December 2021 Bookclub News

 

 

 

 

Dear Bookclub,

The Mission Inn's Festival of Lights may have burned out before we were ready for the darkened state, but the experience left the glow of friendship and the season. Riverside's power outage booted us home yet we'd explored, indulged and appreciated.

Duane's

 

An outdoor round table breakfast Wednesday morning hosted the Maggie Shipstead's "Great Circle" discussion. An uninspired editor led us to circle about the fabulous story Shipstead craftily created. Bogged down by the length, buoyed by the poetic writing, impressed by the intricate plot, eye-rolled for the all-inclusion, we gratefully received the experience and are eager to move on. As the writer Lynn Steger Strong aptly observed:

Aless MC

"In grad school, I had a professor who used to warn against “starting too high.” She’d hold her arm up in the air and tell us: “If you start here, you have to know that’s where you have to stay.” The start of Shipstead’s book — her third, after “Seating Arrangements” in 2012 and “Astonish Me” in 2014 — is thrilling and complicated, with many different threads laid out and back stories carefully and richly wrought; for the next 500-odd pages, I felt the fear I feel when a student’s work starts strong, when other novels open high — knowing that, more often than not, lofty heights can’t be sustained. But “Great Circle” starts high and maintains altitude. One might say it soars."

from her review in the New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/02/books/review/the-great-circle-maggie-shipstead.html

An ambitious novel indeed that our ambitious group enjoyed.

Our Mission Inn engagement became enhanced with the tour, filling our minds and imaginations with details about the surroundings and history. Saturated, we still found room for cupcakes. And shopping.

Terry's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"The Lincoln Highway" Amor Towles *chosen

"Small Things Like These" Claire Keegan

"The Guncle" Steven Rowley

Wednesday evening

Up next:

 Happy reading,

LK

November 2021 Bookclub News

 

Dear Booklcub,

 A delayed November meeting found us gathered mid-month to discuss Patrick Rodden Keefe's "Empire of Pain" at Yanni's. Missing Val and blessed with Ginger and beautiful weather, we sat outside around a large table and shared away.

Horrified by the continued actions and effects of the Sackler family's Purdue Pharma, medical marketing, legal evasion, dubious and deadly claims about opioids, our minds reeled anew with our discussion.

 

Patrick Radden Keefe

 Please check out this excellent interview by Charles Lydon with the    author on Radio Open Source:

https://lithub.com/how-arthur-sackler-got-america-hooked-on-opioids/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

enlarged bits of William Powhida's The Sacklers (Family Tree) (2019)

Intrigued by the philanthropy, I was fascinated by the activism against the Sacklers at universities and art institutions that had benefited from the giving. Nan Goldin's story and actions were of particular interest to me. Please read about her art, her story and the activism in the links below:

Nan Goldin

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/goldin-nan/

“Self-Portrait 1st Time on Oxy, Berlin, 2014.”

 

ttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/arts/design/nan-goldin-oxycontin-addiction-opioid.html 

 

Be sure to play the video of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 'bottle throw' (this is a grainy screen shot taken from my viewing), which appears halfway through this article:
 

https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/sackler-family-art-museums

 

Wanda's suggestions for an upcoming read:

 "The Mountains Sing" Nguyen Phan Que Mai *chosen

"The Lincoln Highway"  Amor Towles

"The Fortune Men" Nadifa Mohamed

 

Up next:

Happy reading!

LK

 

October 2021 Bookclub News

 

 

 

Dear Bookclub,

Another delightful gathering, we convened at Piacere Mio to discuss Christy Lefteri's "The Beekeeper of Aleppo".  Missing Trudy and Ginger, our little group revisited last month's meeting to include Terrie, who'd missed September's meeting, The recap discussion of last month's "Good Neighbors" included Val's opposing neighbor experience, reinforced with her share of the magnificent notes she'd received from her neighboring young'uns (see above and below). Sigh.... adorable!

This month's selection, took us far from neighbors and into the world of refugees, specifically Syrian refugees from just a few years ago.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/world/europe/lesbos-greece-migrant-refugee-crisis.html

 

 

Contrasting the horrors of a humanitarian crisis with the delicate keeping of bees stole my heart. The raw elements abound in this novel. Lefteri's "Beekeeper" was well-liked; we relished the writing and marveled at the magical element born from the dreadful underlying content. Thinking I was clever, detecting survivor's coping mechanisms, I soon learned that some of us 'figured'  situations out sooner than others (not me!). The author's motivation, revealed to readers at the conclusion in her elaborate notes, rocketed our appreciation of the work up many levels. 

Please enjoy this NPR piece about Lefteri's winning the 2020 Aspen Words Literary Prize for "Beekeeper":

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/16/835950317/the-beekeeper-of-aleppo-wins-2020-aspen-words-literary-prize

 And this incredible acceptance speech for the award (given for illuminating a "vital contemporary issue" in fiction)

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

 

 

Terrie's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times"   Jane Goodall

"The Taking of Jemima Boone: The True Story of the Kidnap and Rescue that Shaped America" Matthew Pearl *** chosen

"The Sentence" Louise Erdrich

Up next:

 

Read in comfort,

LK

September 2021 Bookclub News

 

Dear Bookclub,

Like a good neighbor, The Barrel Room accommodated our group for a nice outdoor lunch while we discussed Sarah Langan's "Good Neighbors". But unlike the folks of Maple Street, we were on stable ground, able to enjoy the comfortable weather, and endured no violence nor slanderous threats.

