October 31, 2014

Bruce Springsteen's Taste in Books

This has nothing to do with our book club.  This is a NYTimes story about what Bruce Springsteen likes to read.  He's got fabulous taste, so I'm putting the books/authors I haven't already read on my "to-read" list.  How mind-blowing is this:  Flannery O'Connor is a prime influence on his music-writing.
These authors [Flannery O’Connor; James M. Cain; John Cheever; Sherwood Anderson; and Jim Thompson] contributed greatly to the turn my music took around 1978-82. They brought out a sense of geography and the dark strain in my writing, broadened my horizons about what might be accomplished with a pop song and are still the cornerstone literally for what I try to accomplish today.

October 27, 2014

Our slate for 2014-2015

Nov. 24 at Karen's:  Still Alice, Lisa Genova (also a movie starring Julianne Moore) - Katherine - 24

January 5:   We are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler - Suzanne - 32

January 26:   Ru, Kim Thuy - Kerry - 23

February 23The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman - Kerry - 23

March 23:  The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien - Connie - 49

April 27Half-Blood Blues, Esi Edugyan - Suzanne - 19/34

June 1:  Lord of the Flies, William Golding - Kathy - 23 (classics round)

June 29Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson - Katherine - 43

July 27Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel - Steph - 25

August 24:  Stoner, John Williams - Steph - 32

September 28:  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith - Ruth - 22 (classics round)/26

October 26:  BOOK PICKING NIGHT!!!!!

Also pitched:

Classics
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque - Julie - 20/4
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou - Susan - 7/3
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner - Steph - 15/9
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marques - Julie - 13/5

Runoff
The Tiger's Wife, Tea Obreht - Julie - 19/17
Voodoo Dreams, Jewel Parker Rhodes - Ruth - 17/14
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, Tom Franklin - Karen - 14/13
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson - Susan - 11/21

Others 
Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson - pitched and simultaneously disavowed by Kathy - 2
The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd - Susan - 3
The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh - Connie - 4
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, Stephen Greenblatt - Suzanne - 7

Mentioned, not pitched
The Partisan's Daughter, Louis de Bernieres - Kerry
Doc, Mary Doria Russell - Kerry

Decisions for how we'll operate for the coming year
  • We'll start talking about the book at 6:50. Karen will be our primary clock-watcher.
  • Ghost-leaving is completely acceptable behavior.
  • We'll all aspire to come to meetings with a question or a quote or some other contribution for the discussion each time.
  • If you cannot make it, please RSVP to the host

October 12, 2014

BOOK-PICKING NIGHT is Oct. 27

We'll meet at Kerry's on Oct. 27 to pick books!  See what people are thinking about pitching in the post below.