What Happened in November, 2014

Review

This month, I have been reading and listening to some long books.  In fact, as the end of November approached, and I realized that I hadn't even done one review, I put down . . .And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer (not for the first time!), and picked up 1Q84 by Haruki Murikami, so that I could read it on paper when I wasn't listening to the audio version, and have at least one book to write about. 

IQ84 is set in Japan in 1984.  Apparently, in Japanese, 1Q84 is pronounced the same as 1984.  There are two main characters, Aomame and Tengo.  Aomame steps out of a taxi in a traffic jam, goes down a stairway, and finds herself in a parallel universe.   At first Aomame can't tell that she is in the wrong dimension, but then she begins to notice subtle clues, like news stories that everyone knows about but that she can't remember, and the appearance of a strange second moon in the sky. 

Tengo was a bit of a child prodigy, who as an adult is making ends meet by working in a "cram school" (tutoring center?), while he struggles with writing a novel.  A colleague who is judging a writing contest brings Tengo a strange offer.  If Tengo will re-write a promising piece that a teenage girl submitted, the colleague is certain that it would win a prize, and possibly become a best seller.  Tengo has already read the entry, and was oddly interested in it.  Despite his ethical reservations, he can't resist.

Aomame and Tengo were friends when they were 10 years old.  "Friends" may be overstating it, but they attended the same school, and sympathized with each other because of their unusual family situations.  Every Sunday, Tengo's father who worked for a broadcast network, would go from house to house collecting fees.  Sort of like if the cable guy came to your house every month instead of Comcast sending a bill.  Aomame's parents were members of a strict religious group, and they took Aomame around with them every Sunday when they proselytized.  The two children would see each other being dragged along by their parents, and feel a kinship.  One day they held hands.  Apparently that was enough for them each to live the rest of their lives thinking about each other.

All of the usual Murakami topics are here - cats, menstruation, classical music, etc.  While thinking about this, I stumbled upon this great page, which graphs how often Murikami mentions 10 different motifs in each of his novels.  I would add a few more to her diagram.  In fact, if you took all of the sentences out of this book where Tengo was contemplating his erection or Aomame was complaining about the size of her breasts or the texture of her pubic hair, I think the book would be 50 pages shorter.

One thing that surprised me and that I haven't noticed in Murikami's other books was that the translation was really horrible.  Murikami has lived in the US from time to time, and was even an associate professor at Princeton, so, I would expect his English to be excellent, and that he would be concerned about the translation.  There were some times when I would have used a different word, like when Aomame asked if she was annoying Tomaro, and she really meant to ask if she was disturbing him.  No big deal.  But it bugged me when they kept saying that Tengo's dad was in a sanatorium when he was clearly in a nursing  home and when Tengo couldn't stop talking about his "older girlfriend".  There must be one word in Japanese that means "older girlfriend" and another that means "girlfriend".  In the translation it was just awkward as Tengo was always thinking about his "older girlfriend" or going to visit his "older girlfriend", especially when the fact that she was older than him was basically irrelevant to the story.

At first, the story seemed overly simple.  At one point, Aomame basically said "Oh, I think I am in an alternate universe now"  which was strange.  But the story wound around like a cinnamon bun, getting tighter as it went, until everything came together well in the end.  In terms of Murikami books, it is still not my favorite, as that position belongs to Kafka on the Shore.  It may come in third for me, behind Kafka and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. 

1Q84 was a NYT Notable Book for 2011.  It was the longest audio book that I have ever listened to, with 38 discs.  In paper form, it is 925 pages, and definitely a Big Fat Book.

Tags:  Big Fat Books, Sci-Fi-ish, NYT Notable

Challenges:  Rewind, Audiobook, I Love Library Books

Book Group Reports

The Neighborhood Book Group took November off, but The Typical Book Group got together this month to discuss Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson.  I was glad that we picked this book to read, because it is one that I read a couple of years ago, and still think back to from time to time.   In short, MPLS is about an old retired army officer living in the English countryside, with no intention of challenging the status quo.  Then the Major meets Mrs. Ali, who is a local shopkeeper, and everything changes.  The things that were once important to him seem stodgy and trivial, and he recognizes the unspoken prejudices among his friends and relatives.  Mrs. Ali is of Pakistani descent, but has always lived in England.  Still, to the Major's acquaintances, she will always be foreign.

The Typical Book Groupers all loved the Major.  He reminded us of Harold Fry from The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.  Both the Major and Harold opened their minds when they were old enough to be set in their ways.  We also talked about what event was the Major's "last stand".  There were so many possible choices, and we each seemed to come in thinking that the last stand was something different from what the others thought.

Next month we'll discuss The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Tags:  Book Group Reports

In Other News

SCORE!

 

My expectations were low.  There was nothing that I wanted.  I didn't even go on the premier members only night.  And still, I found some great books at my library's semi-annual used book sale.  The only book that was even on my radar as something that I sort of wanted was Middlemarch, since I got My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead at the last sale, and knew that I wanted to read the original first.  That one was easy to find. 

Then, I stumbled upon Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton, which The Neighborhood Book Group is thinking about reading as part of our "foodie" genre.  Next, I found The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton.  Two of my friends, Kim and Ann, have read this one recently, and they both loved it.  Usually, I like what Kim likes, but Ann and I can be polar opposites in what we think makes a good book. Still, I'm looking forward to reading this one, and I got a great hard cover copy.

My coolest find was an obviously never before read copy of  Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, in French.  One of my neighbors who went with me to meet JSF a few years ago was in college working on her French minor at the time.  I think she'll be happy to get this one.

 

I also picked up Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All by Allan Gurganus which I have had in my hot little hands at earlier sales and put back down.  However, this book, like . . . And Ladies of the Club covers the Civil War and a long period thereafter.  Also like . . . And Ladies, Oldest Living  was published in the 1980s.  This book is also almost as long as . . . And Ladies too, weighing in at 718 pages.  I may not rush into this one.

