The Road- Cormac McCarthy

I was really excited to see what the book group thought of the Pulitzer prizing winning book, "The Road." I chose the book because I liked the ambiguity in the nameless characters, and an omission of a specific time a place. I felt that this ambiguity lets the reader define book for him or herself.

Our book group definitely had mixed reviews on the book. Some people found it to be extremely depressing, and repetitive. Others found it to be an environmental cautionary tale of what could happen in the future if we are not careful. I found it to be a metaphor of good and evil, posing the challenge of morality in the face of extreme adversity.

Some questions we discussed were:

1. What effect did the McCarthy's writing style have on the storyline?

2. Where and when did you feel this book takes place?

3. What keeps the father motivated to keep going on, despite the desolate conditions?

4. What bothered you about the book?

5. Why do you feel this book has received so much praise?

I believe there is talk about a movie being made with this book as inspiration. It will be interesting to see how they handle the visuals, and whether or not it adheres to the ambiguity of time, place, and names.

Distant Land of My Father- Bo Caldwell

The San Clemente Library was very fortunate to have author Bo Caldwell, author of "Distant Land of My Father" at this month's book group. The book was a fascinating read- it was so rich with detail that it seemed like a non-fiction or memoir.

The group was shocked to find out that Bo Caldwell never actually went to Shanghai during the research for her book. Rather, she relied on research books and made lists of elements such as trees, shops, street names, etc. Her description of the scenes in Shanghai were so realistic!

According to Bo Calwell, "the Distant Land of My Father takes place in Shanghai and Los Angeles from 1937 to 1961, and is based on the life of an uncle of mine, my mom's oldest brother, who spent much of his life in Shanghai." She met this uncle as an adult at a relatives funeral. She befriended him and over time, grew to know and better understand the former 'black sheep' of the family. While she never spoke to him about his time in Shanghai, she did retrieve materials, tapes, and documents that he had saved about his time over there after he passed away. These materials then became the basis for her book, "The Distant Land of My Father."

The group truly enjoyed having Bo Caldwell- it was a delight to hear about her writing process and the inspiration that her uncle gave to this book.

Los Angeles Noir- Denise Hamilton

We were fortunate to have author Denise Hamilton at the San Clemente Library's book group meeting! Thank you Denise, your presentation and question/answer session was absolutely wonderful!

I selected this book for two reasons: I was intrigued by the short story format and loved the idea that all stories covered the Los Angeles area. The noir genre is known for complex pscyhological storylines- and it was interesting to see how the various authors achieved their stories within the confines of a short story format.

Denise Hamilton spoke about her own background- first as a Fulbright scholar working in former Yugoslavia during the Bosnian War, and later as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Her own writing was inspired in part by the stories she covered while working for the LA Times. She said she found it frustrating as a reporter to put so much into writing a story, and then never find out what happens years later. Writing noir fiction recalled the research skills she used as a reporter while also celebrating her creative spirit.

Denise spoke about another book, "The Last Embrace". She said, "...one day while researching Hollywood's Golden Age, I ran across an L.A. Times story by Cecilia Rasmussen about Jean Spangler, a Hollywood starlet who vanished without a trace in October of 1949. Jean disappeared two years after the Black Dahlia murder after telling her mother that she was going out on a night shoot. When I examined the characters that swirled around her, I knew I had found the inspiration for my next novel Jean had a violent ex-husband fighting a custody battle for their only child. She'd partied in Palm Springs with two associates of LA gangster Mickey Cohen who also disappeared mysteriously that fall. Her purse eventually turned up in L.A.'s Griffith Park, bearing a cryptic note to a mysterious "Kirk" that suggested she might have been pregnant and was seeking an abortion. It soon emerged that Jean had just filmed a movie with Kirk Douglas. The handsome star said he only knew the actress casually, they hadn't been having an affair and he knew nothing about her death. After interviewing him, the police agreed."

Everyone enjoyed meeting Denise Hamilton and hearing her speaking about her writing, the challenges, and her inspiration. I know we were all eager to read "The Last Embrace."

Assassination Vacation- Sarah Vowell

I'm a little late on reporting on our discussion on Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell. The discussion went well- there were mixed responses to the book. I chose the book because I love the way Vowell approaches history. She takes delight in nuances and details, and her unique sense of humor keeps me going.

Some criticisms of Vowell are that her humor is a bit too far to the left for everyone to enjoy. She can indeed put some people off with it. I find though that her humor makes sometime mundane and dry periods of history so much more palatable. Who really knew much about President Garfield? (And his wounds...)

