Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

[February 2014]

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Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan
Host: Emily (at Barnes & Noble)

Average rating: 7.8028
Highest rating: 8.5
Lowest rating: 6.4
Number of voters: 9

Decor: Red "BAM" shirts, chained book, headphones, e-readers, code books
Menu: The perfect bagel, lots of yummy desserts

tiny beautiful things

[December 2013]

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Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on life and love from Dear Sugar, Cheryl Strayed

host: Christina

number of voters: 8

percentage of voters who finished the book: 88

highest rating: 9

lowest rating: 4

average rating: 6.75

menu: “dear sugar” cookies; “honey buns”; “sweet pea” bites; black bean & “pumpkin” empanadas; sparkling “peach” punch

*****

Dear Sugar,

I’ve been reading your book lately. I don’t mean to make you blush when I say that it is full of profound and piercing advice, written with stunning beauty and candor. Sometimes I will send the kids to their rooms, turn down the lights, curl up on the couch (under a blanket, in a fetal position), and read until I have exhausted myself with tears, laughter, empathy, and self-reflection. This usually occurs after only a few pages. At that point I have to put the book down and allow myself time to recover. Then I get up and go about my day, wanting to tell anyone and everyone to read your book.

And yet…

I know not everyone will appreciate your book. I know there are people—people I admire, people I love—who will be repelled by the harshness of your tone, your choice of words, and sometimes even the advice you give. Some will find your use of colorful language… ahem… a bit much. (A few of your word choices could make even a salty sailor blush.) Others will disagree with your moral code. I imagine many will not find it as insanely beautiful as I do. Maybe some will loathe it.

What do I do? How can I freely reveal to friends my passion for your book, knowing that my enthusiasm could be met with resistance, indifference, or possibly even disdain? What if I offer my fragile heart and it is shattered? Wouldn’t it be easier to stay on the couch (under that blanket, still in that fetal position) and keep reading, all alone?

Signed,

Introspective Reader

Dear Introspective Reader,

“That your friends have those opinions...does not mean that they don’t love you or value as a friend.”

“We are obligated to the people we care about and who we allow to care about us….. Our main obligation is to be forthright.”

“You don’t have a right to the cards you believe you should have been dealt…. You have an obligation to play the hell out of the ones you’re holding and, my dear one, you and I have been granted a mighty generous one.”

“Isn’t this cool? It really is, pumpkin.”

“You cannot convince people to love you. This is an absolute rule. No one will ever give you love because you want him or her to give it. Real love moves freely in both directions. Don’t waste your time on anything else.”

 “You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior for love.”

Yours,

Sugar

p.s. “The best thing you can possibly do with your life is to tackle the mother-f***ing s*** out of it.”

Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

[November 2013]

Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Maria Semple

host: Lindsay

number of voters: 11

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 9.75

lowest rating: 7

average rating: 8.78

menu: Christmas party! Snacks galore!

*****

From: A.  Reader

To: Members of the First Monday Reading Group (aka Final Monday Reading Group aka FMRG aka Book Group)

RE: Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

Hello, LADIES!

As you all well know, last month we read Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple. And as you also know, WE LOVED IT. A quick rundown of all the adjectives we used to describe this book: fun, quirky, unique, engaging, entertaining, satirical, hilarious, unbelievable (in a good way!), insightful, witty, intelligent, mysterious un-put-down-a-ble (okay, I made that one up).

Well, what more is there to say? A LOT APPARENTLY! I am pleased to announce that due to our high praise of Bernadette and our longstanding presence in the community at large the local Readers and Educators Association and Directive (READ, for short) has asked us to host the REGIONAL ANNUAL DISCUSSION and INTERVIEW CONVENTION AMONG LITERARY-TYPES (RADICAL) for 2014!

