Ever dream about traveling to Vienna? Well, last night, a group of people
did go to Vienna- at least in Columbia. The Writers House had a book
discussion with Binnie Kirshenbaum in Wien Lounge. [Vienna/Wien.]
Kirshenbaum is the author of The Scenic Route, the book that was discussed
at the event. She also happens to be the Chair of the M.F.A Program here at
Columbia.The event was supposed to be smaller according to Binnie. It was
intended to be a small book-club like setting, but ended up being around
thirty or forty people. (Full disclosure: the event was organized by Spectator Books Editor Yin Yin Lu).

Yin sent multiple e-mails to everyone who joined the “Scenic Route”  listserv. Sounds like
spam, I know, but trust me it wasn’t. Every email Yin sent was beautifully
worded and I know I couldn’t have been the only one who looked forward to
reading them. This created a sense of anticipation for the event and I found
myself really looking forward to discussing the book.

Kirshenbaum was a great speaker and reader. It probably helped that her book
was so amazing. She explained her writing process and admitted that this
book took almost five years to write. She also bemoaned commercial
publishing and how Harper Perennial marketed her book. It comes with a
little P.S in the back, “Read exclusive extras including: Interviews,
Features, If You Loved This…, and More Inside.” Clearly the publishers made
a mockery of her talent.

All in all, it was a great event. I liked that people were given the books
for free weeks before they went to the discussion. This ensured that
everyone at the event was at least sort of familiar with the book. With the
larger group, I’m not sure if the book-club setting worked very well (it was
very hard to hear the people in the back), but it was still an interesting,
enlightening, and incandescent adventure.