Dear Bookclub,
A post-wedding dip in my immune system sadly kept me from our June meeting as I nursed a miserable cold. I learned that discussion of "A Place for Us" was swift; guessing other family sagas trumped Fatima Farheen Mirzra's family saga. Personally, I loved the novel's saga with the beautiful writing and an enlightening wash of the American Muslim experience.
Meeting again at The Kitchen at the Bernardo Winery, our July meeting to discuss "The Immortalists" was magical in that the patio and lunch made us grateful for the fine living we have in San Diego. Not as magical was the book, whose promise with the premise of learning one's death date, left the mystical behind in the dust of an overwritten attempt to include every decade's cliches from the sixties to the present. Still, it was a page turner, trying to learn the siblings' fates.
Val's suggestions at the June meeting for an upcoming read:
"Thomas and Beal in the Midi" Christopher Tilghman *chosen
"The Family Tabor" Cherise Wolas
"Everyone Know You Go Home" Natalia Sylvester
"El Norte" Carrie Gibson
Terry's suggestions at the July meeting for an upcoming read:
"Gentleman in Moscow" Amor Towles
"Virgil Wander" Leif Enger
"Underground Railroad" Colson Whitehead
"Lincoln in the Bardo" George Saunders *chosen
And finally, up next is internationally renowned, Imbolo Mbue's "Behold the Dreamers". Her novel has been translated into 12 languages, adapted into an opera
in Poland as well as a stage play in Seattle, WA, and was recently
optioned for a movie. Wow!
Please enjoy this Vogue interview with Imbolo Mbue on the importance of empathy in life and literature from July 2017:
Empathetic reading,
LK
