Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt
A young boy must learn how to live without his father (who walks out) and his best friend (who goes missing) in this 1960's era story set in a Boston suburb. His divorcee mother must also adjust--to single parenthood, to the stigma of divorce at that time, to being the sole provider for her adolescent son. A fresh look at a not-so-long-ago past.
Dirty Love by Andre Dubus III
If you've ever found yourself wondering what goes on in some men's heads, here is your book. Bad decisions made by men who ought to know better make life more difficult for everyone in this series of linked stories. Dubus's powerful writing humanizes these Peter Pans and elicits more than a little sympathy for them.
Americanah by Chimamandah Ngozi Adichie
A wonderful novel chronicling the dual pulls of homesickness and ambition for an African immigrant in America, this book has possibly the worst jacket art EVER. Do not be deterred! It's a well-written, absorbing portrayal of someone who comes to America in search of a better life, gets it, then questions whether that life is indeed what she wants.
The Explanation for Everything by Lauren Grodstein
A widowed biology professor and expert in Darwinian evolution struggling to raise his two daughters on his own finds himself questioning long-held beliefs when one of his students, a devout Christian who believes in intelligent design, begins working as his babysitter.
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny (audiobook)
The latest in Penny's much-loved Inspector Gamache series ties up a story arc that has carried through all the previous books, while leaving the door open for new adventures for the Quebecois homicide chief and his crew. If you love this series, the audiobooks--masterfully narrated by Ralph Cosham--will add an extra measure of enjoyment to your experience.
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner (audiobook)
Our February Book Club selection, this novel is something rare nowadays--a book about adults and adult issues, in which everyone behaves like an adult. Two couples meet and become friends early in their marriages and careers in a college town, remain friends through the vagaries of job relocation and raising families, and are able to look back on their relationships years later with perspective, forbearance, and self-knowledge, when they reunite to bid farewell to one who is dying.
Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda
Two teenage girls living in Brooklyn decide it will be fun to take a raft out into the Red Hook harbor one night at dusk. The next morning, one is missing and the other is found unconscious and half-drowned, with no recollection of what happened. An interesting look at how race and class make uneasy bedfellows in a gentrifying neighborhood.
All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry (Young Adult)
Another story of two teenage girls going missing and only one returning, this time in an unnamed time and place that appears to be colonial America. Judith is unable to explain her whereabouts for the last two years or what happened to her best friend, Lottie, because her tongue has been cut out by her captor, the father of the boy she loves--and a man believed by the rest of the village to be dead. A compelling (and dystopia-free) page-turner.
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
These linked stories feature both fictional and real characters, including Frederick Douglass and George Mitchell, attempting to win freedom for slaves, rights for women, and peace for Northern Ireland as they travel back and forth across the Atlantic. A fresh, character-centered look at historical events, and an engaging and thought-provoking book.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (audiobook)
Another Book Club selection (for March), and an incredible combination of literature and performance, thanks to Jeremy Irons' inspired reading. Told from the perspective of Humbert Humbert, the book purports to be a document given to an attorney to be published in order to correct the record of what really happened between Humbert and his stepdaughter Lolita after her mother's untimely demise. Nabokov writes masterfully, making Humbert's decisions seem not only plausible but acceptable, and Irons' performance matches the writing, lulling the reader into complicity.
Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella
Kinsella is up to her usual hijinks in this frothy tale of a woman determined to save her impulsive sister from making a huge mistake after a relationship abruptly ends. Perfect beach reading--or escapist reading if you can't get to the beach!
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
March Book Club Meeting Notes
Six of us made it to March's meeting, hosted by Jen, to discuss Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. Rather surprisingly, given the subject matter, everyone enjoyed this title. All agreed it was very well-written; there was a short discussion of Nabokov's technique and whether it outshone the book itself. (No consensus on that.) And we all enjoyed Nabokov's completely rendered characterizations of even minor characters such as Gaston and Charlotte.
