January 2016 Bookclub News

Dear Bookclub,

Our first meeting of 2016 is rapidly approaching! Blissfully consumed still with Christmas, I am relishing my favorite part of the season, seated in the midst of all the decor, properly at its peak, before poinsettias wither and cookies stale, ornaments droop and toy-strewn rooms no longer feel charming, writing my cards, while sipping tea and nibbling chocolate. January looms like a monster peaking around the corner. But my nighttime reading jolts me out of the sugarplum fantasy as Julia Pierpont's "Among the Ten Thousand Things" reveals a vulgar family drama with depressing wit. Happy New Year!

 Looking forward to getting together to chat it up. Wanda has chosen 12:30 at Cork & Craft for our gathering. See you then...




Happy reading,
LK

 

December 2015 Bookclub News

                                     December 2, 2015

Dear Bookclub,

I was surprised to find sand in my toes when I removed my socks last night, after hours of putting away Thanksgiving decorations, resetting the house, sorting mail, paying bills, cleaning out the fridge, laundry, collecting pumpkins, and unpacking my car. Oh yes! The beach. Hardly seemed like 45 minutes away and 12 hours previous. Also, a measly can of sardines and a bunch of chard shrank on my plate when visions of the delicious chain of meals with the best of friends crept into my mind. Reality hit hard. But it was so worth every moment.

December 7, 2015

Reality keeps on giving. The holiday train has left the station complete with the garage bay full of boxes of decorations, an 8 day blast of Hanukah (Suzanne arrived on Sunday!), and Nate in bed with the flu. I am so OK though as I reminisce about "a week ago today......." This la-la land will collapse though - I know it will. Until then, there is a Santa reading to a band of teddy bears in the Coronado Library, a tree glowing in the 1906 for a lucky variety of visitors, 

 and a group of lovely women facing the holidays with a renewed bond of friendship through our literary passion:

 Anne Tyler's "A Spool of Blue Thread" was well-received as we pieced together the meanings and 'weight' of the characters, easily relating the cast to familiar family dynamics. Tyler's craft was very much appreciated despite the obvious tie-in with the spool of blue thread; the writing warming with the wealth of relationships.

Trudy recommended four great titles to consider for our April read:
"The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah
"Fates and Furies" by Lauren Groff
"Circling the Sun" by Paula McClain  *chosen
"The Secret Chord" by Geraldine Brooks

Happy Holiday Reading!
XO,
LK

November 2015 Bookclub News

Dear Bookclub,

Lunch at Terrie's was a beautiful harvest feast and a stark contrast to the content at hand: discussion of "The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace". A book I will long remember along with the unresolved discomfort of the race/class issues, it seems there was an understanding that Rob had made some very bad choices in light of all the opportunities to make better ones. Still feeling heavy-hearted about the outcome, I can't help but have a terrifying empathy for Rob and his community.

On a lighter note, we had a very light guest at Terrie's:

Chase Paul

His input to the discussion went something like this, "coo-coo-coo-coo". Very verbal.

Considered for our upcoming March selection:
"The Lost Landscape" by Joyce Carol Oates
"Last Bus to Wisdom: A Novel" by Ivan Doig
"Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Krueger *chosen


Up next, our beloved trip to Coronado! Here we come 1906...

I have reserved dinner at Primavera for Monday 11/30 at 7, Chez Loma for Tuesday 12/1 at 7 and finally lunch for our discussion at Tartine for Wednesday 12/2 at 12:30.

I am really looking forward to our discussion of Anne Tyler's "A Spool of Blue Thread".

Anne Tyler

Happy Reading,
LK

October 2015 Recap

Dear Bookclub,

{re-enactment sans umbrellas and chatty patrons}

Circling our salads on the Veranda, we merrily gathered our sextet to decipher and relish our platters and Lily King's "Euphoria". Well-liked, Nell was imagined by our readers as a remarkable tribute to Margaret Mead's feminist and scientific contributions. Boo-hoo the love triangle and the dastardly Fen but that's what made the pages turn!

Val thoughtfully and efficiently distributed sheets of book descriptions for our February 2016 selection:

"Orhan's Inheritance" by Aline Ohanesian *chosen
"The Japanese Lover" by Isabel Allende
"The Marriage of Opposites" by Alice Hoffman
"Henna House" by Nomi Eve

As is often the case, not an easy decision- lots of good reads.


Next up is "The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace" by Jeff Hobbs on November 4 at Terrie G's.

