WBG 2005

2005

Booklist

Schedule

History

December
The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake
Breece D'J Pancake
Discussion recapped by Melissa K

The meeting on December 14 at Susan K's house was attended by Susan K, Susan T, Rachel (the chooser), Anne-Marie, Allison, Claire, and moi.

Overall, everyone liked the book, and a few expressed heartfelt thanks to Rachel for suggesting it, being “so glad to have read it.”

We found that the book is hard to sell to others by just speaking to them, trying to recommend it to them - though we feel passionately about doing so. Susan K had this experience and is now planning to just buy it for several people to make sure they read it. Susan T commented that "there is a reason they keep reprinting this book".

We were all impressed by Breece's writing and storytelling. Susan K pointed out he writes similar to Hemingway in that he doesn't tell you how people feel, he shows you, with their actions or their appearance. It is visceral, cinematic writing - and we like this.

Economy of words is an understatement with Breece. It is clear—and we know from the foreword and afterword—that he worked and re-worked these stories. He polished them. They are fantastic pieces of writing.

We discussed which stories we thought might be autobiographical, and decided none was precisely so, but most or all likely were somewhat. Those that stood out as potentially more autobiographical than others were: “Trilobites,” “A Room Forever,” and “The Salvation of Me.” Claire actually thought the foreword may be part of the overall “book,” and not by a real person—so clever did Breece's writing seem! This had occurred to others as well, but the writer of the foreword checked out—and was mentioned in Andre Dubus' afterword as well.

The 13 year old prostitute in “A Room Forever” was, perhaps, the most sympathetic character in the whole book of stories.

We spend some time talking about the story “Time & Again,” and when people figured out the driver was the murderer, what he fed his pigs and what his son saw before he ran away.

It seems as if we might all keep this book and revisit these stories. Some of us have already read some or all of them more than once. I know I'll keep it, though I do also want to share it with others. Perhaps I'll have to buy some more copies like Susan K and pass them on!

Thanks again to Rachel for suggesting it.

October
The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unravelling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean
Trevor Corson
Discussion recapped by Allison

Anne-Marie hosted the discussion of "The Secret Life of Lobsters" by Trevor Corson on October 26th. Helen, Rachel, Susan Turner, Melissa K, Laura, and I attended. I provided a lobster-themed snack.

Everyone found that the author was skilled in making even the most arcane facts about the lobster interesting to the lay reader. There were few gripes with the book, one of which being the chosen chapter structure. (The author alternated between the lobsters' behavior and the lobstermen’s behavior.) Another being the quibble was the “gubmint” scientists all being painted with the same brush when in fact many of the scientists on the lobstermen’s side were also government scientists in one way or another.

We got into an interesting discussion about further research that could be done regarding the scent-receptors on the lobsters and hypothesized as to why some are very aggressive while others are less so (ripping limbs off their opponent v. more mildly injuring them).

[Allison charmed the group by providing a themed snack in the form of a lobster contrcuted of vegetable. Although we were intimidated for a while, we eventually tore him limb from limb.]

September
Theory of War
Joan Brady
Discussion recapped by Fran

We met at my house last Wednesday to discuss Theory of War by Joan Brady. Susan T (who filled in for me on snacks), Susan K, Alison, Helen, and Clare attended. Generally, the reaction to the book was very positive: it was powerful, moving, shocking, well-written. Some questioned the von Clauswitz device (others, e.g. me, had simply ignored it). None of us missed the passing Wellesley reference (a minor character, who is asked by the hero "You go to college, I suppose," and replies "You can speak. I thought you were mute. Wellesley. I go to Wellesley. I major in French. I'm leaving for Paris next week. Paris! Isn't that wonderful? Do you suppose they talk any English there?"

Some of us debated whether Jonathan was "truly" a slave and whether the family history (nonfiction) attributed to Jonathan's horrific experience (four of his seven children ended up committing suicide) could truly be traced back to those scars. All of us wanted to know more about the 'real' Jonathan. Did Brady's fictionalization work, or did she raise more questions than she answered? Which part is true and which is "made up"? How much of the narrator is Joan Brady (who, like the narrator, studied at Columbia)? We wanted to know more about Brady, too.

August
The Road from Coorain
Jill Kerr Conway
No recap

July
The Poet and the Murderer: A True Crime Story of Literary Crime and the Art of Forgery
Simon Worrall

The group's discussion can be summed up with "badly written but fascinating subjects and info."

June
I am Madame X
Gioia Diliberto
Discussion recapped by Susan T

The meeting was at Helen’s home, which those who had not seen the beautiful remodel insisted on touring (again, for some of us, but this time it was still light). Helen also provided snacks, to which Laura contributed huckleberry taffy brought from Yellowstone as part of her just-completed cross-country drive.