 

My nightstand now includes Mary Called Magdalene by Margaret George, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka, Bossypants by Tina Fey, and Secret Ingredients:  The New Yorker Book  of Food and Drink. 

 

All of these, plus 2 for my husband for a total of $17.00.  Not bad at all!

 

December Preview

NYT Notables - It is November 30 today and the NYT Notable Books list for 2014 is no where that I can find!  It will surely be included in my December newsletter.

 

I plan to read these books in paper form:

 

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett, if I can get it, or Bread and Butter by Michelle Wildgen, if I can't.

Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King

 

(Sounds a lot like last month's preview - doesn't it!)

 

I plan to listen to these books in audio form:

 

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett, if it's easier to get on audio

What Happened in October, 2014

Reviews

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Ever since Donna Tartt won the Pulitzer, there has been an awful lot of Goldfinch bashing going on.  The prime complaints seem to fall into one of two categories, the first being that Tartt needed a more cutting editor, and the second being that Tartt's characters spent too much time talking about drugs.  I, on the other hand, am in the camp of The Goldfinch defenders, which I sort of didn't expect. 

The Goldfinch is a long book, at 771 pages, but that alone does not mean that Tartt needed a better editor.  I can't say that not a single word could be cut, but neither I could cite many examples of areas where I was bored.  For the most part, the parts where one could think that an editor was needed were times were Tartt was deliberately prolonging the story to show how time was dragging on for the main character, such as at the engagement cocktail party, or while he was alone in Amsterdam.  I loved every page, and wish for another hundred or two.  As for the drugs, if this was too much for you, please don't read Edward St. Aubyn. 

Lest you think that I entered into this book with rose colored glasses, I have never been Donna Tartt's biggest fan.  Time and time again, I tell people that if they liked Tartt's Secret History, they will love Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marissa Pessl, which is similar, but in my opinion, better.  I rarely even talk about Tartt's The Little Friend, as it was really not that great of a book, but for some reason, it is one of those books that sticks in my mind with images reappearing constantly.  In The Goldfinch, Tartt hits the mark, and earns her reputation.

The Goldfinch starts with Theo and his mother visiting a NYC museum exhibit of Dutch artists, where a girl with red hair catches Theo's eye.  Theo is drawn to the girl, who is at the museum with a man who appears to be her grandfather.  He follows them, when suddenly a bomb explodes, and Theo's life is forever changed.  Theo becomes an unwitting art thief, and spends the next 20 years  hiding his treasure.  Theo's mom is killed in the explosion, and as a result, he moves in with his wealthy friend, Andy, and his family.  As might be expected, Theo's deadbeat father reappears, and whisks him off to Las Vegas.  In Vegas, Theo meets a new friend, Boris, whose life is at least as dysfunctional as his own.

Theo is charmed in that he has amazing people in his life.  Boris, flawed as he may be, is just what Theo needs, right when he needs him, time and time again.  Hobie, who Theo meets while trying to figure out what certain things that happened at the museum meant, shapes Theo's life, and gives him all of the stability that he was missing. Andy and his family, the Barbours, give Theo the illusion of normalcy, while also giving him a place to belong, if he wants it.

I listened to The Goldfinch on audiobook.  It was read by David Pittu, who won two Audies for his performance.  He should have won even more - as many as were available.  There had to have been at least 30 characters, all of whom had distinctive voices and accents.  The voices for Hobie and Boris were my favorite.  Pittu made Hobie seem old, dignified, and somehow more affluent than the customers who shopped in his store.  He made Boris sound impulsive, risky, shady, and yet still trustworthy and loyal, all with a Russian/Austrailian/Ukranian accent. 

I loved The Goldfinch, and will happily read it again, hopefully in the near future.  I am adding it to my list of Favorites.  The Goldfinch was a NYT Notable book for 2013.

Challenges:  Audiobook Challenge

Tags:  Big Fat Books, Favorites, Pulitzer Winner, NYT Notables, Awesome Audio,

The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey

The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey is the story of an ex-pat experience, as told by a husband who felt that it was a complete success, and a wife who felt miserably out of place.  George and Sabine Harwood moved to Trinidad in 1956, just as the colonial rulers are losing power.  The new Prime Minister, Eric Williams, promised to change the country and free its true citizens from the control of outsiders.  George loves Trinidad, and loves the ex pat lifestyle, so much that he never wants to leave.  Sabine sees Trinidad with more weary eyes, and is hopeful that the people will find the leader who they are hoping for in Williams, even if he scares her with his anti-establishment promises.

There are a couple of stories that are going on in White Woman.  The first is that of a revolution, as seen through the eyes of an outsider.  Sabine, the only white person at the rallies supporting Williams, is hopeful for him and his followers, and would be more than happy to leave Trinidad to them.  When he gains power, and fails to make the changes that were promised, she sees him falling into the ways of the former rulers, and is disappointed that he is letting his people down, even if she was never an intended beneficiary.  While reading this, I couldn't help thinking about Kwame Kilpatrick.  As a person who lives near but not in Detroit, I was excited for Kilpatrick to be elected.  He was young and Detroit and whole metro area was ready for someone fresh to make a change.  Instead, the Detroiters who elected him were rewarded with scandal, corruption, and outright theft.  Like Sabine, I was on the outside, looking in, but hoping that the new leader would make a difference, even if the changes wouldn't directly help me.  Also like Sabine, I was disappointed and disillusioned with the results, even if a part of me knew that I was foolish to hope for more.

Another story that unfolds through out White Woman is that of people who catch each other's eye in a crowd, and never quite let go.  One day, while she is riding her bike, Sabine and Eric Williams lock eyes.  While they don't know each other, they feel a connection.  Over the next several years, they run into each other from time to time, and fall into conversations as if they have been speaking daily, saying things to each other that no one else would say.  While it could never happen in America, Roffey makes it seem completely reasonable that the Prime Minister of Trinidad would speak freely with a woman who he has only briefly met, but who looked really cute while riding her bike.

