This Really is the Book Group Blog

Sorry to send you to the school blog.  Google keeps switching accounts.  So...first book is Ways to Disappear and first meeting is October 24, 2018.

New York Journal of Books Review

Someone by Alice McDermott

Loved by all at the meeting, this small book about small lives touches on universal themes of family, faith, loneliness, identity, and love. Beautiful writing.  Touching moments.  Humor.  Insightful descriptions.   In short: Read It!

Don't believe us?  Read this review: 

Mesmerizes

It's been a long time...Look for a post shortly...

Shortly has been over a year and a half.  But we are back on line.  Hoping that members help add to entries.  

First meeting date of 2018 to 2019:  September 26th at the usual Sixth Street Home.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante: Discussion Notes

Mystery Solved?

Our usual biographical intro was quite brief...no one knows for sure who Elena Ferrante is.  She has said that she wants her books to stand on their own...not to be muddled by her real identity and biography. Some did not like the fact that someone tried to "out" her.  See link above.

Members listed authors whose true nature did impact their reading.  (Can't think of one.  Salinger?) Best  not to know and get absorbed in the writing.

One member read the 4 books out of order...she read Book 3 first.  Interesting that she did not feel order mattered.  Although she was confused by names. (Thus the list of characters in the front of each novel.)

One was pointed out that Lenu's mother, makes it possible for Lenu to advance beyond what is expected.  Will Lenu realize that as she ages?  

Another pointed out that the men do not come across very well.  At least not yet.  Will there be a mostly positive male  appearing?

Another mentioned that the complexity of friendship--with its ebb and flow from love to envy to emulation back to love--was beautifully portrayed.

Many have already read all four novels in the series.  Others are on their way.  

Next up:  Russell Banks The Darling

MISLAID by Nell Zink: Discussion Notes

Waited way too long to post the comments.  Since I left my copy home, couldn't keep notes in the margin. Perhaps the borders of my brain have retained some marginalia.  So here goes:

The quirky novel satirizes the American south of the 1960's.  Including:  Its view of race.  Attitudes towards gender and sexual identity. Traditional gender roles. The institution of marriage. The literary world of professors, celebrity poets and poetry critics. Zink, who now lives in Germany, has abandoned the America that she grew up in.  She said in an interview that from afar America feels like a third world country like Brazil. Thus the harsh humor?

Also Zink was married to a poet for a time. Could that be way she included this description about one celebrity poet?

"One of them brought along a Ouija board and let spirits write his poems." [page 18]

Just one sentence out of a whole passage of devastatingly hilarious comments.



Much to the joy of the sponsor, me, the novel was well received.  This novel...similar in structure to a Shakespeare comedy--has characters switch races and sexual roles, disappear for a while, and then reconnect to make a happy ending. It was a good amusing read for all (or most.)  Even non-attendees liked it...they weren't avoiding the discussion!  Surprising to me, because my quick reread made me sorry I recommended the book.   I realized that it is not a book to skim; the plot is not what it is about. Enjoy it slowly.  Savor the humor.

And once again, a popular book, made for a shorter discussion.  T---p dominated the discussion. I will not spell out his name.  Perhaps we are a third world country as Zink suggests.

Next Up:

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

BB Comment on Signature of All Things

"At book group, K, you said you thought the cave scene in “Signature” was silly. Since you missed the discussion, I want to point out that that scene completed a relationship of three’s of which there are at least three in the novel—the three young women; Alma, her husband and the "caveman;" and the three scientists. It seems to take three people, a trinity of sorts, to complete relationships, at least for this main character. Both she and the “cave man” loved the same man, and the cave sex scene completed and fulfilled Alma. “Signature” is constructed along the lines of an old fashioned novel, very artfully patterned.  “Mislaid,” on the other hand, seems purposely unstructured. "

Link to earlier post:

Brooklyn By the Book Event sent by LFC

Event

Brooklyn By the Book presents Jonathan Safran Foer

"Here I Am" is the monumental new novel from Jonathan Safran Foer. Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks, in present-day Washington, D.C., "Here I Am" is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. As Jacob and Julia and their three sons are forced to confront the distances between the lives they think they want and the lives they are living, a catastrophic earthquake sets in motion a quickly escalating conflict in the Middle East. Showcasing the same high-energy inventiveness, hilarious irreverence, and emotional urgency that readers and critics loved in his earlier work, "Here I Am" is Foers most searching, hard-hitting, and grandly entertaining novel yet.