I don’t need to tell you what an incredible honor this is. Obviously we will need to put the idea up for a vote, and I urge you all to vote either 5 stars or perfect 10. Anything less than 4.5 stars or a 9 (whichever is higher... and by the way do we have a star/numerical conversion committee in place?) and we will forfeit the opportunity to the Tuesday Night Readers of Greater Oregon. I do not need to point out that the TNRGO have already hosted the READ RADICAL for the past 5 years.

I urge you all to recommend Bernadette to all your friends; I am confident you will have no trouble doing this, as you all loved the book. Also, please refrain from mentioning anything about the parts of the book you found slightly distasteful. Instead, you may refer to this list of approved talking points: PNW/Microsoft setting! Clever format! Facts about architecture and Antarctica—and architecture in Antarctica! Contemporary cultural references!

That’s all for now. Let’s win this one for the First (or Final) Monday Reading Group!

Sincerely,

A.  Reader 

p.s. If you needed any more reason not to let those girls over at TNRGO host their sixth straight RADICAL, check out the gift they gave to the READ committee in an attempt to win them over and you can see what we are up against:

(Source: http://www.mariasemple.com/whered-you-go-bernadette-praise/)

Seven

[October 2013]

Seven, Jen Hatmaker

host: Megan

number of voters: 6

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 8.72

lowest rating: 7

average rating: 7.7 (I don’t make this stuff up people!)

menu: (no food items were purchased in the preparation of tonight’s snacks) cheese sticks, cuties, truffles, chicken wontons

*****

Day 1: Must. Start. Reading... Seriously. There are only 30 days until book group. And did I mention? I LOVE MY BOOK GROUP! They are such an amazing bunch of women. I look forward to meeting with them every month. It’s most fun when I’ve read the book though, so off I go to get my hands on a copy of Seven by Jen Hatmaker.

Day 4: Did I mention I am the procrastinator of the group? Still haven’t gotten a copy of Seven, but I did find this tidbit on the author’s website: “7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children to varying degrees) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.” Sounds interesting! And a little gimmicky. But mostly interesting. And totally not the kind of book we usually read. This should be fun!

Day 7: Text message to Emily from Angie: “Can I borrow your copy of Seven?”

Emily’s response: “Yes!”

Day 14: So I finally connected with Emily and started reading this month’s book. And can I just say, this girl is FUNNY, people! I mean, when she writes, it’s totally like you are right there with her hanging out like you are one of her besties. Or maybe like you are some creepy stalker reading her blog and pretending like you are one of her besties. Anyways, the first month is all about food and giving up food and only eating seven foods for a whole month, and I am not joking when I say Jen LOVES herself some food. For the whole chapter you can practically FEEL the starvation and withdrawal. When Jen says she would sacrifice a small child for a plate of tableside prepared guacamole from her favorite restaurant, you kinda believe her.

Day 17: I’m in the middle of the chapter on clothes. You guys, Jen is wearing only 7 articles of clothing for a whole month. (Okay, so she cheats a little and get extra underwear and an extra pair of shoes. You can discuss the fairness of this on your own time, but I am totally in my besties’ camp on this one.)

Day 24: OhmanIcan’tbelieveit’saweektilbookgroupandIhaven’tgottenpastthesecondmonth!

Day 26: Chapter three: Jen is giving away 7 possessions every day for a month. Could I do that? (Side note: She just gave away her brand new boots. I will not be giving away my brand new boots. I love you, Jen, but back away from my boots. Hmmm... I may have some growing to do in this area.)

Day 27: I’m on a roll! Three days until book group and I am half way through chapter four. This one is all about giving up media... No TV no gaming no facebook no radio no candy crush saga. This is starting to hit a little too close to home. This right here just laid me bare: “When I say I don’t have time, I’m a gigantic liar. I have time. I just spend it elsewhere.” Story. of. my. life.

Day 30: Full confession: I did not finish the book. The good news: I still get to go hang out with my book group girls, who love me even when I don’t finish a book, when I spend too much time online, when I’m too materialistic. When I throw out food or sometimes put my recycling in the garbage. When I overspend or overstress. When I procrastinate.

