Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: A novel

 

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • Sam and Sadie—two college friends, often in love, but never lovers—become creative partners in a dazzling and intricately imagined world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality. It is a love story, but not one you have read before.

 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow follows Sam and Sadie through their childhood meeting, college reunification and the development and success of their business.   

Gabrielle Zevin does a masterful job of maturing the voices of each character over the years and the technical aspects of describing the games they created was detailed and fun to follow.   

As a kid of the 80's the evolution of online games from the Oregon Trail to the role playing games of today is a journey worthy of understanding.  It is a great metaphor for the changes we go through as we become fully formed people.  How the experiences in our lives make for a richer, more colorful experience.

Zevin uses the two characters to narrate from their own perspective, but it isn't repetitive and each has a unique view and of course different priorities and drivers.  

As a story of a lifelong friendship, the cadence also rings true.  Sometimes the friends are in lock step, lives intertwined and at others they are separated but still care deeply for another.  

I appreciated that the characters loved one another, but didn't have to have a grand romantic arc. 

Read:  April 19, 2023
Met: @ Beth's
Book Choice: Melinda

1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir

 

1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir by Ai WeiWei

Chinese artist Ai WeiWei tells the story of his life, the influences, and the impact of his work on the world. 

Art is protest, art is communication, art is a voice for those who cannot speak.  Ai WeiWei transforms life into experiences.  As a citizen of China WeiWei was not always free to express criticism of life in China, always under surveillance and often in disfavor WeiWei describes his story of detention, government removal of his art, hidden meanings in his works, and a total devotion to his work.

As a child of the poet Ai Qing, WeiWei was often exiled with his father during times when the popularity of Ai Quig was trouble for the Chinese leadership.  Childhood was feast followed by famine, comforts given and taken, accolades given and then public shaming for being too visible.   These experiences shaped WeiWei into someone who focused on his works to the (in my opinion) detriment of others.   

As a memoir, WeiWei focuses on the events that are to him meaningful and important.  A great insight into the mind of an artist, but he tells on himself a bit with the handling of his wife, partner and child.   A bit dismissive of that aspect of his life.

Ai WeiWei, as an artist is diverse in his mediums and this memoir walks us through some of the processes of his most notable works.   

13 notable works of Ai Weiwei

 

Read:  January 2023
Met:  Heather's

Picker:  Heather

Book of the year 2021 and other things...

 Our end of year wrap up ended up returning to the zoom format because a few of us had close calls with exposures.  In spite of not being together in person, this was a fun, joyous and energetic gathering. 

Mid-meeting wine run

We started the gathering with a great discussion of our final book for 2021, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage by Bette Howland.   A book of short stories can be hard to discuss because of the lack of a through plot and common characters, but not this one.  Ms. Howland created rich details that brought you into the space where her characters were.  Dark and not uplifting was one comment but others found interest in the planning of a funeral, the frustration of obligatory time with family and other 'every day' life events.  Certainly a worthwhile read. 

We turned our attention to the discussion of our favorite and least favorite (never "worst") book of the year.  I am still living in constant fear that the author of a "worst" book will again google themselves to find that our group of seven readers has mortally wounded their pride and that we may be invited to a duel.  I don't like conflict and as I only dabble in sarcasm I am afraid of those who have mastered the art of prose.  Therefore we will refrain evermore from the use of the word worst to describe our least favorite book of the year.

HOWEVER, with a solid majority and very little surprise or argument from the minority the clear winner of our least favorite was "50 words for rain".   This book should have been a beautiful novel of love, loss, grace, forgiveness, finding one's purpose under the epic backdrop of post WWII for the ages, but it was not.  Imagine the fan fiction journal of a millennial 15 year old who has never been kissed or left their hometown of Springfield, wherever writing about the complexities of racism in a country, culture and era never explored beyond watching an anime movie or two.  Then throw in some plot twists like sexual assault that is almost instantly forgiven without any trauma, grief, blame and heck, let's just make the main character fall in love with that guy because he is of course, beautiful, rich and charming.  👀.  Of course he is.  Anywho...this was a literal car crash that needed an editor.  Acknowledging that storytelling is hard, we are hopeful that as the author matures better content will come.  

The discussion for the favorite book of the year was far more varied.  The field of books that we loved was many in 2021.  With the bonus reading titles off the table for consideration, the much appreciated "A Children's Bible" and "The Cold Millions" made room for the primary books.

Hidden Valley Road, No No Boy, Hamnet and Calm Seas and Prosperous Voyage all received ardent votes for favorite.  

