New York Times Notable Books for 2010

The New York Times today online published its list of Notable Books for 2010.  The list includes new novels by authors we've read, including Per Petterson, Andrea Levy, and Louise Erdrich.

Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson - Jan. 3 - UPDATED with materials

We'll meet at Connie's house.

Supplemental materials:

• ReadingGroupGuide.com
• Nortana Reader's Guide
• Interview - Boston Globe
• Interview - Star Tribune
• Interview - The Guardian
• Review - NYTimes
• Review - NPR
• Review - The Guardian 
• Discussion - The Quarterly Conversation (Per Petterson and the Masculine Question)

My Antonia, Willa Cather

We'll discuss My Antonia on November 22, 2010.  Host TBD.

Supplemental Materials:

• Full text of My Antonia can be read or downloaded from Google books in pdf format or from Project Gutenberg in a variety of file types (since its copyright is expired and it's in the public domain)
• Reading Group Guide
• Houghton Mifflin's Reader's Guide
• Teacher Vision Reading Guide
• Penguin Group Reading Guide
• Yale-New Haven's Teacher's Institute paper including Questions
• Novel Explorer's Summary (including discussions of themes, historical perspective, construction)
• Wikipedia entry for My Antonia
• Wikipedia entry for Willa Cather
• PBS/American Masters bio materials about Willa Cather
• Willa Cather Foundation on Facebook
• Steph's blog post

Dracula on Kerri Miller

Here's the Midmorning show from 10/26/10 wherein Kerri Miller interviews Leslie Klinger, editor of "The New Annotated Dracula."

Slate for 2010-2011

Nov. 22: My Antonia, Willa Cather
Jan. 3: Out Stealing Horses, Per Paterson
Jan. 31: Madame Bovary, Flaubert
Feb 28: Little Bee, Chris Cleeve
Mar 28: A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
Apr 25: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
May 23: The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky
June 27: Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
July 25: The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Aug 22: The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
Sept 26: I'm Not Scared, Niccolo Ammaniti

Here's how the pitching and voting went:

Classic
Madame Bovary - Julie, Katherine and Suzanne - so many votes we didn't count

General (First number is first ballot/Second number is run-off vote):
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Kathy (53)
Little Bee - Kerry (42)
Brothers Karamazov - Steph (36)
Alias Grace - Steph (34)
Out Stealing Horses - Kerry (33)
My Antonia - Gayle (26)
I'm Not Scared - Kathy (24)
Pillars of the Earth - Steph (22/31)
Cutting for Stone - Suzanne (21/15)
Zertoun - Julie (20/27)
Hunger Games - Connie (19/37)
The Dog Says How - Suzanne (16/17)
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Gayle (13/29)
Pass the Polenta - Suzanne (12/13)
The Farming of Bones - Gayle (10/23)
Founding Mothers - Gayle (8/5)
Kitchen Confidential - Katherine (7/4)
The Glass Castle - Ruth (4/?)
One Good Turn - Ruth (0/?)

Book Picking Night: Oct. 25 at Kerry's at 6:00

Start time will be 6:00 for BOOK-PICKING NIGHT, OCT. 25, 2010



We decided a few things tonight:

1) We'll start book-picking night at 6:00.  We are committed to arriving on time and getting right to the business of pitching so that we have plenty of time to pitch and select books. It's important to people to enjoy the pitching/deciding, so we won't rush through that.  If people need to leave before we're done, we won't bring a rushed conclusion to the voting.

2.) We'll have one slot designated for a classic.  No other slots will be designated this year.  Books pitched, but not selected, for the classics slot can be submitted for the general vote.

3.)  We'll keep the voting method the same.  Typically one person can get a book selected by applying all their pennies to a single book, so each person has the power to make sure we select a book of their choice.

4.) Going forward for the season, we'll be committed to arriving on time (6:30) and getting the book discussion started by 6:45 at the latest.

5.) As always:  if you send me the long lists of what you're considering pitching, I'll post info here, so people can investigate your books prior to book-picking night, if they are so inclined.

Olive Kitteridge, Sept. 27

We'll discuss Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout, on Sept. 27 at Steph's.

Supplemental materials

• Strout's website
• NYTimes Review
• Boston Globe Review
• Reading Group Guide
• Christian Science Monitor Article about Strout winning the 2009 Pulitzer for Olive Kitteridge
• LibraryThing entry
• Steph's blog post

Business: October is Book-Picking Month

October is BOOK-PICKING Month!  Be thinking about changes you'd like to see in our picking process.  I'd propose that we bandy about thoughts and ideas at the Aug meeting; then, at the Sept meeting, crystallize those into votable issues to make decisions.


P.S. 8/15:  I think we need an annual photo.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon: August 23

We'll meet at Ruth's house.

