July 2022 Bookclub News

 

Mother playing tennis

Dear Bookclub,

Squeezed around a corner table on the terrace of Del Mar's Poseidon, our discussion of Akash Kapur's "Better to Have Gone" skimmed the surface of Auroville's inception and demise. Terry, Trudy and I missed our fellow members, as the latest viruses invaded. Focus on the utopian society, as excavated by Akash and his wife, Auralice, was fleeting as sharing recent travels dominated.  The lure of fish tacos and margaritas at the edge of the Pacific's surf did not help. 

requisite food photo

 

Collectively, with contributing opinions from those absent, we agreed that the book startled with wild, liberating concepts that ultimately crashed and burned, leaving our readers saddened but wiser. We are eager to hear Val tell any shredded detail of her 'new-found' sister's friends' experiences who'd lived there. Wow, man.

Mira Alfassa

Thinking better, as I considered inserting links on Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease), images of female personalities instrumental in Kapur's book felt more appropriate. Early childhood visions Mira Alfassa experienced being unusual, were mere sprouts of fascinating ideas yet to come: supramental manifestation upon earth, evolving with cell transformation, and transcending the body.

Mira, as a child (c. 1885)

 

 

Auralice

 

Diane Maes

Trudy's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"Madhouse at the End of the Earth" Julian Sancton *chosen

"Next Year in Havana" Chanel Cleeton

 "Ask Again" Mary Beth Keane

Up next:

 

 

Happy reading,

LK

June 2022 Bookclub News

 

Dear Bookclub,

A small, meaningful gathering for our June Bookclub had it all..... except our full group and any book discussion(!)  A much needed and appreciated lunch on my back patio, Wanda, Trudy and I relished the opportunity to catch up.

Here are my recipe notes to add to the above:

*sign up for Door dash

 

 *get out pretty bowls

*put salads you find delivered on your front porch into bowls

 

 * ditch the coffee and tea and open up that wine

My suggestions for an upcoming read:

“True Biz” Sara Novic

“Let Me Tell you What I Mean” Joan Didion

“The Invisible Kingdom” Meghan O’Rourke *chosen

 

Up next (to discuss along with Lousie Erdrich's "The Night Watchman"):

 

 

Happy reading,

LK

May 2022 Bookclub News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Dear Bookclub,

Amor Towles' "The Lincoln Highway" was adored by all. 'Our' table at Cafe Luna, near the terminus of the Ted Williams Parkway, welcomed the companionship and discussion. Endeared to Towles' writing style, amazed by his range of themes among his books, and entertained by the tale of "The Lincoln Highway", we reminisced about portions of the book, debated a bit, and moved on to lunch.

The Lincoln Highway:

 

 

* First road across the U.S. for automobiles, conceived in 1912 and dedicated in 1913.

* Runs coast to coast from Times Square in NYC to Lincoln Park in San Fransisco.

* Originally running through 13 states, a removal ("Colorado Loop") in 1915 and a realignment in 1928 through the northern tip of West Virginia, brought the highway through a total of 14 states, with an official length of 3,389 miles.

 

 To learn more, please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Highway

 

you know him as Abe

 

 Ted Williams Parkway:

* Travels East-West as a connector of I-15 and I-5, 9.210 miles in length.

* SR 56 was added to the state highway system in 1959 as Legislative Route 278, and renumbered SR 56 in 1964.

* Completed in 2004 after numerous lawsuits from environmentalists over concerns of the destruction of farmland, marshland and willow scrubland, the habitat of the endangered least Bell's vireo.  

* Officially named after Ted Williams in 1993 by the California Legislature.

least Bell's vireo

 

Ted

 https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/all-star-game/sdut-ted-williams-san-diego-roots-2016jul08-htmlstory.html 

 

Holding up to the test of a second read in a few months, I greatly enjoyed the repeat performance. Still fascinated by the  <- spoiler alert!!! - > demise of Duchess, the ambiguity about malintent from Emmet, remained. Towles is crafty.

