What We Are Reading in December

All Shall Be Well; And All Shall Be Well; And All Manner of Things Shall Be Well by Tod Wodicka. Described by a reviewer for the New York Times as "tender and oddball", this is a first novel for the author. Book discussion is Monday, December 21 at 7pm.

And don't forget our film viewing and discussion of No Country for Old Men Monday, December 14 at 6:30pm.

What We Are Reading In November

On November 16 we will discuss the book: No Country For Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy. A lot of information can be found on the Official Web Site of the Cormac McCarthy Society. Including his biography, discriptions of his books, and more. There are several reviews to be found of the book, including the New York Times, The Guardian, etc. These links are provided by metacritic.com.

BOOK TO FILM: No Country For Old Men
We have a special Book to Film treat to offer in addition to the book discussion in the month of December. We will have a viewing and discussion on the film No Country For Old Men on December 14. Elaine Wertheim will show and lead the discussion of the film starting at 6:30. To prepare yourselves, here are a few links to film reviews:
Rolling Stone
New York Times

What we are reading for October

The October book is Map of Home by Randa Jarrar. What I really like about choosing books for the book group, is finding books that people may never hear about, that are contemporary, and which deal with issues of our time. Randa Jarrar is a novelist and translater who grew up in Kuwait and Egypt. Her novel Map of Home won the Arab American Book Award in 2009.

Some of the books I have chosen lately are by authors who have their own web sites. In most cases these are very young authors, but not always. I find this ability for artists to promote themselves and their work exciting and very interesting; it provides a view into the author that we might not have had before. For instance Ms. Jarrar's web site includes a link to a review of her book. The reviewing source is a blog called Electronic Intefada which "is a not-for-profit, independent publication committed to comprehensive public education on the question of Palestine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the economic, political, legal, and human dimensions of Israel's 40-year occupation of Palestinian territories."

What We Are Reading In September

The group will meet on Monday, September 21 to read Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh . The book is about the opium trade set in 1838 and is the first of a trilogy of books featuring the ship Ibis. For a review of the book click here.

Ghosh is one of the most well known Indians writing in English today. He has won several literary prizes including: The Kiriyama for the Hungry Tide, the Prix Medici Etranger for The Circle of Reason, The Sahitya Akademi (India's most prestigious literary award) for The Shadow Lines, The Calcutta Chromosome won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1997, and the Glass Palace won the Grand Prize for Fiction at the Franfurt International e-book Awards in 2001. This information was taken from his blog and website. For more click here.

As I read this book, I find that a lot of the dialog is difficult to follow since so much of it is in the vernacular. Here is a web site that may be useful while reading: Hobson Jobson

What We Are Reading In August

Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin. I love it when authors have their own website. Check it out. It even has excerpts and reviews of her books. Join us August 17 at 7pm for our book discussion.

We Are Reading In July

Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum. This book was a National Book Award finalist in 2004. Book Forum has a review of this book. Here is a website for the book. I love the section that includes music.

We Are Reading In June

Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith. I have found her website which provides her official biography, list of her publications, etc. The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County have provided an interview of Ms. Smith.