There are times in life when I’m blessed with advanced copies of books. Manuscripts arrive in my gmail inbox or whatever mailbox I’m associated with at the moment.

This was not one of those times.

In fact, quite the opposite. I waited with the rest of you, counted down the days to its release, watched with great envy as every it girl of the moment brandished their galley through the streets of Dimes Square.

I had just arrived in Paris the day before the release of Sally Rooney’s latest acclaimed novel Intermezzo and on Sept 24th I walked along the Seine and waited in line at Shakespeare & Co. to purchase this book.

As you’ve no doubt noticed from the title of this post, this is not just the book club pick for the month it’s the pick of the quarter. I’m easing my way back into your inboxes after a hiatus that was more draining than rejuvenative (more on that in a bit). Additionally, I’m not gonna lie, it’s long. Let’s take our time with this one, shall we? And end the year with exactly what this season privileges: a deluge of tears.

Grab a copy at your local bookstore and dive in!

You will no doubt be full of thoughts in response to this masterpiece and if you feel so compelled, feel free to drop a few of them in the chat.

Happy reading, my loves!

“Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt”

by Brontez Purnell

I first became aware of Brontez Purnell in 2021 when FSG pulished his revelatory book “100 Boyfriends.” Purnell has a voice that is incisive and brutally honest. The vulnerability with which he approaches everything—sexuality, race, class—is admirable and at times alarming.

I’m choosing “Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt” as the March Pick for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I have been completely knocked out by a Pisces seasons full of dreamy fantasies and harsh realities. This is the time of year when we hold space for duality, the promise of Spring amidst the Winter doldrums. This is the perfect companion for dissociative delusions and dreams of pending Summer sunsets.

Secondly, this book is perfect for the busy reader who wants high value for low time commitment. One of the things that’s hard to admit about being a reader is that it comes with the guilt of all the books one hasn’t finished and the books on deck that are piling in the corner.

This is a guilt-free book club!

If you haven’t finished a previous month’s book do not worry, you are not behind! I’m hoping that one of the benefits of this digital space can be the long tail of the internet. Read at your pace and drop your thoughts in the chat at your leisure, I’ll be talking about these books for the rest of my life.

And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Brontez Purnell is one of our great contemporary American voices and one that you should know!

Get the book!

I cannot say enough good things about this book! Get it now and get it here1:

COME & GET IT

There is something particularly magical about the campus novel as a genre.

Chalk it up to my own collegiate nostalgia or my undying (and perhaps problematic) love of capital “I” Institutions but I can’t help but feel captivated by the petty gossip and misaligned incentives of adolescents coming of age in close proximity with people they despise.

In Come & Get It, Kiley Reid succeeds at creating a cast of characters who are absolutely, unabashedly awful to each other and whose only shared characteristic is a complete lack self awareness.

This is the kind of book that makes you stay up past your bedtime as you inhale chapter after chapter of clean, concise prose whilst relishing the cringe-worthy antics of women behaving badly.

I read Reid’s 2019 debut Such a Fun Age in three days and when I saw that Come & Get It was dropping two days before February, I ran to McNally Jackson, bought this beautiful, eye catching, gem of a book and devoured it in just over 24 hours—which I only note because Wistover book club members have mentioned to me in the past that reading a book a month can be a heavy lift, particularly as we get farther into the year.

This book is big—it feels significant in hand—but it breezes by with the sensation of a good cocktail story. It’s as if Reid has invited us to her table to tell profound truths about the intersections of class, race, gender, and the American South packaged in a riveting narrative about what happens when people from very different walks of life are smashed together and forced to sit in their discomfort.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts. Send this link to all of your friends so you can read together.

We are one week into the new year and I’m dusting the cobwebs off my completely atrophied brain. By now, you may have gotten your copy of the National Book Award Winning Wistover Book Club pick of January, Blackouts, by genius author Justin Torres. If you haven’t, don’t worry! There’s still plenty of time to catch up.

The novel is structured like a walk through the protagonist’s stream of consciousness. There are many images and lots and lots of white space. This format works exceedingly well to further both the plot and experience, as you’ll notice, but it also makes it the perfect January book club pick. By which I mean, it’s a both fun and forgiving read to ease you back into this exercise in personal edification.

I’ve divided the book into sections and I’ve created a dedicated chat for each one, all linked below. Anyone who has experienced post-pandemic higher education will be familiar with this format but for those for whom “Blackboard” is either a tool of your collegiate past or simply another work for a chalkboard, here’s how it works:

Book Club General Chat

This space is for any general thoughts about the book, including, but not limited to, photos of the book in the wild, selfies of your shining faces with the book, ideas about general theme, or even to gush about Justin Torres’ broadly! I want to see it all! If it’s even tangentially relevant, drop it here. And if it isn’t relevant, drop that here as well!

Week 1 - Part I and Part II (pp. 7-113)

Week 2 - Part III, Part IV, Part V, (pp. 118-248)

Week 3 - Part VI, Endnotes (pp. 253-297)

This is a reading guide for those who would like one! Feel free to read at your own pace (faster or slower), the great thing about this digital format is that the chats will continue to live on so don’t worry if you fall behind. Additionally, you might consider reading the endnotes as you go in which case your weekly page count may differ but I’ve endeavored to keep each week to ~100 pages.

The chats will be open indefinitely so feel free to jump in there at any point. This is the place for spoilers, favorite lines or passages, questions, comments, concerns, insights, epiphanies! The more you share the more you’ll get out of the book club. This is also where I will source questions for my interview with Justin so please don’t hold back!

Technical Stuff:

The Chat should be accessible through the Wistover url (clarkmoore.substack.com) but it is really optimized for the mobile app. Here’s a brief tutorial of how to set the app up on your phone:

1. Download the app by clicking this link or the button below. Substack Chat is now available on both iOS and Android.

Get app

2. Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.

3. That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ.

Join chat

ANNOUNCING: Clark’s Book Club Chat!

The Sun is setting in the middle of the day, we are deep in the throes of the gauntlet leading to “The Holiday” season, and there is no better time to curl up with a good book and hide away from the world—be one cuffed or otherwise.

The CLARK’S BOOK CLUB general chat is a place where we can gab about all things literary.

The only rule: NO SPOILERS PLEASE!

Clark’s Book Club will be returning at the top of the new year with a brand new book and a couple of partnerships that I’m terribly excited to announce! I will maintain the general chat, our “common room,” where we can speak about books, reading, and writing broadly. Each book will have it’s own dedicated thread where we can get into the nitty gritty and at the end of the month there will be bonus content for those who want to dive a bit deeper or get their questions answered.

But more on that soon!

In the meantime: tell me what you’re reading, tell me what you’re excited to read, tell me what spines remain un-cracked and side-eyeing you from your nightstand or bookshelf. I cannot wait to be back in conversation with you, dear readers.

Happy Reading! 📚

To join our chat, you’ll need to download the Substack app, now available for both iOS and Android. Chats are sent via the app, not email, so turn on push notifications so you don’t miss conversation as it happens.

How to get started

1. Download the app by clicking this link or the button below. Substack Chat is now available on both iOS and Android.

Get app

2. Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.

3. That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ.

Join chat