The Ocean at the End of the Lane - we like it!

Hi all and special thanks  to Kathy Baker for hosting. We had a lovely beef bourguignon and party favors! It doesn't get much better than that, especially since all the other goodies were wonderful that everone brought along.

As vor the book, we had a really interesting discussion as most of us liked it. Mostly, it fell along the lines of people who liked this type of sci/fi fantasy work and those who did not. Those who did really liked how well the characters were drawn, particularly the youngest Hemstock, Letti. She seemed to some to have been created her age and size in order to be of help to the young narrator (never-named) in a form that would not have been scary or offputting like the older Hemstocks. Each of the characters was well done and their worries and dreams plausible enought to make the story hold together.

The character Ursula was quite interesting as she worked to give everyone what they wanted and in the process gained total control of all around her. The way the author moved so seamlessly from the fanatasy to the real world was really well executed. So many times I had to go back to find where the story began to diverge  - suddenly I just found myself somewhere else!

Those who did not like the book felt it was a bit contrived. Mary mentioned that she is not a fan of this type of fiction as it just makes up its own rules. In that way the writer can manipulate the story however he or she wants. Perhaps to some that is the very reason to read fantasy, to get away from the  limitations of gravity and societal norms among other things.

All in all, it was a good read for most and mercifully short for some. Our next book is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. We will be at Maggie's on April 7. Does that work for everyone?

Our May book is Tale of Two Cities at Wendy's, at least that is what is in my motes, let me know if I got that wrong.

Thanks everyone!

We couldn't have laughed harder, and the book was good too.

Ok, let's start with the basics - Life After Life was great, the writing excellent, a few odd plot points but overall a compelling story and interesting read. We liked it very much and Kate Atkinson is certainly someone many of us will seek out for our next reads. In this case, enough said, not because the book wasn't worth more discussion, because it certainly was. While we definitely missed Val and her book club questions, we just had too much else to talk about this particular evening. 

It turns out, talking about the book was just the warmup act. Or, the second warmup act as our incredible hostess Lynn has such wonderful art all over the house that many of us were wandering around looking at it. Absolutely stunning and Lynn if you are thinking of shaking up your decor, ask Lynn for help, she has got the touch!

Somehow, we ended up talking about many, many other things that made us laugh like crazy. While the topics were relatively wide ranging, they seemed to center on hair removal. There were some personal stories of attempts gone wrong (I am not revealing from who) which were hilarious. Note to self, do not request a bikini wax in a country where you don't speak the language, it doesn't end well.  

There was also some discussion of trends for men that still make me blush. Ashley and Fiona know a lot more about this than I would have ever thought, you will have to ask them how they get all their information because it was complete news to me! 

What a fun, funny night, thanks again to Lynn for hosting and showing us all her amazing art! Thanks to everyone who brought great food and wine, it was a wonderful evening. 

Our next meeting is March 10 at Kathy Baker's and our book is The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. This is a short book and a relative quick read, let me know if you want to borrow my copy. For those of you planning ahead, our April book is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, her first book in a very long time, and we will be at Maggie's new house! 

See you all in March! 

Fannie Flagg was a really fun read!

Beryl called me yesterday, wondering where the blog was - had she missed it? No, for whatever reason, I have been very slow in getting it up! Maybe it was because most of us enjoyed reading the book, but there really wasn't that much to discuss, fun as it was.  There were some who saw themselves (and their mothers) in the characters, I am still not sure whether that was a good thing.

Kathy Baker reviewed this book and ended up in Real Simple magazine - she brought along her review, what fun to see it. You go, Kathy!

We still had a fabulous time at Fiona's, who is always such a generous and gracious hostess. The highlight was a tour of her recent art work, always interesting and oh so impressive. Fiona is working toward a joint show in the fall with our friend Rob Walz, let's start planning now for what I know will be a highlight show.

So, on to next month, which will be at Lynn's house on Feb. 10 at 6:30 pm. The book is Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson. This is a bit of a change from choices we had discussed earlier, but this one has far more discussion possibilities than some others we had selected.

