Thursday, March 1, 2012

Sense of an Ending


Mike summarized our last meeting and diligently researched all tangents we engaged in as follows: 

It was a crowded scene in the “Latte” on Thursday night.   Groups of diners and merrymakers threaded their way through the filled tables, looking for open seats.  Covetously circling the large table that Dave H. had secured for the Book Men, middle-aged women eyed him suspiciously, wondering why he and I insisted on holding such prime property when so many were left to drift about, unseated.    Finally, Christian appeared, giving some credence to our frail justification “we’re expecting others.” With a quorum of three, the pleas for sitting space faded, and our discussion was underway.   
Mike and Christian agreed that The Sense of an Ending was worth reading.  Dave held more mixed views--“too much naval contemplation” for his tastes.   All liked the Adrian Finn quote, though:  “History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.” As Dave noted, in the political world, history is easily rewritten and generally written by the powerful.   We briefly examined the life of the narrator, Tony Webster—safe and “peaceable” in his own estimation but mundane and empty relative to others'--and unreliably presented through his recollected memories.  We had a hard time recalling the  femme fatale’s name—Veronica—which only confirmed the insufficiency of memory for recounting history.  By then it was on to other topics though—swinging pumpkins, hitchhiking, Eurail passes, suicide by train, Aristotle’s lost works, and the birther rebirth in Maricopa county. 

Tom, who wasn't able to join us contributed nevertheless with the following link to a discussion on the Booker site about Barnes's book:
http://www.themanbookerprize.com/forum/topic.php?id=370&page
It raises some interpretations that we didn't consider--one (farfetched in my opinion) is that Tony was actually the father of Adrian Jr.   You might find the discussion interesting.  The book has its supporters, but there are detractors too.

We agreed that next time (sometime in April), we will gather again for a discussion of “Salvage the Bones” by Jessmyn Ward.  (NY Times Review):  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/books/review/salvage-the-bones-by-jesmyn-ward-book-review.html )
Below are links to a limited selection of the topics that flitted through the broken clouds of our discussion:

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The English Major


Mike's notes of Dec 13, 2011
 
It was great seeing everyone last night.  Our thoughts were briefly with missing comrade, Christian, who fortunately did not slog through The English Major.    Those of us who did were unrewarded by the effort. While the sentences slipped by smoothly enough, it was a relief to turn the last page.  The general consensus was that the novel could not have been among Harrison’s better works.  It was plotless, shallow, and meandering.  While Von and others found an interesting trinket or two in the mud puddles of each section—we’ll mainly remember the mud.
 
Conversation skipped as usual from topic to topic (though most were of the geriatric ilk) :  acupuncture, ergonomics, cataract surgery, artificial lenses,  vitreal detachment, Palestine, the Ottoman empire, local jazz, LP to CD and MP3 conversion machines, movies, ranked voting, and for about 10 minutes, The English Major.
 
Moving on:  For next time, please rank vote for three of the books below , with 3 being the number for your first  choice, 2 for your second choice, and 1 for your third choice.  The book with the greatest number of overall points will be our next victim.
 
Lost Memory of Skin (Russell Banks)
Salvage the Bones (Jesmyn Ward)
The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes)  Booker Prize 2011 
 
Polls close Sunday, Dec. 18, at midnight. 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Resistance


Mike's notes from Oct 27, 2011

Book Boyz--
 
A big Thank You to Dave for hosting our harvest-time gathering.   Paul punched in on time, while Christian and Mike filled out the quorum at 7:30.  Beer, wine, grapes, burgers and other treats fueled a low-key discussion until about 9:30 when Morpheus began to beckon and an interloper appeared in the form of a woman.   
 
Two out of three liked the stories in Resistance. Some noted how the main characters struggled to find self-acceptance and fulfillment within while actively resisting social forces outside.  The stories revealed how many who believe in progressive, humanitarian values must turn inward over time to find joy in their own lives.  We briefly talked about the need to liberate the soul from embedded anger and questioned whether or not it's possible these days to view political and reactionary enemies without anger.  It's not.
 
Congratulations to Christian for taking on a second citizenship and to Paul for taking on a life partner.  America is a better place for both acquisitions.  And a belated Fright Night award goes to Dave for terrorizing Paul's former neurotic housemates.   Thank god for 911.
 
Next time we’ll be looking at something by Jim Harrison—either a novel or one of his collections of novellas.  We need to choose a work.  Let me know your preferences for one of the following--or if you have a strong preference for one of his other works,  just let me know.
 
The Woman Lit by Fireflies (three novellas): Review:http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/08/specials/harrison-fireflies.html
 
 
Here’s the Wikipedia link for Jim Harrison (the writer, not the hockey player or Irish cricket player):
 
The Paris Review interview with Jim Harrison
 
Other bits: 
 
 
 
Breaking Bad (Wikipedia):  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Bad
 
American Obesity and Soda Pop: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                (Memos to Bush) http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=robert_j._delahunty