Well, in my opinion, it doesn't get much better than this past week in book club world. Lucky us, we had a great conversation with an actual author of an actual best seller and then got to read a beautifully crafted book, perfectly reflecting both its time and the universal search for one's place in the universe.
So let's start with The Henna Artist author, Alka Joshi, who is now the author of its sequel, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur. What a great conversation! Quibble away on the book as you will, it doesn't diminish a bit the fascinating story of how it came to be - a story of persistent, hard work, thick skin and an openness to input. Alka Joshi is obviously an accomplished and motivated person, with a great career in advertising, then moving on to writing a novel. Over a decade she wrote a draft, rewrote it, found an agent, amended, re-amended, got an editor, rewrote, rethought and finally said good enough. Most of us would have given up on year 2 or 3, but somehow she persisted and her book was published, when she was 62 years old. Makes me feel like I have definitely been wasting time and more important, intention.
After all this time, as the publication date came into view, so did Covid. One day before her publication celebrations, everyone went home and locked their doors. Ever resourceful, Joshi started reaching out online and the rest is history. A best seller, a sequel, a TV adaption, another book in the series, what a story! And that is not even within the pages of the book. Joshi was delightful, interesting, inspiring and also reminded us all that writing a novel is an imagination, not a history, no matter how realistic. Thank you, thank you!! For those marathoners among us, she has spoken to more than 750 book club groups, can you even imagine?
Those thanks extend in particular to Jean, who organized the entire event, thank you so very much Jean! With all you had going on, it was herculean to get this done. And Fiona helped so much in getting the technology organized, with her husband Bill's support. Lucky us! Someday we will have to read one of Bill's book's for the group, theoretical math is a challenge we need.
And so on we go to Small Things Like These, a book I love so much it is hard to talk about it. In a spare 146 pages, author Claire Keegan creates an entire culture, putting its everyday moral questions in focus. Her style is reminiscent of Marilyn Robinson in its ability to represent emotional complexity in spare, clear language. Moral dilemma is the norm here, but clarity of moral direction is not, it is the point. There are few novels I feel as strongly about as this one, it is a work of genius, in its technique and its message. Could we only have had another 100 pages, but alas, when the work is perfect, more does not help.
But there are more great books. I recently finished Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in 2018. Despite the off-putting title, this is a wonderful read, philosophical, polemic, entertaining. It is a book of choices, much like The Henna Artist, in a completely different environment, about the entire world we live in, questions for us all. Just great.
And now I am knee-deep in The Promise by Dalmon Galgut, which is the same topic, the choices we make, the commitments we recognize, but in a much different application. An amazing novel of the truths we admit among the excuses we make, it is beautifully written in a way that makes the message persist. I cannot imagine living in South Africa during its most difficult years but this novel helps image the issues.
And so, on we go. Our book for May is Palace of the Drowned, by Christine Mangan, a recommendation from Jean. And strap on your reading discipline, our June book is Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. Start now, it is long!
May's meeting is the 16th, at 6:30, place TBD. June is the 20th, again place TBD. Can't wait to see you all!
