We Are Reading for January

Join us January 19 for a discussion of Anne Enright's The Gathering. A winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2007, this is not a book for the faint of heart. Given the technical term a "weepy", the book deals with some depressing material, but is beautifully written. For more information on the Man Booker prize and past winners, click here.
The Discussion:
Not many readers liked this book. Many found it unrelentingly grim., but found the discussion useful to understand it better. Critics say this book is excruciatingly Irish, and readers found her writing difficult to follow. She does jump around a bit. She reminds me of other short story writers.

We are Reading for December

In honor of the the 250 Anniversary of the City of Pittsburgh, we are reading In Sunlight, In a Beautiful Garden by Kathleen Cambor. This is a fictionalized account of the Johnstown Flood. This is a beautifully written novelization of the town and occupants of Johnstown. The author effortlessly wove the true events and people together with fictionalized characters and storylines. For more information about the 1889 flood, check the website of the Johnstown Flood Museum. In addition, check out other materials about the flood from the library. The library has a copy of David McCullough's book The Johnstown Flood , as well as the documentary dvd by the same title and narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.

We are Reading for November

For November we read The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta. Perrotta is also the author of the book Little Children that was made into a film in 2006 and nominated for three oscars.

To find links to reviews, and more information about the author, click here for the author's web site.

Many issues were covered in this little book concerning sexual mores. Many of the book group members did not like the characters and could not relate to them. However, I was impressed by the way the author made the characters engaging in spite of how flawed they were.

I have been seeing as a theme in contemporary books lately, is that middle aged women who say something daring, outrageous, or impertinent are the catalyst for the rising action in the story-line. I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this.

We are Reading for October

The Tender Bar: A Memoir by J. R. Moehringer. Moehringer, a national correspondent won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 2000. Take a look at the article he wrote that won the Pulitzer.

You can learn more about the author by visiting his web site.

This is a coming of age story about a fatherless boy looking for male role models to fill the void left by his absent father. The family he creates are those he finds in the local pub. Led by his Uncle Charlie and his fellow bartenders of Dickens/Publicans, Moehringer's family of men are portrayed lovingly and somewhat sentimentally. I found the book poignant and his story a testament to overcoming one's dysfunctional family.

Our Reading List Schedule

Click on the following link and you will see what we will be reading

http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/bookletter/showlist.html?sid=5649&list=CNL1

We Read and discussed in September

The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty. This book had a very good review in Kirkus Reviews. It is a follow-up from her debut novel The Center of Everything. This book follows a family following a fatal car accident

The group as a whole seemed to like the book. We agreed the main character (mother: Leigh), was a bit socially challenged but once we read the back story, it was clear, she did not receive the parenting that her own children received. All the characters were finely drawn, although I thought the father less so. Perhaps because we were reading from the perspective of the lead character whom we all agreed was fairly self-absorbed. This was a very interesting character study of a family a tragedy that effects an entire town.