Challenges:  Rewind

Tags:  British Stories

Yankee Broadcast Network by John F. Buckley and Martin Ott

Although I haven't done any Industry Requested Reviews in a couple of months, I still get requests every day.  One request that caught my attention was that of John Buckley and Martin Ott, who wanted me to review their book of poetry about television.  While they were really straight forward about what their book was, I guess that I was a little surprised that literally every poem related to television.  My fault - not theirs.  What disappointed me though was that while they think about television enough to want to write a book of poetry inspired by it, they seem to really hate it.

For most of us, television is a guilty pleasure, but for Buckley and Ott, the pleasure is all gone, leaving nothing but guilt, and a dash of disgust.  One of the things that caught my attention when deciding to accept the review request was their poem called "The Real Housewives of Wayne County."  Wayne County, in case you don't know, is the county where Detroit is located.  However, it's also the county where Grosse Pointe (remember "Grosse Pointe Blank" starring John Cusack?) is, which makes Wayne County an area where extreme wealth abuts complete poverty.  The poem that Buckley and Ott wrote relied only on the Detroit brand names and stereotypes, and missed the opportunity for a study in contrasts.  In fact, they could have renamed it with the name of any county, and inserted the names of products made in that county, instead of "Better Made" and paczki.

My favorite poem was "Burn'ded" which was obviously a satire of Ashton Kucher's show, "Punk'd".  In the Buckley and Ott version, there are many people playing ever escalating "pranks" ending with a home grown terrorist who eventually sees the episode in which he stars with his fellow inmates.

Yes, Yankee Broadcast Network was exactly what it promised it would be.  I just didn't like it as much as I hoped I would.

Tags:  Industry Requested Reviews

Book Group Reports

The Neighborhood Book Group met to discuss The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.  There were 8 of us who met, and only 4 had finished the book.  2 more were not quite finished, and the other two of us (I was in this group) never picked the book up.  At the beginning of the meeting, I would have said that of the people who read it, half liked it, and half didn't.  Unfortunately, after discussing various unlikely twists and coincidences, the people who had started off saying that they liked it changed sides.  I think I won't bother trying to pick this one up. 

We chose to discuss Sweetness because we are trying to read something from various genres, and this one was chosen as a mystery.  In December we will meet again to discuss The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, which we have classified as science fiction.

The Typical Book Group met this month to discuss . . . And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer.  We picked this book as our summer Big Fat Book (BFB) in June, and delayed meeting until October to discuss it.  Even with this delay, of the 9 people at book group, only 2 had finished the book.  There were 3 more of us who had started it and were in various stages of progress, but the rest didn't even give it a try.

I talked about . . .And Ladies in my August and September wrap ups.  Basically it is an 1100+ page book about a book group that formed in the late 1800s, and the course of the lives of the original members.  As I've mentioned, I frequently fall asleep after reading only a few pages.  The two groupers who finished the book said that somewhere around page 500, the story picked up so that they could easily read 50 pages at a time, and that they thought about the book all of the time when they weren't reading it.  I'm somewhere around page 700 now, and I am not experiencing that at all, but then again, I've been putting it down for 2 or 3 weeks at a time and coming back to it, instead of immersing myself in the story.  Maybe this month I'll stick with it until I'm done.

All told, the people who finished the book liked it, and thought that it was worth reading.  I did notice though that one of them only gave the book 3 GoodReads stars.  So, while I'm now expecting something worth finishing, maybe I won't expect it to be life changing.

Next month we'll read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson.

In Other News

The Man Booker Prize was announced on October 14.  This year's winner was The Narrow Road to the Deep North  by Richard Flannigan.  Based on the Amazon reviews, this sounds like a really good book.  The main character is an Australian surgeon in a Japanese POW camp during World War II.  I'll be keeping my eyes open for more on this one.

November Preview

People, I am burnt out on blogging, and almost even dreading it.  So, I'm not making any promises about even doing a monthly summary for November.  But in case you are interested in what I am planning to read and listen to, here you go:

In Paper Form:
. . . And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer.  Yes, I promise to finish this book in November.
Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett, if I can get it, or Bread and Butter by Michelle Wildgen, if I can't.
Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King

On Audio Book:
1Q84 by Haruki Murikami
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

What Happened in July 2014

 

Reviews:

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal

Edmund De Waal is a famous twenty-first century potter (did you know that there was one?) who I first read about in this NYT article.  Although the article was intended to be about De Waal's new exhibit, the reporter talked enough about De Waal's family memoir, The Hare With Amber Eyes that I had to add it to my TBR list. 

What is amazing about Hare is that while it could have been the epitome of vanity publishing, instead it is a really great book, without bragging or pouting.  De Waal's family first made its fortune in Odessa through grain trading.  His great-great grandfather pushed the family into Europe, where they established banks in Paris and Vienna.  De Waal's great uncle was Charles Ephrussi, whose name was familiar to me, but for a while I didn't know why. Charles was the third son, and was able to avoid the family business and do things that were more interesting, like collect art.  He lived in Paris in the time of the Impressionists, and his collection included works by Pissaro, Monet, Renior, Cassatt, and Degas, all in one room of his home.  When De Waal discussed his uncle's relationship with Renoir, I knew why I knew Charles.  Charles Ephrussi is the man in the top hat in Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party.  Susan Vreeland's Luncheon of the Boating Party is a book that I loved reading, and is on my list of books that I would like to re-read this year.  Unfortunately (fortunately?) I lent my copy to my friend, Kim, so I couldn't take a detour into fiction while reading Hare.

That's OK, because in Hare, the truth is better than the fiction could have been.   When Paris became obsessed with Japanese art in the 1800s, Charles jumped in, and amassed a collection of netsuke.  Netsuke are small, intricately carved objects, made sometimes from stone, ivory, or even wood.  Time passed, and the netsuke went out of style.  Charles sent his valuable collection to a nephew, De Waal's grandfather, as a wedding gift.  De Waal's grandfather went on to live in Vienna, where he ran the family owned bank.  According to De Waal, his grandfather's pre-World War II wealth, in today's dollars, was $400 million.  Unfortunately for the De Waal family, they were Jewish, and living in a Nazi state.  By the end of the war, most of the wealth was gone, but amazingly, the netsuke survived and passed through another generation, before landing in De Waal's capable hands.