 

A charming 8-minute listen with Amor Towles discussing the pleasures of character development and reading a small excerpt is a worthwhile listen:

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/13/1045800389/amor-towles-the-lincoln-highway-interview 

If you would like to hear more, much more, here is a fabulous interview with Kerri Miller of Minnesota Public Radio, where she delves into his mother issues(!) and characters without parents so Towles can keep that foxhole clear:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-WrAszGhsg

Wanda's suggestions for an upcoming read:

 "A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth" Daniel Mason *chosen

"The Promise" Damon Galgut

"French Braid" Anne Tyler

Up next:

Happy reading,

LK

April 2022 Bookclub News

 

 Dear Bookclub,

An absolute springtime refresh, luncheon at Terrie's was the backdrop for our discussion of Nguyen Phan Qué Mai's poetic "The Mountains Sing".

 

Enjoyed by all, it was hard not to contrast it with another recent memoir read, Qian Julie Wang's "Beautiful Country", which was clunkier, more difficult. "The Mountains Sing", a novel, was deftly crafted to encompass the last century of Vietnamese history, illuminating events that seemed both familiar and newly understood. The chapter titles alone formed a lyrical line from "The Tallest Mountains", "Red on the White Grains", "The Fortune Teller", to "The Great Hunger", "My Father's Gift", and "My Grandmother's Songs". Here are a few of the proverbs tucked into the narrative, which I loved:

* "Good luck hides inside bad luck"

* "Soft and persistent rain penetrates the earth better then a storm"

* "Difficulty gives light to wisdom"

'The Mountains Sing'

Make a cup of tea and please, please listen to this interesting event with Ngyuen Phan Que Mai reading her poetry (and more):

 https://podcast.lannan.org/2015/03/05/nguyen-phan-que-mai-with-bruce-weigl-1-march-2015-video/

 

Terrie's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"The Happiest Girl in the World" Alena Dillon *chosen

"Very Cold People" Sarah Manguso

"The Sentence" Louise Erdrich

Up next:

Happy reading,

LK

March 2022 Bookclub News

 

A lithograph by artist G.W. Fasel depicts the scene when pioneer Daniel Boone rescued his daughter, Jemima, and Betsey and Frances Callaway from the Shawnee Indians after they had been abducted. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Dear Bookclub,

The taking of Jemima Boone - er - kidnapping - blazed as a sensational, stunning act in our nation's history of pioneers and westward expansion into Native American land. As depicted in these various works of art, the lore surrounding the event was deeply familiar in the 19th century. Our understanding of the history was weak, we learned as Matthew Pearl's reconstruction of the times wowed us beyond our initial attraction to the drama. I would welcome a Netflix/Amazon/HBO series.

Not able to join in the outdoor luncheon meeting to discuss Matthew Pearl's "The Taking of Jemima Boone", impressions of the book's reception were recounted and hopefully, faithfully reported here:

*Book was well-liked although there was difficulty keeping track of all the characters.

*Surprising that Daniel Boone did not mind that Jemima was probably not his biological daughter.

*Agreed that Pearl gave a fair presentation of the Indians and showed how important family was to the tribes.

*Boone seemed like a good man in all his dealings. 

*Notable that this was going on during the Revolutionary War (the abduction taking place 10 days after the Declaration of Independence was signed).

 

 

 

The kidnapping of Jemima Boone, depicted by the Swiss painter Karl Bodmer, circa 1852

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/books/review/the-taking-of-jemima-boone-matthew-pearl.html

 

Engraving (1852) depicting Daniel Boone’s rescue of his kidnapped daughter and two of her friends in 1776.

Photo: Bridgeman Images

Our cast of characters

 

 

 

 

 Val's suggestions for an upcoming read:

"Already Enough; A Path to Self-Acceptance" Lisa Olivera

"French Braid" Anne Tyler

"On a Night of a Thousand Stars" Andrea Yaryura Clark *chosen

 

Up next:

Happy reading,

LK

February 2022 Bookclub News

Dear Bookclub,

Luncheon on the patio, Omicron not invited, made us smile and appreciate the power of in-person chat. Discussion of Qian Julie Wang's "Beautiful Country", on the agenda, quickly dissolved as everything under the 85 degree sun pressed upon us. Wang's account of her challenging childhood in Mei Guo revealed a world of sweat shops and under-the-radar life of the undocumented. Wondering how the leap from hours in the toilet transformed into a Yale educated civil rights lawyer, we sense a sequel. Not a favorite read as Wang's detailed descriptions fell outside the reality of a young child's ability to accurately recollect, we wondered about the disconnect. The story is powerful but oh, how I would have loved to edit and craft it into a more fluid telling, perhaps a novel based on Wang's life.

edition from the U.K.

https://www.offtherecorduk.com/review-beautiful-country-qian-julie-wang/

Please enjoy the above review from the U.K.'s "Off the Record" Imogen Marshall, who offers a different take on our distaste:

"She offers a mature adult perspective, whilst still living within her childhood perspective and innocence in some respects."