Damnation Springs and Unbound each were noted as "very good".  

It's a good problem to have that we loved most of what we read in 2021.  We decided to let our 'favorite' be a three-way-tie:

Hidden Valley Road, Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

 No-No Boy John Okada

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

Each was completely different and wonderful.   HVR, is an exploration of mental illness in one family and a frustrating study in the pharmaceutical industry exploring that it is profits that drive innovation and not need. 

No-No Boy explored the often ignored history of the American Japanese experience of  the aftermath of the war and those who would not or could not join in to fight with the US in the land of their ancestors. 

Hamnet is a fanciful dip into the household of William Shakespeare and the family he left behind to be a poet and play writer.  He's not the main character of this story and it is marvelous.   

2021 Booklist

 50 Words for Rain

A Burning

Minor Feelings, An Asian American Reckoning

A Children’s Bible (extra credit)

Hidden Valley Road

No-No Boy

We Here By Refuse (extra credit)

Punch Me Up to the Gods

Hamnet

The Cold Millions (extra credit)

Unbound

Damnation Spring

Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage

Deacon King Kong, McBride

Our last discussion of the final 2020 book.   Books selected in the year are in the running for Book of the Year even if the discussion happens in January.

Meeting on zoom isn't as much fun as being in person, but there is a bit of charm to it.  We get to see and hear all the happy dogs, spouses pop in with food and beverages, and every once in a while we get to wave to a teen coming home from wherever teens go during a pandemic.

We've been together for so long, that now the babies are off to college.  Well, with the exception of the two late starters - we're navigating elementary and middle school and can see the look of relief on the faces of our fellow bibliophiles that they are past the pre-teen stage. 

Last night we discussed Deacon King Kong, by James McBride.   Our discussions are always pretty short when everyone loves the book and last night it was a very short love fest.   McBride weaves a funny story and creates memorable characters who you can clearly see in your mind.  More than one comment was made that this book will be a great movie it's actually being worked on as a TV show.  Thankfully McBride is part of the script writing team, which means the show will be delicious. 

I'm thankful for an author who doesn't need to wrap every loose end up in a tidy bow.  Life is not always like that, and a bit of wonder is good for the soul.   

Prediction:  this one will rise to the top of the heap for 2020.

One last meeting for 2020

 It's winter solstice, the shortest night of the year.   The Seattle weather people are predicting unusual weather.  It was 57 degrees at my house at noon, and now, at 4 it's 49 and raining like a boat will be floating by shortly.   The kid thinks that she heard about "low land snow". 

So, it's dark, rainy, and there's also a pandemic.  Best have a book club outside!  We are hearty northwestern ladies so that's exactly what we'll do.  Melinda has a tent and heaters.   We have rain gear, blankets, and face masks.   It should be fun!

 I'm happy to report that even though the year was not as expected, we managed to keep up our reading schedule and actually accelerate it for the last two months of the year.   I mean, it's not like we had to commute for hours each day.

Think dry thoughts! 

2016 Recaps (thus far)

The Turner House

A stately house in Detroit is all but abandoned, but the thirteen children who lived there with their parents are determined to save it in spite of the value.  The dwelling is the center of the story of the siblings, their parents and a snapshot of life in modern Detroit.  ChaCha is the oldest of the siblings and is determined to find out if his haint (apparition) is real.  The youngest sister is a portrait of the struggle to be an adult and face the consequences of your own actions. 

A Man Called Ove

Give the curmudgeon in your life a second look.  Maybe he’s soft and squishy on the inside or at least worthy of the effort to befriend.  Ove is cranky, holds a grudge and likes things just so.  He's not the first cranky old man we've read about but he may be our favorite.

Girls & Sex

The seven of us think we are pretty aware of how things go these days when it comes to sexual awareness and experiences of women.  However, we learned a lot while reading this study of young college aged women and their sexual interactions.  The first take away for us was that the sex-ed classes we got in the 1980’s hasn’t changed much, it is very focused on the male sexual response, and reproduction.  Sounds good right, but no one talks to girls/women about their sexual response, what they can and should expect?  Sex Ed for girls still has a shame factor and has lots of repercussions as girls turn into women who have sexual interactions with others (or themselves). 

We were shocked to read that many of the women interviewed reported that they used oral sex as a way to end a date with someone they didn’t want to have sex with.  WHAT!?  How is that better? 

The discussion over dinner went on and on and on, and when our hostesses’ family came home the teenagers ran for the safety of their own spaces and their dad joined us for a brief moment before realizing we were in deep on topics that weren’t really meant for mixed company.