Other we talked about that came off the list included Roar of the Heavens, which is about Hurricane Camille and The Funeral Dress, by Susan Gregg Gilmore. I had dinner with her and Ellen Brown (of The Making of Gone With The Wind) when Susan was in town for a reading at the Fountain, she was lovely!

As usual, great to see you all, I am looking forward to our next great read.

Happy Holidays to all, what a fun book swap we had!

As usual, our get-together was filled with fun and laughs, with a great group of well-read people who brought a favorite to put under the tree. Unlike last year when books were swapping all over the place, this year everyone seemed to love the one they got first, with a couple exceptions that moved around.

Here are a few of the books that were brought and swapped:

- Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson. Val brought this because she said she laughed so hard reading it that someone rows down on her plane walked up to ask what she was reading!
- Master and Margarita - Mikail Bulgakov. I brought this one, it is the one book every Russian has read and it is amazing.
- Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Lynn brought this, she loved the way the writer connected with nature among other things.
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Julie brought this one, not realizing that last year we were all fighting over a copy that Carole had brought. Luckily, there was a second chance this year.
- Getting in Touch With Your Inner Bitch by Elizabeth Hilts - Mary brought this one, and Fiona says she is having a great time practicing saying "I don't think so…" for all occasions.
- House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Carole brought this one, ask her for the back story on why.
- The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg. This one is the winner for most swapped, so it is our January book. Kathy brought the book and also wrote a review of it for Real Simple magazine!
- The World Is Round by Gertrude Stein. Maggie said this book, written for children, is a great way to get an introduction to Gertrude Stein, so much easier than her books for grownups.
- Questions About Angels poetry by Billy Collins. Fiona said she loves his work (so do I), this changed hands at least once.
- Things Fall Apart by Chiana Achebe. Catherine brought this one, a story about a clash of cultures and a clash of the individual and a society. Sounds great!
- Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Jean brought this book and it had a ton of positive response from everyone who had already read it, which was just about everyone but me.  I ended up with it, yeah!
- Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. Ashley brought this one, a story of British rural life in the 30's.
- Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut. Sally recovered the boards with a beautiful dark rose silk moire, it was really a lovely edition!

Next meeting is Jan. 13 at 6:30 at Fiona's. Our book is the Fannie Flagg book, The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion. And that is it! Here are some pictures, courtesy of Fiona.

Thank you Clint McCown, Dawn and Ashley

Ashley's beautiful (and central) home could not have been a better spot for us to meet with the author of our most recent book, Clint McCown, otherwise known as Dawn's husband. As usual, the food, wine and company was great, and Ashley's dogs were a fun addition!

Our star of the evening however, was our author who was gracious enough to spend the evening with us talking about the book and his literary process. Thank you so much Clint! This novel, with its separate stories of tightly interconnected characters really seemed to catch and hold our attention.

Clint's discussion of his process and how he evolved from being a "gusher" as a writer into one that carefully crafts each sentence as he goes along was really interesting. His work started by just writing and writing, putting down whatever he wanted and creating pages and pages of work a day. He credits a conversation with Reynolds Price for his current approach as he realized that his old method meant he had to throw out a lot of work, and it was a lot of work to figure out which part to toss.

So after hearing Reynolds Price say that on a good day he could do a couple hundred words, Clint changed his approach and began carefully writing against whatever framework he determined for the work at hand. With Haints,  his framework was the idea that your past never really leaves you and still is a ghost in your relationships and your life today.

He also said, which surprised me, that he had no idea where the story was going as he was writing - that he just began with the idea he wanted to convey and let the story go where it may. As a result, the character he thought would dominate the book came to be just the beginning and the end of the view of this gothic little town going through a difficult situation.

Instead, he gave each related character its own turn to tell his or her story and in doing so, woke the reader up to their shared history and circumstances. The town and the people themselves were really vibrant and well crafted - it was pretty easy to imagine you had these people somewhere in your own life.

