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 11th at Mindy’s house
to discuss The Glass Chateau by Steven Kiernan.
