The Last Picture Show

Book: The Last Picture Show, by Larry McMurtry
Date: December 18, 2006
Location: The Border Cafe (more on that below)
Who was there: everyone but Anne (she had to work)
Who finished the book: EVERYONE!

What people thought: It seems that everyone enjoyed the book, although we were somewhat scandalized by the, um, farm animal scene. No one believed that these things actually happen in real life, but since McMurtry grew up in rural Texas and based this book on his hometown, perhaps we should give him the benefit of the doubt. We were amused by McMurtry's matter-of-fact tone when he described this scene (and I think others). Donna did not like McMurtry's depiction of women, specifically Jacy, who she did not find believeable. However, we did like how the characters of Lois and Genevieve were written. We wished we could have found out more about Genevieve's husband and home life.

Lessons learned:

1. Everyone read the book, which makes me think I should assign more "classic trash." I think that's going to be my misson from now on. Although I don't think this book truly qualifies as "trash."

2. Do not lie to the host at the Border Cafe. They will threaten to make you move if your whole party is not in attendance. Fortunatly, the parking gods were kind to Manda so we didn't have to move and were able to eat the very tempting chips.

3. I should not have a margarita if I am going to try to post complete and/or accurate minutes later.

-Paula

Top 5 of 2006

Greetings from Iowa!

My reading list for 2006 was quite feeble. So here's my top 5 reads:

1. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - Loved this book! She does something I'm not courageous enough to do - travel solo to Italy, India and Indonesia.

2. A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon- A great tale of family from the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

3. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion - I recommend this as an alternative to the many self-help books on grief.

4. Three Junes by Julia Glass - I enjoyed how this story moved between 3 different places and time.

5. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson - Technically I haven't finished this, but so far I think it's great - and she's never disappointed me before.

Wishing you plenty of time to read in 2007.

cheers,
Jen

P.S. I forgot to include The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. It speaks as much to current events as it does to history.

Next Pick -- Midaq Alley

Hi Everyone,

My pick for next month is Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz.

http://www.amazon.com/Midaq-Alley-Naguib-Mahfouz/dp/0385264763/sr=8-4/qid=1166481875/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/105-2289611-7111624?ie=UTF8&s=books

Happy reading!

Anne

Top 10 2006/ Rachel's List

I won't list my top 100 books for 2006 like the New York Times (as if I really read 100 books this year) but here are my top ten:

Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
Any Human Heart, William Boyd
Three Junes, Julia Glass
Flesh and Blood, Michael Cunningham
My Life as a Fake, Peter Carey
Acts of Faith, Philip Caputo
Never Let me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
The Great Fire, Shirley Hazzard
Drop City, T.C. Boyle

-Rachel

Which books were your favorite this year?

Better Late than Never Minutes: March by Geraldine Brooks

I think this qualifies as the latest minutes ever posted for bookgroup, but better late than never...

Book: March by Geraldine Brooks
Date: November 2, 2006
Location: Zaftig's in Brookline
Who was there: Wendy, Anne, Beth, Paula, Donna, Manda, Rachel
Who was not there: Cynthia (alas)
Who finished the book: Just kidding, we don't record that!

General group overtone/opinion of the book: No one really loved the book because of the writing but the story helped carry the book along so that it readable. Some of us recoiled at the description of Mrs. March's temperament and efforts to control her anger but Paula was astute enough to point out the connection to Jo's temperament and the writing style of the era that Geraldine Brooks emulated.

Some of us enjoyed the second half more with the quickened storyline pace, and some of us preferred the first half and the descriptions of Concord. We agreed that Mr. March was not sympathetic (he lost the family money, he put his ideals above his family, and he generally continued to make the wrong decisions throughout the book).

We could not remember if the book had won a Pulitzer but then agreed that it must not have. We were wrong.

-Rachel

Book Club's Favorite Books of 2006!

Today I was talking with Rachel about the New York Times' list of the 100 Best Books of the Year. We both realized we had only read one book on the list. This made us sad. Then I thought it would be fun for book club to list the best books we’ve read this year (but they didn’t have to be published this year.) Because of school, (ironically) I didn’t read a lot this year so I only have a few books to recommend.

Sweet and Low - Rick Cohen, All the family drama behind the Cumberland Packaging Company, creators of Sweet n Low. If you have eaten out with me this year, I probably pulled out a pack of Sweet n Low and told you all about this book. (And if I haven’t, I would be happy to do it) I read this book over Memorial Day weekend when I was visiting my friends Andrea and Scott in North Carolina. I must have referenced the book five times a day over the course of the weekend. I could not stop talking about it. They were polite enough not to tell me to shut already about the history of sugar substitutes.

The Know World -Edward P Jones. I had tried to read this before, but I got confused. The narrative style is unusual because a character will be in the present time of the story, but then the narrative might slip at any moment into that character's past and then well into the character’s future, beyond the time period that the story covered. It has an epic feel because we experience the most important points of each character's lives even though the main action of the book only covers a few months of time. Once I got used to it, I really started to love it. (Thanks for reminding me Anne!)

Horse Heaven -Jane Smiley . You don’t need to like horses to like this book. It’s a sophisticated soap opera at the race track.

Little Children -Tom Perrotta. You guys have all read it so I don’t need to explain any further.

Focusing on the Range - lusciously produced photo book about the Mount Holyoke and Mount Tom Ranges. Difficult to find.

Book to Definitely Avoid -
The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island - Linda Greenlaw. It looks quaint and funny, but it’s just boring. Seriously, just keep browsing on past it.