A member of The International Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Club Reading Nation
So much more than just reading.
Our book club ended our year with Donna Tart’s “Goldfinch.” The book was a national best seller and won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The book is a large one and it was too much for some of our busy working moms, but those of us who read the book enjoyed it. See my review to the right.
It was a captivating meeting in front of my fireplace soaking up the heat from the fire and the warmth from a lovely group of women.
Michelle graciously hosted book club this month. It was a smaller group, but a lively one.
Our book was “Life Expectancy,” by Dean Koontz. Yup, that’s right, Dean Koontz. A horror writer for a book club selection! You bet! Just like Stephen King, Koontz can write anything, and most importantly he keeps the tension up all the way through the novel.
A friend recommended this book to me, but I wasn’t sure that our book club would like a Koontz novel. I love him, especially the Odd Thomas series, but would my fellow book clubbites also enjoy the book. I took a chance, it was after all close to Halloween. All fears were gone when we started the discussion, everyone loved the book.
I have a review of the book under Reviews to the right. Take a chance and do this book for a book club pick – you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Boo!
We opted out of reading this month and instead went out to dinner and to “Ladies of Laughter.” It was an evening of laughter, cocktails and good friendship – what else could be better.
I read a good book and would like to share (see my review right hand side of the website) titled “In the Woods,” by Tana French. The book is a mystery written by an Irish writer. I thought the story was very believable without the perfect finish that so often comes with mysteries. Ms. French’s writing is quite lovely with her poetic descriptive phrases of her beloved Ireland. It’s a perfect book for fall with a glass of wine and a warm throw. Enjoy!
Sushi was the food and “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” by JK Rowling was the book for our August book club. (See my review on the right).
Some of us liked the book, while others said it was okay. I enjoyed the protagonist, Cormoran Strike (what a name), and his personality fit the name. This is no Snape, or Dumbledore. A wonderfully flawed, one-legged Afghan veteran, with an estranged girlfriend that weighs heavy on this mind.
Now, mix in an alleged suicide of a world-famous model and some stimulating characters, and you have a refreshing whodunit.
Not sure if its book club material, but a good read nonetheless.
This month’s book club we focused on Sisters with Anna Quindlen’s “Rise and Shine.” It led to a good discussion on familial relationships, especially sisters. (See my Review on Right.)
I liked this book, but I loved “Every Last One,” by Quindlen more. (See my Review on Right for that book also.)
There is a big fight between the sisters at the end of the book and my question to my fellow book clubbers was: Do you think the sisters just go on without apology, without submission from one to the other of blame and fault? What do you think?
We are bringing in the spring this year with some Chinese food at a local restaurant for our May’s monthly meeting. The book was Harlan Coben’s Missing You.
Coben starts off with his protagonist, Kat Donovan, a New York detective, looking through an online dating website that her friend signed her up for. Dating is sure different from the last time I had a date.
After reading the book I don’t know if I’d ever do online dating now. Read my review of the book under Reviews on the right side of the website.
Most of us actually read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Keep reading!
Happy New Year and welcome 2014!
The Gang is almost all here – doesn’t happen often, but when it does it’s fantastic. As with any new year, we are hoping we can make it through the challenges and bring some good fortune our way.
Speaking of good fortune, our book this month was John Grisham’s latest novel, “Sycamore Row.” Grisham takes us back to Clanton, Mississippi (fictional town) and Jake Brigance, the hero of his first book “A Time to Kill.” It was worth the wait. (See my review under Reviews on the right by author’s name.)
A good pick for book clubs – exciting trial drama and good flawed characters.
Enjoy!
The last book of the year was amazing!!!
Seamus Deane’s “Reading in the Dark,” takes you to Northern Ireland in the 1940’s and 1950’s to an Irish Catholic family with secrets. The last book I read on Ireland was the sensational “Angela’s Ashes.” Both stories have the innocence and wonder of childhood, even while the worst of humanity is brought down on the families.
The protagonist in “Reading in the Dark,” is an unnamed boy we follow as he tries to figure out what is haunting his mother. See my review under Reviews on the right.
An excellent book for book clubs!
Our October meeting was quite small, so I saved the book “Reading in the Dark,” by Seamus Deane for November’s meeting.
I read Tom Wolfe’s latest novel “Back to Blood.” I have a review under Reviews on the right for book clubs. I always enjoy reading a Wolfe novel because he is such a unique voice in the literary world. I remember reading “Bonfire of the Vanities,” back in the 1980’s, and my boss at the time said he couldn’t finish it, that all people are not that evil. I did finish the novel and read his subsequent works.
When I read a Wolfe novel, I don’t read for the characters, but for that moment in time that Wolfe deems relevant to our microcosm here in the US. His characters lack dimension and I rarely find myself rooting for one, but he has a way of developing the story and pushing us along with it. He shows us a few snapshots of the microcosm and interprets it as only Wolfe can do.
I’m not sure that this is a good pick for all book clubs. There are two very in-depth reviews that may help at 1) http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/10/15/121015crbo_books_wood – this is an excellent review by James Wood; and 2) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/books/review/back-to-blood-by-tom-wolfe.html?_r=0 from The New York Times.
If you’ve read “Back to Blood,” let me know what you thought.
We had a small book club this month, most members were on vacation. Our book was “The Beginner’s Goodbye,” by Anne Tyler (see my review under Reviews on right-side of website under author).
I had read “The Beginner’s Goodbye,” and “A Year of Magical Thinking,” by Joan Didion within a few weeks of each other. Both books dealt with death. Didion’s book is nonfiction, and chronicles her life after her husband unexpectedly died, and her daughter was gravely ill. Tyler’s book is a work of fiction (although Tyler also lost her husband).
There’s a subtly to Tyler’s writing, and we as readers need to slow down and breathe when reading her work. There is no wave after wave of unbelievable tension in her stories, just normal lives under normal circumstances.
Didion’s book is raw and you see the love she had for her husband in every paragraph and every word. I don’t feel that Tyler’s protagonist had that kind of passion for his wife.
I do think that “The Beginner’s Goodbye,” is a good book for book clubs because it allows you to discuss death without the immense heaviness that some other books have. It will also lead to discussions on marriage.
Enjoy the rest of summer.