Spies of the Balkans

For July, we read Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst.  Alan Furst was well known to Ed, Tim and Fred who have read some of his previous spy thrillers.  Alan Furst is noted for his accuracy in the reporting of historical political intrigues.  Spies of the Balkans was set in Salonika, Greece in 1941 during the beginning of WW2.  Our main character became part of a movement to help Jewish people escape from the Nazi's by way of a route that traveled through Greece.  The group all agreed that the setting and historical facts were interesting and provided for some good discussion.  We thought that the author disappointed in his development of the relationships, particularly those involving romance.

I think I speak for all when I say that the highlight of the evening was the dinner, prepared by Lexi in the Greek tradition!  Here are a few shots of dinner (sorry you missed it, Terry):

Next month, as planned, we will read a classic: Fathers and Sons by Turgenev.  We will meet at Tim's on August 27th.  

Shadow of the Wind

This month, we read Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  I am late writing this update because I don't know what to say.  In our bookclub, we refer to books as being 'bookclub books'  or 'not bookclub books.'  Now, I knew when I suggested this book that it was in danger of being a 'not bookclub book.'  Don, a former member would explain that a book that was based on plot and action is difficult to discuss.  When we couldn't decide on a book, I threw it out because, well, it did sell 15 million copies, lots of people have read it in their bookclub and it is a book about books.  I just loved the idea of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and the coming of age ritual of choosing a book from the Cemetery and protecting that book.  Ok, as my bookclub members discussed, the plot does unravel into a highly unlikely story and there wasn't really all that much to discuss...except for the great cheese and wine Fred provided for us to accompany a great summer meal complete with decadent dessert!

Next month, Fred suggested Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst.  And after that the Bookclub members have vowed to read a classic and everyone is charged with bringing a suggestion.  I have mine all prepared and I hope everyone is working on theirs!  See you on July 30th at Mindy's House!

Canada by Richard Ford

Remember last blog where I wrote about our crazy process for choosing new books? Lots of suggestions, then decisions, then amendment to the decisions? Well, this has never happened before, but one of our members read the wrong book! Terry read Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore-one of the books Fred had suggested. When in fact, the group had decidedly chosen Canada by Richard Ford!

For each of us, the reading of Canada was a different experience. Everyone agreed that the language in the novel was beautifully crafted. Everyone also agreed that Ford articulated some amazing insights shared by his 6o something narrator explaining the details of his trauma filled 15-year-old life. From there we had mixed reactions. Chrysanne thought the book was just too wordy and too long. For Mindy and myself, we were puzzled about the lack of emotion in the narrator's retelling of his story of bank robbery, murder, and abandonment. Mindy cited a great quote: I was only 15 then and used to believing what people told me-sometimes more than what I believed in my heart...I didn't connect these feelings to my feelings now, or recognize they meant the same thing.  We each thought that the description of what it felt like to be part of and victim to an unhappy relationship was well developed.  Ford writes  of his parents' relationship: The longer they stayed on, and the better they knew each other, the better she at least could see their mistake, and the more misguided their lives became-like a long proof in mathematics in which the first calculation is wrong, following which all other calculations move your further away from how things were when they made sense.  Finally, for Ed who had lived in the area of the world where the novel was set, he loved the novel wrapped in this setting.  And Tim, I think Tim liked it as well-albeit he agreed that the novel was lengthy.  Terry was a great sport and filled us in on Sacre Bleu!

Next month we are reading something a bit light: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zaffon.  We will be meeting at Fred's house on June 26th.

Lacuna

 Lucana means a missing part or an empty space.  Last night we had a lively discussion about Barbara Kingsolver's novel, Lacuna.  Chrysanne chose this book perhaps to keep a bit of Mexico with her since her return from Oaxaca this Spring.  There were mixed reviews with members either loving the book, liking parts of it,  with others not able to continue reading.  Ed had an interesting comment when he said it was strange to read historical fiction about a time in which he had lived.