Marshall's review reminded me to put aside the irritant of the perspective-voice and appreciate the tenacity Wang displayed, teaching herself English while living in poverty, riddled with fear of being discovered as undocumented.

美国

Mei Guo, the Chinese reference to the United States,  translates into "beautiful country". Evidently, the official name seems more bewildering:  美利坚合众国 (meilijian hezhongguo), or “The United States of Beauty, Advantage and Endurance.” That's also our secret Olympic motto. Here is more than you can imagine on that history:

https://medium.com/@ttfcui/why-do-chinese-translate-america-as-the-beautiful-country-2cbabf2fef1a

 

Qian Julie Wang & Marc Gottlieb

 

An impressive August 31, 2019 New York Times article describes the then-upcoming marriage of Wang to Gottlieb and includes blurbs about her parents.... very interesting:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/31/fashion/weddings/she-said-yes-every-time-he-asked.html
 

Together, their law firm, Gottlieb and Wang LLP, advocates for education and disability rights:

https://www.gottliebfirm.com/about-1

Again, impressive and a testament to Qian Julie's convictions to help others who have suffered as she understands.

 

My suggestions for an upcoming read:

"Better to Have Gone ....Love, Death The Quest for Utopia in Auroville" Akash Apur *chosen

"Say Nothing" Patrick Radden Keefe

"The Habit of Hidden Genius" Craig Wright

 Up next:

Happy reading,

LK

January 2022 Bookclub News

 

 

We Flattened the Curve!!

 

Dear Bookclub,

The latest Covid case count, courtesy of the New York Times, January 15, 2022, explains the decision to meet, once again, à la Zoom. Discussion of Janice Nimura's "The  Doctors Blackwell" began Greek chorus-like, as we recited stories of our family's experiences with Covid and other illness in recent weeks. Deja vu: this too shall pass.

 

An illustration shows medical student Elizabeth Blackwell at Geneva Medical College (later Hobart College) in upstate NewYork,

Bettmann/Getty Images

 

 

 

 

Nimura's account gave an eye-opening understanding of the evolution of medicine evoking appreciation  for advances technically, socially and scientifically and planting hope for a continued trajectory in all aspects as we realize how much more can be achieved. As the previous sentence demonstrates: dry. Spoiled by zestier nonfiction books in our past year of reading, ("Empire of Pain", "Hidden Valley Road"), this nonfiction work didn't work for us. The content important and gratefully consumed, yet an absorbing, enthralling hook (or scalpel) should have been ordered.

Sisters, Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell, rejecting feminism, surprised, driven to forge their way into medicine in a male-only era. Finding this concept counter intuitive, Dave Davies of NPR's 'Fresh Air' interviews Janice Nimura and illuminates:

Today, both women are regarded as feminist trailblazers, but Nimura notes that they were also "complicated, prickly, sometimes self-contradictory people." Elizabeth, for instance, regarded the women of her day as trifling gossips and took a dim view of the women's suffrage movement.

"To me, that taught me that it's really important in this moment to kind of relearn how to admire women," Nimura says. "To understand that a heroine doesn't always have to be a Disney princess, but can be a woman with all sorts of rough edges and complications and that we can admire them profoundly anyway."

Please enjoy this 35 minute listen:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/01/19/958319302/doctors-blackwell-tells-the-story-of-2-pioneering-sisters-who-changed-medicine

Here's a zesty suggestion to heighten understanding of medicine's journey in the last century or so:

 

dated promo poster - please check your favorite platforms for viewing info

 

Trudy's suggestions for an upcoming selection:

"The Promise" Damon Galgut

"The Night Watchman" Louise Erdrich *chosen

"Apples Never Fall" Lianne Moriarty

 

 

Up next:

Happy reading,

LK