Citizen Reader

Hi everyone, and welcome to the March Book Menage, featuring George Saunders's book of essays, The Braindead Megaphone, and Steven Millhauser's New York Times Notable book of short stories, Dangerous Laughter!*

And yes, I know when we have these, we normally start off with a few questions and then have a beautiful free-for-all in the comments. Although I am a huge fan of the free-for-all, I thought we'd do things a bit differently this time around:

Instead of having one big discussion in the comments, I thought I'd post a few different questions each day, and each day can then have its own discussion. Also, if there's any questions you'd like to ask about these books, you should ask them in the comments (and I'll pull them out into the next day's post to highlight them) or email me with them at [email protected]. So it'll still be a free-for-all...times five! And whoever comments in any day's discussion will be entered in the drawing to win the next Menage books (meaning, you don't have to comment every day if you don't want to).

So let's start out pretty basic. Here's what I'm wondering:

1. Did you read all of each book? Or did you skip some parts?

2. HOW did you read these books? Straight through? Picking and choosing your essays or stories to read? How did you choose your reading order?

And here's a big one (and one we'll revisit throughout the week, I'm sure):

3. Did you like or not like either or both of these books? Why or why not?

I'll start us off in the comments, because I believe it's only fair to answer the questions one asks of others. Welcome to the Menage!

*Technically, I'm posting this on Sunday night. I couldn't help myself. I always get overexcited about the Menage.