Melissa's adventures

Picture 1: riding in a boat on the Ganges. It looks so comfy!

Picture 2: riding a camel in India

She also was teaching English to some Buddhist monks.

What an Adventure...

Cops?

November was another fun meeting with lots of book titles bandied about.  The topic for this month was cops, but it was really more of a guideline.

Through the Door by Jodi McIsaac
The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King
Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner
Burnt Mountain by Anne Rivers Siddons
The Geneva Trap by Stella Rimington
Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
Started Early Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson
The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons
Finding Casey by JoAnn Mapson
The Passage and The Twelve by Justin Cronin
Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Luis Carlos Montalvan
The Ideal Man by Julie Garwood
The Space Between Before and After by Jean Reynolds Page
The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Adler
The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen
Gone by Lisa Gardener
A Wanted Man by Lee Child
Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
books by Margaret Truman
The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell
The Shadow Girls by Henning Mankell and Ebba Segerberg

Happy Reading!

With September Comes Change

Our theme this month was change and we discovered that every book contains some form of change because that is what drives plot forward.  Since the original intent of book club was to reach outside our comfort zone to find reading material I think this month was a wonderful chance to explore. 

Our little group has undergone lots of change since we started.  It used to be me, talking to my friends about books, then convincing them to take time to come to my house and talk some more about books, and finally us cajoling each other into trying something new.  One friend in particular required some convincing to even participate.  She kept saying things like “I don’t have time to read,” and “But I read so slowly that I wouldn’t have anything to talk about.”  That person proudly shared 5 titles with us this meeting that she read in the past month.

Another friend will begin a journey soon that will take her away from us and her normal day-to-day life for 6 months.  I can’t help but think this journey will change her life, maybe in only small ways, maybe in very large ways. We will miss her creativity, insight and humor until she comes back and we wish her well.

Our membership has changed over time and our group dynamic has as well.  As we share not only our reading recommendations but also our thoughts, feelings, experiences and knowledge, we build relationships within the group.  We find friends to spend time with, we find kindred spirits to share ideas with, and we support each other in small and very large ways.

Here’s what we discussed: (in alphabetical order by title so as not to show favoritism)

Title	Author
11/22/1963: A Novel	Stephen King
Around the World in 80 Dates	Jennifer Cox
Going After Cacciato	Tim O'Brien
Gun Games	Faye Kellerman
Present Danger	Stella Rimington
Ruth's Redemption	Marlene Banks
She's Such A Geek! women write about science, technology & other nerdy stuff	Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders
Something Fierce	Carmen Aguirre
Started Early, Took My Dog	Kate Atkinson
The 19th Wife	David Ebershoff
The Brass Verdict	Michael Connelly
The Chocolate Thief	Laura Florand
The House at Tyneford	Natasha Solomons
The Kingdom of Men	Kim Barnes
The Notebook	Nicholas Sparks
The Slave Across the Street	Theresa Flores and Peggy Sue Wells
The Things They Carried	Tim O'Brien
The Wedding	Nicholas Sparks
Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him	Luis Carlos Montalvan
What in God's Name	Simon Rich
What is the What	Dave Eggers
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail	Cheryl Strayed
Witch and Wizard	James Patterson
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War	Max Brooks

Fifty Shades, Yellow Silk and “Give me back my wiener!”

We had a great time at our annual summer barbeque and the theme for August was once again “hot” summer reads.  Thanks go to our wonderful hosts for a rollicking good time (and to their indulgent neighbors who did not call the police).  Here’s what we read:

The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCollough

Around the World in 80 Dates by Jennifer Cox

True Believer by Nicholas Sparks

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

In One Person by John Irving

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

The Infinite Tides by Christian Kiefer

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

The Saint of Lost Things by Christopher Castellani

The Night Villa by Carol Goodman

Friends Lovers Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith

get in line to buy this book

Wilderness by Lance Weller

I have read hundreds of books.  I read while I eat, I listen to books while I drive, I sleep with the light on so if I wake up in the middle of the night I can read some more.  I love to read.  I am usually in a hurry when I read because there are so many books waiting to be read (and so much of real life demanding my attention).  That kind of reading works well for ordinary books, but Wilderness is no ordinary book.  It is a work of art made of words.  I was drawn gently into the story with its rich images and complex characters.  I refuse to discuss or disclose plot because every description I have read falls short and I wish everyone could experience the book the way I did, completely without warning.  Like so many of my favorite books, the story builds slowly with seemingly unrelated threads forming a pattern of   relationships.  The story has a unique rhythm that is best enjoyed by completely immersing yourself in it.  With each chapter I thought wow, it just can’t get better than this, and then it did.  I hope you have the same experience I did, when I closed the back cover I immediately opened the front cover to read it again. 

http://www.bloomsbury.com/Wilderness/Lance-Weller/books/details/9781408829202

http://www.amazon.com/Wilderness-A-Novel-Lance-Weller/dp/1608199371

notes from February

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark
Riding the Bus with my Sister by Rachel Simon
Sizzle by Julie Garwood
books by Carly Phillips
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
Love the One You're With by Emily Griffin
I Like You by Amy Sedaris
Little Bee by Chris Cleave

You were right, I was wrong. Thank you.

