March 2024 Bookclub News

 

Tiger's Eye Quartz

Dear Bookclub,

Unexpected treasures awaited as we were treated to a very special tour at the Gem Institute of America in Carlsbad, thanks to Wanda's kind invitation. What a gem McKenzie Santimer is as the CIA's Museum Director, graciously presenting wonder after wonder to our little group of ten. Her passion and knowledge barely edged her style and presence. The architecture of the building, the history and science of the rocks and minerals in the GIA's collection, and the concept of an institute to promote education, credentialing and research, took us to an unexpected level of appreciation.

 

McKenzie

one big tiger's eye

Our fantastic group!

 

Our delve into the world of gems was enhanced by the enthusiastic inclusion of two Jim's and a Bruce. Joining us for a lunch at the nearby Fish Market, our book discussion was light with little encouragement from the loud surroundings and a long table. Aja Raden's "Stoned" was well-received, providing a springboard into our understanding of the history of human obsession with jewels. At my end of the table, a small criticism: we were not enthralled with Raden's sarcastic interjections, humor that fell a cut short. Perhaps the other end of the table felt differently but conversation, like my plate of french fries, was difficult to share. Mid-table-Terrie shared her appreciation for Victoria Finlay's "Jewels", a book she impressively read along with "Stoned", which gave her a deeper education about precious stones.

Both books have gorgeous covers that make this little gem-loving heart look twice:

 

 

 

For an interesting dive into more beautiful covers holding amazing content, pleases visit  GIA's links to their quarterly journal, Gems & Gemology: https://www.gia.edu/gems-gemology 

 

 Val's suggestions for an upcoming read:

 "After Annie" Anna Quindlen *chosen

"Stealing the Show, A History of Art and Crime in Six Thefts"  John Barelli

"The Porcelain Thief: Searching the Middle Kingdom for Buried China" Huan Hsu

Up next:

Happy reading,

LK

February 2024 Bookclub News

as you like it*

Dear Bookclub,

Meeting at Piacere Mio*  to discuss William Kent Krueger's "The River We Remember", seven of us stretched out at a long table establishing our presence. The challenge of having one conversation across this configuration became apparent and we just tried harder, talked louder and did our best. We were not unnoticed (hard to ignore) as a neighboring table stopped to chat on their way out. The threesome correctly identified us as being a bookclub - they were part of one too. Finding they were also familiar with William Kent Krueger, (one of them being from Minnesota), fueled our widening presence in volume, both auditory and physical. Yet the restaurant remained endeared and presented a most delicious panna cotta.

Meanwhile, back at the river, most of us enjoyed the mystery while a couple of us were not as enthralled. Richly drawn characters magnetized while the mounting number of characters confused. The descriptions of the Alabaster River and its power with analogies lent Krueger some poetic prowess. I hope he is done with this genre and gets back to writing with emotional intelligence, free of forced drama.

  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabaster

Alabaster River is fictional in this novel, but the qualities of the mineral,  a snow-white translucency in particular, grounded the reader to the magic of the river. As depicted in this Italian workshop above, the softness of the stone allows for a variety of definitions. Please peruse the Wikipedia page in preparation for our visit to Gem Institute.

My suggestions for an upcoming read:

"The Wager" David Grann *chosen

"Womb" Leah Hazard

"Grant and Twain" Mark Perry

 

 

Up next:

 

 

Happy reading,

LK

January 2024 Bookclub News

 

 

Sibylle of Cleves, wife of John Frederick I, 1526 by Lucas Cranach the Elder

 

Dear Bookclub,

Fascinated by Stéphane Breitwieser's dastardly deeds, I googled-galore weeks ago before our discussion of Michael Finkel's "The Art Thief". Sixteen rabbit holes are still open on my computer, one in Japanese (and one about how to translate a website into English). Panic at not having yet woven together the bits and pieces, did not get this blog written, as other tasks prevailed. Anne Lamott's title essay for "Bird by Bird" comes to mind:

"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'" 

Ok, blog hardly a huge task, but here goes, rabbit hole by rabbit hole.

My three wishes:

*Finding a photo of Anne Catherine Kleinklaus. 

