October(!) 2016 Bookclub Newsletter

Dear Bookclub,
Titles are the window to a book's soul. Distinct: "Barkskins", "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena", "Dr. Zhivago". Unforgettable: "We Need to Talk About Kevin", "The Boys in the Boat", "All the Light You Cannot See", "The Poisonwood Bible".  Descriptive:  "Dead Wake", "The Door", "Little Women".   Unfortunate: "Heat & Light", "Some Luck", "Home Leave", "Art of Power", "Art of the Deal", "Art of Racing in the Rain".

Jennifer Haigh's latest book, "Heat & Light" was labeled to have a "not helpful" title in the NY Times April 28, 2016. Unfortunate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/books/review-with-heat-and-light-jennifer-haigh-drills-below-the-surface.html

I was actually thrilled when I reached the point in the book when the title was revealed; hidden in a school report about the benefits of petroleum being heat and light. Still does not carry the weight of the memories this book will leave with me. This is a truly enjoyable ...... dare I say it..... intelligent soap opera/horror story. Horrific because of the environmental truths and the human weaknesses. Enjoyable because the deft writing brings rich characters to the extremes of emotion, tragedy, consequences.

Hope you are also enjoying it! Look forward to discussing at TG's this Wednesday.

Advance notice of TG's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"Last Bus to Wisdom: A Novel" by Ian Doig

'The Symphathizer: A Novel" by Viet Thanh Nguyen

"Everyone Brave is Forgiven" by Chris Cleve

 Happy reading,

LK

 PS I lived in Export, PA from 1964-1970. A coal mining town long before the suburban neighborhood sprouted kickball, Barbies, swim team, big Catholic families etc. There was always a distant shadow of the history settled into the dingy black dust in our school-girl white socks and the 'taverns' on Main St. with seemingly unemployed flocking. The candy counter at McHughes Variety Store was awesome.

http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com/export.html

Our school bus drove past an abandoned and much dilapidated version of this daily: 

Shockingly, I just googled 'fracking in Export PA' and got this link to a fracking company... very odd actually. Turns out I could google Rancho Bernardo fracking and get another version of the same thing!

http://drillfrackingnews.com/ExportPennsylvania

  

http://drillfrackingnews.com/RanchoBernardoCaliforniafracking

Weasels!

PPS: Our little December read(note how little and cute this book is):

September 2016 Bookclub News

Striking camp in Canada, March 1820

Dear Bookclub,
  Epic"Barkskins" is lingering in a happy place in my mind. Despite the cornerstone of the work being the ravages of man and the destructive progress that propels our existence, Annie Proulx's historic novel was entertaining and educational. Three out of the four of us (the fourth was nearly there!) had finished; that was a discussion unto itself (praise "Audible"). Missing Trudy and Val to the lure of travel abroad, Val's email shared her thoughts;"...interesting but challenging book. Quite long, jumping around with so many characters and historical facts but spot on about the Europeans' part in helping to destroy so much of our forestland." Val's points undisputed, we marveled nonetheless at the entirety of Proulx's undertaking.

"Forest in the Mist" @debbytenquist Basque Country, Spain

If you have not had enough of Proulx, there is an interesting, short blurb on "Fresh Air", emphasizing the variety of human demise in this book:
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/10/481449357/annie-proulx-s-bloody-new-novel-barkskins-is-about-more-than-deforestation

...and an equally short interview about her "By the Book" in a June 26, 2016 NY Times Book Review column:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/books/review/annie-proulx-by-the-book.html?_r=0

"Deep in Earth" by Scott R Adkeart for the upcoming "POEtic Tribute show at the Museum of Edgar Allan Poe

Titles I suggested for a future read:
"Commonwealth" Anne Patchett *chosen
"Faithful:A Novel" Alice Hoffman
"Bettyville" George Hodgman
"How to be Both" Ali Smith
"The Life We Bury" Allen Eskens


Our December read will be "The Birds of the Air" by Alice Thomas Ellis. This is available used on Amazon... please order well ahead of time.

Next up, "Heat and Light" by Jennifer Haigh.

Happy reading,
LK

PS These are the best of our selfies - we had a good time!