Culture

1book140's January and February Reads: The House of Silk and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Join our Twitter book club as we read a Sherlock Holmes mystery and a gripping novel about an unhappy family.

By Alexis Ditkowsky
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Join our Twitter book club 1book140 to read The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler.

JANUARY

First up, we’ll be taking on the (relatively) new Sherlock Holmes novel The House of Silk, which The Washington Post calls “exceptionally entertaining” and “an altogether terrific period thriller." Written by Anthony Horowitz, whom mystery lovers may know from his work on the television series Foyle’s War, Midsomer Murders, and Agatha Christie’s Poirot, this addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon should prove a fun kick-off to 2015.

For more on how Anthony Horowitz approached his “assignment” and how he keeps his audiences riveted, check out this BBC interview:

Here’s how to join the conversation:

Reading Schedule for The House of Silk

To participate, follow @1book140 and tweet with the hashtag #1book140. In lieu of our usual week by week reading schedule, what if we made a plan to discuss the The House of Silk at the end of January? In addition to avoiding spoilers, mysteries have a tendency to get consumed in a few voracious late-night reads, which can make it hard to tweet/comment as you go. Let me know what you think in the comments or on Twitter.

FEBRUARY

So many of the rave reviews for February’s read—the Booker Prize-shortlisted We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler—warn against revealing too much, so I’m tempted to encourage 1book140 readers to just pick up a copy and get started.

But if you need a little extra encouragement, Barbara Kingsolver in her New York Times review calls the story of Rosemary and her unhappy family “so readably juicy and surreptitiously smart, it deserves all the attention it can get,” and Booklist writes that “Fowler has outdone herself in this deeply inquisitive, cage-rattling novel."

Reading Schedule for We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

To participate, follow @1book140 and tweet with the hashtag #1book140.

Week One: ~1-80

Week Two: ~81-160

Week Three: ~161-240

Week Four: ~240 to the end

Looking forward to reading and tweeting along with you! As a reminder, don't be shy about messaging me (@aditkowsky) or @1book140 if you have any ideas or feedback.