While poignant and more than a little sad, this book was also quite funny. The idea of having the funeral parlor shift over to the hardware store was quite an image. While some who grew up in little towns thought that was completely normal, it did make me laugh to think of the body in the window. (No disrespect meant to the man who died.)

Also funny were some of the situations - the convict who escaped prison while another convict was supposed to be watching him, the burial of the wooden leg and the (short-term) relief it gave Herb's old girlfriend, the doctor's wife, Herb's response to the boy who tells he is supposed to be dead. These funny things just snuck up on me in the story and kept the overall tone from becoming maudlin.

All in all, a very educational and fun evening, thanks again Dawn for organizing and Clint for coming!

Our next meeting is at my house on Dec. 9. It is our second annual book swap, so no reading required for this meeting. The plan is to bring a gift-wrapped book that you think people should read, along with a note explaining why you selected the book. Don't sign your name! We will have a Yankee Swap and the most swapped book will be our reading choice for Jan or Feb, depending on what we decide.

See you all there, let me know what you may be able to bring along!

The Wife - two people who needed each other

Thanks so much to Carole for hosting in her beautiful home! Thanks as well to everyone who brought things along, I think the all appetizer all the time is working well for us. Weigh in if you don't think so!

Well, once again we have found characters that no one really could like, and in the case of Joe Castleman, pretty easy to dislike. At the same time, these characters, and this particular situation was pretty easy to understand and so Joan, the wife, got some considerable empathy despite some of us wanting to slap her into taking responsibility for herself.

The tension of The Wife is one of an extremely talented woman with little ambition and confidence married to a charismatic, highly ambitious man with no talent. Of course they are two sides of one coin, a perfect partnership to produce literary success, at long as no one regrets their role.

Did we discuss the Joan/Joe selection of names? Could this be any more transparent? At least some of us caught on fairly quickly to this sad story of a man of limited talents using his highly talented wife to create and sustain his life, with her full cooperation. Of course, at some point, after years of standing on the sidelines despite deserving the attention, the wife decides to bail. Not to mention the bad behavior of a husband who is both appreciative and entitled. Yuck.

Many of us felt this story resonated with the stories of their mothers, or others who had chosen to be the support of the man in her life rather than compete on her own. And of course there are a lot of women who wanted to have their own life and accomplishments and never were able to find a way. For all of those women, this story rang true and the mix of bitterness and complacency of the main character was the flavor of their lives.

Our general consensus was that Meg Worlitzer is really readable and we liked the book overall. Yes, it was predictable, yes there was no compelling character, but at the same time it was very well written and certainly kept our attention and interest. And it was short enough for the story it had to tell, unlike some other novels that just go on way too long.

Of course, we had our usual round of fun and chatter complete with lots of laughs. What a fun group we have and how lucky we are to have been born when we were, able to have the lives we want, the careers we want and at least in my case, a husband who does not expect to be the headline. I for one, am a very lucky girl.

Our next book is Haints, by Clint McCown. Dawn says Clint is coming to our meeting, so read up! The date is Nov. 18 and we will be at Ashley's. Please let her know if you will be coming and what you can bring.

Our December meeting will be at my house on Dec. 9. This will be our Yankee Book Swap and Christmas party, so start thinking about what book you want others to read and why. The rules are"
1) Bring a book you think others should read, gift wrapped.
2) Include a note on why you selected this book - do not give your name!
3) We will conduct a usual "Yankee Swap" format - choose numbers, pick gifts in order, swap out as you want when your number comes up, # 1 goes again at the end.
4) The most swapped book will be nominated for our read in February
5) After the swap is concluded, we can reveal who brought what!
6) We eat and drink and have much fun along the way.

Does this not sound like the best possible way to spend a Monday?

See you on Nov. 18!

The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope - a consistent conclusion

First, a big thanks to Julie Joyce for hosting us in her absolutely lovely home, well sheltered from the Cary St. traffic and so welcoming. Thank you so much for having us and for the absolutely yummy shrimp cups - would you share the recipe?