While billed as the story of the netsuke, this is really a story of a family living in an incredible time.  It somehow doesn't read as a memoir, so much as a telling of historical events in a new and interesting light.  Definitely worth the read. 

Challenges: I love library books

Tags:  Memoir, Non-Fiction, WWII Civilian Stories, Paris

McSweeney's 44

McSweeney's is a quarterly something that generally includes short stories and articles, and was created by Dave Eggers.  I say that it is a quarterly "something" rather than magazine or journal or book, because it is really none of these.  Sometimes it comes with the stories loose in a box, sometimes it looks more like a magazine.  Usually, it looks a lot like novel, which is the case with 44.  The main contributors to 44 were Joe Meno, Rebecca Curtis, Tom Barbash, Jim Shepard, Stuart Dybek, and Wells Tower.  There was also a 82 page tribute to Lawrence (Ren) Weschler, to which many others contributed.

One of my favorite parts of 44 were the letters to the editor, which were all witty and quirky, and generally what one would expect from McSweeney's readers who are hoping to get published themselves. 

Jim Shepard wrote a particularly un-McSweeny-ish story that I liked called "The Ocean of Air", about the Montgolfier brothers who were the first to invent a hot air balloon safe for human travel.  I also liked Stuart Dybek's piece, "Happy Ending" which tells the story of a man, Gil, attending a party thrown by a mogul who claimed to be unhappy.  Gil shows the mogul how happy he is by inventing a scenario which would make his life much worse.  Another interesting story was "Birthday Girl" by Tom Barbash, where a driver who is possibly (almost surely) drunk hits a young girl, and then tries to make things right.

The story by Wells Tower, "The Dance Contest" is well written and interesting, but also strange.  It is about a man named Osmund Tower, the fictional father to Wells, who finds himself imprisoned in the luxury wing of the Theb Moob Mens' Prison in Thailand, due primarily to his naivete.  While he may be in the best possible part of the prison, it is a prison none the less.  The Captain in charge comes up with the idea of rewarding the prisoners with prizes, based on their performance in a dance contest, as judged by Internet viewers.  Cruel and unusual?  You decide.  What I didn't get about this piece is why Tower wanted to make it seem like his character was his father.  Why not just name him Tom Sutherland or Osmund Miller?

Although I, personally, didn't need such a long, funereal, tribute to Ren Weschler, he seems to be a person I should know more about.   I would recommend starting with the Errol Morris conversation with Weschler, and then skipping ahead to Jonathan Lethem's tribute.   If they leave you wanting more, 44 is well stocked.  As always, I finished McSweeney's feeling a little smarter (and maybe a little more smug) than when I started.

Challenges:  Rewind

Tags:  Keeping it Short, Historical Fiction, Non Fiction

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood

MaddAddam is the third book in Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake trilogy.  The first book, Oryx and Crake, focused on Jimmy, a guy in his early 20s who survived some sort of a plague, and wonders if he is the only human who made it.  He lives among people he calls "Crakers" because they were developed in a lab by his friend, Crake.  Much of that book was told through flashbacks about Crake and their shared love, Oryx.  The second book, The Year of the Flood, was told mostly by Toby and Ren.  They are members of a group, The God's Gardeners, who try to live in a more simple way among the corporations and criminals of the modern world.  MaddAddam again focuses on Toby, but this time the story is more about two other God's Gardeners, Zeb and Adam. 

MaddAddam takes place after the waterless flood of the plague, and begins right where The Year of the Flood ended.  Toby, Ren, Amanda and Jimmy are all in a confrontation with dangerous painballers, who are criminals who have fought to the death and survived.  Toby is happy to be reunited with her old crush, Zeb, and much of the book is Zeb telling about his life as a boy with his brother, Adam.  Adam and Zeb had to flee from their abusive but powerful father, the Rev.  Zeb found adventure slaying bears and impersonating big foot, while Adam went on to recruit like-minded people to become MaddAddams and God's Gardeners.

While MaddAddam brought resolution to the series, I found it a little lacking compared to the earlier two books.  Ren and Jimmy were marginalized and treated like children here, when they had much stronger roles in the earlier books.  At the end of the trilogy, I still don't know what the point of the MaddAddams was.  Was it just to be a  group of people gathering information about the bad things the corporations were doing?  The MaddAddamers don't seem to do anything, although they investigate a lot, and know a lot.  Also I'm totally lost about Adam.  Was he really into his Adam 1 God's Gardeners persona, or did he establish the God's Gardeners just as a front to hide corporate escapees and further the MaddAddam cause?  Much of the plot was also redundant, with Zeb telling his story to Toby, and then Toby telling the same story to the Crakers.

My favorite part of MaddAddam was the Crakers.  When Crake invented them, he intended them to be post-religion, and had no idea that they would come to worship him and Oryx as deities.  He also didn't anticipate Toby teaching one of them, Blackbeard, to read, or the creation of a Craker bible, the Book of Toby.  Atwell was also incredibly timely in describing how the religion of corporations can lead to the destruction of mankind.  In light of the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision, the world as she predicts it is all the more likely.  In MaddAddam, Adam and Zeb's dad was the leader of the Church of PetrOleum.  As he preaches, the "Petr" is from the apostle, Peter, and the "oleum" is because of all the references to oil in the Bible.  Clearly, God created oil for our use, and any government attempt to regulate the drilling or sale of oil is a violation of the religious beliefs of the Church.  Maybe, just maybe, we could learn from the mistakes that Atwood's characters make in the name of a self serving religious belief.

MaddAddam was a NYT Notable Book for 2013.