This book has been characterized by us as a horror genre.  We clearly have a lot of work to do to help our own daughters as they grow up. 

The Sellout, Paul Beatty

An alternate version of the modern day inner city community as told thru the voice of a black small businessman who somehow becomes a slave owner in an attempt to save his corner of Los Angeles.  The language is uncomfortable, the story telling is humorous and awkward, but the lens Mr. Beatty uses to explain this “fake” world says more about how we live today than an academic study of racism or poverty. 

The story has an arc, but each chapter is a contained exploration of a thought, experience or topic the author wants to explore.  It isn’t always easy to see where that chapter might lead, but we were happy to go.

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel

A sweeping plague, survivors and actors oh my!  If you set aside the extreme unlikeliness of survivors having being connected (even tenuously) in the pre-plague world this is a fantastic book.  The concept is dark to be sure, how could it not be with the majority of people on earth being dead but unlike The Walking Dead, or Camus’ The Plague, or even Blindness the worst of humanity is not the primary result of all the loss.  Ms. St. John Mandel finds hope and connectivity as our band of survivors make their way to Station Eleven.  There is loss, there is the brutal reality of what one might need to do to survive but it is not a lord of the flies situation. 

Little Failure, Shteyngas, Gary

A humorous look at the life of a Russian immigrant.  (Have to admit – didn’t finish it.  This was not a failing on the book, but a lack of time management.)

Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova

Because we loved the book Inside Alice we gave this novel a try.  She so adeptly explored early onset Alzheimer’s that the impact on a large family when the father’s Huntington’s disease progresses.   

For the most part, we all finished the book and had a robust conversation about the story, the characters but our discussion revolved around the difference in the story telling between Alice and the O’Briens.  Inside Alice really brought us into the headspace, fear and uncertainty of Alice as her illness progressed, the story of the O’Briens was far more focused on the family and their relationship with the father than the impact of the illness.    

2 for 1

Ok, I'm super behind again.

During the annual weekend away, an accounting was done of the books from this year and it turns out I missed the write up for The Snow Child.  So here we go:

The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey

Fiction is so wonderful when it can make you set aside what you know to be real and allow you to live in a world where anything is possible.  It's Alaska in the 1920's and Jack and Mabel are barely making it.  He works and works and works to keep their Alaska homestead alive and she's doing her part but lonely and heartbroken for the child they didn't have.  They find a moment to play in the snow and form a snow child.

Either through magic or fortune soon they encounter Faina, a lovely girl with blonde hair and a fox for a friend.  Faina saves them, or they save her - either way it's charming and regardless of all the evidence it's never really clear if she's real.

Among our group there was great debate upon the meaning of the ending of this tale, which leads me to believe that the ending was intentionally misleading. Consensus was positive on this particular book.


Weekend away!

Every year we try to plan two extra curricular activities.  The first is the spouse dinner.  This is a challenge to find a night when fourteen people can gather at one time and child care can be obtained for eleven shorties.  We've managed it for the last four years and will keep booking it.

The other event is even harder to arrange.  A weekend where we ladies zip away from our broods and gather in a cozy cottage to dine on chocolate and other yummy foods, hike, do some yoga and of course, talk about the book du jour.   Last year, we were warned away from our hosts cabin in Leavenworth because of late season fires and terrible air quality and this year an early winter storm kept us on the west side of the state.  Lucky for us, our group has some great connections and we fell into comfortable lodgings both times.   This year found us in a charming water front cabin on Vashon Island that snuggly sleeps twelve or very comfortably sleeps seven.

 

One of the things about the cabin that added to its wonderfulness is that you can't simply drive to the door.  There is a group parking lot and then you have to walk about a third of a mile to the 11th house on the shore.  The walk was quiet and with each step the hustle of life "on land" faded away.

Our book for discussion was "How To Be a Woman".   Part memoir, part stand alone essays on feminism it opened the door for a lengthy discussion on topics that we ladies seldom get into with each other.

I'm sure it would be an easy thing to assume that when gals get together and shut the door they talk about body hair, dating and their weight.  We really don't delve into those areas very often.

Filled with funny moments and a rather long discussion about what to name your vagina (Oh yes, I went there.) this isn't the Susan B. Anthony women's suffrage version of feminism.  It's a straight forward look at our lives today and what it means as we navigate a world where we have to balance people like Kim Kardashian who are famous for goodness knows what, and Nancy Pelosi who is demonized for I'm not sure what maybe being a prickly woman with opinions and being moms, women who have serious jobs.  We're told that we're equal, but the tend to typically fill the board room in the Communications and Human Resources positions.