This program will take place at Congregation Beth Elohim. General admission is $10; CBE/BPL-member admission is $7. Tickets may be used for a $7 discount on (1) copy of "Here I Am" on the night of the program. Book Bundles come with free admission. All books available for pickup or purchase at the program.

Please print tickets or have them available on your mobile device for faster admission. Doors at 7pm.

Brooklyn By the Book is a collaboration between the Brooklyn Public Library, Community Bookstore, and Congregation Beth Elohim.


Link to purchase tickets:

Jonathan Safran Foer

Elena Ferrante: A Fan?

Listen to her translator speak with Leonard Lopate.
R.K.sent the following link:

Information on Leonard Lopate Broadcast...

Signature of All Things: Discussion

A novel in the style of Dickens, fittingly so as it took place in the 1800's, brought us all together in agreement:  A really enjoyable book.  Including G!  (Although there was a moment when she almost talked herself out of liking it..)

Linear with a plot that chugged along, years flew by...written off  in a sentence--Signature of All Things was a welcome change from last month's book.  No time switching, no spiraling around to get to the truth...just a steady trip forward from point A to point B.
However, members commented:  Characters were flat, one dimensional--like the ones that people Dickens' novels.

Some comments not heard: Blogger had not finished book.
Sexual stuff felt forced and anachronistic.  Agree?
Character went on her own journey filled with Food, Love, and Spirituality similar to author's journey in Eat, Pray, Love?

How are evolution and altruism compatible?  Here is a link if you want to read up on it.

Next month:  My recommendation is up.  Yikes.

Next Up: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

March 16, 2016

NPR review

A Perfect Spy...Discussion

Thanks to B.B. here are notes on discussion:

Eight of us met on a dark and stormy night to discuss the perfectly marvelous A Perfect Spy. Our sponsor gave a rundown of John Le Carre aka John Cornwall’s life--important as this book is considered his most autobiographical. She also provided a link to an interview with the author.

John Le Carre Website

Those of us who haven’t read A Perfect Spy for a second time are about to. It’s so dense, so layered, so beautifully written that a second read is an enhanced experience of the first. The psychologist in the group said that Magnus spends his whole life seeking what his parents had failed to give him and that that’s a doomed endeavor for anyone. Tom, the beloved 12-year-old son of Magnus and Mary, is the hope for the future. Rick, Magnus’s father, we decided, fits the definition of a sociopath, but not Magnus himself because that shape-shifter at least possesses a conscience. No one except Tom is an innocent here, including Mary, and yet our heart goes out to her because, although her marriage was engineered, she loves her family—not only Tom but also Magnus, whom she has come to view not as a cover but as her husband. We thought this more of a psychological novel than a spy story. It’s only in the last 150 of the 600 pages that a chase sets in.

Several members emailed that they couldn’t attend because they hadn’t read enough of the book. This is not a book the reader can breeze through. Some of us tried to skim through a second time and found that we had to read word for word all over again. And it’s worth it!

Off Shore by Penelope Fitzgerald: Discussion Notes

A tragic farce whose dark humor found fans among the book club members.  The book didn't engage some readers at first; it took a while to be drawn into the various characters' stories,  And sometimes unlabeled dialogue required some rereading to figure out who said what to whom.  The implausibly precocious children--could they really have the insights that they did--was another flaw for some. But overall, the  story of the dysfunctional group of Thames houseboat dwellers in the early 1960s appealed to readers.

 Other books by Fitzgerald were recommended even more highly by the sponsor and others.

Two mentioned include:

The Blue Flower 

Human Voices  

Why Off Shore then?  The sponsor picked it because it won The Booker Prize!  Shouldn't the prize givers know best???  Will be checking out her other work!

What struck me and (perhaps others) was that the author didn't start writing until she was in her 60's. Giving hope to me (and others?) that it wasn't too late to write a novel or in one member's case--a second novel? (Although, I'm closer to 70 than 60.)  Is all of that critical thinking about books a way to channel that writing bug?   Stop blogging and start novelizing.  Now.

The True History of the Kelly Gang: Discussion Notes

Ten of us gathered to discuss The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey. One member worked on the scarf she’s knitting for her daughter for Christmas.  Because of the scarf, she hadn’t finished the book—although her husband had read aloud a portion as she knit. From the book’s sponsor, we learned that Ned Kelly was a real person who really did fabricate for himself and his gang the armor that explains why Australia players donned armor in the recent Olympics.  Ned Kelly divides Aussies into those who revere him and those who despise him. Peter Carey, a native Australian, was living in New York when he attended a showing of artwork featuring Kelly. Influenced by the writings of Faulkner, Joyce, and a 58-page account written by Kelly himself, Carey sets out in this novel to tell the story from Ned’s point of view. The author grew up in a region where people talked like Kelly, which may explain his ability to relate almost the entire story in an ungrammatical, yet—most of us felt—lyrical and colorful voice. Our sponsor then played for us a rendering of Mick Jagger singing in the persona of Ned Kelly.