Susan T, Susan K, Melissa M, Melissa K, Rachel, Claire, Laura, Anne-Marie, and Helen participated in discussing “I am Madame X.” Susan T brought a book of Sargent’s paintings, which we passed around while we talked, looking up Madame X and Doctor Pozzi. The book had another painting of Madame X, this time in a white dress with a more matronly figure. Comparing the two portraits was instructive of Sargent’s artistic goals and choices. We wondered what we would have seen if we had been able to see the photos of Madame X which, in the novel, she says she destroyed as ugly. There was some discussion of standards of beauty over time, also of what was and wasn’t shocking in different periods, and why.

The author’s earlier works have been biographies and those who didn’t enjoy the book felt that plot and pace would have been improved had she curbed her tendency to include all her admittedly exhausting research. “Now it’s notecard 3-B-5” is how Susan K put it. Though a novel, “Madame X” did not read like imaginative fiction to these book group members, Susan K and Claire most notably, although Laura was less than enthused about it as well. We speculated at length about what was, and wasn’t, factually true and/or historically accurate in the book. The Notes at the end of the paperback were of some help.

Those who enjoyed the book liked the picture of the times and places of the story, the France of “Gigi” and Colette’s other stories. Susan T was intrigued by the psychology of the subject of a portrait, since the story of the painter is told so much more often than the story of the painted. The group had read “Girl in Hyacinth Blue,” another book on this relatively unusual subject. We agreed that we would never look at Madame X’s portrait in the same way as before reading the book, but Susan K felt that we could have achieved that transformation with a short monograph on the subject.

May
The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty
Caroline Alexander
Discussion recapped by Fran

We met at Anne-Marie's house to discuss The Bounty by Caroline Alexander. Susan T, Laura, Anne-Marie, and I were present. The consensus was that the book was somewhat heavy going, particularly in the beginning, when people were introduced en masse with little or no characterization or any indication as to how they figured in the story. The purpose appeared to be simply to demonstrate the author's skills as a researcher (which we all agreed were quite formidable). The non-linear structure of the book also detracted from its power. Several had read Alexander's earlier book The Endeavor, and found it far superior—equally well-written and researched, but totally compelling. I took the opportunity to peruse Anne-Marie's beautiful hardbound copy of The Endeavor—it also has great photos!

[I finally finished reading it a month later and wish that the subject had been how Captain Bligh came down to us in the 20th/21st century as the epitome of the evil sea captain. The author dips into this at the end, but I want to know more. I would give up knowing all those minutiae about the individuals on the Bounty for more depth on the development and growth of the myth. -- LO]

April
The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead
David Callahan
No recap

March
The Group
Mary McCarthy
Discussion recapped by Susan T, enhanced by Fran

Alison, Fran, Susan K, Susan T, Anne-Marie, and Laura met at Helen’s very beautifully remodeled house last night. While sipping champagne we discussed Mary McCarthy’s novel “The Group,” about a group of Vasser ‘33 suitemates, which, Susan K noted, is her mother’s Wellesley class. Most of the older members had read the book when it first came out, around 1960 and several had seen the 1966 film with Candace Bergen and Hal Holbrook. Fran even had the original paperback (bought from a used bookstore...) , or, as Helen said, “That’s the copy I used to have!” Three of us had read other books by this prolific writer, notably “The Stones of Florence” and “Memoirs of a Catholic Girlhood.” Fran’s read Birds of America, too, but that was much more challenging than The Group, which she thought was an easy read.

Set in NYC in the depths of the Great Depression, the novel deals with the graduation and first five years thereafter of eight young women, all privileged-to-rich, covering every “affaire” and/or marriage, motherhood, divorce, lesbian coming-out, and one death which may or may not have been a suicide. It opens with one character’s marriage, the first of the Group to marry, and ends with her funeral, similarly the first to die. Between these events, we readers spend quite a lot of time (and words) with these callow young women. Most of us liked, or even “loved,” the novel. But all agreed that the characters and events were not so compelling that they could not have been combined and the book shortened significantly. (Fran would have been happy to have more characters, more events, and even more personal detail.) As Laura put it, “I would have been just as happy with only four of them to hate.” The author’s contempt and disaffection for her characters blared through. Susan T wondered why any writer would choose to spend so many pages on people she so clearly loathed. Fran posited “revenge” and “to skewer them” as possible motives. We also found the writer’s habit of italicizing words, like “affaire,” when there seemed no clear, let alone good, reason for it. (Well, "affaire" is a foreign word, so it makes sense to italicize it, but there were lots of English words italicized, presumably for emphasis. Some didn't notice it until the group pointed it out, however; after seeing it, it was found a little weird and possibly annoying.) Susan K and Helen suggested that “affaire” was italicized to give clear indication that it included sex, which is a huge part of the novel’s material. We weren’t clear how this applied to, say, food, but let it pass. The period-piece quality of the book struck some of the repeat readers. Laura remembers reading a different book which she had thought was The Group but it had Radcliffe alums and was set in the fifties or sixties; sadly she cannot remember the title (the only details she remembers is that the Radcliffe dorm had bells and that the golden girl character had epilepsy which was her deep, dark secret and she lived in California after marriage).