While the book evoked a long discussion that lasted well into Sunday, we soundly didn't think we liked the author.  The tone of the book was chatty and casual.  Perhaps that's her way of balancing the deep topics she was tackling.

I do give her kudos for not shying away from an unpopular topic.  She and her husband chose to terminate a pregnancy after they had other children.  She writes about this with complete openness and acknowledgement that her decision will be (was) questioned and reviled by many.

And The Mountains Echoed

Khaled Hosseini has produced a third book that is equally worth reading.  Author of the Kite Runner and A thousand splendid suns, Hosseini tells us a winding story of intersecting lives that spans continents, generations and families.

Each chapter is told from a different persons point of view and slowly the truth about a father's dreadful choice becomes known and the broad impact unfolds.

We enjoyed this book and I'm sorry to have to admit that it's been 3 or 4 months since our discussion and any remarkable or notable comments from the group have been pushed aside in my memory.

We did note that the style of story telling was remarkably different than his other two novels, and that it took a while for some of us to realize that he was never going to circle back and repeat a narrator.  Freed of that expectation, the story began to crystallize as the characters started overlapping into the chapters and the overall story became clear.

To The Lighthouse

After our gathering to discuss Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse I stand by my previous post, but acknowledge that the discussion it invoked was robust and intriguing.  

Indeed, large portions of the story occur inside the minds of each of the characters.  Melinda pointed out that it was a great study in how different reality is from what we think is happening.  While they had dinner each of the dinner guests had a completely different take on the conversation and interactions.  No one really had a clear take on the others motivations – and in most cases the assumptions being made were 100% removed from the true thoughts of the other persons.

As for my frustration with the pace and flow of the narrative, Christine was adamant that the details that Mrs. Woolf left out simply didn’t matter.   Yes, character A was dead and we don’t need to know why or how, or even what the others thought or experienced when it occurred.  They were dead and it is final.   We didn’t all (me) agree, but I respect her take on the narrative.

It is probably safe to predict that T.T.L. will not earn our Book of the Year prize as less than 50% of us managed to finish it.  That says something when the book is only 175 pages – sure they are serving soup for 100 of those pages, but still.

Mrs. Woolf did have an amazing gift for describing the details of regular life.  In Mrs. Dalloway, which we read in 2000,  a good portion of the story is devoted to preparing for a party, so it should be no surprise that dinner and an eventual journey to the lighthouse would be the plot of an entire book.   In our connected world, we certainly don’t spend this much time analyzing the details of daily life. 

Dead Souls, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

Ah...Russian literature.

The inside cover of this book touts:  Since its publication in 1842, Dead Souls has been celebrated as a supremely realistic portrait of provincial Russian life and as a splendidly exaggerated tale; as a paean to the Russian spirit and as a remorseless satire of imperial Russian venality, vulgarity, and pomp. As Gogol's wily antihero, Chichikov, combs the back country wheeling and dealing for "dead souls"--deceased serfs who still represent money to anyone sharp enough to trade in them--we are introduced to a Dickensian cast of peasants, landowners, and conniving petty officials, few of whom can resist the seductive illogic of Chichikov's proposition. This lively, idiomatic English version by the award-winning translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky makes accessible the full extent of the novel's lyricism, sulphurous humor, and delight in human oddity and error.

Doesn't that make you want to curl up with a hot cup of tea and get reading?  I mean, who can resist sulphurous humor?  Heck, my spell check doesn't even like it.

So, as with our other tromps into the land of Russian lit, I can say that I've read Tolstoy, Chekov and now Gogol.  I can't say that I've finished many (any) of their greatest works, but I've lived for a moment in their worlds.

There are far better summaries of historical literature than I could ever muster, but the gist of the story is that the hero Chichikov (Chick) has a scheme to make money by purchasing the ownership rights to the slaves of land owners.  However, he only wants the ones that have died.  It's a strange, complicated plan where he saves the landowners from paying taxes on dead people and he ends up looking like a very wealthy man because he owns all these people, that he can mortgage to buy an estate.  Sounds like it should work - not quite.

In making all the transactions we get a commentary on all the different types of people in Russia.  We meet the trusting people, the suspicious people, the vain, stupid people, the drunk nationalists and on an on and on.

We found it entertaining and challenging and even a little repetitive at times.  The book is unfinished and ends mid-sentence.  That can be really frustrating for a reader who needs

Whidbey

Most of us

 Ah, the annual weekend getaway.  This year, to reduce the chances of scheduling conflicts we picked our weekend early in the year.  Sadly, one of our members had the crud and didn't join us, but the trick of picking a late summer/fall weekend in January paid off as we were all free.

