This week, The New York Times debuted its Big City Book Club with a lively discussion of Colum McCann’s National Book Award-winning novel, Let the Great World Spin:

From the Times:

We begin with “Let the Great World Spin,” Colum McCann’s award-winning 2009 novel, a portrait of the city in perhaps its most vivid period of decline. Set in the 1970s, the book is a 9/11 narrative by implication, Mr. McCann’s idea being that New York is, fundamentally, a place where wondrous things rise from the ashes. We can argue (and I hope we will) about whether or not he is right in his assessment, but I think it is fair to say that above all, “Let the Great World Spin’’ is an enormously hopeful book.