I read dozens and dozens of articles, most repetitive in content. The same images are used over and over again. Not one has an image of Anne Catherine. She has done an excellent job of erasing any media/online presence. Here is a smattering of other fine images from these articles:

The home where the Brietwiesers lived and stashed the treasures.

Breitwieser visiting 'his' first piece in 2018.

Authorities searching for art in the Rhône-Rhine Canal.

Mon Dieu

*Finding a photo of Mireille Brietwieser. See Anne Catherine above. Not one image. I want those 35 hours of my life back. Also, would be very grateful to anyone who can find an image of either one.

Here is something I did find, on that Japanese website:

 The nifty translation is: 

'Steve's story has become the subject of a movie and drama, and a painter has painted his portrait.'

*Learning about any updates in the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum theft. No news there but some interesting stories about dead end leads:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Stewart_Gardner_Museum_theft

One of the stolen works from The Gardner, "The Concert" Vermeer

  

Our meeting was a welcome reprieve from the holiday madness.

We were deeply appreciative of Finkel's writing as he crafted this non-fiction work into a page turner. For more on Finkel, the link below is an interview; interesting to see and hear him... a bit long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TOgbvLVkjs 

 

This bit came up in a Reddit thread. It is a bit odd and perhaps just to be slightly entertained by what is being created for the heck of it (think cat or toddler videos), give it a try and don't forget you can slide through it with your mouse, searching for 'good' parts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVBU_Dpdbl0

 

 

Terry's suggestions for an upcoming read: 

"Prophet Song" Paul Lynch

"The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post" Allison Pataki *chosen

"Maybe You Should Talk to Someone" Lori Gottlieb

 

 

Up next:

 

Happy reading,

LK
 

December 2023 Bookclub News

 

 

https://www.suebutler.com.au/blog/2018/10/11/idiomatic-expressions

 

Dear Bookclub,

Our beautiful trip to Laguna Beach, morphed into a fine kettle of fish, as Val so perfectly described, our ladies succumbing to the scourge of COVID.  Before the kettle of fish arrived, we were gifted with a pristine day at the beach; may our walking and talking along the Laguna shoreline be what is long- remembered:

Thank goodness we had that book to discuss since our conversations were few and far between..... ha! Kate Atkinson's "Festive Spirits" was enjoyed and appreciated for the well-written twists she created on the visions of Christmas. Reminisces of books past, included Atkinsons', brought out the google machines to sharpen our memories and spark the continuum.  So many books, so many years! Yet our history is short in comparison to that of The Ranch at Laguna Beach.  Aside from the photos on the wall in the hallway adjacent to the restaurant, depicting the tent city on the beach, The Ranch really was a ranch. As described in the very interesting Forbes article - little guy vs. corporate - (link below), the homestead, which was built in 1871, was originally a watermelon farm and became known locally as "the ranch." The inn opened in 1962:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/annabel/2016/11/30/a-fresh-slice-of-orange-county-the-newly-reinvented-ranch-at-laguna-beach/?sh=6700df664771

Trudy's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"The Wren, the Wren" Anne Enright *chosen

"The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History" Ned Blackhawk

"The Bee Sting" Paul Murray

 

Up next:

 

Artful reading,

LK

PEACE

November 2023 Bookclub News

https://imgur.com/FRdaI03

 

Dear Bookclub,

Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew and Annette Lawrence Drew's "Blind Man's Bluff" provided a thrill ride for our survival adoring group. Fascinated by the concepts and risks, we were overwhelmed by the detailed descriptions of each featured submarine's history. Please check out the USS Parche cutaway in the link above, zooming in, Where's-Waldo-style, to find the divers.

Da Vinci's submarine design

Sontag & the Drews's book, published in 1998, six years in the making, had a journey of its own just to be published. The dedication of the authors, to deliver the stories despite the predicted lack of sales, was remarkable and the path taken to present and speak to the veterans proved successful in enlightening audiences beyond expectations. Please enjoy this 'blast-from-the-past' authors' night at the tiny venue of the bookstore at the Mystic Seaport Musuem... it's really great:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4656332/user-clip-blind-mans-bluff

 

The stories are capsulized in a manner that begs for a TV series. OK, I am asking nicely.

