The 2025 Book of the Year: Table for Two: Amor Towles’ New York Stories and the Art of Literary Craftmanship

Join us for a catered dinner in one of Highlands’ many beautiful homes to examine a book from last year that achieved literary acclaim. Since the Book of the Year is too new to be enshrined as a classic, we will have room to debate its merits and shortcomings. This year we will explore the latest book by one of those rare writers who consistently wins literary praise and bestseller status: Amor Towles. Known for his novels, Towles’ latest book, Table for Two, was a surprise when it came out in 2024 because it is a collection of short stories and a novella. Although the novella, a sequel to his first novel, Rules of Civility, is amusing, we will not focus on that. The real prizes are the stories of New York, Towles’ home ground, which distill the stylistic polish, humor, and pathos of his sprawling novels into a much…