Recent reads have been:
The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver- our discussion of this was last night and pretty much the book got two big thumbs up. There is a lot to talk about- from the exotic Mexican setting of the first part of the book, to Kingsolver’s writing style and format (letters/diaries) to dissections of historical events and whether they could happen again (McCarthyism) to the art of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. A great book for reading groups with lots of discussion questions available!
Truesight, David Stahler. A selection from the YA shelves and thus fairly elementary but a good science fiction read and one that brings up a lot of questions about individuality, perfection, group mentality, etc. For the most part the group liked it.
Ford County: Stories, John Grisham. Reminds us that sometimes an author becomes so powerful that a publisher lets him/her do whatever they want. Group as a whole found most of the characters extremely unlikeable, the stories unmoving. In short, we just didn’t care about anybody or anything in the book.
This Is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper. Most of our group really enjoyed this intimate look at a dysfunctional family as they mourn their patriarch. A lot of hilarious scenes and we all hope it makes it to the big screen. A lot of discussion material in the form of interfamilial relationship studies.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski. We all wanted a Sawtelle dog but many in our group were very unhappy with the ending, especially considering the commitment the book required. Most definitely a unique story but somewhat unbelievable?
Our next six titles are…. Cleopatra: A Life (Schiff), The Slap (Tsiolkas), The Forgotten Garden (Morton), The Crying Tree (Rakha), American Uprising (Rasmussen) and Mudbound (Jordan). What’s up next for your book club?
-- Jamie Layton, Regular Contributor
