Tonight was a good, good night. It was book-choosing time for the Fab Five book club, the night when we plan out the next six months of reading.
We kicked off the evening with some great Thai food from Bangkok Taste. My chicken curry pad thai was incredible, and I still have some left for lunch! At dinner we talked about the personality tests that some have taken at work recently. Apparently none of us are high on woo. That would be Winning Others Over. We are a rather reclusive group of people. Very high on responsibility, not too high on strategic thinking. Hm.
Finally it was time to lay out all the books. The four of us brought approximately 30 books all together, and it was so hard to choose! Eventually we narrowed it down to 6 titles:
1. a novel by Helen Simonson called Major Pettigrew's Last Stand,
2. a book about a couple traveling in France called Narrow Dog to Carcassonne,
3. a book about the state of the American female from 1960 until the present called When Everything Changed,
4. a short story collection by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (my favorite Nigerian author!) entitled The Thing Around Your Neck,
5. a novel by Robert Goolrick by the title of A Reliable Wife,
6. and finally Lit, the most recent memoir by Mary Karr.
We can hardly wait! And we each have a new list of about 15 other titles we hope to read on our own in the meantime. It's a nice thought.
If you like to listen to something on your iPod or whatever while you walk, I recommend the free podcasts from The New Yorker: Fiction. Each episode is a different contemporary author reading a story from the archives of the New Yorker, then a bit of discussion about the story and the story's author. I listened to one about Carson McCullers just before the church book club discussed The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and found it very helpful. NPR's book podcast is also great.
Up next is Shanghai Girls by Lisa See--the Neland Women's Book Club will talk about it June. We also have a planning meeting on June 8. I started Shanghai Girls a couple of days ago, and I'm hooked.
Summer's almost here--happy reading!
2 comments:
Hi,
I've really enjoyed your blog and read a couple of the books you've recommended. Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands is waiting on my bed side table. I like your new book club list. I've already read Major Pettigrew and The Reliable Wife. I'm eager to hear your thoughts on them.
Jeanne
Hi Jeanne! I would love to hear any recommendations you have--you are such a great reader. The Neland book club meets next week to make our list--any suggestions?
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