Our theme for the April meeting will be Biography. I hate biographies and I made this very clear at January's meeting. I have tried to read several and hated every one of them. I whined and complained and wanted to change the theme. But no, you all wouldn't let me out of it. Instead you recommended Unbearable Lightness by Portia DeRossi.

I am so glad that peer pressure made me read this book. It was difficult to read, but even more difficult to put down. It was one of those books that made me wish my insomnia was back so I could spend more time reading it. With most books, even biographies and memoirs that I have read in the past, there is a separation between the author and the reader. I get to know the characters, and the author professionally, rather than the author as a human being. That's why I usually like audio books better than print books because I like the feeling of someone telling me a story. While reading the print version of this book I felt like Portia was right there with me and talking to me. I was constantly surprised each time I closed the book to find myself back in my own life.

Thank you dear friends for pushing me outside my comfort zone, and thank you Portia for writing this book. You have given readers the very special gift of sharing a part of yourself, and nothing could ever be more valuable.

Two Recommendations from the Gentlemen's Auxiliary

The African Queen, by C. S. Forester

“Although she herself was ill enough to justify being in bed had she been a person weak-minded enough to give up, Rose Sayer could see that her brother, the Reverend Samuel Sayer, was far more ill.” That is the opening line of the book they made into a classic movie. Read the book.

The sailors amongst you will appreciate Forester, who also gave us Horatio Hornblower, knows and tells us what it really takes to voyage down a river in a working steam launch. He considers the machinery, the boat, the river, and the logistics. We feel the labor of the requirement for the
boat and its crew. This is a story you can appreciate.

The warriors amongst you will appreciate the commitment to a mission. Forester shows you the exhaustion, the roadblocks, the rise and fall of doubt, the courage that you find and the fears that accumulate, the comrades you support, and the support they give you; all that it takes to preserver, and the very real possibility of failing. This is a story you can appreciate.

This is a story for the poets and the incurable romantics amongst you. Forester gives you a story
to make you believe there is reason to hope; shows you the unlikeliest people, who’ve given up on love if they ever believed in it, can still find love, can fall in love, can be uplifted by love. This is a story you can appreciate.

This is a page turner that tells you what the movie could only try to show you, what Hepburn and Bogart could only hint at. Read the book.



The Confidential Agent by Graham Greene

From the jacket of my talking book:
“Without Graham Greene we might never have had Le Carre’, Ludlam, Follett and the rest. They owe him much. He made authentic detail, evocation of atmosphere and meticulous plotting essential elements of the “spy thriller.” It wouldn’t be going too far to say that Graham Greene created the genre."

I cavil at only one word of that description. I would call the book a “spy drama” rather than thriller. There is no daring-do, no skilled and carefully developed “trade craft,” no martial arts training that disables foes at a glance and a flick of the wrist. It had none of the excitement television and movies have made common place. There is one car chase, but that does not end well.

The plot is simple. From a foreign country ravaged by civil war a confidential agent comes to 1930’s England to bargain for coal, a resource which both sides need. He is opposed by an agent from the other side, and not entirely trusted by his own side.

This book has my complete recommendation without any of the quibbling, half-hearted and caveat-laden words of the previous recommendation of a Greene story (This Gun For Hire). The
Confidential Agent is a far more thoughtful “entertainment” which is how Greene described all his works. I will offer a warning: It starts slowly, very slowly. There is no grabber first sentence, first paragraph, first half, but perseverance is rewarded with a thoughtful story, a storyline that pulls you in with compelling gentleness, convincing credibility, and a well thought-out philosophy that smacks of all the ambiguities of Smiley and Le Carre’. I will tell you now the ending is perfect, perfectly unexpected, and yet easily predicted in hindsight.

I will make one other recommendation. Listening to this story in the talking book format is probably better than reading it. The narration is in the third person, but the voice of the narrator as the author wrote him shares the lead character’s tired disillusionment at life, his ennui with death and fear, distrust and small unintended treacheries. When I read, it is hard for me to hear all that reflected from the text to echo in my inner ear. The reader of my talking book achieved it. Choose the format that is convenient to your habits, but try to keep this in mind.

This story also explores some interesting questions. In America, when a quiet, unassuming, pacifist character is pushed too far, made to accept too many indignities, faced with an unacceptable injustice he snaps to become John Wayne on the trail of revenge. Is that true of everyone, even a middle aged disenfranchised professor of Romance Languages in 1930’s England? What does he do when he snaps? What about the idea of war as infection, a communicable disease that infects the people around the carrier agents? When you are not trusted, should you remain trustworthy, committed? There are others to roll around in your head as you enjoy this “entertainment.”