The beginning of the novel is set in Mexico in the midst of the chaotic household of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.  Our main character, Harrison Shepherd lived and worked with Rivera and Kahlo until they had a falling out with their house guest, Leon Trotsky.  Then Harrison Shepherd lived and worked with Trotsky, witnessing his death and motivating him to move back to the US.

Fast forward, Harrison Shepherd ends up in Ashville, North Carolina where he settles into an agoraphobic lifestyle with the ever efficient Violet Brown as an assistant.  He writes novels about the Aztecs until he is interogated by the FBI under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover.  We experience the horrors of the MeCarthy era where up to 12,000 people lost their jobs and careers after being blacklisted as a communist threat to the United States.  Tim shared a great Vermont fact that it was a Vermont Senator, Ralph Flanders who was noted for introducing a 1954 motion in the Senate to censure Senator Joseph McCarty.

We end the novel with Violet Brown writing what we know as Lacuna with the diaries she has kept of Harrison Shepard's life.  We also revisit the lacuna Harrison found when he was a boy on the coast.  Other connections with lacunas were found in the book including Frida Kahlo's moving central quote about how the most important thing about a person is what is not seen or hidden.  Mindy pointed out this central theme while other lacuna's were cited as the gaps in Harrison's relationships, as well as references to the ending of the novel.

Our discussion mirrored the positive NY Times Book Review and the not so positive NPR Book Review.  In any case, the discussion was lively and fun, as usual.  Preceded by a much more lively conversations of topics worthy of a murder mystery!

Our next novel is Canada by Richard Ford.  Here is the NY Times Review.  We will meet at Cindy's on May 20th.

The Return of the Soldier

 As Terry so aptly put, after a long discussion on The Return of the Soldier, Who would have thought we would have had so much to say about such a short book-it shouldn't even be a book!  It's a short story!  We discussed the love story, the World War I, feminism in 1918, Freud, Jung, amnesia, class structure, and sexuality -all themes covered in our short book.  Some have called it the perfect novel.  Terry just couldn't believe a work so short could be called a novel.  Mindy was busy looking up the definition of a novel, but we never did get the answer.

Everyone was united in hating Kitty and feeling sorry for Chris when his memory returned-which Terry still doubts since the book ended saying he 'walked like a soldier..."  What does that mean, anyway?  We wondered about Jenny's passions and allegiances-was she in love with Chris?  or Margaret? or both?

Some of us loved the language and long elaborate sentences, while others found them too long and tedious, pointing out that it distracted from the meaning of the text.  Everyone, however was happy for the reprieve of a shorter piece and the lively discussion.

Between all of us, we put together facts about Rebecca West which intrigued most of us...Rebecca West was a pseudonym for her birth name, Cecily Isabel Fairfield.  She was also known as Dame Rebecca West.  She was a prolific writer who wrote in different genres: fiction, nonfiction, journalistic reporting and reviewing literary works.  She was an active feminist as well.  She had long affair with H.G. Wells and they had a son together.

The next meeting will be at Chrysanne's house.  Just back from Mexico, Chrysanne thought reading Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver was a good choice for our next book.  We will meet on April 22nd.

As an afternote, people often ask us how we choose our next book.  Last night was a great example of our process.  Those of us who had books presented them to the others.  We must have had at least a dozen great choices.  We passed them around, giving  our opinions of pro's and con's.  Since the meeting was at Chrysanne's she had the lead in the choice.  She suggested Lacuna to start.  Then we continued to discuss choices, or rather shouted and interrupted one another for about 10 minutes before  Chrysanne said, "Ok, let's take a vote."  Then somehow a book the club had read before which wasn't even on the list of books we were considering ended up thrown into the mix.  Chrysanne gave us each two votes and then took about 3 more votes before bringing us right back to Lacuna as a choice. We all agreed that  discussion of book choices for the next meeting is sometimes more lively than our actual discussion! 

