Book Group has now placed its bid to rank with the gourmet cooks and gourmand eaters of other well known AWG sub-groups. We had beautiful weather for a lovely luncheon on Jan's back terrace. After we had cleared away the plates and wine glasses, we listened to a bit of mood music, Leslie's song "Books," from her new CD, before starting our planning meeting.
Once again the possibility of reading a book not originally written in English was discussed. Sue Rouault was not able to attend the meeting, but had sent an e-mail message recommending Irene Nemirovsky's book David Golder, originally written in French. Although PeggyR said that there are plenty of books in English for us to read, the majority felt that it would be acceptable, although definitely not compulsory, to read one "foreign" book per year, with the stipulation that the foreign language be French since we live in France. We also agreed that we could read the book either in English or in French, or both. It was felt that David Golder is not as good a book as Nemirovsky's Suite Française. Another book mentioned was L'élégance du hérisson (by Muriel Barbery, ed.). We then moved our focus around the table, with each person recommending books she had read and would be willing to present.
Jan: a book by Mitch Albom - The Five People you Meet in Heaven, For One More Day, Tuesdays with Morrie
Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin (about girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan)
Anne: Small Island, by Andrea Levy (Jewish Jamaican, racism, integration, WW II, history)
PeggyR: We Need to Talk about Kevin, by Lionel Shriver (ed.) (psychological)
KatharineJ: books by Cormac McCarthy - Outer Dark, Child of God (depressing subject matter but the books are uplifting)
N.B. Julie mentioned No Country for Old Men by the same author, and Leslie mentioned All the Pretty Horses.
KatharineC: Persuasion, by Jane Austen (her last book)
The Mitford Girls, by Mary S. Lovell (biography)
Denise: The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold (girl is raped and murdered, and watches from heaven as life continues)
Wounded, by Percival Everett (homophobia)
Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer (1996 Mt.Everest disaster)
Gretchen: a book by Willa Cather - Death Comes for the Archbishop (her favourite), My Antonia, O Pioneers
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See (ed.), (China in the 1850's)
Leslie: Gabriel's Gift, by Hanif Kureishi (15 year old boy in London)
The Turtle Warrior, by Mary Relindes Ellis (little brother of a boy killed in VietNam)
Maggie: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (narrated by death, in WW II Germany, little girl steals books)
One Thousand White Women, by Jim Fergus (Cheyenne asked for, and got, 1000 white wives to help them integrate)
Julie : A Bend in the River, by V.S. Naipaul (an Indian from the sub-continent living on the Congo River)
Julie is already on the ballot for presenting Their Eyes Were Watching God in October, so was excused from volunteering to present another book this year. PeggyF was also excused, having presented The Sheltering Sky in September. PeggyR admitted that she had not yet read We Need to Talk About Kevin (recommended to her by her daughter), so that book was eliminated until someone from the group has read it (one of our criteria). By show of hands, we voted to choose one book for each presenter. Then we juggled dates (to work around public holidays, school vacations, other AWG activities, etc) until we had sorted out the calendar until June.
And the winners are:
- November 14 - KatharineJ - Outer Dark and/or Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy
- December 12 - PeggyR* - Into Thin Air*, by Jon Krakauer
- January 16 (third Friday) - AnneS - Small Island, by Andrea Levy
- February 13 - KatharineC - Persuasion, by Jane Austen
- March 13 - LeslieL - Gabriel's Gift, by Hanif Kureishi
- April 17 (thrid Friday) - JanC - Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
- May 15 (third Friday) - GretchenM - Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather
- June 12 - MaggieP - The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
- September ?????
*Denise said she regretted suggesting Into Thin Air, and would have preferred presenting one of the other books. It was suggested that PeggyR present Into Thin Air in her stead. That led to the question (by PeggyR) of why someone could present a book she hadn't read if she couldn't recommend a book she hadn't read. (answer: The rule is that you are not supposed to PROPOSE a book you haven't read. But that doesn't mean you can't PRESENT a book that someone else has proposed, and lead the discussion -having, of course, read the book in time for the meeting! ed.)
Jan noted that it is interesting that, although the group had already read The Jane Austen Book Club, it had never yet read any of Jane Austen's books.
This calendar is meant to enable us to plan our reading ahead, but if anyone finds that she is not going to be able to present her book as scheduled, she can/should try to change dates with one of the other presenters. The fact that we have already established the calendar for the entire year does not mean that we should not continue to note the titles of books we would like to recommend. There will be another planning session next September. In the meantime, we can always recommend books to each other at our monthly meetings, even if we don't feel they're appropriate for group discussions. And we mustn't forget that we haven't yet chosen our "big" book for next summer's read!
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