About the Author

Curtis Sittenfeld is the author of the bestselling novels American Wife, Prep, and The Man of My Dreams, which are being translated into twenty-five languages. Prep also was chosen as one of the Ten Best Books of 2005 by The New York Times, nominated for the UK's Orange Prize, and optioned by Paramount Pictures. Curtis won the Seventeen magazine fiction writing contest in 1992, at age sixteen, and since then her writing has appeared in many publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, Salon, Glamour, and on public radio's This American Life. A graduate of Stanford University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, she was the 2002 - 2003 writer in residence at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C.

**I mistakenly assumed the author to be a male and wanted to clarify.

Discussion of East of the Sun

We met at Al-Amir Mediterranean restaurant in Irmo to discuss East of the Sun. Originally we planned to go to an Indian restaurant but none of us were feeling quite that adventurous. Al-Amir was a good in-between because it did have an exotic flair and Melissa even ordered a curry dish.

Although we didn't spend a long time discussing the actual book, we agreed it was nice to have a shared experience and know others who had just read what we had individually. Most of our discussion about the book centered around the portrayal of women and the challenges they faced. Lindsay, drawing from her background as an English major, mentioned that she was initially troubled by the contrast between strong female independence and then reliance on males for ultimate happiness. We also briefly discussed the bird imagery in East of the Sun.

After dinner, we went to Books-a-Million and picked out our next book, American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. For more information about our next choice, read here.