Night Circus

We read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern this month.  Reviews on Wednesday night were mixed with, I would have to say, great variability within the group.  Two of us rather enjoyed the writing about circuses, magic and love and were able to enjoy slipping into a bit of fantasy.  Others found some merit but found the novel a bit of a chore to wade through.  While others arrived armed with the condemningly a negative NY Times review-you know who you are.  One of us had actually read the book the year before and found it so unforgettable that they forgot they read it until we decided on it as our choice this month.

One thing we all agreed on was that the ending was confusing and didn't seem to fit. The resolution of the forbidden love story set in a fantasy world was not well developed and didn't seem to work.  We wondered if the author got a bit stuck with the ending.  Others wondered about a sequel in the works-thus the ending.  We also pondered what the author's inspiration was for the novel.  While we each found some characters who were interesting, we agreed that character development was weak and the plot was lacking.  For some of us the magic was enough-for others that was not the case. 

For next month, we are reading Shirley Hazzard's The Transit of Venus.  Chrysanne had read a novel by her and made the suggestion.  We are meeting at Terry's, hopefully on January 9th at 7PM. 

A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway was our book this month. Having had to present to the School Board, I missed most of the meeting, but Ed was able to send some thoughts:

 The group with some ambivalence liked the book.
 The story line was a bit corny but the writing style of short, direct
expository sentences was very effective in creating a sense of place
and relationships. People felt the war descriptions were particularly
good, giving a sense of the tedious, uncomfortable boredom interspersed with moments of terror.

The idea of making intense literature out of ordinary events.
The constant sense of impending doom but interspersed with calm
spaces like the recuperation in Milan and the B & B in Switzerland.

Lexi did a great job of facilitating. We found out that the book is
at least partially autobiographical- Hemingway volunteered as a Red Cross ambulance driver on the Italian front when he was 19, was wounded, fell in love with a nurse at the American hospital in Milan.  Hemingway's love for alcohol and food comes out in the book.

Failure to develop Catherine Barkley's character as much as Henry's who is changed from being a bit of a whoring, macho type to some degree of maturity by the end of the book.
 Lexi said there were 15(?) different endings considered by Hemingway.
Some people thought this ending was moving and effective.
 Literary effect of ordinary details of people and places: mountains,
and forests and fountains and trees; eating cold spaghetti when the
Austrian shell hit, etc.
 Some liked Sun Also Rises or the Old Man and the Sea better than
Farewell.
 Hard to follow dialogue (who said what?) but effective in putting
the reader in the room.


Thanks, Ed!!

Next month is Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  I have already started it and love the magic of it.  I might be accused of not suggesting a 'bookclub book,' but I will take my chances with this one.  Tim's house on November 28th is the venue and hopefully we will be toasting Tim on his victory!

Our entire group loved The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise with the exception of me (more about that later).  The group found Julia Stuart's writing to be clever and brilliant.  Tim, Terry, Mindy, Chrysanne and Lexi laughed out loud and found the novel to be just delightful.  For me, it felt a bit like the opening of the British Olympics...it was very British and I felt like I should be getting the cleverness, but I didn't!  I couldn't convince anyone who loved their experience with this book to write so I am enclosing a clip from the Washington Post (8/11/2010):

The plot [of The Tower, The Zoo and the Tortoise] centers on Beefeater Balthazar Jones, his Greek wife, Hebe, and their 181-year-old pet tortoise. Balthazar and Hebe's marriage is frayed by grief over their son, who died years earlier at the age of 11. Their apartment inside the Tower (where all Beefeaters must live) is damp and dismal, and often during evenings together they speak to each other "as if the place were filled with a million fluttering butterflies that neither dared disturb." During his workday, Balthazar has to please tourists who are "interested only in methods of torture, executions, and the whereabouts of the lavatories." Other wacky characters include Septimus Drew, the Tower chaplain who wins an erotic fiction award; the womanizing Ravenmaster who plots to ruin Balthazar; and Ruby Dore, a barmaid at the Tower's Rack & Ruin pub.

Things take a hilarious turn when Balthazar is suddenly appointed overseer of the Tower's newly acquired menagerie of exotic animals given to the queen by foreign dignitaries. Will Hebe leave Balthazar? Is their pet tortoise safe? Never fear. With her deft and charming style, Stuart brings this comic story to a satisfying and heartwarming end. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/10/AR2010081004926.html

 Next Month's selection is A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.  Lexi will be hosting at Mindy's on October 10th.  Perhaps Lexi would also be up for facilitating?