Of course there was a lot of other fantastic food, so much that it took us a bit to get to the book. When we did however, our opinion was very consistent. The premise had a lot of promise and interesting characters but the plot failed to take advantage of its opportunities and devolved into a repetitive pattern that brought no higher insight or purpose to the story. There was so much imagination and invention, but in the end, there was too much to make a cohesive and compelling story.

In fact, Val went so far as to say she had never hated a book more that she finished reading and that seemed to summarize the overall response. There was enough in the premise to keep people reading, but not enough to convince them it was worth the time.

There were a number of gaps that made it difficult to find a framework to explain the story. For example, why could Adam conform to look like Evelyn, then Adam and then freeze into Adam for all time? What brought him/her there to start with and why was that no part of the story? What was the meaning behind choosing Adam and Evelyn as the names, really is this biblical?

The worst fault to me was that the story went nowhere. Much like The Time Traveler's Wife, it was a repetition of the same events over and over, with no progression in the development of the plot and character, just another episode. This doesn't draw a story to a clear conclusion, it only keeps you reading in hope of one.

And, in this case, the end was telegraphed fairly clearly, so it was in fact wholly predictable. Too bad. Maybe next time this author will do a better job of editing her content, much like Virginia Pye explained she had done with her River of Dust, and come up with a winner. She clearly has the imagination, now she just needs the implementation.

Our next book is The Wife by Meg Worlitzer and we will be at Carol's. Thank you so much for agreeing to host! The date is October 14 (Columbus Day) so mark your calendars.

The book after that is Haints by Clint McCown, who is Dawn's husband. Clint has agreed to meet with us, should be a ton of fun! The date is November 18 and we will be at Ashley's. Thank you!

Our December meeting will be a redo of our very fun Holiday Party Book Exchange. I will host, and each of us will bring a book we want to share with someone else, wrapped with a note as to why you chose that book, but without your name. We will then have a Yankee swap with the books and the book that gets swapped the most will be our February selection. At some point we will let people know who brought what book.

Ok, feel free to weigh in with your thoughts, see you all at Carol's on Oct. 14!

A great read - "Unaccustomed Earth" and an update on the Rabies girl

Well, I couldn't stop myself from telling you all about the wonderful book I just finished, a collection of stories by Jhumpa Lahiri called Unaccustomed Earth. You may remember this accomplished author from her most recent book, also stories, Interpreter of Maladies. 

This lovely book has eight unrelated tales of people who are both bound by family structure and its complicated relationships and also alienated, each in his or her own way. Each story has its own memorable (if sometimes bewildering) characters and its own way of describing the process of coming together or falling apart or sometimes both. The families stretch to a community, usually of exiles, who stand in for far-off parents or grandparents, a refuge in a new world.

The writing is just beautiful, so careful, so descriptive. It took very little for me to get involved with these characters and want to follow each story to the end, which I did pretty quickly. This one is a keeper, I have no idea why it sat so long on my "to-read" shelf. Luckily, it won out over The Horse, the Wheel and Language, on my recent trip to Cincinnati as I loved it.

Now, for the update on the rabies girl, which I forgot to include in my last post. Those who were able to get to Jean's parent's LOVELY home (thanks again) may remember that RadioLab had a recent episode on a girl in Wisconsin who contracted rabies which unfortunately was not diagnosed until way too late.

Rabies is considered the most fatal disease; its mortality rate is 100%. This poor girl, only 15 or 16 years old developed odd symptoms that progressed very quickly from a tingling in her arm to double vision to almost comatose within weeks.

After exhausting all possibilities, her mother finally remembered she had been bitten by a bat. They hadn't thought much of it but obviously the bat was rabid. Doctors told her to take her daughter home to die.

Except for one doctor, an infectious disease specialist in Milwaukee, who took on the case and in doing so, reviewed 20 years of case studies on rabies. In one, he found an amazing ray of hope - this study determined that  rabies does not so much destroy the brain, as usually thought, but disrupts it. Sadly, it disrupts the base functions of the brain long enough to kill the patient. Autopsies showed not only an undamaged brain, but no rabies in the tissue around the brain.

