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.