Program Description
Event Details
Join us for the Pacific Beach Library's monthly book discussion! Our group meets in a hybrid format, so you can choose whether you'd prefer to join us in-person in the PB Library's Community Room or virtually (please send an email to cwainwright@sandiego.gov for this year's Zoom login info). March's selection is The Gambler Wife by Andrew D. Kaufman.
Description: An intimate new portrait of the bold and determined woman who saved Dostoyevsky's life--and became a pioneer in Russian literary history. In the fall of 1866--against the backdrop of Russia's first feminist movement--an independent-minded young stenographer named Anna Snitkina went to work for a writer she idolized: Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The volatile and visionary novelist was already a celebrated literary provocateur, yet Anna found him 'terribly unhappy, broken, tormented,' sickened by epilepsy, anguished by the recent loss of his wife--and in thrall to a gambling addiction that kept him on the verge of emotional and financial ruin. Shocked by his condition, the strong-willed Anna quickly became his confidante, then his wife, and soon his manager--launching one of literature's most turbulent and fascinating marriages. Now, for the first time, The Gambler Wife gives us a rich and psychologically acute portrait of the complex power dynamic between the tortured Fyodor, who created his greatest works (including The Possessed and The Brothers Karamazov) under her care, and the courageous Anna, who inspired Dostoyevsky, directed his career--and became the first woman in Russia to run her own publishing house. Full of dramatic set pieces, and drawing on a trove of unseen writings, The Gambler Wife is a story of love, addiction, and redemption, and a rediscovery of a woman whose pioneering life has long been obscured by literary historians.
If you'd like to check out a print copy of the book, they are available 1 month before each discussion at the Pacific Beach Library's Circulation Desk. Please call 858-581-9934 x0 before coming to pick it up so that staff may confirm availability.
Book Discussion Calendar
- January 9, 2025: Select titles to discuss in 2025
- February 13: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
- March 23: The Gambler Wife by Andrew D. Kaufman
- April 10: The Color of Water by James McBride
- May 8: The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn & Janie Chang
- June 12: South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry
- July 10: How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr
- August 14: 1984 by George Orwell
- September 11: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
- October 9: The Women by Kristin Hannah
- November 13: One Book, One San Diego selection (to be announced)
- December 11: The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger
- January 8, 2026: Select titles to discuss in 2026
- February 12, 2026: James by Percival Everett