Looking into the Future

Everyone loved "The Heart's Invisible Furies," our December book, and everyone was there to express their opinions.

Our selection for January 2019 is "Sing, Unburied Sing" by Jesmyn Ward.

James Baldwin's "If Beale Street Could Talk" is our February read.

Start your Kindles.

October and November

So. We didn't meet in September so we added "Eileen" by Ottessa Moshfegh to our discussion in October. What a crazy book! Only one member (ahem, that would be me) had finished it so it wasn't the longest book discussion.

Our November book was "Washington Black" by Esi Edugyan. Greta, Tony, Mairtin and AM were present. Two of us had finished the book and all had read some. It was a very good conversation about the role of slavery in American history and in our current lives. It will be good to follow up when all have finished since the end of the book is complicated and puzzling.

Our book for December is "The Heart's Invisible Furies" by John Boyne and for January we have lined up "Sing, Unburied, Sing" by Jesmyn Ward.

AM tried to describe a movie she was recommending which lead to some confusion since vet can refer to a veteran or a veterinarian.

We all expressed our gratitude for book club. 

September Book

"The Friends of Eddie Coyle" by George V. Higgins.

Did I say July?

It turns out that we will not meet in July so "Postcards" will be up for discussion in August. Carry on.

Summer Reading Update

Our book for June, The Innocent by Ian McEwan, had already been reviewed by Janice at our May meeting due some confusion about the order of our books. Mairtin and AM had read Kindness of Enemies for May as they should have. It was agreed that a major problem with The Innocent was the unlikable protagonist. It was hard to spend so much time with him.

The book for July is Postcards by Annie Proulx.

All is Art

Instead of meeting for Book Club on December 9 we attended Art's Funeral. His death was unexpected and terribly sad.

All who were in the country met up the next Saturday to check in with each other. We missed Art's company and comments. "Stoner" was unanimously praised and Tony pointed out that the passage that changes the course of Stoner's life was about death, strangely appropriate.

Life and reading goes on. January's book was "Days Without End," another book enjoyed by all.

February we read "Wintering," by Peter Geye. The outdoor scenes with the father and son were beautiful but all the female characters, including the narrator, were not well written at all.

Coming up:

March--"The Tusk That Did the Damage" by Tania James
April--"Katalin Street" by Magda Szabo
May--"The Kindness of Enemies" by Laila Abouleda