 

portrait of author by her father, Peter Langan

 

A trembling discomfort traveled through our presence as we voiced our thoughts and opinions about the book. Langan had obviously done a good job of upending our reading experiences. collectively agreeing that we wanted to finish the novel and travel to the other side of her creation... i.e. the end. Global warming, sink-holes, the neighbor one really doesn't 'know', cruel people, mean children, misinformed authorities, social media... the anxiety list mounts. Did I mention death?

Wanda noticed the author's jacket bio included her having an MS in environmental toxicology along with her Columbia MFA. "Mommy, when I grow up I want to be an environmental toxicologist who writes good novels". Cool or creepy.

 

Wikipedia

 

Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone",  episode 22, season 1, entitled "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" was a strong influence to Langan. Please check out the eerily similar description:

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

Val had mentioned this reference she found while researching the book. I connected her mention to what turns out to be a different episode, that I thought of immediately. Involving what I remember as people stuck in a dollhouse, it's not nearly as fitting as the true inspiration:

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

My favorite from that is the closing narration:
"The moral of what you've just seen is clear. If you drink, don't drive. And if your wife has had a couple, she shouldn't drive either. You might both just wake up with a whale of a headache in a deserted village in the Twilight Zone."

Sorry for the digression but The Twilight Zone was compelling as was "Good Neighbors" and I could probably have a memory of it in 50 years too. ***

Panopticon  - Adam Simpson

Artwork for the New York Times book review of The Panopticon, by Jenni Fagan.

 Forgetting to bring up the relevance of Rhea's obsession with the panopticon, I must include the above.

Finally, while reading the novel, I struggled to picture the sinkhole, especially the children's trek into it and the image of the dog bite. My weak research did not help but I thought it amusing:

 

 

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-69635-5_7

 Val's suggestions for an upcoming read:

 "Cloud Cuckoo Lane" Anthony Doerr

"Taste My Life Through Food" Stanley Tucci

"The Lincoln Highway" Amor Towles

"Beautiful Country" Qian Julie Wang* chosen

 

Up next:

 Happy reading,

LK

PS

***

August 2021 Bookclub News

 

We missed you Val & Ginger

 

 

 Dear Bookclub,

Indulging my request to host, I was thrilled to have our group for lunch to discuss Matt Haig's "Midnight Library". Not a regret in sight as blunders and setbacks accompanied the tableau of my purple cross-stitched and flower-strewn adorned dining table. That's just me and the optimistic execution of a menu I usually dreamily concoct.  Kumquats put back in the freezer and fresh squash cubed, and we eventually had a nice meal. Thankfully, we did not need to replay or re-live or tweak the afternoon. OR do we?

 

Generally enjoying "Midnight Library", we collectively agreed that the concept is not new and has had better executions (lots of puns there for sliders). Nora was not fun to relate to and the resolution murky. Personally, after having read it twice, I softened to the author and his intent after learning more about his history and motivation. Please delve into this Guardian article for real insight:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jul/01/matt-haig-i-have-never-written-a-book-that-will-be-more-spoofed-or-hated

 

A few days ago, rearranging my garage freezer, I spied this:

 

yes, that is cubed squash; but was it there the morning of 8/4?

My suggestions for an upcoming read:

“The Mathematician’s Shiva” Stuart Rojstaczer

“Finding the Mother Tree” Suzanne Simard

“The Doctors Blackwell” Janice P NImura *chosen

Up next:

Happy reading,

LK

July 2021 Bookclub News

 

https://www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpbs-roundtable/2021/jun/25/coronado-coach-fired-following-racist-postgame-inc/

 

Dear Bookclub,

Terry's trepidation about her suggestion, our July read, Douglas Murray's "The Madness of Crowds" dissipated as we eagerly expressed our gratitude for the enlightenment. As our heads and hearts swirled while we recounted the various examples and themes, the question of how to move forward with this knowledge emerged. Education, balanced sensitivity, a mindful awareness were mentioned. Agreeing that the internet stirs the insanity, the recent CIF basketball-tortilla-throwing incident that happened in our own little SD, just won't go away (see above). The link above is weeks old and new developments seem to crop up daily. Horrible behavior from the coach, a competition rife with tension and the aftermath is off to the madness of crowds.

Gleefully gathering at Vintana's

Douglas Murray's reading of "The Madness of Crowds" was a great listen.

  'cnn TROvesee*

 

Listening to the content, I found many pronunciations distracting. Generally, charmed by the author's accent, some moments had me sidelined by odd sounding words that, upon delayed processing, became clear and I could move on. But a lingering inner conversation had me wondering, is this speaker so ignorant? How could I harshly judge this intellect that was teeming with insight based on something as innocuous as accent? A constant in daily interpretation: listening and absorbing but with judgement....is this a madness or an anthropological hangnail? 'Covid' sounded like 'comet'; *controversy, a word surely used more than any other, screeched. Yet, how could I pause to waste any energy in judgement. What a glaring example of the obvious. Be kind. Just try to understand the message, I reminded myself. More on speech and judgement (a short and thoughtful piece):

http://linguaeast.com/dont-judge-others-based-on-their-speech/

To hear an excellent interview of Murray by Peter Robinson on the continuing fight against "The Madness of Crowds" please enjoy this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp4XhZytdD0

I especially appreciated his point of the wasted time and resources into the misguided energy.

Trudy's recommendations for an upcoming read:

"Great Circle" Maggie Shipstead *chosen

"The Tipping Point" Malcolm Gladwell

"The Last Bookshop in London" Madeline Martin

Our luncheon was topped with the gripping suspense of Val's decision: would she bring Jim a new car or leftover lunch?

Jim enjoyed the burger.

Up next:

Read and Be Kind,

LK