So this doctor put the girl in a coma and had machines perform the functions the brain should, like breathing and ingesting water. AND she lived! And recovered, at least almost all of her functions. Of course, no one on record had recovered from rabies, so this treatment became known as the "Milwaukee Protocol" and has to date been used on 30 patients.

The good news is that 6 patients recovered, out of the 30, a big step up from everyone dying. The most interesting thing is that further study has found that the patients who recovered had enough antibody in their systems that they likely would have recovered anyway. So now doctors think rabies is 100% fatal...until it's not.

Here is the link to the RadioLab story. If you haven't listened before, give it a try, it is endlessly fascinating. http://www.radiolab.org/popup_player/# Rodney versus death.

Not necessarily proof but certainly a compelling experience

What an interesting and personal discussion we had this evening, all about Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander. Thanks to Jean for hosting in her parent's absolutely beautiful home, weren't we lucky she and Julie were able to negotiate a swap so that we can see them both these two months! Also thanks to everyone who contributed to a beautiful array of delicious food. Susan brought bags full of fresh yummy stuff like figs and Lynn had amazing fig treats. I need a fig tree!

Among us, many had met Dr. Alexander, a neurosurgeon from Lynchburg, or had heard him speak at one of his several Richmond appearances. Beryl and I had talked with him, me at some length during the Book and Author luncheon this past May. He is personally engaging, articulate and obviously convinced of his experiences. Catherine, Jean and Lynn all saw him at Reveille Church and came away with different opinions - Lynn skeptical, Jean and Catherine all in.

And that was in fact the way the group fell out on the book - with slightly more skeptics than believers but we all agreed that Dr. Alexander had this experience and is not fabricating a story, he is convinced this has happened to him. Kathy added in her sister's experiences from her many years as a hospice nurse which validated much of what he went through. At the same time, those universal types of experiences did not, to some of us, prove that heaven does exist, rather it was proof that we as humans travel the same pathways of human interaction and love, reaching for those we have loved, who made us feel secure,  as we experience the last surges of life.

There were many personal stories of deaths and near-deaths in our families that corresponded with the outlines of Dr. Alexander's story. The one consistent thread was the connection, often a physical one, with loved ones and how that made the difference. In Dr. Alexander's case, his family members made the decision to stay with him all day and night, holding his hand, speaking to him, encouraging him to come back. He talked about being pulled back, by those who still needed him, only to find out that his younger son was talking to him, asking him to come back during the last stages of his coma.

Dr. Alexander's experience in heaven gave him endless confidence that he was loved, that he didn't need to worry, that  all around him were there for him.His family had been with him during his coma all day and night every day, which could have created that feeling for him.  Catherine shared an incredible experience that she had with her younger son who was very ill at age 2 1/2. In her case, she climbed into his crib in the hospital, after days of a coma, hugged him and told him it was not his time to go... and he opened his eyes and said "hi, momma". The incredible power of love from those around us are indeed what we felt cause us to come back from the brink, or allow us to pass on with peace.

So do we believe him or not? The conclusion seemed to be that the afterlife is not a function of religion or ritual but instead a great connectedness in some way that creates a greater good, a larger purpose and a reason to exist or to expire. We didn't believe him, but we didn't discount him either. What a great night, thank you all!

On to more prosaic subjects, our next meeting is at Julie's on September 16 at 6:30 pm.  Our book is The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope, another Book and Author find. Please let Julie know what you will bring along, let's hope it is warm enough for us to hang at her pool.

October's book is The Wife, by Meg Worlitzer, place to be determined. November is Haints by Clint McCown, is this author related to our own Dawn? If so, could she use her influence to get him to talk to us? I hope so!!

Thank you all for allowing me to be part of such a wonderful, thoughtful and intelligent group of readers. All the best to Sally Eddows, who is recovering from a mild concussion, we want to see you back next month!

Whoops! September and October books, a correction

Hi all, Ashley pointed out a mistake in the last post - we are reading The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope for September and The Wife for October. Sorry about any confusion!

August is still Proof of Heaven, some things stay the same. Thanks Ashley!