I have to admit that I chose this book because she is one of my most personal favorite authors. I first became acquainted with her while listening her on This American Life on NPR. The program was about the history and evolution of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Her voice, her attention to detail, her love of history- it all captured me. Reading one of her books is like studying the iconography in a Bosch painting- lots of layers, lots of humor- always interesting.

While some may not agree with her lefty tendencies, I think most will agree that her passion for history, and politics, sprinkled with anecdotal family stories is really enjoyable. The thing that I really admire is her passion and love- for this country of ours and for her family.

(btw- I met Sarah Vowell at the CLA conference this past year. She gave a wonderful - really funny talk, and I was first in line to have her sign my book! )

Book Talk Day

"Life Studies" by Susan Vreeland did not come in on time for our discussion today, but we had a great book talk day. Here's a list of what we've all been reading. Oh I can't wait to read some of these!

1. The Nine: the Secret World of the Supreme Court- by Jeffrey Toobin

2. Guns of August- Barbara Tuchman

3. Judgment of Paris- Ross King

4. Loving Frank- Nancy Horan

5. Caspian rain : a novel - Nahai, Gina Barkhordar.

6. Team of Rivals: The political genius of Abraham Lincoln – Doris Goodwin

7. The Kid Stays in the Picture – Robert Evens

8. Gone Boy: A Walkabout- Gregory Gibson

9. Life and Times of the Thunderboldt Kid-- Bill Bryson

10. Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words – Bill Bryson

11. The Street of 1000 blossoms—Gail Tsukiyama

12. The Samurai’s Garden—Gail Tsukiyama

13. Before Green Gables—Budge Wilson

14. Summer at Tiffany—Marjorie Hart

15. Dresden—Alexander McKee

16. Better: A surgeon’s notes on performance—Atul Gawande

17. Zoro- Isabelle Allende

18. What is the Alienist

19. Soldiers of the Great War

20. 19 minutes—Jodi Piccoult

21. My Sister’s Keeper—Jodi Piccoult

22. Plain Truth—Jodi Piccoult

23. Book of the Navajo—Raymond Locke

24. Suite Francaise—Irene Nemirovsky

25. Life and death in occupied France during World War II

26. The Road—Cormac McCarthy

27. Middlesex—Jeffrey Eugenides

28. The Last of Her Kind-- Sigrid Nunez

29. Schlepping Through the Alps- Sam Apple

30. Neither here nor There- Bill Bryson

After our discussion of what we are all reading, I showed everyone how to post a comment to this blog. If you are reading this and have a thought to add, by all means, please do! I want to know I have an audience! I also did a demo of LibraryThing, Novelist, and Lit Resource. Do you have a collection of books you would like to catalog? Simply add the ISBN into LibraryThing and you can get the record, and even edit it! You can add keywords, and see what other people are reading. Fun for one in all!

To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee

This book was selected in support of OCPL's participation in The Big Read.  The Big Read is an initiative of the NEA.  Has it been a while since you've picked up a book?  Look around town - the San Clemente Library has dropped of 30 copies of To Kill a Mockingbird at coffee shops and cafes in San Clemente.  Need more inspiration?  Check out the following clip from youtube- and discover why your local librarians read. 

Deer Hunting with Jesus- Joe Bageant

We had an excellent discussion in person about this book! Sometimes I pick books because I adore them...sometimes I am eager to see what will come of the discussion. This title would be in the latter category. Given that the CA primary elections are around the corner, I thought it might be interesting to delve straight into the traditionally taboo topics of religion and politics.

The thing that I liked about this book is that it brought up some of the issues facing a lot of people in our nation- poverty, healthcare, and religion. Bageant makes sweeping generalizations that can most definitely turn some people off. I think he gave himself a by to make such statements because he is talking about "his" people. He used the pronoun "we" when discussing the quirkiness backward tendencies of his Westchester, Virginia town, but he most definitely not part "them" anymore.

Questions we discussed:

• Is the trend of the military's prevalence in the south a new phenomenon?
• Is it the education system or culture that keeps people stuck in a cycle of poverty?
• How did you react to his chapter on gun control?
• He mentions lots of statistics about gun control and safety-- just looking at his own family, he said no one had ever shot themselves or were injured. He felt common sense is missing from urban people. Thoughts?
• Do you think issues like gun control will make it hard for Democrats to attract people from rural/poor areas?
• What can we do- as individuals- to make this country better? Environment, education, buy wisely, inform voters?

If you enjoyed reading this book, you might also like:

• Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
• Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy by John Bowe