We found Ned’s childhood the most affecting part of the story. In an Oedipal element, he bears some responsibility at the age of 12 for his father’s death, and he forges such a strong bond with his mother, Ellen, that others accuse him of acting as though he were her lover. Ellen, is a strong and well-drawn character, who helps and hurts her son in equal measure. From her, he learns the old Irish stories. Family love and loyalty persist in the onslaught of prejudice, governmental injustice, and the pursuit by crooked men of the beautiful but what we would today label woefully codependent Ellen.

In his devotion to family, his work ethic, and his skills, Ned has the makings of an upstanding citizen. Because his mother apprentices him in his early teens to a robber, however, his short life consists instead of  aiding and abetting, serving prison sentences, committing murder, living on the run, robbing banks, and hanging by the neck until dead. Knowing this fate from the beginning doesn’t ruin the novel’s suspense. There are plenty of twists and much humor in this dark tale—and much noble behavior on the part of outlaws.

Our discussion turned to the “outlaws” in our own country and around the world, some of whom have had no more opportunity than Ned Kelly to live respectable lives. At evening’s end, a couple of members noted that the knitter wasn’t make much progress and, given the rapid approach of Christmas, suggested a faster method. The knitter explained, however, that since this was the only way she knew, she would just have to carry on as she had begun. Sort of like poor Ned Kelly.

B.B.

2015-2016 Book List

October

Days of Abandonment
Elena Ferrante
New Yorker Review



November

Artful
Ali Smith
NPR Review

December

The True History of the Kelly Gang

Peter Carey

New York Times Review

January 20, 2016

Offshore

Penelope Fitzgerald

The Guardian Review

February 24, 2016

A Perfect Spy

John le Carre

New Yorker Article

March 16, 2016

Signature of All Things

Elizabeth Gilbert

Washington Times Review

April 20, 2016

Mislaid

Nell Zink

New York Times Review

May 18, 2016 

My Brilliant Friend

Elena Ferrante

The New York Review of  Books

June 15, 2016

The Darling

Russell Banks

The New York Times Review

Artful by Ali Smith: Discussion Notes

A book that made some readers feel ... "stupid".   And made one..feel "smart" and loving the intellectual challenge and opportunity to talk about her insights. What about the rest?  Some not taking the difficulty of reading the book personally, but feeling the need to dissect and analyze sections and references much as they did in literature classes back in the day. A number of absent members:  a statement about their feelings towards the book?  A coincidence?  AND  an absent, fluish sponsor missed for her insights.

A thought:  Meet for dinner before the next meeting to chat with the sponsor?  We aren't ready to give up the challenge.  K. Are you up for this?

What was (mostly) agreed upon...

The sections on loss of a life partner were brilliantly done and probably the best part of the book.

The book cannot be read once straight through and be fully understood; much as the author claims is true for all literature as it is true for music and other works of art. 

Being in the lecture hall hearing the "book" would have made it more understandable.  

A lot of the references were made to books that we have read in the group.

{Let's read, reread a classic every year...Oliver Twist?}

Love that the author played with words including the title "Artful." {Artful Dodger}

The New York Times book review really worthwhile reading.

And the cover photo is not of the author, but of a Greek actor referenced in the book.  AHA!

And...

This book made for a good discussion due to variety of and strength of  reactions to it.

KK, sponsor,  response:

“Although I would love to have dinner as suggested, I usually have clients just before book group so I can't do it. I can say that I too was challenged by her intellectual and academic references (I was probably familiar with about half the materials she referenced) but I found it fun and stimulating. I loved the ghost! Anyway, I was really bummed to miss out on the discussion because I suspected the discussion generated by the lectures was integral to the experience of reading the book; and it sounds like this is exactly what happened; I just wasn't there share in the experience!”

  

Next Title: Artful

NPR Review

First Date: October 21, 2015...

First Book:

"Days of Abandonment" by Elena Farrente

New Yorker Review

New York Times Review

Summer Reading Recommendations

All the Light We Cannot See

Two in the Far North

I am Pilgrim

Flight Behavior

Museum of Innocence

Small Mercies

Epitaph of a Small Winner: A Novel

Stoner

LuLu Goes to College

The Boys in the Boat

The Buried Giant

Mislaid

Room for MORE.  Send your recommendations.