The Los Angeles Times Book Club will begin 2020 with one of this year’s most critically acclaimed books: Ocean Vuong’s novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.
The newspaper’s book club editor, Donna Wares, made the announcement on Saturday. In a news release, Wares quoted a review of the book by novelist and Times contributor Steph Cha, who called Vuong’s novel “a book of sustained beauty and lyricism, earnest and relentless, a series of high notes that trembles exquisitely almost without break.”
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous was one of Kirkus’ best fiction books of 2019 and a finalist for the Kirkus Prize in Fiction. A reviewer for Kirkus called it “a raw and incandescently written foray into fiction by one of our most gifted poets.”
Vuong will discuss his novel with L.A. readers on Jan. 27 at Hollywood’s Montalban Theatre, the Times said.
Wares also announced two other 2020 picks for the Times Book Club. In February, the club will read From Our Land to Our Land: Essays, Journeys, and Imaginings From a Native Xicanx Writer by acclaimed Mexican author and former L.A. Poet Laureate Luis J. Rodriguez. The book is scheduled for publication on Feb. 4.
The club’s pick for March will be Jeanine Cummins’ novel American Dirt, which is set for release on Jan. 21.
The Los Angeles Times Book Clublaunched in June, with Susan Orlean’s The Library Book as its inaugural pick. Other books selected by the club have included Laila Lalami’s The Other Americans and George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy.
Michael Schaub is an Austin, Texas–based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
