Help Wanted

Book Group meets this month at my place, and that means it's both my turn to lead the discussion on the book we just read (Wuthering Heights) and my perogative to choose our next book. I haven't thought about what to select and could use some suggestions. I have a little ground to make up, because I suspect the group hated my last pick (Despair, by Nabokov). (Worse, I skipped the meeting during which they discussed it!) Some of my past picks: If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino, which drove some of them buggy but which turned out to be a pretty neat book group discussion book. And I did a pairing of Gatsby with The Fundamentals of Play, by Caitlin Macy. That made for pretty good discussion. Also Bel Canto, which was pretty boring to discuss. Can't remember my others. I've been hit or miss so far.

The group has some loose criteria for selecting books. It's got to be available in paperback. There's a minor preference books by or about women, but it's not a strong preference. It should be a book that prompts strong reactions and good discussion. It must have been read before by at least one person in the group, which is pretty easily met because we've got a couple of English professors among us, and some other fairly voracious readers. We almost always read fiction, but occasionally we'll stray to nonfiction.

My personal philosophy with book group is to use it as a reason to read books that I might not pick up on my own but would like to read, so these books from the 19th century are good ones. I'm also feeling the hankering to re-read Steinbeck's East of Eden, but am sheepish about that because it was just an Oprah book club selection and I don't want anyone to think that's why I'm interested. It isn't, really. I'd like to pick something that continues the torrid love affair theme from Wuthering Heights. Hmmm. Last night I just started High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. I wonder if it would be interesting to discuss the idea of love in that novel as it's compared to WH. Not sure whether anyone else in the group will have read that, and I don't expect to finish it by Sunday, so it technically might be against the rules.

Ideas welcome.

Comments

[Milbarge]

High Fidelity rocks. Also, fiction+women made me think of Patricia Highsmith novels. She wrote the "Mr. Ripley" series and "Strangers on a Train." The basic theme in all of hers is that even "normal" people are a little bit psychotic. My favorite is "This Sweet Sickness" or maybe "The Cry of the Owl." On my blog recently, I recommended "The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living" by Martin Clark (although I doubt any of your group have read it) and anything by Tom Perotta. Oh, you mentioned all those weddings you're going to -- look at "The Wishbones." I'll stop now, but good luck with it.

[Emily]

Brick Lane, by Monica Ali, Praisesong for the Widow, by Paula Marshall, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, by Anita Loos (which could be interesting to pair with a modern romance) all come to mind

[moresilent]

Lamb, the Gospel According to Christ's Childhood Pal Biff, by Christopher Moore

its hilarious, and also quite provocative re: what it would really be like to be 10 years old and trying to figure out what it means that you are the son of the Lord.

and, as for the gender angle, it puts Mary Magdalene in a very different position/light/role

and its hilarious

tp

[ML]

I just finished a great novel by Iris Murdoch, "The Sea, the Sea." It's in paperback, won the Booker Prize in '78. It's about obsessive love. Also, I'd like to read "Savage Beauty," the bio. of Edna St. Vincent Millay, who had a place on Ragged Island.

[Dave]

His books fit almost none of your criteria, but I recommend reading any of Irvine Welsh's books. His most famous is Trainspotting, but each of them are good in their own way.

Welsh writes in a phoenetic Scottish dialect, and uses a lot of slang, so you find yourself sounding words out to figure out what he's saying. The stories are gripping, if somewhat tragic at times. I'd probably recommend Trainspotting first, followed by E (a collection of 3 short stories).

Other good books would be Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (classic science fiction, it raises a lot of great questions about humankind); anything by Kurt Vonnegut; or Kindred by Octavia Butler. I've never read the latter book, but I heard Ms. Butler on NPR, and the story sounds gripping and should meet your guidelines well. Here's the blurb from Amazon (taken from 500 Great Books by Women):

