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Defector Reads A Book

Defector Reads A Book Has Its November Selection

4:57 PM EST on November 16, 2021

A library teacher giving a class to a group of boys and girls at a New York City public school, circa 1950.
Archive Photos/Getty Images

Thanks to everyone who joined us to read The Left Hand of Darkness in October. I related to those of you in the comments who loved the book and probably wouldn't have picked it up without DRAB's nudge. That's what this is all about!

In that spirit, we're trying something a little different this month: our first non-fiction selection. What better time than November to venture into food writing? This month, DRAB will read Consider The Oyster by M.F.K. Fisher, the prolific and poetic food writer. She makes her case for the humble oyster in just under 100 pages. "An oyster leads a dreadful but exciting life," this book begins. "Indeed, his chance to live at all is slim, and if he should survive the arrows of his own outrageous fortune and in the two weeks of his carefree youth find a clean smooth place to fix on, the years afterwards are full of stress, passion, and danger."

Should you want to consider the oyster with us, we recommend looking for a copy at your local library, independent bookstore, or Bookshop.org. Meet us back here at Defector on Thursday, December 9 to discuss. We’ll make sure to send out a reminder in The Cipher, the daily newsletter that goes out to all Pal-and-up subscribers. 

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