Challenges:  I Love Library Books and AudioBook

Tags:  NYT Notables, Sci-Fi-Ish, Questioning Religions

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

During the early days of  the siege of Sarajevo, in 1992, a cellist with the Sarajevo Opera named Vedran Smailovic, played his cello in ruined buildings and at funerals which were frequently targeted by snipers.  In The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway takes Smailovic's story, and sets it to fiction.  In Galloway's Sarajevo, a young woman who calls herself Arrow is working as a sniper defending the city.  A man with a young family, Kenan, walks from one side of the city to the other in order to fill water bottles for himself and his neighbor.  An older man, Dragan, tries to get to the bakery where he works and where he knows bread is waiting for him.  Each of these characters faces the possibility at every intersection that he or she may be shot by a sniper or hit by a shell.  All of  them are eventually drawn to the cellist.

Sarajevo fell from being the host of the Olympics in 1984, to being a place where a person could expect to get shot while walking down the street just eight years later.  Galloway's characters face their new reality while not quite believing that it could be true.  Each of them refuses to be that person, living in that city.  They believe that if they can hold on to their integrity and standards, Sarajevo has hope of being restored.  Unfortunately the siege and the war waged on for years after this story ends, and after Smailovic left the city.

The Cellist of Sarajevo is the story of life in a war zone, where no one is coming to help.  It tries to be a story of hope, but the reader is left with the feeling that if Arrow, Kenan and Dragan aren't killed on one day, they may be the next.

There was some controversy about Galloway's use of Smailovic's actions in this book.  Galloway defends his story as being fictional but inspired by Smailovic's public acts.  Smailovic apparently was not told about the book before it was published and felt exploited by it.  However the story came to be told, it is worth knowing.  

Challenges:  Rewind, I Love Library Books, Audiobook

Book Group Reports

The Neighborhood Book Group

The Neighborhood Book Group met in June to discuss This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.  I was a lame book-grouper, and had to leave after only half an hour to go play bunco instead.  Life in suburbia!  Luckily, this book group is all business, so I actually got to do some book discussing before I left.  With the movie coming out this fall, we talked a lot about the characters and the stars who will play them.  Although I love Tina Fey, I just can't see her as Judd's sister, Wendy.  Like 90% of the characters in this book (Am I underestimating?  Is it 100%?), Wendy is having an affair, and her life is just basically  sad.  Maybe Tina will make her situation seem less pathetic.  We also talked about who was the most dysfunctional.  This discussion could last hours.  Most of the group sided with the mom, Hillary, or the younger brother, Phillip.  And, this is where I left them, so I'm not sure where the conversation went from there. 

Next month they (we?) will discuss The Vacationers by Emma Straub.  I'm so bogged down in The Typical Book Group's summer BFB, that I don't think I'll have time to get to this one.

 The Typical Book Group

The Typical Book Group never meets in July, but in June we pick a Big Fat Book (BFB) to read all summer long.  This year we picked . . . And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer.  Talk about a BFB.  My copy is 1184 pages, and it's actually a little uncomfortable to hold. After two weeks of reading, I am only 200 pages in.  I'll have to pick up my pace if I'm ever going to make it through this!

Tags:  Book Group Reports, Big Fat Books

In Other News:

Local Libraries

Are these cute neighborhood libraries popping up near you? 

My friend, Debby's father-in-law installed one in his front yard.  There's another one in the park at the end of my street.  They are the cutest things.  The idea is, you can pick a book to take, and leave a book for someone else to read.  No sign out slips, no late fees.  It's the honor system at its best.  Debby's F-I-L lives in a bit of a hoity-toity neighborhood, but in an area where lots of people walk, so I think his library will get lots of action.  Doing my best to convert young future Republicans to a more reasonable party, I deposited a copy of The Believer, which is a book review magazine by the McSweeney's people, as well as a cookbook, and my copy of Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.  In exchange, I took a copy of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, which has been on my TBR list since it became a NYT Notable.  Score!

Winner, Winner, Goldfinch Dinner

Guess what?  I won a copy of The Goldfinch audiobook by Donna Tartt.  Remember way back when when I was giving away a copy?  No, I didn't enter and win my own contest.  Because The Goldfinch won two Audies, there were two copies to give away, and I entered the giveaway on Wholly Books.  And I won!  I can't wait to get it and start listening!

Loss of a Legend

On July 3, we lost Louis Zamperini.  The real story here is not that a 97 year old man died, because really, what more could we expect?  What is remarkable is that Zamperini was still alive.  Zamperini was a former Olympic athlete who was shot down over the Pacific during World War II, and then taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese.  His story is told in Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, which Angelina Jolie has turned into a soon to be released movie.  Here is a link to the NYT Obituary.

Man Bookered

On July 23, the Man Booker Prize Longlist was announced.  This was the first year that authors from everywhere around the world were eligible, rather than just authors from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth.  So, with Americans now eligible, 5 made the list.  The only author who made it this year who I have read is Joshua Ferris, and the reviews of his recent book, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour have been pretty mixed.  Some might have expected The Goldfinch, which already won the Pulitzer, to edge out a few of the lesser known picks.  However, it was no surprise that Lost for Words by Edward St. Aubyn didn't make the cut.  Lost for Words is a thinly veiled satire of the Man Booker Prize, and it would have been a shock if the Man Booker judges were thick skinned enough to select it.  The Shortlist will be announced on September 9.  My money is on David Mitchell's new book, The Bone Clocks, even though it hasn't been released or reviewed on this side of the pond yet.

Tags:  Man Booker Listed

August Preview:

In August, I hope to review the following books:

Audios

The Circle by Dave Eggers

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - I'll only get started on this one - it's 32 hours!

Traditional or EBooks

. . . And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks (IF I make it through Ladies)

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson  (OK - this will be a stretch!)

Typical Book Group Report - 21

It was sort of a strange book group meeting last night.  There were 7 of us there, and only three people had finished reading the book, We are Water by Wally Lamb.  I was about 1/3 of the way through, and a couple of others had read the first chapter or two.  Our host, Barb, apologized for the selection.  But, the three of them who had actually read the whole book couldn't stop talking about it.  They were very courteous about not spoiling it for the rest of us, but they clearly had a lot to say, even if they didn't love the book. 