Unfortunately, our selected location spot was virtually uninhabitable due to the smoke from the Eastern Washington fires, so we (Melinda) scrambled to locate an alternate spot.  She worked her connections and came up with a cabin on the water on Orcas Island.  Sounds awesome right?  Drive up to Anacortes and take the ferry to beautiful, isolated Orcas Island.  We were happy until someone figured out that not only are there only 3 boats a day to Orcas, but that there was a girl scout event taking place and 500 dads and kids were going to be jockeying for the same boats.

Scramble again, and we (again, Melinda) used out (her) super powers and found a THIRD, vacant cabin for the weekend.  This gem was on Whidbey Island, not as isolated, but boats every 30 minutes.   Yeah!

This place was cute as a button. We were warned that it had a "camp kitchen" but other than the tight space and the shorty refrigerator it was perfect.  We whipped up  a couple great dinners, and two marvelous breakfasts.  

Saturday night we sat down to discuss our book club selection. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo.

I don't think I was the only one who was surprised to learn that this story about families living in the slums of Mumbai was not fiction.  The tales of what was happening to them seemed so far fetched that it had to be a conglomeration of events that were molded into an interesting tale.  Nope - all true.  

Let me just say this, the US legal system may be difficult to navigate and skewed to a point where the wealthy have an advantage, but you do not want to be dealing with the legal system in Mumbai.  Everyone you come across has their hand out and are working you for a payment to make your case go away.  Not all of these folks have the authority or ability to do what they say, but they will gladly wipe you out to do it.  

The discussion about the book was good, but there was little controversy and we all seemed to like it equally.   That makes for a quick talk and little fireworks.  Note to authors everywhere:  our write ups will be far more interesting if you can irritate all or parts of us.  This business of writing an engaging, good book is boring.

Other topics discussed over the weekend was our health.  Mostly everyone is fine, but have typical aches and pains associated with not being 22 anymore.  

A discussion arose about affirmations and how women don't typically get all the affirmations they need from their husbands but get (and give) lots of affirmations to friends and colleagues.  Men typically get all the affirmations from their wives and get little if none from their friends and colleagues.  We commented that our one member who has a female partner must get really tired of  must get so tired of validating each other all day long.  She said it was terrible; they can never get up from the dinner table

H: That was a great dinner
G: Thank you for saying that, you’re so nice.
H: It’s so kind of you to notice, you’re very observant.
G: That’s sweet.  I love that about you.
H: Thanks! I noticed that you moved those dirty socks, you’re so tidy.
G: I get it from you, you’re very easy to live with
H: thank you
G: no, thank you

H: No!  Thank you 

During the day Saturday there was a bike ride into Langley while a couple of us took the less active route and stopped by a farmers market.  We met for lunch and enjoyed the Djangofest festivities.  For the uneducated (or regular) people, Djangofest celebrates the gypsy jazz style of Django Reinhardt, who was a Belgian jazz guitarist and composer.  As we dined Al fresco at the Useless Bay Cafe a gaggle of guitarists were jamming on the lawn.  It was very pleasant.

We didn't have time for a fire or a trip to the hot tub, but it was a relaxing get away none the less.

Our borrowed cabin

try doing this at night...

In the Garden of Beasts

There comes a time in every readers life when they ask "How many Holocaust books can I stand to read?"  This particular non-fiction book delves into the events during Adolf Hitler's rise to power as witnessed by the American Ambassador William E. Dodd, who arrived in Berlin in 1933 with his family.  If you're only going to read one book in your lifetime about this dark, but significant historical period, In the Garden of Beasts is not the book to read.   The author, Larson, makes the assumption that the reader knows what happened once the war started and how events unfolded.  There are references to the camps, but since the book is about Dodd and his experiences those horrific details aren't delved into.

This focus on the experiences of Dodd and his colorful family (mostly his daughter Martha) is an interesting view.  Larson doesn't take a stand as to weather or not Dodd is a hero or a bumbling fool who could have been more adamant about what he was seeing in Berlin.  It is clear that it was a complicated world and that the messages from the Hitler camp was that they wanted peace.  Sure, there was the slight Jewish Problem but mostly that issue was handled away from the everyday life of "regular" people.   The slow and steady crimp of the freedoms and liberty were so (forgive the phrase) well done that no one felt the need (or ability) to protest.  Those that did, as we know, were promptly dealt with.