Conclusion: Jen’s book was funny and moving and thought-provoking...and did I mention funny? On a deeper level, I think Angela said it best: “It exposes the gap between what I say I believe and how I act on my beliefs.” And as Jen’s bestie I think I can finish with this: There is always room for growth, and always room for more grace.

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Ender's Game

[September 2013]

Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card

number of voters: 11

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 9.26

lowest rating: 4

average rating: 8.26

menu: “Bean” dip. pineapple upside “down is the enemy gate” cake. hive queen cocoons. “Valentine” cookies. giant eyeballs. the Giant’s drink.

*****

The message on the desk read: 

“Ho Launchies! You’re assigned to Dragon Army. Report to the battle room at 1900. Follow gray orange gray. Commander Overall.”

We’d never had a battle at Group before. This would be a first. It seems like it’s been all firsts lately: There was the first time we meet at a park under a play structure, the first (and only) time a reporter wanted to do a story on us, and the first time a teenage boy joined Group for a night. It was even the first time we’d read a sci-fi classic.

We donned our Group gear and prepared, mentally and physically, to meet whatever the Colonel would throw at us. We followed gray orange gray to the doorstep of the battle room.

But we were in for a surprise. It wasn’t a battle at all. Commander Overall had instead prepared for us a night of rest and nourishment, a chance to let our guards down and discuss Ender’s Game, the story of how Ender saved us all back in the days before we knew we didn’t need saving.

Many of us confessed that if it weren’t for Group we never would have read about Ender. But we loved him, and pitied him, and wanted to fight for him or hold him—or maybe both. His story engrossed us, even those of us who admitted to skimming the battle scenes.

The people surrounding Ender were a complex lot. Never fully good or evil, but sliding scales of good intentions and mistakes, selfishness and altruism. Moment to moment, they could swing from loveable to despicable and back again, leaving us as full of doubt as our young hero.

Perhaps most shocking for this group of self-proclaimed non-sci-fi fans was that in the 1970s our 21st century technological future was foretold in such vivid detail. Ender’s Game is a layered, nuanced tale of a world where nothing is black and white, the future is uncertain, and child geniuses rule technology. 

Sounds familiar.

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness

[June 2013]

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On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, Andrew Peterson
Host: Isabel

Average rating: 8.275
Highest rating: 10
Lowest rating: 7.65
Number of voters: 6

Menu: Cheesy Chowder, Totatoes, Sugar Berries

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

[May 2013]

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Wild, Cheryl Strayed

number of voters: 7

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 9

lowest rating: 7

average rating: 7.98

number of book group members who have hiked Oregon on the PCT: 1

number of book group members who have huddled under a tent-like structure at an urban playground to discuss Wild: 7 (as far as we know anyway)

*****

In 1995, Cheryl Strayed was so broken and lost that she did something brave and—if you’ll forgive us for saying so—a little stupid: She decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, alone, without any training… and she brought possibly the heaviest backpack the trail has ever seen.

The book opens with a moment about midway through her journey when Strayed’s backpack—nicknamed “Monster”—literally propels one of her boots over the edge of a cliff. The only logical thing to do with its now-worthless mate would be to huck it over the edge too, and so she does.

That’s a pretty apt metaphor for the story of Cheryl Strayed’s life BT (Before Trail): The world had tossed her half-way over a cliff and her only logical response was to fling herself the rest of the way down. That the PCT was her least devastating method of self-destruction may have saved her life.

Her adventure on the trail is pretty much what you would expect from a story about an inexperienced hiker in over her head. But Strayed’s skillful story-telling makes you care about every step and every misstep, every trial and every triumph. Life as metaphor is rarely so well written.

One minor complaint from this group of Oregonians was that the book moves too quickly through our backyard. Between California and the Washington border we are rushed to a conclusion that Cheryl-the-hiker yearned to see but Cheryl-the-author could have elaborated on.