The chief complaint was about the chapters told in the voice of Kent.  They felt that the pedophilia was much too graphic, and from the amount that I've read, I agree.  They also felt that there wasn't a character in the whole book that they liked as a person, and that most of the stories ended sadly. 

Well, they can't all be winners.  I have to say that I am liking the book more than I expected to.  I'll post more about it once I finish.

We won't meet again until the end of the summer.  Each year, we pick a Big Fat Book (BFB) to read all summer long.  Quite a few long books have come out since last summer, but we wound up picking one that was first published in 1982.  It is . . . And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer.  The Times HATED it, but apparently the American public of the 1980s loved it.  I'll keep you posted!

For now, I'm still reading and listening to We are Water by Wally Lamb

The Typical Book Group Report - 20

The Typical Book Group met last night to discuss The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith.  There were 7 of us there, and 6 of us had read the book.  Some of the members are big fans of J. K. Rowling, who is the actual author behind the Galbraith pseudonym, but none of us usually read detective stories. 

We all found that we liked The Cuckoo's Calling, and that we might read the next book in the series, which will be coming out shortly.  What we talked a lot about were all of the different story lines and red herrings.  Galbraith/Rowling did a great job of tying everything together at conclusion, and there weren't any questions left unanswered.  But some of the characters and plot twists were completely unnecessary, and only served to keep the reader guessing.  That may be exactly what appeals to detective story readers, but it was a little much for us.

We did not talk much about Robin, even though the story is hers as much as it is Strike's.  Strike is the detective and Robin is the temporary assistant, but she enmeshes herself in the plot completely.  Rowling, a woman, was trying to write as a man, and we talked about some of the hints that the writer might actually be female.  Apparently some critics said that a man would never include a fashion storyline in a novel, while others were saying that the author was obviously a man because a woman author would never let a "normal" man like Strike sleep with a supermodel.  The way that Robin became essential to the story might also have been a hint that the writer was female.  But then, if I hadn't already known that the author was a woman,  the choice of the name of the trusty sidekick might have made me think it was a man writing.  After all, if she's Robin, does that make Strike a certain comic superhero?

Next month we'll discuss We are Water by Wally Lamb. 

Still Reading:  Great House by Nicole Krauss

Still Listening to:  The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian

It's Literally a Cookbook

One day, not too long ago, I found myself in the unusual position of  being in my library, and not having anywhere that I had to hurry off to go.  I had time to browse the aisles, instead of just picking up my books from the hold shelf - something that I hadn't done in a long time.  And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but The Book Club Cookbook by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp.  I checked it out, thinking that it couldn't possibly be what I hoped it was.  

Gelman and Krupp have compiled a book of recipes from best selling books.  Some of the recipes are for foods referenced in the books, some are recipes that Gelman and Krupp think the characters would make, and some are recipes given by the author or his or her family members.  Additionally, with each recipe, there is a summary of the book, and an interview with a book group that discussed the book.  The book groups usually mention what they served when the book was discussed, and how their meetings work. 

I had no idea that there were so many types of book groups!  Most of them have great ideas.  Some host formal dinners.  Some choose appropriate restaurants.  Some only read books set in other countries.  Some only read Pulitzer winners.  Some pick a book once a year that they think their husbands and partners would also want to read, and invite them.  Some (gasp!) actually have men in the groups, and are either couple groups, or just book groups where men are there too.

Before the night was through, I was online trying to order The Book Club Cookbook from Amazon.  Yes, it was a little old, but still, I wanted it.  Then it got even better!  The book that I checked out from my library was the first edition, from 2004.  Amazon had a new edition, from 2012, which included books that were released after the first edition was printed.  The Amazon review dated March 13, 2012 includes a complete list of all the recipes added to the new version, and all the recipes that were in the first edition, but were not included in the 2012 book. 

Here are the recipes that are included in the 2012 cookbook, for books that The Typical Book Group has read:

• Wild Mushrooms on Toast from Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
• Almaz's Ethiopian Doro Wot  and Sister Mary Joseph's Praise Cari De Dal from Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
• Dorothy's Famous Christmas Toffee from Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
• Swedish Meatballs and Glogg from The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson
• Annie Barrow's Potato Peel Pie and Non-Occupied Potato Peel Pie from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society  by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
• Demetrie's Chocolate Pie and Caramel Cake from The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• Britta's Sabzi Challow with Lamb from The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Post-Colonial Pie from Little Bee by Chris Cleve
• Pumpkin Soup from The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
• Indian Fry Bread from One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
• Jack's Sixth-Birthday Cake from Room by Emma Donoghue

There are a couple of books that I can think of where food was essential to the story.  For instance, I HATED the ending of The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer so much that I toyed with the idea of writing a book consisting only of alternate endings that would have been better.  But, despite my strong feelings, I still remember Carrie baking cherry pie, and how much all of her friends clamoured for it.  Now I have the recipe for the pie, if not for a better ending.   In Empire Falls by Richard Russo, the brother, David, moves back to town, and has ideas about how to attract a more upscale clientele by offering "good, cheap, ethnic food" in the honest feeling diner.  Gelman and Krupp provide a recipe for shrimp flautas, which David created as a special. 

There are lots of other recipes tying in with books that I have reviewed here, including Cocoa-Cinnamon Babka from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, Mojitos and Mango, Jicama and Corn Salad from Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Jennifer Egan's Oatmeal Fudge Refrigerator Cookies from Jennifer Egan, the author of A Visit from the Goon Squad.  All told, there are recipes from 100 books, in this 486 page collection.  And now, what's your excuse?  Go Get It And Read.

Still Reading:  American Woman by Susan Choi

Still Listening to:  The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Typical Book Group Report - 19

Last night The Typical Book Group discussed The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.  There were 8 of us there, and all of us really liked the book.  We talked a lot about how it compared with other slavery stories, like "Twelve Years a Slave" and Charleston by Alexandra Ripley.  A couple people mentioned how the character of Charlotte reminded them of Oprah Winfrey's character in "The Color Purple". 

