The Goldfinch really kept our attention

Thanks everyone for a great discussion. It is not every book that can keep us talking about it for almost the whole evening when we have oh so much to discuss about everything else in the world. For a book of this length, it was very easy to read. Our consensus was that the story, as implausible as some found it, really held our attention and kept moving.

So what kept it moving along? The characters were really well drawn and compelling. Each of us had one that particularly stood out but in general each person in the book was a complete personality. Wendy particularly liked Boris, others mentioned Hobie. The characters were good enough so we spent time talking about their characteristics and nuances. Was Theo really evil? Was Boris? What about the family Theo lived with - were they cold and unfeeling or caring in their own way?

How Theo ended up with the title painting and why he kept it was at best a jump-ball to get the story going. Mary wondered if the bomb blast in the museum was glossed over because we have become inured to public violent acts. Others thought it was just not the point of the story and so the aftermath was not central. And, given this book was already 770 pages meant there wasn't a lot of extra space!

One thing that we noted was just how much there was to know about in order to write this book - no wonder it took ten years. The art, the artists, and the stolen art world were enough of a challenge. Add to that the antiques trade (buyer beware indeed!), the sad world of teenage dissolution and parental self-destruction, criminal activity and up to date Amsterdam scene and her research load must have been unbelievable. The great accomplishment here is that it all rang true even when the story itself did not.

All in all, we liked this book! Thanks to Maggie for her wonderful hospitality in her lovely home! Thanks to everyone who brought yummy food and fab wine, particular kudos to Val for the wonderful cupcake lasagna. And congrats to Fiona for being included in this year's collection of best Math papers. Yes, you read that right, Fiona is a published math scholar, not that is a surprise to those of us who know her!

Our next book is Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, on May 12 at Wendy's. If the weather is good, we may go to the Deep Run Hunt Club for a picnic by the pool. Can you believe it is almost May??? I know we agreed on the June book, can someone remind me what it was? Thanks, see you on the 12th.

P.S. Still no baby. Foal watch at 3am at 30 degrees is definitely over-rated.

Jordan Curves, and much more...

It was great seeing you all at Maggie's beautiful home tonight! Several of you kindly asked for information about the book that includes the article that Bill and I co-wrote and illustrated.

The book is titled The Best Writing on Mathematics 2013, edited by Mircea Pitici. New and used copies are available on Amazon- just click on the title and it'll take you to the book page.

And here's some information about Paul Erdös (pronounced something like  "er dish", and the "o" should have 2 accents, not dots, but that's as close as I can get with this non-Hungarian keyboard!). He was a very interesting man.
Wikipedia
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers (NYT review of his biography, has good anecdotes.)
The Erdös Number Project (Maybe you have one too!)

Illustration by LeUyen Pham, from The Boy Who Loved Math, by Deborah Heiligman