City of Thieves

September's book selection was David Benioff's City of Thieves.  I am going to try to capture the discussion which was a bit all over the place.  The reviews were mixed.  Some loved the story, others were so so and Lexi did not like it.  Most of the discussion centered around the horrors and absurdities inherent in war, the worst of which were all captured within this novel.  The group agreed that the shortness of the novel helped the reader navigate the number of horrific scenes including cannibalism, murder, torture and not great sex.  The coming of age aspects, the chess game and the love story were all parts we enjoyed.  We had a good review on WWII history from the Russian perspective and bit by bit some of us will finally be able to put together a WWII history for ourselves!  In summary, the finalist for the Green Mountain Book Award, the cross over novel, City of Thieves gets a mixed review by the Greater Westford Literary Society.

A highlight of the evening was Tim's Eggplant Parmesan which featured home grown eggplants from Theresa's garden.  Very memorable!
Next month is a pick by our new member, Alan: The Natural by Bernard Malamud.  We are meeting at Mindy's with dinner by Lexi and I am not sure we ascertained a time, but since Mindy usually has to work, Let's say 7 on October 26th.

A Prayer for Owen Meany

In August, following our discussion of The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach,  we landed on A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving for August's read.  I am not sure how we made the connection except that there were references to A Prayer for Owen Meany in The Art of Fielding and there was a key character named Owen. And then there was that fact that Lexi grew up near John Irving... Who knows how we make these decisions about what we will read next.  In any case, I am late writing this review of our discussion and so I can only remember the bits and pieces that struck me.  At one point someone asked how I would be capturing the discussion and I knew then that it was complicated and probably not easy to capture, so I apologize in advance if I haven't done the discussion justice!

I think overall everyone enjoyed the novel.  There were so many different themes and characters to talk about and connections we could make which made this book great for discussion.  A predominant theme was that of religion.  We had a good discussion about our various religious backgrounds as they connected with the themes of Christianity and the different churches and ministers and priests featured in this novel.  For some, the religious metaphors provided a good backdrop, while for others, the references became tedious.  Some loved the Christmas Nativity Play, while others felt it was a bit overdrawn.  We also discussed the main character and what seemed to be a passive and secondary role to the more dominant personality of Owen Meany throughout the novel and how his character became so much more established and opinionated as an adult figure later in the book.

The fun part was listening to Lexi's story about building turtle traps and using caviar meant for a dinner party as bait for the traps, as well as consequences suffered as a result!  This is the part I love about book club.  I love the personal connections we make with what we read and then the sharing and learning about one another over our years of meeting.

Next month is a choice of novel that was settled almost immediately: The City of Thieves by David Benioff.  We are meeting at Tim's at 6:30 on August 28th.