Book Club Meeting - October 31, 2011

Meeting was held at Joy's house in Concord, NH. Book discussed was: "A Tale of Two Valleys" by Alan Deutschman. I (Kathy) missed this meeting and have not had a report of opinions on this book.

Group voted for books suggested by Carol, for the January read. Book chosen was " Reservation Blues" by Sherman Alexie.

There will be no meeting at the end of November. Instead, we will meet at Pembrook on December 5, at 1:00pm. We will continue of tradition of having a "Yankee Book Swap". Please bring a new (un-read) book. Book to be discussed at the December meeting is "Power of One" By Bryce Courtenay.

Book Suggestions for January, 2011 Meeting

Carol make the following suggestions:



1. " Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King ,494 pages,1994

...a brilliant, if slightly confusing, satire on the way white-christian-capitalist culture in North America has mistreated the aboriginal people. Blending reality and legend, this story pokes fun at the Canadian and American governments, Hollywood, and Christianity, through the lives of several Blackfoot people, both on and off the reserve, and the meddling of four ancient Indians and the trickster-god Coyote. This is a story that makes you think, while tears of laughter are rolling down your cheeks.

. I discovered it in my Native American Fiction class during my senior year at Yale, and in my four years as a literature major, I'd never read anything better. Thomas King is a genius

King's auspicious debut novel, Medicine River ( LJ 8/90), garnered critical acclaim and popular success (including being transformed into a TV movie). This encore, a genially wild tale with a serious heart, confirms the author's prowess. It involves the creation of a creation story, the mission of four ancient Indians, and the comparatively realistic doings of 40-year-old-adolescent Lionel Red Dog, unfazable cleaning woman Babo, and various memorable Blackfoot and others in scenic Alberta. Clever verbal motifs not only connect the stories but add fun visual themes, including missing cars and a ubiquitous Western movie. In the end, everyone is thrown together by an earthquake at white human-made Parliament Lake, compliments of the four old Indians and the loopy trickster Coyote. Smart and entertaining,

2."Ghost in Love, by Johnathen Carroll 2009, 370 pages

From Publishers Weekly

Death is not the end but rather the start of a series of madcap and sometimes moving adventures for characters in this spry novel about the un-afterlife. Events begin on a wintry day in Connecticut when Ben Gould slips and hits his head on a curb. He should have died, but owing to a virus in heaven's computer system, Ben's body lives on. Soon, Ben and others in his life—including his talking dog, Pilot, and his own ghost (named Ling)—find themselves endowed with extraordinary and unpredictable talents, including time traveling, the ability to hobnob with multiple incarnations of their younger selves, and a capacity to see otherwise invisible forces of fate manifested in bizarre physical forms. Carroll (Glass Soup) tethers the series of loopy incidents that ensues and their shaggy-dog explanation to incisive and poignant observations about the wondrous possibilities of everyday life that are the hallmark of his flippant style of fantasy. Carroll fans will best appreciate this jeu d'esprit. (Oct.)

3. " Nine- Inside the secret world of the Superior Court" by Jeffrey Toobin app 480 pages, 2008

Over the years any number of best selling books have been written about the U.S. Supreme Court. If you are an avid reader like myself then you have probably read a few of them. Of all of the books I have read on this subject I found Jeffrey Toobin's new offering "The Nine: Inside The Secret World of the Supreme Court" to be among the very best. As senior legal analyst for CNN and a staff writer for "The New Yorker" Jeffrey Toobin is uniquely qualified to tackle a topic that most Americans know precious little about and frankly find a bit mysterious. Like peeling the skin from an onion Toobin succeeds in revealing just who these justices are and how they have evolved over time. It is a fascinating study.

4. " Reservation Blues" by Sherman Alexie, 1995, 320 pages

Through the entertaining story of the rise and fall of a Spokane garage band, Sherman Alexie manages to pack the complexities and frustrations of contemporary Native American Indian life on and off the Reservation. Though his narrative is full of droll wit, his themes are profound. He speaks of the poverty, alcoholism and broken family structure that haunt reservations, of the meanness of HUD housing, surplus food and the local police. As for co-existence with whites: any white left after reading this who thinks white culture understands and treats Indians better these days is as dense as they come. The author explores how outside culture bids for the Indian soul. There is an identity crisis for sure, a rattling sense of purposelessness. Infusing the story with mythic components that extend beyond specific ethnic borders, the author expresses the anger without hate and searches for purpose and redemption. His sentence structure is deceptively straightforward. It drips with allusion and music. In a few strokes, each character becomes a fully developed individual. I hadn't read this talented writer's work before and am in awe of his voice

5. Dancing at the Rascal Fair, by Ivan Doig, 1996, 405 pages

The settlement of Montana between 1890 and 1919 is recounted through the quiet but compelling life of Angus McCaskill, a young Scotsman who travels with his friend Rob Barclay to Montana's Two Medicine Country to homestead. Doig writes fervently of the voyage from Scotland and the lean first years, as the two share the work and hardship of establishing claims and building up flocks of sheep. He tells of their separate marriages, the severing of their friendship, and the final resolution of their conflict through death. Doig successfully recaptures the violence of the Montana elements and the staunch heritage of the Scottish settlers which served so well in his earlier novel English Creek and faithfully represents the struggle for survival on the frontier as he continues the McCaskills' story. Highly recommended. Thomas L.