But life on the trail is only part of the story of Wild. Details of her hike are adeptly woven together with the story of her life BT as she reveals why the only thing that could save her was being alone with herself in the wild. More than a trek across a thousand miles of wilderness, it is a voyage of self-discovery, and lucky for us we get to go along for the ride.

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The Amateur Marriage

[April 2013]

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The Amateur Marriage, Anne Tyler

number of voters: 4

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 9

lowest rating: 6.5

average rating: 7.8125

number of 30th anniversary cakes consumed: 1

*****

“Did you like the book I brought you?” she asked, expectantly.

He scanned the newspaper and gave a non-committal: “Mmm.”

“It’s okay if you didn’t like it, but… Well, did you at least read it?” she asked, still hopeful.

“Of course, I read it,” he sighed, without looking up from the paper. “You asked me to read it, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes,” she replied, now hesitantly. “But just because I asked you to read it doesn’t mean you actually did.”

He folded the newspaper abruptly. “Now what is that supposed to mean?”

“It doesn’t mean anything.” Now it was her turn to sigh. “Why do you have to take everything so personally? I just wanted to know what you thought of the book.”

“I take everything so personally? I—” He exhaled sharply, inhaled slowly. “The book was fine.”

She waited for him to expound. He picked up his newspaper.

“Fine, as in swell, or fine as in just okay?” she asked impatiently.

“Fine as in fine!” he said, resigning himself to the fact that the newspaper would have to wait. “What do you expect me to say about a book?”

“Well, did you like the characters?” she tried.

“No.”

“Not even early on when they were in love?”

“No. They were foolish to marry so young and with so little in common. They were selfish and annoying.”

“Yes, I’m sure you couldn’t relate to that at all,” she muttered. Then louder, “You must have liked the setting, then. It was so quintessentially mid 1900s America, don’t you think.”

“Sure. Peachy. Just like I remember Mom and Dad during the War.”

“Why do you have to do that?” she pouted.

“Do what?!” he retorted.

“Respond to everything so scathingly.”

“You want to know what I think? I think this lady was really good at making me not like these people. All they did was walk around in their little ‘me’ orbit and misread each other’s words and actions at every turn. The immigrant story was interesting, but it was a little depressing to read about the complete implosion of a marriage.”

She smiled. “I knew you’d like it.” Then she added, “See, was that so hard?”

The Age of Miracles

[March 2013]

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The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker

number of voters: 8

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 8.75

lowest rating: 6.75

average rating: 7.53

average length of a day, as of March 31, 2013, measured in hours: 24

*****

We didn’t notice it at first. We couldn’t have anticipated it, the way this book started drawing us into its orbit and then seeping into us.

It was supposed to be science fiction, or so we thought. A book about the slowing of the earth’s rotation. A tale of the impending “end of the world” that soapbox prophets have long foretold.

But the slowing was not the plot. In fact, the slowing was hardly the point at all; the slowing was merely the setting. At the heart of The Age of Miracles is a middle-school girl named Julia.

Some claimed to have seen it coming. For them, it was never going to be about the lengthening of days. For them, it was all about Julia. They remember middle school: Some days can make you feel like the world is ending. These women, sentimental toward tales of human experience, settled in and let the author take them for an unhurried, poetic ride. They appreciated how, even though the whole world was changing, life—crushes, affairs, the transient nature of friendships—stays the same.

Others, just a few, were waiting for more. For them, it was all about the sun, the science, the slowing. With every lengthening rotation of the earth they looked for a technical explanation or a logical answer.

Instead, the story unwinds like a ball of yarn, gradually and methodically, without enlightenment. Day after day, the length of a day grows longer, and no one understands why. Week after week, Julia navigates the turbulence of middle school in a world that is tentative, facing a future where even the rising of the sun is unreliable.