February
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers
Discussion recapped by Helen

Susan T., Laura, Anne-Marie, and I met last night at Anne-Marie's to discuss The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. (Susan K was packing to go to Hawaii; Fran was in NY; Allie had another calculus exam; and Sarah is still unable to hobble up the stairs.) It was our usual rambling discussion.

We talked about how realistic the point of view characters were and why they weren't more assertive about getting out of their "misfitting" surroundings. Some of us had friends and family members who grew up poor in small towns and managed to "escape" but we also acknowledged that some people can't get out of the trap [Didn't I read just recently that suicides are up among rural teens?]

Mick is alleged to be a semi-autobiographical character which led to a discussion of McCullers and her departure for New York. We wondered who else at the time was writing about the plight of blacks in the South. [I realized today that the founder of the program I work for was a contemporary of McCullers. He used to talk about growing up in the South in the 30s and 40s believing that there was something wrong about the racial situation and not knowing anyone else who believed as he did. Like McCullers, he left as soon as he could and tried through his work to make a difference.] Perhaps her feeling as she did left her in a lonely situation regarding her friends and family.

Susan T. claims to have known on page 20 that Singer would commit suicide and thought the plot was predictable. The rest of us weren't quite so discerning but agreed that plot wasn't the reason to read the novel. We were all intrigued with the character of Singer. What did he see in Antonapoulos? What did the other characters see in him? Why did the others credit him with such deep understanding? And was it in character for his finances to be in a mess when he died?

We spent some time discussing each of the other characters. If Blount really wanted to be a labor agitator why was he such a loner? How do you reconcile Dr. Copeland's relationship with his family with his devotion to caring for the community? And was Biff's attraction to Mick paternal or prurient?

As for a March book, while we were glad that we had read this modern classic, we weren't ready to tackle a tome like Middlemarch right after it. After discussion of several other possibilities, we voted for "The Group" by Mary McCarthy.

January
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
Motherless Brooklyn
Jonathan Lethem
Discussion recapped by Fran

We met at my house to discuss Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Motherless Brooklyn, a combo selection by Clare and Anne-Marie. Attending were me, Clare, Anne-Marie, Helen, Susan T., Melissa K., and Laura. (Allison had a calculus exam and Sarah suffered a broken ankle; I'm not sure which is worse.) We had a preliminary discussion on tactful but effective ways to avert distracting side discussions amongst members of another book club (something WE would never be guilty of).

Curiously, "Dog" provoked more discussion than the more challenging "Brooklyn," which seemed to raise more questions than we could answer. For example: why Tourette's? Did this add to the story or serve as a metaphor or amplify character or give meaning – or did it simply give the author a chance to show off his verbal acrobatics? Both books enlightened us about the respective afflictions (if that's the right word) of their narrators. Perhaps Dog gave a slightly more sugarcoated version of what it is like to deal with an autistic child; we saw more of the amusing/endearing side of Christopher than the infuriating, heartbreaking aspect.

[I mused on this on my drive home and I decided that Dog's author wanted to write a character with autism and used the "detective" format as a gimmick to hang his story on and that Motherless's author wanted to write a detective story and used Tourette's as a gimmick to make his different from other detective stories (he also wanted to show off his verbal acrobatics which were often fun but added little else after a while). I felt the mystery aspect fell flat in both. –Laura]

The research Laura provided from Wikipedia was fascinating; I looked it over later after our meeting. Particularly the Asperger's info, because, as Laura warned us, it has clearly been written with a certain political agenda towards us "neurotypicals" who lack the ability to read the body language of "Aspies" (as opposed to discussing people with Asperger's who can't read social cues of "normal" people).

While choosing a book for next month we discussed some other random recommendations - Daughter of Persia and It's Not the End of the World (Kate Atkinson). Clare also mentioned that her sister has written a mystery/thriller called Edge of Death due out soon (in fine sisterly fashion, she refrained from giving it anything like a glowing review, however).

Booklist

Schedule

History