By Lou Pray

Library director

Every now and then there is a novel I find myself perusing long after I’ve finished it,  or re-read some section that moved me or made me laugh.

The first Karen Joy Fowler book I read back in 2004, the New York Times best selling “The Jane Austen Book Club,” is that rare one I’ve read cover-to-cover several times.

The plot is centered around a book club that was formed to discuss each of Austen’s novels which loosely mirror events going on in the life of the book club members. For me, it was all about the love of reading and that the best way to understand human nature is through great literature.

I went out and  read all her other books and have thoroughly enjoyed her variety, since she started out as a sci-fi/fantasy writer (another genre I love).  The library is thrilled to bring her to Lopez on Oct. 5, 4 – 5:30p.m. at the Gathering Place at the Hamlet in Lopez Village for a reading and discussion of her newest book, We are all completely beside ourselves.  We’ll have a Q&A after, for questions.

Fowler is the author of six novels and three short story collections. “The Jane Austen Book Club” spent 13 weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book.

Fowler’s previous novel “Sister Noon” was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her debut novel “Sarah Canary” was a New York Times Notable Book, as was her second novel “The Sweetheart Season.”

In addition, “Sarah Canary” won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian, and was listed for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize as well as the Bay Area Book Reviewers Prize. Fowler’s short story collection “Black Glass” won the World Fantasy Award in 1999, and her collection “What I Didn’t See” won the World Fantasy Award in 2011. Fowler and her husband, who have two grown children and five grandchildren, live in Santa Cruz, California. For more information on the author, visit her website at: http://karenjoyfowler.com/.