Disappearances

In honor of Howard Frank Mosher, we read Disappearances in December.  I thought it was a great book for the Fall season.  Time and place were well done, describing the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, Lake Memphramagog, and Quebec.  The whiskey runs from Quebec were something that I did not know about and it was interesting to discuss Prohibition in the US.


Next month we are meeting on January 3rd at Alan's house and we are reading News of the World by Paulette Jiles.

July, August, September and October

I have no excuse as the writer of this blog on behalf of the Greater Westford Literary Society.  Afterall, it was my idea to change the composition book where one had to merely jot down the name of the book and the title to an electronic version reviewing out reactions.  But what to do with said author when things fall behind..as they have for the past 4 months?  I will attempt to review our reading and reactions to our chosen novels in this blog and will hereafter try to never get this behind!

July 17, 2017  The Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles  at Cindy's House

We all thoroughly enjoyed it, I think.  Maybe Allan not so much.








August 2017 Here I am by Jonathan Safran Foer at Tim's House
We thought it was overwritten and much too long and a little indulgent.




October 9, 2017 Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi at Chrysanne's House
We loved it and found it profound and needing a reread and perhaps some more knowledge of the history of the African slave trade to truly appreciate this great work.




November 29, 2017 Disappearances by Howard Frank Mosher at Allan's House hosted by Lexi
There will be a vocabulary quiz by Cindy for words taken from the text.

The Last Days of Night: A Novel

Paul Cravath

Thomas Edison

This May we read The Last Days of Night: a Novel by Graham Moore.  Sometimes it is hard to capture the discussion and the dynamic of the group, but I am going to give it a try.  It seemed to me that most people enjoyed the novel, mainly because there were new things we learned.  However, there was discussion about whether this was, indeed a "Book Club Book," whatever that means.  And Ed did not like the book.  He had very strong feelings against the novel.  Partly his feelings had to do with the fact that he spent his life as an attorney and did not think that the novel accurately portrayed.  That was lost of the rest of us  non legal types within the group.  In addition, Louise has spent part of her career in the field of energy and electricity-so not so much new learning for Ed.  Try as we might, we could not convince Ed to concede that he liked any parts of the novel.  For the rest of us, the beginning started of strong and we maybe were not so impressed with the second half.  But all in all, it was a fun read for the rest of us.

Tesla

Westinghouse

Next month we are reading The Gentleman from Moscow by Amor Towles.  We are meeting at Cindy's House on Monday, July 17th at 7.

The Fig Eater

We read The Fig Eater in April.  Alan suggested this read after a friend recommended this novel to him.  Alan has been wintering over his first fig tree and thus the inspiration.  We had mixed reviews.  Everyone thought it was an easy read.  There were some thoughts and questions about some unanswered elements of the novel.  Everyone was happy to have a reprieve from the heaviness and tedium of reading Justine the month before.

This month we are reading Last Days of Night by Graham Moore.  We are meeting on Wednesday, May 24th at Ed's House.  A bit early for Peonies, but we can always hope there will be some early blooms! 7PM.

Justine

Scene from the 1969 movie of Justine

We read the first of Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet this month as we sat and talked for the very last time at Terry and Debbie's present home.  Let me just say that I am indebted to Ed for looking for some redeeming features to support my love for the book.  Absolutely no one liked Justine...some  plodded through to the end while, and I mention no names, others read just a few pages.  Oh how lonely it is to be the only one who loved the book at our book club.  I can only say that my ego is still intact based on the fact that it is considered a classic.  I think it was Terry who checked with Amazon and could not believe that someone had reread the novel for the fourth time.

For me, and I do speak alone, I thought it was a piece of history in the ever changing understanding of the different kinds of love we experience in our lives.  I love when Durrell says at the start: “There are only three things to be done with a woman. You can love her, suffer for her, or turn her into literature.”  The same could be applied to life in general, I think.  

Next month we are at Mindy's at 7 PM for a discussion of the Fig Eater by Jody Shields on April 25th.

Someone

February at Alan's House was a smaller group with Chrysanne in Mexico and Ed unable to make it.  Ed's email about the book set the tone for our discussion.  He wrote:

I thought Someone was a beautiful book- really a series of connected short stories about a life- exquisite-writing about everyday experience, like Updike without the sex!  We all agreed that the character development was lovely.  Ordinary people's lives evolving over time in families, in neighborhoods and in the world at large.  The concept of the 'someones' in people's lives.  Who they are and how important it is to have someone.

Next month gets us into a classic, the first novel of the Alexandria Quartet-Justine by Lawrence Durrell.  We are meeting at Terry's for perhaps the last meeting at his house before it is sold!  Tuesday, March 28th at 6:45.  Shira will be joining us and may even read the book.  Mindy told us about a lecture the following evening, March 29th that is part of the Rabbi Max B. Wall Endowed Lecture Series:

Father Patrick Desbois*

 Roman Catholic French Priest and Director of Yahad -In Unum

Professor at Georgetown University (The Center for Jewish Civilization)

The Holocaust by Bullets: 

A Priest’s Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews

Date: Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Time: 6:00

Place: The Roy Event Room in the Dion Family Student Center

Commonwealth

In January we read Anne Patchett's Commonwealth.  There were mixed reviews and lots of discussion.  Anne Patchett is not new to Book Club.  We read Bel Canto, which we all loved.  And A State of Wonder which had mixed reviews as well.  As best I can remember, for I have been remiss in my responsibilities as keeper of the Blog, Chrysanne held the torch for Commonwealth, defending the novel's various merits.  One or another of us liked parts, but did not like the novel in its entirety.

I love Anne Patchett, and like many authors I have followed over the years, I can forgive my old friends when an novel might not perfect.  It is hard to be perfect!  Particularly when one is dealing with childhood memories and autobiographical material, as we are led to believe Anne referred to in this story of two families blending into three.  We talked about how well this novel dealt with the bonds one makes under adverse, and perhaps not chosen situations.  We talked about how well this novel describes how one decision effects others and can set things into motion with far reaching repercussions.

In February, we are reading Someone by Alice McDermott.  The date was changed to February 20th at Alan's House.