Next Meeting - January 21

Our next meeting is scheduled for January 21 (7 p.m., Round Valley Public Library). We'll be discussing Knut Hamsun's Pan.

In February we'll be reading As a Man Grows Older by Italo Svevo and in March our book will be Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.

Catching waves

Has anyone come across this useful site when surfing the web? LibraryThing

December 10

Our next meeting will be on December 10 at 7 p.m. at the Round Valley Public Library. We'll be reading Kawabata's Snow Country.

Take a look at the list of possible selections (below, right) and let us know what you think looks promising. We'll choose 2 or 3 to take us into the new year.

November 12

is the date of the next meeting at RV library to talk about Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai.

Upcoming Selections

For those interested in ordering early, our next 2 books up for discussion are Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day to be followed by Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country.

Meeting dates for these books are yet TBD.

Local Book Talk

Meet Author Steven Havill
An open talk with author Steven F. Havill will begin at 6 p.m. in the Round Valley Library
conference room (Eagar, AZ) on Friday, October 8.
Mr. Havill will talk about his books and take questions from the audience. There will be free
refreshments and Mr. Havill will sign books after the talk. While his books can't be sold on
library property, Mr. Havill will accept "voluntary donations" for books he will make available from his own inventory.
Born in upstate New York and recently relocated from Ratón, NM to Datil, NM with his wife,
Kathleen, Steven Havill's first book, Heartshot, was published in 1991 and was the first of four
westerns. Havill has written 17 mystery novels set in the fictional New Mexico county of Posadas (including one available in 2011).
Havill has also written two books based in the Puget Sound area of Washington. The first of the
Dr. Thomas Parks historical/medical series was published this year and a second will be available in 2011.

Man Booker short list

     can be seen  here on the Man Booker Prize web site.

Glad to note the changed meeting date and time. There's not that many home football games this year! I really struggled with Pilgrim--even though it did pick up towards the end (the end--tee-hee!!). I am good with any Wallander book, and they have done a pretty good job of adapting him to Masterpiece Mystery. I have been hogging a new book from the library because I love it so much: the Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst. It is a sort of mystery book--but SO MUCH more. It begs for book discussion because one of the characters is a very reflective author.

Addendum

So, the next meeting has been rescheduled for 7:00pm Friday 1 October.

Next Meeting - Sept 24

Our book for September is Pilgrim by Timothy Findley and our meeting will be on Friday the 24th at the RV public library, 7 p.m.

Please join us if you can.

Here's a quick blurb about the book from amazon's editorial reviews:

"On April 17, 1912 -- ironically, only two days after the sinking of the Titanic -- a figure known only as Pilgrim tries to commit suicide by hanging himself from a tree. When he is found five hours later, his heart miraculously begins to beat again. Pilgrim, it seems, can never die. Escorted by his beloved friend, Lady Sybil Quartermaine, Pilgrim is admitted to the famous Burgholzu Psychiatriac Clinic in Zurich, where he will begin a battle of psyche and soul with Carl Jung, the self-professed mystical scientist of the unconscious. Slowly, Jung coaxes Pilgrim to tell his astonishing story -- one that seemingly spans 4,000 years and includes such historical figures as Leonardo da Vinci and Henry James. But is Pilgrim delusional? Are these his memories merely dreams...or is his immortal existence truly a miracle?"

Book Order

We received and then gave away our copy of The Power of One, so must remember to re-order it. While I'm at it, just a note to remind everyone that our next book is Pilgrim by Timothy Findley which also requires ordering. Wouldn't it be great to have a local bookshop that miraculously had both of those titles? It may not exist. Looking forward to both of those.

Meantime, I've been reading a couple of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallender mysteries. I heard an interview with Mankell recently - he was on the flotilla in Gaza that was attacked perhaps a month ago. I'm always amazed at how different an experience it is to read a work that's been translated. It feels something like approaching English from the side. Anyway, I recommend them, particularly the first of the two that RVPL has available - it's called Faceless Killers. I know, I'm ashamed. I followed the second book up by watching Ingmar Bergman's autobiographical film Fanny and Alexander last night - wow - also highly recommended. O those wonderfully artistic Swedes!

Happy reading, group!

Time to ponder

     Finished reading The Power of One today and perused the discussion questions at the back of the book. This might pertain to any novel:

     Do you think it's important to know exactly what, in a book like this, what is real and what is fictional?

Mmmm?

August 13 - The Power of One

First day of summer! I thought it might never arrive. Happy solstice, everyone ~

Sounds like only the most dedicated Bolano fans finished The Savage Detectives before the meeting. I confess: I gave it up after about 100 pp. Another one for the 'I swear I'll read this someday' shelf.

I think we still need to choose the next book (or three). Please send your suggestions.

The August 13 selection is The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. Here's a portion of one review: "Set in a world torn apart, where man enslaves his fellow man and freedom remains elusive, THE POWER OF ONE is the moving story of one young man's search for the love that binds friends, the passion that binds lovers, and the realization that it takes only one to change the world. A weak and friendless boy growing up in South Africa during World War II, Peekay turns to two older men, one black and one white, to show him how to find the courage to dream, to succeed, to triumph over a world when all seems lost, and to inspire him to summon up the most irresistible force of all: the Power of One." 544 pp.