Supplemental materials:

• Chabon interviewed by Kerri Miller for Talking Volumes (2007) about YPU
• Harper Collins Reading Group Guide
• NYTimes review of YPU
• Bio of Chabon from his agency, including links to all kinds of fabulous stuff, including articles and essays Chabon has written and interviews he's given.   
• Wikipedia entry for Chabon, including this paragraph that I thought was interesting (emphasis added and footnotes omitted):

In a 2002 essay, Chabon decried the state of modern short fiction (including his own), saying that, with rare exceptions, it consisted solely of "the contemporary, quotidian, plotless, moment-of-truth revelatory story." In an apparent reaction against these "plotless [stories] sparkling with epiphanic dew", Chabon's post-2000 work has been marked by an increased interest in genre fiction and plot. While The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay was, like The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys, an essentially realistic, contemporary novel (whose plot happened to revolve around comic-book superheroes), Chabon's subsequent works — such as The Final Solution, his dabbling with comic-book writing, and the "swashbuckling adventure" of Gentlemen of the Road — have been almost exclusively devoted to mixing aspects of genre and literary fiction. Perhaps the most notable example of this is The Yiddish Policemen's Union, which won five genre awards, including the Hugo award and Nebula award. Chabon seeks to "annihilate" not the genres themselves, but the bias against certain genres of fiction such as fantasy, science fiction and romance.

• Definition of "noir":  2. Of or relating to a genre of crime literature featuring tough, cynical characters and bleak settings.
• Steph's blog post

An American Childhood, Annie Dillard: July 26

Our next book is An American Childhood by Annie Dillard.  We'll meet July 26 at TBD Gayle's.

Supplemental Materials

• LitLovers Readers' Guide
• Story Circle Network (Austin Chapter) Readers' Guide
• Annie Dillard's website
• Wikipedia entry for Annie Dillard
• Interview with Annie Dillard, Yale Herald,  Oct. 4, 1996
• In Conversation with Annie Dillard, Washington Post, June 24, 2007
• Article, The Ecotheology of Annie Dillard: A Study in Ambivalence, Pamela A. Smith (Note:  Annie Dillard says she's not an "eco-" anything
• Article, Annie Dillard's Story, Questioning Faith.com, Taken from Ruth A. Tucker's Walking Away From Faith
• Steph's blog post

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski: June 28

We'll meet at Julie's on June 28.

Supplemental Materials

• David Wroblewski's website
• Wroblewski's Discussion Questions
• One Minute Book Reviews Reading Group Guide. Includes a list of character parallels with Hamlet:

Edgar Sawtelle: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Trudy Sawtelle: Gertrude, Queen of Denmark and Hamlet's mother

Claude Sawtelle: Claudius, King of Denmark and Hamlet's paternal uncle

Gar Sawtelle: the late King Hamlet of Denmark and Hamlet's father

Doc Papineau: Polonius, Lord Chamberlain

Glen Papineau: Laertes, son of Polonius

Almondine: Ophelia, daughter of Polonius

Tinder and Baboo: I think they're wrong about this parallel, but they list courtiers Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern (who were spies for Claudius)

Forte: Fortinbras

Essay: Horatio

• New York Times review
• Chicago Tribune review
• Today Show interview with Wroblewski
• Hamlet - full text
• Discussion forum on the meaning of Forte (the stray)
• Steph's blog post

Updated 6/22/10 to add Chicago Tribune review and Today Show interview.
Updated 6/23/10 to add Wikipedia links for Hamlet characters and forum discussion on Forte.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid

• NPR Interview with Mohsin Hamid
• Harcourt Books Reading Guide

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See

• Reading Group Guide
• Loaded Shelf interview with Lisa See
• Photos of woman with feet that were bound

Small Island, Andrea Levy

• Reading Group Guide (spoiler alert)
• Small Island Read 2007 - Info about Britain's mass-reading project involving Small Island, with links to info about the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Migration, Andrea Levy and other related topics
• Guardian Unlimited Review 

A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller

We'll meet at Julie's house to discuss A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller.

• The Librarium blog - discussion questions and quotes/passages of interest
• Harper Collins Reading Guide
• Study Guide - Paul Brians, Dept of English, Washington State University; chapter by chapter highlights and questions
• Catholic Book Discussion Group Guide  - list of questions
• Wikipedia entry - has some discussion of themes and literary significance
• Biographical info on Miller

The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell

Supplemental materials:

• Reading Group Guide
• Wikipedia entry
• Mary Doria Russell's site
• Interview with M.D. Russell
• Another interview with M.D. Russell
• Review suggesting lack of originality (perhaps plagiarism)

The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama

Info about The Audacity of Hope or Barack Obama:

• Website for presidential campaign
• Website for Senate
• Obama's MySpace page
• Washington Post Votes Database - see his voting record
• YouTube videos of Obama

Fidelity and Wendell Berry

Info about Fidelity and/or Wendell Berry:

• Catholic Education Resource Center -  interview with Wendell Berry
• Oodles of info and links re Wendell Berry

Wicked, Gregory Maguire

Reading group guides for Wicked and other materials:

• Greg Maguire's site with Reading Guide
• Lambda Sci-Fi Reading Guide
  
• Powell's interview with Maguire
• NPR interview with Maguire
• Info on L. Frank Baum's Oz books
• Info on L. Frank Baum
• Info on Baum's Land of Oz