Howdy, y’all. We are officially deep into the dust, drama, and oil derricks of Edna Ferber’s Giant for the American250 Book Club. Is everyone as obsessed with Leslie as I am? Good. Also, is everyone looking up a word a page thanks to Edna’s insane vocabulary? Just me? Fine, I’m not embarrassed.
In other words: how are we doing?
Are you flying through it, completely sucked into Edna Ferber’s sprawling, sun-baked world? Or are you somewhere around page 200 wondering if Texas is always this much? (It is.)
Either way, I want to hear from you — drop a comment and let me know where you are and what’s living rent-free in your head so far.
Two dates to put on your calendar right now for paid subscribers!
🎬 Movie Watch-Along: Sunday, March 15th
The 1956 film is gorgeous and absolutely worth your time — Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean in his final role. It is also GIANT with a 3 hour and 20 minute run time! We’re going to get on Zoom, mute our mics, push play together and hang out in the chat as we make our way through this classic.
📚 Book Club Discussion: Thursday, March 26th
This is the main event. We’ll dig into everything — the land, the oil, the women, the racism, the ambition, the America Ferber was holding up like a mirror. There is going to be SO MUCH to talk about.
Giant is a lot just like America — the beautiful parts and the ugly ones and like Leslie says “it all hangs together somehow.”
I loved Leslie and the banter her and Bick have. I gave up pretty quickly on the words I didn't know and only looked them up when I though Edna made up a word completely. It was a RICH text.
I watched the movie already and it's a long one but it was nice to see those amazing actors in these roles!
Yep! Leslie is the person keeping it all hanging together for me.