Then it ends. It is a bit abrupt, jarring even, to come to a stopping point after so much decelerating. At the end we are left holding an unwound hunk of yarn, a mass of uncertainty. 

And we are aching for more. Julia has won us over. We are hanging on her every breath, wondering if it will be her last. Wondering what will become of her.

As for the earth: As far as we know, it is still spinning.

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The House at Tyneford

[February 2013]

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The House at Tyneford, Natasha Solomons
Host: Lindsay

Average rating: 7.667
Highest rating: 8.5
Lowest rating: 6.5
Number of voters: 6
Percentage of voters who finished the book: 83

The Known World

[January 2013]

The Known World, Edward P. Jones

number of voters: 5

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 9

lowest rating: 6

average rating: 7.45

*****

The evening they gathered for reading group at Megg’s cabin they stretched their tired feet and overworked minds and they relaxed in one another’s companionship. The discussion rambled the well-worn path of The Known World, an antebellum novel that does not begin at the beginning nor conclude at the conclusion.

Megg admitted she had taken notes as she read, to stave off the confusion of the non-linear plot and subtle lack of a main character, though she liked that the author’s cadence had a familiar, Old Testament–like tone. Others echoed Megg’s sentiments: Young Emmalee said she had to slog her way through the pages like a plow through parched earth; Anghella struggled through the thick molasses to get to the sweet cream underneath; Keri found the concept more difficult than getting leaven out of the dough; Kristeena was too busy schooling the young ones to waste the precious daylight hours; Lins was incredulous at first but eventually appreciated the story like cool water on a hot day; and crazy ol’ Ange, well, she was enamored from near the start, but she’s not been right since that mule kicked her in the head... so they say.

To a person, those who had finished the book said they were glad to have read it, even if only because of a singular moment or a particular character or for the experience or knowledge gained. A story about a black slave master—a rarely discussed yet historically accurate figure—is sure to leave an impression of some nature, and by most accounts the opinion was that the author successfully captures the period and dialect.

They conversed for hours, and long after their young ones had retired to their beds the talk still drifted in and out of their ears like long-forgotten dreams, where another world once existed.

My Year with Eleanor

[November 2012]

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My Year with Eleanor, Noelle Hancock

number of voters: 7

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 9

lowest rating: 7.4

average rating: 8.09

*****

My Week with Noelle

I was astounded at the amount of sheer wussiness before me. —Noelle Hancock

Imagine lying on a beach in Aruba, on holiday from your job writing juicy blog posts covering the latest celebrity gossip. Your successful, faithful, and gorgeous boyfriend (“in possession of all his hair”) lounges by your side. Life. Is. Perfect.

Until the phone rings, and you learn you have been downsized.

It can be charming if you don’t have your life together in your twenties, but when people find out you don’t have some sort of direction by your thirties, they’re a little embarrassed for you. —Noelle Hancock

You are (relatively) unskilled and (completely) unemployed. After a few weeks of drowning your sorrows in liquor and/or coffee, you tell yourself it’s okay, that you’ve got a new lease on life, the world is your oyster. But the truth is you are (utterly, desperately, pathetically, embarrassingly) afraid.

I was stuck in one of those trances where it appears some invisible hand has smeared itself over your world. —Noelle Hancock

As the weeks go by, that blank sheet of future is as blank as ever, the coffee shops are all beginning to look the same, and the economy has just shed another 80,000 jobs. But surprisingly, your life is about to be saved by none other than Eleanor Roosevelt…or at least a famous quote of Eleanor Roosevelt’s, scrawled on a blackboard in pink chalk:

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

And so you do. One scary thing. Every day. With Eleanor as your guide you tackle 365 fears—from the mundane (speaking up for yourself more) to the grandiose (shark diving, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro).

“Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

And you write a book about it. And you become a different person than the one you were before.

I will never take any of you for granted again! —Noelle Hancock

And your readers learn so much more about Eleanor Roosevelt.