Kindred utilizes the devices of science fiction in order to answer the question "how could anybody be a slave?" A woman from the twentieth century, Dana is repeatedly brought back in time by her slave-owning ancestor Rufus when his life is endangered. She chooses to save him, knowing that because of her actions a free-born black woman will eventually become his slave and her own grandmother. When forced to live the life of a slave, Dana realizes she is not as strong as her ancestors. Unable to will herself back to her own time and unable to tolerate the institution of slavery, she attempts to run away and is caught within a few hours. Her illiterate ancestor Alice succeeds in eluding capture for four days even though "She knew only the area she'd been born and raised in, and she couldn't read a map." Alice is captured, beaten, and sold as a slave to Rufus. As Dana is sent back and forth through time, she continues to save Rufus's life, attempting during each visit to care for Alice, even as she is encouraging Alice to allow Rufus to rape her and thus ensure Dana's own birth. As a twentieth-century African-American woman trying to endure the brutalities of nineteenth-century slavery, Dana answers the question, "See how easily slaves are made?" For Dana, to choose to preserve an institution, to save a life, and nurture victimization is to choose to survive

[MM]

I love Brick Lane and The Sea, the Sea, but they're both rather long for a discussion.
How about a fairly old Jean Rhys, 'Wide Sargasso Sea' - the story of the mad Caribbean wife of Mr Rochester in 'Jane Eyre'. That's about a woman! Of course, you should do 'Jane Eyre' first.

[Scheherazade]

Milbarge -- we've read Highsmith before. And I took a writing seminar from Perrotta when I was in college. He's cool.

Mom, since you're in the group, you get to pick your own book in due time. No fair trying to influence the vote!

[A. Rickey]

Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood. While it doesn't have the complexity of ideas achieved in Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, it's simply the most emotionally affecting thing I've read in four years. The complexity of love and desire in the novel is simply astonishing.

[Steven]

I second Mr. Rickey's recommendation of Norweigan Wood, or perhaps Sputnik Sweetheart if you've read that one.

[Cinnamon]

I'm a big Hornby fan, honestly. I read High Fidelity a long time ago because, sadly, I am very much the same type of person as the lead character. I liked the writing so much, I read About a Boy, Fever Pitch and recently How to be Good.

I commend your Calvino choice. If on a Winter's Night A Traveler remains one of my faves of all time. If you like that, you may also like a book called Locos by Felipe Alfau. Similar structure. Also, loved Time's Arrow by Martin Amis (another non-linear story schematic).

I loved The Passion by Jeannette Winterson, in terms of books by ladies.

[ijk]

I would strongly urge you to consider Kristin Bakis' "Lives of the Monster Dogs." It was her first novel, it is out in trade paper and it is *brilliant.*

That said, while perhaps not for your group, I would second the above re Chris Moore...wonderful writer and Biff is exceptional (though I'd start with Practical Demonkeeping).

best,
/ijk

[LawMom]

I want to be in your book group. You read excellent books.

I would suggest The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard. A classic, and exquisitely written. The story is compelling, the main characters are fascinating, and I bet someone has read it. (It won the National Book Award in 1980. I think. I'm not entirely sure about that date.)

Another one I read recently which ended up being a pleasant surpise to me was Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Lots to discuss in that book, and although it's not by a woman I thought that Maguire did a very good job of writing from a woman's perspective, considering the fact that he's a man. It's a classic tale of good vs. evil, but with lots of thought-provoking questions about the true nature of evil.

My book group has been meeting for 7 or 8 years, and I would be remiss if I didn't recommend the only book that we've ever ALL liked: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. We STILL talk about that one, and it's been about 5 years since we read it.

Our next meeting is at my house this month, and I'll be suggesting The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger for us. Another wonderfully written, captivating story. However, I think it's only available in paperback right now.

Let us know what you choose!

[mad]

Someone suggested Murakami -- my favorite of his is the Wind Up Bird Chronicle, which might be too long and twisty for good book-group reading. My impression is that your group tends more towards the Booker Prize than Oprah's Book Club, but I highly recommend The House of Sand and Fog (didn't see the movie, but I'm sure the book is better), which is not by a woman but has all sorts of interesting gender dynamics in it, or Ursula Hegge's (I think I've messed up her last name) Stones from the River.

[pjm]

Am I too late?

I'm highly in favor of High Fidelity. One of my favorites, and everyone I talk to about it seems to identify with the narrator. Well, nearly everyone.

That said, search Amazon for "Ella Minnow Pea." Got it for Christmas from my cousin, read it in about four hours, and can't quite describe it in a way that I like. It's astounding.

[ambimb]

I'll second the recommendation of Kindred by Octavia Butler. Also, anything by Margaret Atwood. If you've been enjoying the old school, try something by George Eliot. Middlemarch is the big gun, but Felix Holt, The Radical kicks much more booty for my tastes. I want to be in your reading group, too! Happy reading!