until mid-month or so...

I'm just finding this thread (thanks Shelley!) and dropping off my star. I purchased my copy today, will likely start it in the next week or so.
I like it: this will be a leisurely group read!

Reading the Preface, I had to stop and fetch my copy of Many Are Called and leaf through the pages, looking for two photos that could be of the same guy in different social levels. Wonder if Evans' photos play any more part in the book? No, no. Don't tell me! I'll find out.

I'm just starting the section "Springtime", p 59 of 324 pages if you don't include the appendix, 335 if you do.

I just started it too. Lovely beginning...

With less than 100 pages to read, all is well. The clues offered by the Preface are playing out, and the identity of the narrator's husband, one of the clues, has just hit me, though it was put before me quite a few pages back. I'll see if I am correct before the weekend is out.

Likey.

I am done. A-ok.

>24 weird_O:



^Nice job, Bill. I am a 100 pages in. Good stuff.

On my Kindle, I am 20% in. It's hard to talk about it without spoilers. Really liking it though.

I just finished it about 10 minutes ago, having powered through the last third of it this afternoon.

>23 weird_O: I guessed it was Valentine as soon as I heard his name - Wallace, Dicky, Tinker, and Hank couldn't be turned into Val.

I'm about a quarter in (I'm reading a large type book, so there are over 500 pages). LOVE it! I very recently read A Gentleman in Moscow, so two things jump into my mind: (1) Towles is a master of describing places and times and (2) his writing is so full of small little "gem"s of incidents or descriptions, and I keep reading because I can't wait to see what he shows us next.

The author bio in the back of Rules of Civility says that the author was still in the investment profession at that time; please tell me he's writing full-time now!

Karen O.

n.b. "Having worked as an investment professional for over twenty years, Mr. Towles now devotes himself full time to writing in Manhattan, where he lives with his wife and two children." (amortowles.com)

I posted a bunch of random quotes on my thread when I read this last month. There seems to be something quotable, some delicious turn of phrase, almost every other page, right?

Pity he has only written 2 so far. I wonder if a third is in the works....

>29 jessibud2: There is also a collection of short stories - Eve in Hollywood

>30 CDVicarage: - Oh! Thank you for that. I did not know of this. I am not generally a fan of short stories but I WILL look for this.

>30 CDVicarage: looks like it's ebook only and not currently for sale on Amazon. I'll have to look into this further.

Thanks for letting us know about this.

>30 CDVicarage:->32 lindapanzo: I'm nothing if not bold - I just sent an e-mail to Amor Towles from the Contact option on his website, asking if there was any way to purchase Eve in Hollywood since it wasn't available on Amazon any more.

>33 karenmarie: - :-) That's our girl!

Sorry to hear about the difficulty of getting Eve in Hollywood. You probably don't want to know that it's available from Amazon UK for 99p at the moment.

>33 karenmarie: Thank you for doing that. Maybe we can all do it and create a groundswell of support for it.

I finished the book just now. Absolutely loved it. Probably not quite as much as Gentleman in Moscow but it's close, for me.

>35 CDVicarage: - I rarely, if ever, order anything from amazon. But can someone in North America order from amazon UK?

So glad to hear that you liked it, Linda. He does have a really classy style, doesn't he. I love how he uses the language

I notice that it's available for $2.99 from Books a Million. It seems to me that, for a First to Read book I won, I had to download an app that is compatible with BAM so there's hope yet.

Woo-hoo. I also wrote to Amor Towles through his website's "contact me" button to tell him that I loved Rules of Civility and to ask to make Eve in Hollywood available on Amazon.com.

I got an extremely nice reply, thanking me for my kind remarks and saying "to receive a friendly reception from a seasoned reader makes it all worthwhile."

He said he originally planned to give Eve in Hollywood to the readers on his distribution list but he pulled it because he planned to turn it into a full length work but, due to demand, he will make it available soon via print on demand at his local independent bookstore. Said he'd email me the info when it's available later this fall and, in the meantime, urged me to read A Gentleman in Moscow.

>39 lindapanzo: That is very cool, Linda. You made a new friend. Let us know if you hear any updates on Eve!

Oh yeah- Go Cubbies!

>37 jessibud2: - I just logged into amazon.co.uk with my amazon prime email address and password, can see Eve in Hollywood, but it says it's only available to UK customers. Boo, flunk.

>39 lindapanzo: I think we got the same reply, Linda. Except that I mentioned that I'd read A Gentleman in Moscow and he didn't urge me to read it.

>41 karenmarie: I forgot to mention that fact to him. He did say that he took the liberty of adding me to his email distribution list so I'll be in the know on new books etc.

Also, later on, I remembered that, to get my free copy of Radio Free Vermont, I had to download Adobe Digital Editions on my PC. I think that's the name. Anyway, Books a Million still has a copy available for sale so I picked one up and put it into my Adobe Digital Editions bookshelf and so I can read it on my PC. Not an optimal solution but I'm still trying to figure out how to use the BAM app.

Interesting chat on Eve in Hollywood -- this guy is addicting!

Just finished Rules of Civility: A Novel and really liked it -- like >36 lindapanzo: maybe not as much a A Gentleman in Moscow but close! I bet that would be the case with any writer--that there will be improvement or at least a settling of style in an author's writing. Or something like that. :) Anyway, I'm definitely in the warbling camp on this one!

Karen O.

I've started reading Eve in Hollywood and really enjoying it. I can see why he'd want to turn this collection of into a full length novel.

I agree that this would have been a hard book to discuss without spoilers. Still, I enjoyed reading it and I enjoyed knowing there were others out there reading at about the same time.

The last bit of my "review" from my thread:

The plot of this novel is just shy of compelling -- a few too many chance encounters end up disrupting the magic while necessarily advancing the story -- but the storytelling is wonderful. Towles' prose is pitch-perfect; it mirrors the mood of the story absolutely. This was a great book in which to get lost. Best accompanied by a gin martini in anticipation of those consumed by the characters.

Oh, and I gave it four stars.

I remember being surprised and delighted at how many places from the NYC of years ago he remembered and included in the book. (From long before I got here.)