“I was so impressed by what Eleanor Roosevelt did—how her life was a fantastic example of finding perseverance.” —Angela

And your readers are inspired to conquer their own fears.

“It was like free therapy!” —Megan

And a group of women—some who have known each for years—learn that they are not just a book club… They are a group of women doing with all their hearts what interests them.

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Me Talk Pretty One Day

[September 2012]

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Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris

number of voters: 6

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 8

lowest rating: 5

average rating: 6.92

*****

There are a limited number of people in the world who could pull off Me Talk Pretty One Day, an autobiographical selection of short stories that straddles topics from the devastating lows of drug addiction to the social humiliation of a turd that refuses flushing.

David Sedaris has so much Voice with a capital V that your life feels—without a hint of jealousy—wholly unremarkable in comparison. The book unfolds in chaotic bursts of nearly-normal-No-wait-this-isn’t-normal-at-all stories. It all feels larger than life and yet somehow almost completely ordinary. (You may have taken a French class, but it was never as interesting or comical. Your father may have had a nickname, but nothing as quirky as “The Rooster,” who refers to himself in the third person. You possibly have created a work of art at some point in your life, but—guaranteed—it was not a performance piece in which you heated up a skillet of plastic soldiers and poured a milkshake over your head.)

Reasons you might like this book: It is authentic, hilarious, remarkable. It is about a not-so-average average guy whose life is sometimes messy and messed up but maybe no more than you, the average reader.

Reasons you might not like this book: It is visceral, shattering, unpleasant. It is about a once drug-addicted, often messed up not-so-average average guy whose life is often well-intentioned and rarely in one piece but maybe no more than you, the messed-up reader.

Like it or not, you won’t read anything else quite like a David Sedaris book. Guaranteed.

(Milkshake not included.)

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

[July 2012]

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Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, Beth Hoffman

number of voters: 6

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 8.5

lowest rating: 6

average rating: 7.167

*****

Early on in Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, twelve-year-old Cecelia describes a moment with her mentally ill mother in this way:

“We whirled through the living room, into the dining room, and around the table. Right in the middle of a spin, Momma abruptly stopped….”

That one moment symbolizes life for CeeCee from that moment on. Momma stops—run over by an ice cream truck—but CeeCee keeps right on spinning, through a whirlwind of eccentric characters, bizarre situations, and Southern charm.

Bewildered and bemused, heartbroken and confused, CeeCee is both the observer and observed. Her life becomes a parade of events: She buries her mother, is whisked away to Georgia by a long-lost aunt, commits (in her own mind, at least) an assault by garden slug, becomes a confidante to her housekeeper, and on and on it goes.

The book unfolds like a set of short stories, dreamlike, sometimes nightmarish, but always completely, unmistakably, quintessentially Southern. A fine summer read to take you for a spin when the world around you has stopped.

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House Rules

[June 2012]

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House Rules, Jodi Picoult

number of voters: 4

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 6.75

lowest rating: 4

average rating: 5.6875

*****

The Case of the Disappointed Book Club

In September of 2003, the First Monday Reading Group was formed. They met monthly, discussing and rating one book per month. The group was a success. By December of 2005, they had read 22 books, but not one of the books had ever received that elusive perfect rating—a 10.

Then, that December, came a book by Jodi Picoult titled My Sister’s Keeper. The book was a hit. It received not only the first individual rating of 10 but also the highest average rating (8.49) of any book that had come before it.

Years passed, the group became the Final Monday Reading Group, and in 2012 they decided to read another Jodi Picoult book, House Rules. It was to be the group’s 96th book. Many of the earlier group member’s had moved away or had their time occupied by other interests and responsibilities. But expectations were still piqued by the return of a Picoult title.

Those expectations would be dashed, severely. House Rules, they discovered, was exactly like every other Piccoult story: controversial topic + young love + courtroom drama + unconventional ending = bestseller.

