Great Expectations: A Novel

 

In April, we read Great Expectations: A Novel by Vinson Cunningham.  Our group saw this novel as a coming of age story based on Vinson's work as a young adult on Obama's campaign.  He  pulls together the experiences of a young man's work as part of a major political campaign that promised hope and change with the main character's experiences as a young parent, lover, and friend.  He weaves in the influences of religion into the narrative in an interesting way.  We agreed this was a work that captured a time and an experience at a pivotal time in history.  Where it might have been better for our experienced crowd would have been to have a narrative that could have had more of a universal connection to a broader experience.

For May we are reading Tom Lake by Anne Patchett.  Tom Lake is a modern day rendition of Our Town by Thornton Wilder.  For extra credit, we can either see a rendition of the play or read the play for our discussion. We are meeting at Chrysanne's at 5:30 on June 5th.

The Prophet Song

 

In March, we read Paul Lynch's Booker Prize winning novel, The Prophet Song.  This was a dystopian novel that was inspired by the Syrian refugee experience.  The novel is set in Ireland and from the start, things go from troublesome to trouble to tragedy.  Members of our bookclub thought it was an important work, however, so tough to hang with it through all the hopelessness.  There was little hope left at the end and we all felt the themes of being torn about when to recognized the time to leave and weigh the cost of leaving one's home. Hard read, but important work.

in April we will read Great Expectations: A Novel by Vinson Cunningham.  Our new member Jeffrey suggested this novel.  We will meet at Alan's at 5:30 on May 1st.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

In January, we read The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store.  We had read Deacon King Kong previously and loved it.  This was a notable recommendation by Lexi who we finally let choose a book.  And now that we have read her pick, she gets to choose from now on. This was a great novel with excellent character development.  We had a good discussion around each reader's favorite characters.  This novel was an excellent rendition of a time and place, of the politics of the time, and social issues set in Chicken Hill.  

We spent time talking about Ed Amidon who had been in our bookclub for 33 years.  He died on December 26th and we can hardly believe it.  He loved Confederacy of Dunces. by John Kennedy-so much so that we had to read it twice!  He loved the Rabbit series by John Updike and I think we read Run Rabbit Run twice as well.  He will be remembered for his great laugh and sense of humor.  He was our literary friend.  We are planning to put together our thoughts and stories about Ed and will find a place on our blog to honor and perhaps roast him a bit.  

We are meeting at Mindy's on March 18th at 5:30, hoping to finally have some of her famous turkey chili. We will be reading Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.

The Glass Chateau

 We read The Glass Chateau by Stephen Kiernan in November.  We met in December via Zoom, missing Mindy's turkey chili and left to our own devices for our dinners.  Stephen Kiernan is a local author and journalist.  We had read A Universe of Two earlier this year and had liked it.  The Glass Chateau had some similarities in terms of themes of trauma associated with war-both managing that pain within the turmoil and later during healing.  Mixed with this theme is the story of blowing glass and creating stained glass as an art form.  We learned from the epilogue that the author had been inspired by an exhibit in Montreal by Chagall.    She shared photos with us which really put some of the novel into perspective for us around the artistic style of the characters.  

There were mixed reviews and a great discussion.  Alan, Mindy and Tim found the novel to be timely and a good reflection on the senselessness of war and the subsequent healing and hopefulness of the novel.  Others enjoyed the novel as a story, however were not able to connect with characters.  We had a great discussion and look forward to our next meeting.  We are hoping to meet at Mindy's but since I am writing this so late after our meeting, that I know that we also have the next meeting via Zoom at 7Pm (so Chrysanne can join) on January 23rd. We will read The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride.

 

October 2023 –

This month we met to discuss “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” by Michael Chabon.  This is his first novel, written in 1988, and is a coming of age story that takes place during the summer after the protagonist finishes college.  None of our group members loved this book – a rarity since usually at least one person proclaims to love each book that we read!  As a group, we appreciated Chabon’s beautiful language and sentence construction.  We were disappointed with the lack of character development and the pace of the first half of the book.

However, we had a fabulous meeting – beginning with Chrysanne’s incredible cooking - baked chicken with lemon and garlic, roasted potatoes and green beans, fresh bread, salad and finished with an incredible fall apple dessert. Terry updated the group on his new agri-business, which lead to an interesting recounting of his business ventures over the last 50+ years.  Tim had recently returned from Kansas City where a private collector has a painting by Lemeul Wilmarth and Tim’s grandmother was the model for the painting when she was 16 years old.  After a series of communications with the collector, Tim visited and saw the painting, which is the collectors favorite piece of art!  Cindy also shared a Doug Nap painting that she is the model for.  We shared much laughter, conversation, and comradery – now that’s a successful book group!

Next meeting is on December 11^th at Mindy’s house to discuss The Glass Chateau by Steven Kiernan.

 

"This was the right book at the right time".                                              This sentiment was endorsed by almost all of us who gathered at Cindy's house, enjoying a spectacular summer garden salad, in September.  The story of the residents of the town of Algren had a sweetness that was a nice counterpoint to some of the darker books we have read in recent months.  Many people commented on the authenticity of the characters and their struggles. Many novels have included the challenge of sons longing to know their fathers - and this book explored this with humor and an almost child-like longing.  

NEXT MEETING IS: OCTOBER 9th at Chrysanne's where we will discuss "The mysteries of Pittsburth, by Michael Chabon"    

 

We met at Tim's house in  East Montpelier, just a couple of weeks after the devastating flooding in Montpelier,  for a lovely dinner and a lively discussion of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.  Some of our group found this book too painful and depressing to finish - others found a lot to like in the character development, gorgeous writing, and interesting modern take on David Copperfield.  This was a very rich discussion sharing our experiences reading the book - and how it intersected with our lives.

Next up:  On Monday September 11th we will be meeting at Cindy's to discuss  A boy of good breeding by Miriam Toews