As a group, we felt it was an accessible book but hard to read at times.  Hard, not because of the subject matter but because the events were happening and it is so obvious to us with the luxury of knowledge that something needed to be done.  Dodd was in the position to influence the American participation but his focus on diplomacy was maddening.

Larson suggests that Dodd was sent to keep relations with the Germans in good standing because they owed the US money and if the relationship broke down then the likelihood of being repaid dwindled.  It all comes down to money.

Dodd and his adult daughter Martha are the most well drawn characters in this book.  His wife and son are present, but as they didn't keep their own diaries their perspective and participation seem to be to the side.  Martha was busy while in Germany.  She "dated" a number of men, had affairs and was excited to dine with Hitler.   After the truth about what was happening and about to happen in Germany came out I doubt Martha was so thrilled with her encounter.

Perhaps it is because Erik Larson is a local author, but most of us encountered strangers who felt the need to comment on this book when we were seen reading it.  It was good, but not the end all be all WWII political account.

Cleopatra is in the house!

A coin with the image of Cleopatra

As the keeper of the blog, I may be getting poor marks this year.  This post will cover the last two books and I have a call out to the ladies to help me find the book I know I'm missing.  My guess it is one that I didn't actually read and that is why I can't remember it.

Our discussion last night was over the book Cleopatra, a Life by Stacy Schiff.   We skipped over the book group part where we all catch up and immediately jumped into the book.  At first we were marveling over the significance of Cleopatra and her story.  For those of us who were uninformed it was an eye opening read to learn how integral she was in the Caesar / Mark Anthony era.  My image of her was similar to Helen of Troy, someone you hear about but don't really know any details. 

We were impressed that at the time of her reign her gender was a non-issue and the fact that she had children by multiple fathers also didn't seem to bother her people.  She taxed the heck out of everyone and yet was liked. 

We agreed with (a missing Melinda) that at times it felt like the Cleopatra story line was secondary to the drama unfolding in the Roman Empire. We attributed that a bit to the availability of historical reference material.  The "doings" in the RE are well documented while the historical artifacts from Alexandria were largely lost and thus many things are speculation.  The author did not take liberties and describe scenes, moods and conversations that she could not be privy too.  Thank you!

In discussing the tone of the book we wondered what an author like Doris Kerns Goodwin could do with the same subject matter.  We agreed that Ms. Goowin's historical offerings tend to "put you in the room" with the action more than Ms. Schiff's book.  However, we do acknowledge that it would be a lot easier to write about Theodore Roosevelt or the Kennedy's because of the availability of their schedules, writings, and the documents that others who were in the room provided.

We felt that the second half of the book flowed better and was far more intriguing.  The first half read like a college history book.  In fact, one of our members had to spend the day with her daughter in the car on an unexpected road trip, so she downloaded the audio book and the daughters response was that mom was reading a history book.  We enjoyed the book, but personally I think it is great torture for the teen to have to endure mom's book.

Our understanding of the era has increased and individuals whom we knew little about have become clearer.  Herod - bad guy.  Mark Anthony - love sick warrior.

A little late, but here's Little Bee

In November the ladies packed their cars and snow gear for a weekend getaway.  We ventured over Stevens Pass to Plain, Wa (outside Leavenworth) for a cozy couple days. 

As usual, the food was amazing and the wine flowed freely.  There was a couple AM yoga sessions and walks in the snow.  Over breakfast Saturday morning we discussed our book, Little Bee by Chris Cleeve.

It is the story of a young immigrant girl, Little Bee,  from Nigeria who comes to England to find a husband and wife whom she encountered on a beach in her native land.

The story is told from the perspective of Little Bee and Sarah, the British wife. Their story is unique but at times not really very believable, however the story moved along quite well and we as a group had many topics to discuss. 

We weren't too impressed with some of the decisions that Sarah makes and thought that she was needlessly endangering her own life and the life of her 5 year old son.   Her reaction to certain events seemed untruthful and distant.  She makes a grand gesture for a stranger and then is cold and distant when an intimate is in need.

The book jacket practically implores you to not reveal the plot to others implying a rather large "gotcha" or "wow" moment. There is some devastating violence and the death of significant characters, but perhaps we are jaded as readers we didn't have a "Crying Game" / "Sixth Sense" moment that was somewhat implied. 

We think the author was attempting to comment on the shadow people who are illegal immigrants as well as the corrupt political structure in Nigeria, but both were used as plot points and thus softened somewhat. 

For the most part, we liked the book, bleak as it was, but I think we enjoyed our weekend together more.