All of us were surprised that Sarah and Nina Grimke were real people.  This is a book where it might make sense to read the Afterward first, so that you can know who the characters are when they appear. 

It was hard for us to criticize the choices that the characters made, knowing that the story was based on fact. For instance, we didn't understand why Sarah gave Handful back to Sarah's mother, but apparently, she did.  We also wondered if there was any significance to the number 1884, such as it being a year of historical significance for blacks, but we decided it must just have been the lottery number that Denmark Vesey actually chose. 

Next month we'll discuss Cukoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling).

Still Reading:  American Woman by Susan Choi

Still Listening to:  The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Neighborhood Book Group Report - 1

The Neighborhood Book Group got together last night to discuss Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.  Once again, this group was businesslike!  Although we have all been neighbors for sometime, there is still a little awkwardness when we get together in one room to talk about our opinions.  It is so much easier just to wave when I walk by with my golden retriever pulling me along than to sit and talk about something more substantial.  Hopefully, with more time, the ice will break.

It's been a while since I talked about Me Before You, so here is the long story short.  Louisa is a young woman who is out of work, living with her parents, and dating her longtime boyfriend, Patrick.  She applies for a care giving position that she is sure she is not qualified for, and is shocked to get hired.  She will be caring for Will, who was a wealthy young professional until a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed.  Will has decided that life in a wheelchair is not worth living, and his mother has hired Louisa to help persuade him otherwise, without exactly telling Louisa that this is her expectation.

We found that there was a lot to like about Me Before You.  There were some surprise favorite characters, including the true caregiver, Nathan, and the wedding guest who didn't pity Will but instead treated him as a human, Mary.  We weren't exactly sure who would play Nathan in the movie, but it was suggested that he should look like the new Detroit Tigers' Manager, Brad Ausmus, and that we should all watch more baseball.  Here's a for instance: 

 OK, so maybe the ice is melting a little.

 

We also talked about the title.  There were a few ways of interpreting it.  One way was that Louisa was always letting other people put their needs before hers.  Her family, he boyfriend, and Will all put their needs first, and she allowed them to walk all over her.  The title might be recognizing the new Louisa in the end, where she is finally acknowledging her own needs.  The interpretation that I liked better though, was as a way of explaining who the characters were before they met.  Like, "This is who I was before you knew me."  Me before you.  Throughout the story both Will and Louisa  tell each other about who they were as opposed to who they are in the moment when they are speaking.  Will's "big life" has been reduced to a small suite of rooms.  Louisa's small life is pushing its limits just a bit, and she likes it.

 

Next time we meet we will be discussing Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen.  We are a little fuzzy on the next meeting date though, so I'm not starting that one until I'm sure I can make the meeting.

 

Still Reading:  The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

 

Still Listening to:  The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Typical Book Group Report - 18

The Typical Book Group met last night to discuss Where'd you go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple.  There were 11 of us there, which was our best turn out in a long time.   Probably because it was such a good book.

We talked a lot about how smart Bernadette was as an architect, and about how her life shriveled after the 20 Mile House was sold.  We also found that there was lots of blame to spread around, covering everyone except Bernadette's daughter, Bee.

One thing that someone suggested and I hadn't thought about is that maybe Semple was setting us up for a sequel.  By leaving Soo-Lin pregnant, and Van, Bernadette's brother in law, in town for no apparent purpose, maybe she is preparing the stage for something else, rather than leaving strings of storyline untied.

Like Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn which we discussed last year, we all loved most of the book, but had issues with the ending.  Some parts felt contrived, and there were things that we would have done differently, but it was a fun book to read.

Next month we'll discuss The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.

Still Reading:  Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Still Listening to:  Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Another Hole in my Head

Once again, I have possibly taken things too far.  Yep.  I signed up for another book group.  A few years back, I joined a second book group, but that was short lived.  I mean, if people don't show up to discuss Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, do I really want to associate with these people?  That group died, but my first book group, The Typical Book Group continued.  Now my neighborhood has started a book group.  I missed the first meeting last month, when they discussed The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer but I was there tonight to talk about The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.

This group was all business!  There were 9 of us there, and the meeting started at 7:00.  By 7:20, we were seated with snacks and ready to discuss.  One (!) of us had a glass of wine.  We talked theme, we talked symbolism, we talked meaning.  We were home by 9:00.

All of us unexpectedly loved the book.  We agreed that none of us would have read the book if Kim hadn't picked it, judging by the title alone.

We said a lot about how involved Victoria was with food.  How did Grant know food was the way to her heart?  Did Victoria think that she needed to keep feeding her baby because of all the times that she, herself had been hungry?  We were very disappointed in Elizabeth.  We were all surprised when she let Victoria down at a point, but at times we were disappointed in Victoria too.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle a second book group long term, but I'm all set for next month.  We are reading Me Before You  by Jojo Moyes, which I have already read, so all I have to do is show up.  That I can manage.

Still Reading:  Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Just Finished Listening To:  The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  I'll be blogging about this one tomorrow.

The Typical Book Report - 17

Tonight The Typical Book Group got together to talk about The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer.  There were 6 of us there, and all but one of us had finished the book.  We actually talked about the book more than usual tonight, which I think shows that it was a good book group pick.  One intriguing thing that we talked about was who our favorite character was.  We all had different choices, which was surprising, since I thought everyone would pick Ethan, like I did.  Instead, people picked Jules, Ash, Jonah and Dennis. 

We spent a lot of time talking about Dennis.  He was such a solid character, and so different from the campers.  Our host, Laurie, had an article from "Real Simple" where Meg Wolitzer said something about how Dennis stood out because he didn't "fetishize specialness".  What was great about him was that while he didn't completely understand Jules' obsession with the camp and her friends, he still could appreciate them, and even seemed to be real friends with Ethan, especially.

We liked how Ethan's difficulty in relating to his son gave him a believable and real character flaw.  Without that, he would have been too perfectly one dimensional.  We also found it remarkable that the only intact, traditional family managed to raise the most dysfunctional kids, while the kids raised by single parents seemed to be better adjusted.