One might argue that what some people call formula others call style or genre or niche. One might argue that the formula is the reason Picoult’s books are bestsellers. One might argue that our expectations were too high. One might argue that, yes, Picoult did indeed need every single one of those when-will-it-ever-end five hundred and sixty pages.

If that is the argument you want to make, a Jodi Picoult book is just the book for you. But if you ask the Final Monday Reading Group, we recommend that Jodi Picoult book be My Sister’s Keeper.

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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

[May 2012]

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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley

number of voters: 8

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 9

lowest rating: 6.5

average rating: 7.875

*****

She could have gagged and bound us as we walked through the door. She might have offered us parting gifts of poisoned lipstick. Thankfully Rachelia de Livre chose a chemistry display.

We met at Thurston-on-McKenzie on what could have been a dark and stormy night but was instead a balmy spring evening. Rachelia had prepared for us a reader’s delight of book-inspired décor and hors d’oeuvres. And on the discussion table sat a plate of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

We ate it up. Nearly every last bit of it. We relished the quirky heroine. We delighted in the descriptions and word choices. We savored the twists of plot and turns of character.

If anything left a bitter taste in our mouths, it may have been the heroine’s young age, the too-frightening conclusion, or the unbelievability of it all. But another bite of the sweetness was enough to balance the sour.

Yes, this was a dish best served in the summer, and we were glad to have partaken. Will we have another helping of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie? Sometimes the flavor in your mouth is just enough, and a second helping might only serve to ruin both your enjoyment and appetite. But we might just take that chance.

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Just for funsies, here are some other covers for this title (international and other editions):

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

[April 2012]

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A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers

number of voters: 4

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 10

lowest rating: 9

average rating: 9.5

*****

Look at us! We are young! We read books! Not just any books. We read literature. We read postmodern literature. We read Pulitzer Prize–nominated postmodern literature.

And we love it. We love it so much that we take notes.

This book is big and tragic and rambling and brave and irreverent. And so original that you’ll be forgiven if sometimes you don’t understand, like, could someone actually hide the Statue of Liberty? is it really possible to hear Clinton’s semicolons? and what does any of this have to do with the plot anyways?

Ah, yes! The plot!

[INSERT PLOT SUMMARY HERE.] No, I won’t do it. [WHY NOT?] Because the plot is not relevent to this recap. [OF COURSE IT’S RELEVANT; IT’S THE PLOT!] But you don’t need to know the plot to know what we thought of the book. [BUT PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW THE PLOT TO KNOW IF THEY WANT TO READ THE BOOK.] But knowing the plot might also make some people NOT want to read the book. [NOW YOU’VE MADE EVERYONE CURIOUS AND YOU’LL HAVE TO REVEAL THE PLOT!] Okay, fine. The plot is:

Heartbreaking.

[CHEATER.]

Yes, heartbreaking. But also funny. Like, laughing-so-hard-you’re-crying funny. And highly informative… that is, if you’ve ever wanted to:

1. Start a magazine;
2. Audition for MTV’s The Real World; and/or
3. Sprinkle your deceased loved one’s ashes in a way that makes you look neither ridiculous nor tactless.

Then there is the writing. Did I mention rambling? It’s rambling. Stream of consciousness. Kind of like you are actually thinking the author’s thoughts yourself. At times a little long-winded, too introspective. But it is so real it bleeds. (You can actually feel its pulse.)

Listen, here’s all you need to know: It is heartbreaking; It is staggering; Yes, it is genius.

Still think you need to know the plot? Here is a drawing of a stapler:

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Somewhere Inside

[March 2012]

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Somewhere Inside, Laura Ling and Lisa Ling

number of voters: 3

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 7.5

lowest rating: 6.75

average rating: 7.083

*****

The title says it all: Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home.