The Last of the Mohicans

 Let me begin by saying that we all loved reading James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans.  Not only was it enjoyable and at times a page turner, but we all found it inspiring in our own ways.  Ed, ever the historian proudly pointed out the two framed maps in the entrance to the kitchen which displayed on the one side, the French version of early United States and on the other, the British version.  Ed, having grown up on the Hudson explained where Fort William Henry and Fort Edwards were located and where many parts of the novel were set along our present Northway!  All this with Louise in the backdrop cooking up a feast of crab cakes, roast beef and vegetables which she referred to as cod cakes and venison.

Tim was able to explain all the in's and out's of the many Indian tribes referred to in the novel with some poetic license. In fact, he researched that there are actual Mohicans alive today and that James Fenimore Cooper merged two different tribes together in his writing about the Mohicans-who can blame him for a little poetic license in 1820?

Mindy began our discussion by reading a quote from the end of the novel: "It is enough," he [Tamenund] said.  "Go children of the Lenape, the anger of the the Manitou is not done.  Why should Tamenund stay?  the pale faces are the masters of the earth and the time of the redmen has not yet come again.  My day has been too long.  In the morning I saw the sons of the Unamis happy and strong; and yet, before the night has come, have I lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans.  She pointed out how interesting it was that James Fenimore would make a statement of such strength and controversy in 1823 when the sentiments against the Native Americans was still strong.  And I was impressed with James Fenimore Coopers daring reference to a possible romance between a British Woman and a Mohican.

Terry referenced how interesting it was to remember and think about the French Indian war and enlightened us on the connection with the seven years war in Europe and the battle to prevent Frederick the Great from total domination.  And consequently how Great Britain won the colonies at such a cost that they were forced to impose large taxes to make up the debt which of course led to the Revolutionary war.  This discussion was such a great history and economic lesson all wrapped up and topped with the best lemon pudding and fresh fruit cake created by Louise!

For next month, we only  had a short reading period and so we read through another book club's blog and chose a short novel, The Return of the Solder by Rebecca West.  We will meet at Cindy's house on March 13th at 7 PM. 

The Transit of Venus

A transit of Venus across the sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth (or another planet), becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun. The duration of such transits is usually measured in hours (the transit of 2012 lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes).  Transits of Venus are among the rarest of predictable astronomical phenomena. They occur in a pattern that generally repeats every 243 years, with pairs of transits eight years apart separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. The last transit of Venus was June 5th and 6th 2012, and was the last Venus transit of the 21st century; the prior transit took place June 8th.  The previous pair of transits were in December 1874 and December 1882. The next transits of Venus will be December 10–11, 2117, and in December 2125.


This month we read the Transit of Venus, or should I say, most of us attempted to complete the very complex and ornately written novel.  acceptance of larger patterns beyond the individual's fate.  The title implies an While we found Shirley Hazzard's sentences to be each a piece of artwork, the reading was tedious at times.    We all appreciated what an incredible novelist Shirley Hazzard is, having spent 7 years writing the Transit of Venus, however, it was, nonetheless wanting for many of us.  We had difficulty identifying with or being taken in by the characters.  While the romantic intrigue kept some of us going, most of us had difficulty understanding that at the end, Carolyn and Ted actually do become a couple, albeit for about an hour.  I think it is safe to say that we all agreed that Shirley Hazzard's novel was a great piece of literature-just not a preferred style of writing by our members.  But in the wise words of Mindy, this is why we love The Greater Westford Literary Society Bookclub-the choices of novels sometimes stretches us to read books we would not have reached for on our own.  We are all glad to have met Shirley Hazzard's prose and are duly impressed. 


For next month, Ed suggested a classic adventure novel, The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.  We are anxiously looking forward to a venison stew or perhaps one of Ed's famous Lasagnes on February 13th.  Since it is over 500 pages, I am on it already!

Update!!!  We have moved bookclub to the 18th at Ed's due to some very important legislative activities for Tim.   Now that I have finished the book, I am really hoping that Ed does not serve raw deer meat!