Zelda, A biography

an attempt at ballet

at age 19

with her husband

We read Nancy Milford's Zelda, a biography this month.  Ms. Milford brought us Savage Beauty that was well appreciated by our book group and we had high hopes for this, her first novel.

Zelda is the biography of the charmed but troubled life for Zelda Fitzgerald, the wife of the author F. Scott Fitzgerald.  She was in essence the first flapper and symbolized the roaring 20's for many.  The reality of it is that she was mentally ill, married to an alcoholic and was starving for a creative outlet of her own.  Writing was essentially denied because her husband claimed their (her) life story and experiences as his own creative domain.  Attempts on her part to fictionalize anything based upon her own thoughts and experiences were squelched or shunned.

Examining the life events of people who are iconic can be exhausting.  It is difficult to learn that they were not the happy, go lucky people that society wants them to be. It is (to me) frustrating to immerse into a world where unhappiness and abuse reins.   Zelda was a strong woman prone to whimsy and her life might have been different had she selected a life partner who was just that, a partner.  It was clear that Scott was the star and all things must support that.  When she did have minor successes Scott managed and facilitated it so he a) was seen as responsible for it and b) could control the impact on their world.  He negotiated her contracts, "co-authored" articles and because of his own debt basically eliminated any profit she may have seen.  She netted about $150 from her one mildly successful book because the remainder of the compensation was held to cover Scotts debt with the publisher. 

We were mixed on how many finished the book, but were unified in our opinion that while it was a noteworthy effort that Ms. Milford could have benefited from an editor.  She spent pages on examples of how Scott used letters and passages from Zelda's diaries in his books.  A couple of examples would have sufficed for the novel.  For her thesis, I understand why Milford would want to show that she found many many glaring examples of plagiarism, but when this part of the book came up I personally found myself skimming.

We were also of differencing opinions as to how sympathetic the author was to Scott.  Some of us felt that in spite of the detail of the alcoholism and his marked cruelty that she was portraying him as a reasonably loving husband.   Others felt that she showed him to be the insecure cad that he was.

Of the two Milford biographies Savage Beauty comes out on top, but this one was certainly worthy of the time.

The Piano Teacher

Whoops. With this month's book group meeting being held tomorrow it is apparent that this write up is past due.

Our last book was entitled The Piano Teacher.  It was written by Janice Y. K. Lee in 2008 and was a New York Times Bestseller. 

The gist of the story is that of Will, an Englishman, who arrives in Hong Kong as part of the growing and resented British occupation.  He has a passionate affair with a colorful party girl.  The Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in WW2 results in the upheaval of their universe.  He's imprisoned (detained) with the rest of the British citizens and her status on the outside enables him to move back and forth.

The story is also paralleled by Claire, who arrives in Hong Kong with her husband about 10 years later and she encounters Will who is now the driver for a prominent Hong Kong family.    The relationship between Will and the family are mysterious and it seems he has more influence than a driver should. 

We found the story to be somewhat convoluted, and some of the periphery characters were hard to follow.  Some of the major ploy twits were left to the imagination vs. giving the reader the proof needed to believe what was being implied.

Also, the two central love affairs seemed unrealistic and frankly we couldn't see the appeal. 

Another complaint was the title of the book.  The Piano Teacher bookends the story and she does play a role in the later story, but she is not the central character nor does her presence serve as the catalyst to set more dramatic events into action. 





Mostly, we felt the book was acceptable but not earth shattering.

Let The Great World Spin

Set in New York in August of 1974, this novel weaves the story of tragedy and redemption of a group of people who have no business knowing each other. 

Lightly centered around the actual events of August 7th, when Phillipe Petit, a French high wire artist strung a cable between the two towers of the World Trade Center and for 45 minutes crossed between them 8 times.   His feat was featured in a film last year called "Man on Wire", which was good, but also one I hear you need to not be dead tired while "watching."

Let The Great World Spin, is artfully told about the people down below who watched the event, how it influenced their day, even in the most remote way.  Petit is not even a primary character in this artfully told tale.  He is simply the "story of the day" to people whose lives are unknowingly intertwined. 

The author, Colum McCann tells his story by using a new character at each chapter.  Sometimes it is not clear for a few pages who the narrator is at the moment, but McCann uses this device well and brings the story, the people and their connections around.    He doesn't feel the need to close the loop on characters completely and obviously, but if you're paying attention you can catch the resolution (and redemption) of his cast of players.

