Over the last few months I've been participating in a book club at work. I've never done a book club before, and wasn't quite sure if I'd like it. I have been enjoying myself, but it does lend a certain homework-y vibe to my reading that I don't really like. Since I tend to read several books at once, and switch around depending on my mood, it's difficile to settle on reading one book at a certain time every month, especially if it's a book that I'm not really enjoying!So far we have read Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon, Julie and Julia by Julie Powell, and The Pesthouse by Jim Crace.
I really liked The Yiddish Policeman's Union--a detective novel set in an alternate history where Sitka, Alaska is a city of two million Jews. As a mystery it wasn't the best plot ever, the ending was vague, which is always annoying, and Detective Meyer Landsman is very stereotypical: a divorced, alchoholic, bitter man, who solves his crimes based mostly on hunches, and of course, continues to stay on cases even after being ordered to shelve them by his commanding officer/ex-wife. But it's the minor characters and the yiddish-sprinkled language, and the whole intriguing idea of Jewish Sitka that made this book for me.
Julie and Julia was pretty much awful. There were a few moments where I was hoping for more, but it just kept disappointing me. The main character/author, Julie Powell, undertakes the task of trying to cook through The Art of French Cooking by Julia Child in one year. The premise was interesting, but Julie is a whiny, self-preoccupied person, who tries to hard to be funny and frankly by halfway through the book I just wanted her to stop. I did really like the chapter on lobster recipes though; her descriptions of trying to kill the lobsters made me laugh out loud.
The Pesthouse is harder to define. I didn't really like it, and I didn't really dislike it. I just read it. It tells the story of two people, Franklin Lopez, and a girl named Margaret, who are both separated from their families in post-apocalyptic America. Franklin left his family willingly, heading for the east coast and a ship to Europe in hopes of a better life. Margaret was ostracized by her family, and sent to a pesthouse because of her illness. Franklin and Margaret end up traveling along a ruined former highway together, and their experiences include marauders, attempted rapists, religious fanatics known as Finger Baptists, and a small child called Bella. Somehow the book never really grabbed my interest though. My description of their experiences makes them sound much more exciting than they really were; the story itself plodded along, and nothing much seemed to happen.
So the book club picks have been mixed so far, but I have high hopes for the next few months. This month we're reading assorted short stories, next month is Revolutionary Road, the month after that is In the Woods, and then we're finishing out the year with Lavinia. Should be good!
2 comments:
I recently read your post about Irène Némirovsky and wanted to let you know about an exciting new exhibition about her life, work, and legacy that will open on September 24, 2008 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage —A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City. Woman of Letters: Irène Némirovsky and Suite Française, which will run through the middle of March, will include powerful rare artifacts — the actual handwritten manuscript for Suite Française, the valise in which it was found, and many personal papers and family photos. The majority of these documents and artifacts have never been outside of France. For fans of her work, this exhibition is an opportunity to really “get to know” Irene. And for those who can’t visit, there will be a special website that will live on the Museum’s site www.mjhnyc.org.
The Museum will host several public programs over the course of the exhibition’s run that will put Némirovsky’s work and life into historical and literary context. Book clubs and groups are invited to the Museum for tours and discussions in the exhibition’s adjacent Salon (by appointment). It is the Museum’s hope that the exhibit will engage visitors and promote dialogue about this extraordinary writer and the complex time in which she lived and died. To book a group tour, please contact Tracy Bradshaw at 646.437.4304 or tbradshaw@mjhnyc.org. Please visit our website at www.mjhnyc.org for up-to-date information about upcoming public programs or to join our e-bulletin list.
Thanks for sharing this info with your readers. If you need any more information, you can contact me at: hfurst@mjhnyc.org
Good for people to know.
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