The Wanderer Returns

I don't mind spoilers. Give me reason to continue and finish The Savage Detectives. I've been unfaithful with other authors and writers.

See you all Friday evening.

Next Book & Meeting

Our next book will be Roberto Bolano's The Savage Detectives . That meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 18, at 7 p.m. at the Round Valley Public Library.

Please consider joining us for that discussion.

Hope to see you there!

Michael Frayn leads to Claire Tomalin leads to Dickens' mistress...

I read the interview on Frayn (to which Alan posted a link - thank you), and as one thing always leads to another, I looked around and read a bit about his wife, a journalist and biographer. I may be the last to know this, but she's written some very well-reviewed biographies that might be something our group would enjoy. Her subjects range from Nelly Ternan (C. Dickens' mistress!) to Samuel Pepys & Jane Austen.

If you get a free minute, check her out to see if any of her biographies sound like good book-group reading...

I'm just starting the Frayn novel myself. I read Jansson's Summer Book, which I highly recommend.

Any other good reading going on out there in gale-force wind land? It's spring now, right?

Headlong

     I shall have to remove my tongue from my cheek and re-think my ideas about just how long a short book should be . . . as long as it takes to tell the tale. Now I shall have to extract my tongue from the other cheek.

     For anyone interested here is an interview published in The Observer last year.

April Meeting Date & Next Three Books

It was great to meet at our lovely new library - thank you, RVPL!

Our next book selection is Headlong by Michael Frayn and the meeting is scheduled for Friday, April 9, at 7pm. The New Yorker called it "Part detective story, part art history lesson, part cautionary tale, and entirely funny." Used copies on amazon start at $4.00, including S&H.

We decided to select our next two books as well, thinking it might be helpful to have an idea of what's coming up - particularly since the following one is lengthy -

Our May/June selection is Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño. One reviewer writes, "Hilarious and sexy, meandering and melancholy, full of inside jokes about Latin American literati that you don't have to understand to enjoy, The Savage Detectives is a companionable and complicated road trip through Mexico City, Barcelona, Israel, Liberia, and finally the desert of northern Mexico. It's the first of Bolaño's two giant masterpieces to be translated into English (the second, 2666, is due out next year), and you can see how he's influenced an era." --Tom Nissley. 672 pp. The meeting date is TBD. Used copies begin at $6.99 including S&H on amazon.com.

The June/July selection is The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. Here's a portion of one review: "Set in a world torn apart, where man enslaves his fellow man and freedom remains elusive, THE POWER OF ONE is the moving story of one young man's search for the love that binds friends, the passion that binds lovers, and the realization that it takes only one to change the world. A weak and friendless boy growing up in South Africa during World War II, Peekay turns to two older men, one black and one white, to show him how to find the courage to dream, to succeed, to triumph over a world when all seems lost, and to inspire him to summon up the most irresistible force of all: the Power of One." 544 pp. Again, meeting date is TBD. Used copies begin at $4 including S&H on amazon.com.

Please consider joining us for our next meeting!

New Meeting Place!

Great news...

We have just been informed that we will be allowed to use one of the meeting rooms at the Round Valley Public Library for our next meeting, Feb. 26 (thanks, Beth, for all of your communication with the good folks at the library and for doing the paperwork, etc. Thanks also to everyone at our lovely new library).

Hope to see you there in a couple of weeks ~

I still haven't received my Tove yet, so in the meantime, I did read a book from RVPL that I'd like to add to our list for consideration: John Connolly's The Gates: A Novel. I think it's 2009 and the hardcover runs 304 pages (including footnotes). If any of you have ever read a Lemony Snicket book, you will recognize the tone of this offering as something along those lines for grownups. Connolly (as stated on the cover, and I believe mentioned at an earlier discussion by Alan) is an Award-Winning Author who presently resides in Dublin.
I still have no news on the meeting room issue, but will post, e-mail, and generally sing it from the rooftops when I do.

Next choice?

     I've just been perusing the list which Beth kindly put together and glancing at the reviews on Amazon. Here's my 2¢ worth:

In order of interest for me (read length ;-} ):

    Homer and Langley. I haven't read any E.L. Doctorow. The inspiration for this book is intriguing; and the book is short ;-)

    The Eight. by Katherine Neville. Have we read any author's first novel yet?

    Stones into Schools. Can the continuing story be as gripping and popular as Three Cups of Tea? I like the sub-title.

    Headlong . Michael Frayn : playwright and from the Isles! 'nough said . . .

    Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño. Because we like to read translated literature and because Roberto was a poet and died young(ish) - 50.

   

Next Meeting - Friday, February 26

The selection for February is The True Deceiver by Finnish author Tove Jansson. The book was first published as The Honest Swindler in 1982 and was recently translated into English. Check out more about Jansson at wikipedia's page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tove_Jansson .

Our group meets every 5-6 weeks, at 7 p.m. on Fridays. The "where" for February is TBD.

Check back - we will post our next meeting place before February 26 (note that this is a reschedule).

New blog for the Round Valley Book Group

Welcome to the new blogspot for our reading group. For the time being, it seems our de facto name is the Round Valley Book Group, but let me know if this needs revising...

I'll be posting our reading list, from the group's first meeting to present day, as well as the list Beth has compiled for us to preview possible future selections.