Last week, I flew to New Orleans with Nate. My Southwest nonstop flight would normally feel like a dreadful challenge, cramped quarters and discomforts galore.  New understanding of discomfort had me breathing deeply with gratitude, appreciating the sweetly filtered air and looking forward to gastronomical ridiculousness upon landing in a short time. Little did I know that visiting the World War II Museum in New Orleans would move me into deep, deep conceptualizations of war and mankind beyond all I thought I'd learned in my lifetime. "Blind Man's Bluff", definitely amazing, is but a small link in the chain of this history. Five hours was not enough to see it all; highly recommended and I'd go back in a heartbeat:

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/ 

Wanda's suggestions for an upcoming read:

 "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" James McBride

"Absolution" Alice McDermott *chosen

"The Future" by Naomi Alderman

 

Up next:

 

Festive reading,

LK

 

October 2023 Bookclub News

 

 

steak wedge salad magic eye

Dear Bookclub,

Stars lined up in the sunny sky above as five of us gathered on the Veranda and ordered five steak wedge salads and five iced teas. Somewhere, code was generated from the AI gathered in the kitchen. 

 

Zevin - New York Times

Code creators and video games propelled the world of Gabrielle Zevin's imaginative "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow". We all enjoyed it, excepting Val, who we missed and would love to hear her thoughts when we reconvene. Also, wonder if she would have ordered the steak wedge and iced tea, stepping to that other drummer. Lamenting the tedium that accompanies literature checking 'all the boxes' that Zevin fell prey to, I was struck by another perspective on this practice. Jennifer Egan's library was featured in the San Diego Union Tribune's "Books" section in Sunday's paper.

http://enewspaper.sandiegouniontribune.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=7b6f621c-9022-49ef-ba13-fce201d3d936

Egan states: "Fiction contains more compressed information abut an era then anything else. If you're looking for the maximum quantity of information , you can't beat it, because it contains all the things that went without saying. History is all about saying what needs to be said; fiction tells a story, and and then it tells the story the writer didn't know they were telling - didn't know they had to tell."

Please enjoy the full article, which I adored for her need to be surrounded by all those books.

As readers of Zevin's novel, we gained a perspective of those thirty years covered that we never experienced. The book, one of nine she has published, had a surprising success perhaps attributable to the over 40 crowd getting that 'maximum quantity of information' about the gaming world we never played. In decades to come, those checked boxes may serve the purpose of staging the era(s) represented. 

Please enjoy this piece, illuminating Zevin's path as a writer and unexpected success with this latest novel:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/26/books/gabrielle-zevin-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow.html 

 

Terrie's suggestions for an upcoming read:

 "The River We Remember" William Kent Krueger  *chosen

"The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future" Robert P. Jones

"Lady Tan's Circle of Women" Lisa See

"The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" James McBride

Up next: 

Happy reading,

LK

September 2023 Bookclub News

 

  

 

 

Dear Bookclub.

 

A wall of beautiful wine bottles beckoned at the Barrel Room while we sipped our water and reminisced about lunches past, when we consumed vast quantities of vino. Reminiscence dominated Ann Patchett's "Tom Lake" in our beloved author's latest. While there was some disappointment about the book not matching our anticipation, it was still well-received and discussion moved from that very topic to the pandemic setting, the "Little Women" comparisons, Peter Duke's personality, Lara's road not taken and ultimately the cherry farm and her family. Val's trepidation about a reading of "Our Town" at the lunch table never crossed my mind (drat!) yet I do admit to having obtained a copy of the Wilder work to delve a little deeper into that character in the book. Patchett's portrayal of the play's auditions was golden at the onset of the novel. Meryl Streep's reading of the audible version also deserves a nod.

 

 

 

Guess who

 

 

More than you ever thought possible has been written, pondered and recorded about "Our Town". Included in the "Official Website of the Thornton Wilder Family" is a section of Patchett's book with a link to The Guardian's review of her book:

 

https://www.thorntonwilder.com/our-town

Val's suggestions for an upcoming read were plentiful and as always hard to whittle down to one. The artful bookshelf she shared must be re-appreciated:

"A Fever in the Heartland" Timothy Egan

"The Art Thief" Michael Finkel *chosen

"Everything She Touched" Marilyn Chase

"Yellowface" R. F. Kuang

"Noble Ambitions" Adrian Tinniswood

Up next: 

 

Happy reading,

LK