McCann draws for us a  group of people who are flawed, insecure, and extremely likable.  This reader has never read a more sympathetic, but real in the light of day account of an inner city prostitute.  She's not the Julia Roberts, beautiful prostitute, she is addicted to heroin, and works her craft to get what she needs. She is conflicted between pride and sorrow that her daughter works the same corner she does.  She is a loving mother and grandmother who is at the same time pathetic and brilliant.   

We are also introduced to a grieving mother of a man killed in Vietnam.  Her support group is meeting at her house for the first time and she struggles with the fact that from the outside she looks like a rich, Park Avenue snob.  Who can feel sorrow for someone with so much?  She says the wrong things and is easily dismissed and yet her grief, isolation and desire for life make her not only likable, but someone you wish you could know.

One of the only complaints from our group was that while we were "updated" on the progression of a characters story, there were a few voices we wish we could have heard again.   We liked how the story wrapped up, we were mostly left wanting at the end.  I was sad to realize that the 30 pages of the book was an interview with the author and not the continuing story. 

Netherland, Joseph O'Neill

For the record, we are avid readers.  We enjoy exploring fiction and non-fiction and allow our group discussions to flow in whatever direction they may.  One of our members made a comment about a recent book selection of ours being painful and the individual to whom she was speaking took great offense.  The offended, a professional author, suggested that since our member was not an author or editor that she had no business criticizing the work.  This may be the most absurd suggestion ever uttered.  Authors are to be commended for their efforts but because they write and publish books it does not mean they are the only people entitled to an opinion.


You don't have to be a chef to know when something tastes bad, you don't have to be a clothing designer to know when someone is dressed inappropriately, and you don't have to be an author to know when something you read is badly written, boring or over indulgent.

So there!  We are entitled to our opinion and while we hope you authors keep writing (ok maybe not you Alice S.) but we will have opinions and we will share them with anyone who cares to pop by our little page.

Our book this month was Netherland by Joseph O'Neil.  It was supposed to be "suspenseful, artful, psychologically pitch-perfect" and an engaging tale of life as an immigrant in New York.  We didn't find it to be any of those things. 

The gist of the story is that Hans is in New York working for a bank and married to a British woman who is understandably shaken up after 9/11 and takes her leave with their son and tells Hans to stay in the US for a while.  They will "figure out" what to do about their marriage later.  Hans, being European naturally is a cricket fan (naturally!) and gets involved in a cricket club and meets Chuck, a dreamer/schemer from Trinidad.  Eventually, Chuck is murdered (I'm not revealing anything, it is the first two pages of the book) and the situation with the marriage is 'resolved'.

There is A LOT of cricket talk in the book, and perhaps for an educated reader for whom cricket is more than a sport with a funny stick and white shorts the parallels between the game and the narrative may have been clear.  However, for this reader and the other rather smart ladies of our book group we agree we know more about the nuances of "Quiddich" from the make believe world of Harry Potter than we do in reading O'Neills cricket episodes. 

There is a lot of interesting New York life in the Chelsey hotel where our Hans lives while his apartment is de-dusted from the 9/11 debris.  There is also a lot of nothing taking place. 

For those of us who finished it there was a sense of waiting for it to get better, but we agreed we were glad we finished it.  Comments around the table were as follows.  (Mr. O'Neill, take comfort in the fact that you won a PEN/FAULKNER award and earned the New York Times Book Review, Best Book of the Year while you read these comments.)

"It was indulgent"

"He's masturbating with the words"

"The writing gets in the way of the story"

"Reading this made me realize I miss "chapters". "

We also felt the author jumped back and forth in time more often than a LOST episode.  As Christine paraphrased;  "as I was standing at the window, I was reminded of a party I attended with my wife where I saw a butterfly that reminded me of a dark time in my past."  Holy CRAP man, be reminded, but whoa, skip the complex Visio diagram to get us there. 

As an offering of the "masturbating with words" example we share with you a SINGLE SENTENCE:

I suspect that what keeps us harmless from them is not, as many seem to believe, the maintenance of a strict  frontier between the kingdoms of the fanciful and the actual, but the contrary: the permitting of a benign annexation of the latter by the former, so that our daily emotions always cast a secondary otherworldly shadow and, at those moments when we feel inclined to turn from the more plausible and hurtful meanings of things, we soothingly find ourselves attached to a companion far-fetched sense of the world and our place in it.

I bet you do!  We think it means that we are helped along in our lives by having our head in the clouds somewhat.  Our daydreams get us through, or something like that.   I stopped reading at "the annexation of the latter by the former."

This book did win awards and has been recommended by organizations and individuals that we revere but it is likely not one we will be recommending anytime soon.

Look at us

Here we are goofing around at someone's wedding.