A teeny spoiler alert on this great L.A. Times review by Hector Tobar (my "Deep Down Dark" heart-throb author) ....not any big reveal but does explore why not so tragic and gives a synopsis:

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-jeff-hobbs-20140928-story.html




 Happy Reading!
LK

October 2015 Bookclub News

Dear Bookclub,
Our December getaway to the 1906 Lodge on Coronado is on! Please make your reservation, if you haven't already, for Monday, November 30 - Wednesday, December 2. After the recent inquiry, plans for our group to go to the Huntington Gardens and Library will be better for spring.

October's selection, "Euphoria" by Lily King, has been a wildly popular, well-read, discussed and reviewed novel, noted for its recognition for being the winner of the 2014 Kirkus Prize, the winner of the 2014 New England Book Award for Fiction, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and a "Best Book of the Year for:  New York Times Book Review, Time, NPR, Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Newsday, Vogue, New York Magazine, Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, The Guardian, Kirkus Reviews, Amazon, Publishers Weekly, Our Man in Boston, Oprah.com, Salon. In a nutshell, you will enjoy this! (It really is good.)

Please check out the King interview from Vogue re: Margaret Mead....
http://www.vogue.com/872367/lily-king-margaret-mead-novel-euphoria/

Also, for further referencing about the nature of the anthropologists viewpoints, the Margaret Mead- Derek Freeman controversy cenetered around "Coming of Age in Somoa" is neatly described in the following excerpt from a Carnegie Mellon document that my googling produced:
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/sc24/History/EnCultAntMead.pdf

Val has chosen a cheerful lunch on the Veranda, 12:30, October 7.

Happy reading!
LK

September 2015 Bookclub News

Dear Bookclub,

Big picture: Only a subset of our group (approximately 2/3 of us) was present today at our meeting and that group really liked "Dead Wake" for no other reason than we learned so much. I guess being ignorant of facts surrounding America's entry into WWI had us primed for page-turning Erik Larson's depiction of the Lusitania's demise. Admittedly, I have been obsessed with similar disasters since some childhood moment when I became aware of the Titanic (camp song?). The human element in the survival/death tales imbedded in Larson's heavily researched retelling of the events surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania drew me in. However, our big take-away was the baiting done to engage forces into combat, then and always.

Little picture: The individuals. From a Lusitania information website, http://www.rmslusitania.info/people/statistics/  :


How many people died in the Lusitania sinking?  How many survived? 

	Total	Survived	Died	Survival rate
Saloon (First Class)	290	113	177	39.0%
Second Cabin (Second Class)	601	229	372	38.1%
Third Class	370	134	236	36.2%
Deported Seamen (Third Class)	3	0	3	0.0%
Total Passengers	1,264	476	788	37.7%
Stowaways	3	0	3	0.0%
Band	5	3	2	60.0%
Deck Crew	69	37	32	53.6%
Engineering Crew	313	112	201	35.8%
Victualling Crew	306	139	167	45.4%
Total Crew (including Band)	693	291	402	42.0%
Total Complement (with stowaways)	1,960	767	1,193	39.1%

I have not yet done breakdown by nationality or age group, but those are worth considering for future updates.  Accounting for the four survivors who died not long afterwards, this becomes:

	Total	Survived	Died	Survival rate
Total Complement (with stowaways)	1,960	763	1,197	38.9%

 (Conclusion: be in the band)

Now it is time for some levity. Very nice wine at lunch....

Titles Terry recommended for consideration for upcoming read:
 "Purity" by Jonathan Franzen
"Among  the Ten Thousand Things"  by Julie Peirpont *chosen
"Go Set a Watchman" by Harper Lee
"The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Up next: "Euphoria" by Lily King

Happy Reading,
LK

August 2015 Recap

Dear Bookclub,
After yet another midlife calendar crisis, we rallied and met two weeks post our normal schedule. It was a nice gathering at Cork and Craft although we missed Wanda's presence. She was happily occupied. Now, between Hazel Poe and Chase Paul ..... two new grandchildren in our fold!! With literary sounding names too.

"The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry" was just what our summer reading lists ordered as we all agreed it was an enjoyable fling with our virtual pages.

Up next - (spoiler alert):

Erik Larsen's  "Dead Wake" is our September read. TG put the following program on our radar. I am chasing the channels and hope to see it ASAP. I believe it will be shown next on August 31st.

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/sinking-the-lusitania-an-american-tragedy/0/3420538

We discussed moving our September date given the first Wednesday would be two short weeks after our delayed August meeting. I believe we agreed on 9/9 but I could be wrong.... anybody? Location is TF's choice.

Books considered for our next selection included:

"The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace" by Jeff Hobbs *chosen
"Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932" by Francine Prose
"1 Dead in Attic after Katrina" by Chris Rose
"The Miniaturist" by Jessie Burton

Keep on reading!
LK