We all found ourselves surprised by our sympathy for Humbert, and Jen and Shirley particularly uncomfortable to be in Humbert's head. There was a lot of discussion about Lolita and her motives. Carole remarked that Lolita was atypical of most girls that age at that time, and felt Lolita was predisposed to behave outside of the norm. Kathleen added that Lolita may not have been outside the norm, but she was certainly allowed to act on her impulses without any restraint. We all admired the way Nabokov planted doubt on our minds about whether or not Lolita was to blame for the situation with Humbert. Janet mentioned that Lolita was very controlling, and questioned whether Lolita thought she had more control than she actually did. The scene on the couch early in the book sparked a spirited discussion of Lolita's motives and manipulations: did she know what she was doing, even then?
Everyone thought this story could not have been written now, with our heightened awareness of pedophilia. (Also, many of the plot twists would no longer work as written--it would be very difficult for Humbert and Lolita to go on the lam in the internet age). Everyone agreed that the subject matter serves the story without going too far, and that this is more the story of Humbert's obsession with Lolita than the pornographic romp it is generally thought to be. We all agreed that Humbert is a very complicated character, and impossible to pinpoint. Betty particularly enjoyed the buildup of suspense, as did Kathleen (who nearly drove off the road while listening to the audiobook description--narrated by Jeremy Irons--of the demise of Charlotte). Janet pointed out that Humbert believes himself to be completely justified in everything he has done. Jen agreed, adding that Humbert believes he has no choice other than to behave as he does, but she was disappointed that he receives no comeuppance for his relationship with Lolita.
One of the last points discussed was a question put by Jen as to whether part of the controversy surrounding the book is caused by Lolita's winding up so normal. Betty, Carole and Shirley all reminded us that at that time, such things were not discussed openly, and help-seeking behavior would not have been as common as it is today. Betty also felt that Lolita took all the events of her adolescence more or less in stride, with no idea of their enormity, and this may have been why she turned out relatively unscathed.
We all found ourselves surprised by our sympathy for Humbert, and Jen and Shirley particularly uncomfortable to be in Humbert's head. There was a lot of discussion about Lolita and her motives. Carole remarked that Lolita was atypical of most girls that age at that time, and felt Lolita was predisposed to behave outside of the norm. Kathleen added that Lolita may not have been outside the norm, but she was certainly allowed to act on her impulses without any restraint. We all admired the way Nabokov planted doubt on our minds about whether or not Lolita was to blame for the situation with Humbert. Janet mentioned that Lolita was very controlling, and questioned whether Lolita thought she had more control than she actually did. The scene on the couch early in the book sparked a spirited discussion of Lolita's motives and manipulations: did she know what she was doing, even then?
Everyone thought this story could not have been written now, with our heightened awareness of pedophilia. (Also, many of the plot twists would no longer work as written--it would be very difficult for Humbert and Lolita to go on the lam in the internet age). Everyone agreed that the subject matter serves the story without going too far, and that this is more the story of Humbert's obsession with Lolita than the pornographic romp it is generally thought to be. We all agreed that Humbert is a very complicated character, and impossible to pinpoint. Betty particularly enjoyed the buildup of suspense, as did Kathleen (who nearly drove off the road while listening to the audiobook description--narrated by Jeremy Irons--of the demise of Charlotte). Janet pointed out that Humbert believes himself to be completely justified in everything he has done. Jen agreed, adding that Humbert believes he has no choice other than to behave as he does, but she was disappointed that he receives no comeuppance for his relationship with Lolita.
One of the last points discussed was a question put by Jen as to whether part of the controversy surrounding the book is caused by Lolita's winding up so normal. Betty, Carole and Shirley all reminded us that at that time, such things were not discussed openly, and help-seeking behavior would not have been as common as it is today. Betty also felt that Lolita took all the events of her adolescence more or less in stride, with no idea of their enormity, and this may have been why she turned out relatively unscathed.
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