While it was a long book, and while there were times when some of the book clubbers weren't sure they could get through it, everyone who finished the book was glad to have read it.  Next month we'll read Where'd You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple.

Still Reading:  This is not an Accident by April Wilder

Still Listening to:  The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Typical Book Exchange

 

Last night, The Typical Book Group got together to exchange books, and talk about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.  There were 10 of us there, which was great.  Each December, we clean our closets of the books that we are prepared to part with, and trade them with each other.  This year, I got a little aggressive, and gave away two of my unread books from the Off the Shelf Challenge, We Were the Mulvaneys and Death Comes to Pemberly.  The Mulvaneys had been sitting in my night stand for at least 4 years, and I have always dreaded reading it, but felt that I should because it was written by Joyce Carol Oates.  And we all know about Joyce Carol Oates.  Hello??  She was one of Jonathan Safran Foer's professors in college, and she helped him get started writing.  When I was Googling the connection to support this claim, I came across this article that I hadn't seen before.  Not much about JCO, but it talks about almost everything JSF has ever written.

So, anyhow, back to the Typical Book Group.  We usually pick numbers from a hat or a bowl or whatever to decide who gets to choose first, second, etc.  This year, I got 9th.  Did you notice that I said that there were 10 people there?  So, I was surprised that a copy of The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling was still available for me to snag.  I also got a book called The Tudors by G. J. Meyer, which I hadn't heard anything about, and two cookbooks. 

After the exchange, we talked about Harold Fry.  There was quite a lot to say.  We all pretty much agreed that Harold seemed like a nice enough guy, but not anyone who we were dying to meet.  We talked about his journey, and Queenie, and about the effect his journey had on his wife, Maureen.  Our host, Kim had printed out some discussion questions that she had found online, and we thought it was odd that none of them dealt with the subject of alcoholism.  We all had ideas of what we thought would happen, which actually didn't happen, but in the end we felt that Joyce found the right ending.  Rachel Joyce, I mean.  I'm not exactly on a first name basis with JCO.

In the spirit of the season, I offered the Typical Book Groupers the opportunity to review Joyce's new book, Perfect, which is coming out next month.  Kim took me up on it.  Kim has a blog of her own, where she claims to review books, but she keeps her blog private.  I can only guess what she writes about me there . . . So, stay tuned, and we should soon have a guest blogger, or at least opinions dictated by Kim, and transcribed by yours truly.

We didn't decide on a book to read next month, so that will be a surprise as well. 

Still Reading:  The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer.  I am loving this book so far, and only wish that I had more time to read it!

Still Listening to:  Winter of the World by Ken Follett

The Typical Book Report - 16

Last night, the Typical Book Group got together to talk about The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan. There were 7 of us there, but for me it was a pretty short night since I had to get home to help my kids study for some tests.  Our host, Lynne, had seen one of the bronze sculptures of Marie at an exhibit many years ago.  We even had a miniature Marie as a centerpiece.  This was surely one of the reasons why Lynne picked the book.  However, none of us was wildly excited about the story.  We all liked it, but it just didn't seem like there was much to talk about.

Right now, GoodReads is asking readers to vote for the best books of 2013, and The Painted Girls is still in the running for Historical Fiction.  Truth be told, I even voted for it, since it is the only one of the eight finalists that I have read.  I guess that I'm a little surprised that it has made it so far when our opinion was so unenthusiastic.  Perhaps we aren't that typical after all.

Next month we'll read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.  Everyone who I know who has read this one has loved it, so I'm looking forward to reading it.

Still Reading:  Upload by Mark McClelland

Still Listening to:  The Iliad by Homer

The Typical Book Group Report - 15

Tonight, The Typical Book Group met to discuss The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison.  While there were only 6 of us there tonight, we all LOVED the book.  In fact, we think that we might have talked about this book more than any other book that we have ever read.  Although the story was emotional and a few of us cried while reading it, we couldn't stop talking about the funny parts.  We were amazed by how well Evison thought out the characters and their ideas.  We also felt that Benjamin Benjamin's voice was so clear, that it was almost as though we knew him.

One obvious thing that came up in our discussion was the redemption of all of the dads in the story.  They had all screwed up, they all knew it, and they were all doing whatever they could think of to make it better.  Ben helped them to find more constructive ways to reconnect with their kids while finding a way to forgive himself.

We also talked about whether Ben and Trevor's trip was more an odyssey or a pilgrimage.  You didn't think we were that deep, did you?  We decided that it was more of an odyssey, because it was more about the journey and the challenges that they faced along the way than it was about the destination.

100% of Typical Book Groupers agree, The Revised Fundamentals is a great book. 

Next month we'll read The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan

In Other News, the Man Booker Prize winner was announced today.  And the winner is . . . Eleanor Catton for The Luminaries.  Apparently this is the longest book ever chosen for the prize, at 848 pages.  We'll have to consider it for The Typical Book Group's Big Fat Book next summer!

Still Reading:  Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfeld

Still Listening to:  In the Woods by Tana French

The Typical Book Group Report - 14

Last night, The Typical Book Group got together to discuss Fall of Giants by Ken Follett.  The turn out was a little light, with only 6 of us there.  All of us liked the book, and two people had already read the sequel, Winter of the World. 

We were all surprised by how little we knew about World War I.  One person had just finished a Hungarian memoir (Dossier K?) and said that even the Hungarian telling that story was shocked that the murder of Franz Ferdinand was enough to get anyone's attention, let alone to spark a world wide war.

One thing that never crossed my mind, because I am apparently the only person on the face of the Earth who is not watching, is that the story lines in Fall of Giants  are strikingly similar to those in Downton Abbey.  Both stories have someone getting pregnant by the chauffeur, someone operating a clinic, someone named Ethel, and they both are set in the same time and place.  The things one learns at book group. . .

Next month we will meet at my house, and we are going to discuss The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison.  I can't wait!

Still Reading:  Who Asked You by Terry McMillan

Still Listening to:  Brooklyn by Colm Toibin