Journalists Lisa and Laura Ling offer a competent, back-and-forth account of Laura’s detainment in North Korea and Lisa’s tireless efforts to rescue her sister. But while the story is interesting and the writers capable, overall the book leaves something to be desired—mainly, any sort of understanding of North Korea and the real danger Laura Ling was in.

We are told that the sisters feared for Laura’s life, that North Korea is an awful place to be imprisoned. But, by her own description, Laura is kept in fairly tolerable conditions, treated respectfully, and allowed regular care packages from home. While that doesn’t diminish any misery she might have endured, more explanation on North Korea itself might have helped the reader understand her terror.

What the book does well is offer a glimpse into the inner workings of international relations, particularly interesting when leaders from those nations will not communicate with each other directly. Good reading for a poli-sci major, perhaps, or an especially political average citizen.

There is one issue that the Lings completely overlook. As readers we are constantly reminded of the sisters well-connectedness, yet it barely occurs to them that were it not for their social and political class they might very well be still fighting for Laura’s release. It’s an unfortunate point to overlook when the authors so freely denounce the classism of North Korea.

Ultimately this is a book about the separation of two sisters and the diplomatic posturing of two nations. It holds your attention long enough to read through to the conflict’s resolution.

{Author’s note: It’s a delicate thing to review a book about real, traumatizing events without running the risk of diminishing the trauma itself. The author respectfully recognizes the ordeal the Ling sisters endured and would like to be clear that this article is no more than a review of the book itself.}

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One Day

[February 2012]

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One Day, David Nicholls

number of voters: 5

% of voters who finished the book: 83

highest rating: 9

lowest rating: 5

average rating: 5.21

*****

Stepping over the beer bottles on the floor, we greeted each other like the old friends that we are. Some of us have known each other for years, after all, meeting at the same time each and every month. I guess the only difference between us and the characters in the books we read is… well, I suppose that depends on that month’s book. But let’s take this book, for example — One Day, by David Nicholls.

I’d like to think we’re more likable than these characters. And that we make better choices. (I hope.) What’s normal for Dexter and Emma — failed relationships, drug addiction, a whole slew of missed opportunities — is certainly not normal for us. It isn’t that the characters aren’t interesting, but whether they are likable or relatable is up for debate.

The concept of the book was interesting… visiting the main characters on the same day each year for twenty years. But even with only twenty days to work with the author could get long-winded.

Okay, so I guess we aren’t anything like the characters in One Day. But we DO meet every month! And we DO have our sad times, like when we lose a member (thankfully just to Texas and not to tragic death! We’ll miss you Joanna!). And we DO have our good times, like when we celebrate a new birth (welcome, Charles!).

And for the record, the beer bottles were decoration only, for ambiance, to complement the theme of the book. ’Cause that’s just how awesome we are. Somebody oughta write a book about us.

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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

[December 2011]

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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

number of voters: 8

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 10

lowest rating: 8.25

average rating: 8.99

*****

Dear friend,

   I do hope this letter finds you in the best of health and surrounded by both treasured friends and treasured books. It is to these precise subjects that I find myself writing to you.

   Chance has brought to me the loveliest of books, and I am compelled to send you a copy for your very own. I am confident that you will want to make a place for it on your bookshelf.

   You see, there exists a fictional little world on the very real island of Guernsey in the English Channel. Authors Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows have imagined a cast of characters so rich and entertaining that one wishes they were real people with whom one could travel to Guernsey and visit.

   Not only are the characters rich, the story itself is rich in its own right. Set during World War II, the plot presents a very personal and moving description of life under German occupation. But despite the weighty topic, the authors manage to keep the story light without taking it lightly.

   Don’t be tempted to set the book aside because the format of a novel written via correspondence is daunting. Give it a little of your attention at the first and it will grab hold of all your attention by the end.

   Without further ado, I present to you The Guernesy Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I pray that you will enjoy it as I have, and I look forward to discussing it with you upon my next visit. Keep the kettle hot.

   With warmest regards,

   A

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