Hello, book lovers!
My, such an invigorating book club discussion last night-where to start recapping?!?!
First, huge thanks to Hilary for hosting and choosing this book. Like it or not, all agreed that there were tons of issues and ideas to discuss. Scott indicated that he thought it was a commentary on conformity in Japanese society, evidenced by the shadows, the wall, the "that's just the way it is". Anne concurred, or did she conform? Discuss. Hilary found this 'unsatisfying' as she and Nate were on more of a philosophical wavelength. Is it okay to mess with people's brains if it makes them think they're happy? Are we really all just brains in vats? "But I like my vat!" This, of course, started a previously aborted discussion of the Matrix Reloaded. (Sucked.) FL was totally noncommittal saying, "I can't rate a book with so many loose ends." And Matt never did say if he was going to finish the book or not. Come on, Matt, you know you want to.
The food was, as always, yummy, and cleverly matched the book: maki and teriyaki. Additional kudos for the exotic ice creams! Hillary went out on a limb with the introduction of beer at book club--success. This trend may take hold at future book clubs.
Other areas of discussion included: monkey pox and the hazards of rats, squirrels, and prairie dogs as pets-how do people really think this is a good idea? Matt and Scott explored the whole legal fiasco surrounding the MTA and the fare increase, though they likely did not use the term "fiasco". No one liked the Matrix Reloaded (as noted above), but it is likely that all will see the sequel in December. Marlene is just looking for good airplane books, which must be easier than finding good airline food.
Additionally, book club is now open to new members (if you have not received this email, you are no longer in book club, unless you really, really beg). There are already several people who may be interested, so please make sure prospective members know that they must read, be opinionated, and always, always RSVP.
Next month will be hosted by Nate, but I don't remember what day. FL? Book choices are below. Please send me your vote ASAP so everyone can get started! (Do not send your votes to Nate, as he is out of town!) If you do not vote by Friday, it will be assumed that you will not, and will therefore live with the consequences of your peers decison. Yes, yes, I know the Lumumba book is included-its only 185 pages, how can I argue with that? I can read it faster than I can sit through the movie!
Happy reading!
FS
"The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" by Mordecai Richler. 319 pgs. Amazon: "From Mordecai Richler, one of our greatest satirists, comes one of literature's most delightful characters, Duddy Kravitz -- in a novel that belongs in the pantheon of seminal twentieth century books. Duddy -- the third generation of a Jewish immigrant family in Montreal -- is combative, amoral, scheming, a liar, and totally hilarious. From his street days tormenting teachers at the Jewish academy to his time hustling four jobs at once in a grand plan to "be somebody," Duddy learns about living -- and the lesson is an outrageous roller-coaster ride through the human comedy. As Richler turns his blistering commentary on love, money, and politics, The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz becomes a lesson for us all...in laughter and in life."
"The Assassination of Lumumba" by Ludo de Witte. 185 pgs. Hardcover. History/Investigative journalism. Amazon: "Patrice Lumumba, first prime minister of the Republic of Congo and a pioneer of African unity, was murdered on 17 January 1961. Lumumba was at the center of the country's popular defiance towards the relentless exploitation of its Belgian colonizer. When independence was finally won in June 1960, his unscheduled speech at the official ceremonies in Kinshasa, which described Belgian rule as 'a humiliating slavery imposed by brute force,' received a standing ovation and made him a hero to millions. Within months he was arrested, tortured and executed. This book unravels the appalling mass of lies and betrayals that have surrounded accounts of the murder. Employing an array of official sources as well as extensive personal testimony, it reveals a network of complicity ranging from the Belgian government, across the United Nations leadership, to the CIA. Chilling official memos which detail 'liquidation' and 'threats to national interests' are analyzed alongside macabre tales of the destruction of evidence, placing in stark and dignified contrast Lumumba's personal strength and his quest for African independence... The publication of The Assassination of Lumumba in Belgium prompted an official inquiry into the assassination by a parliamentary commission; its findings are due to be reported in 2001."
"Kavalier and Clay" by Michael Chabon. 639 pgs. Pulitzer Prize winner. Amazon: "Like the comic books that animate and inspire it, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is both larger than life and of it too. Complete with golems and magic and miraculous escapes and evil nemeses and even hand-to-hand Antarctic battle, it pursues the most important questions of love and war, dreams and art, across pages brimming with longing and hope. Samuel Klayman--self-described little man, city boy, and Jew--first meets Josef Kavalier when his mother shoves him aside in his own bed, telling him to make room for their cousin, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Prague. It's the beginning, however unlikely, of a beautiful friendship. In short order, Sam's talent for pulp plotting meets Joe's faultless, academy-trained line, and a comic-book superhero is born. A sort of lantern-jawed equalizer clad in dark blue long underwear, the Escapist "roams the globe, performing amazing feats and coming to the aid of those who languish in tyranny's chains!" Before they know it, Kavalier and Clay (as Sam Klayman has come to be known) find themselves at the epicenter of comics' golden age.
But Joe Kavalier is driven by motives far more complex than your average hack. In fact, his first act as a comic-book artist is to deal Hitler a very literal blow. (The cover of the first issue shows the Escapist delivering "an immortal haymaker" onto the Führer's realistically bloody jaw.) In subsequent years, the Escapist and his superhero allies take on the evil Iron Chain and their leader Attila Haxoff--their battles drawn with an intensity that grows more disturbing as Joe's efforts to rescue his family fail. He's fighting their war with brush and ink, Joe thinks, and the idea sustains him long enough to meet the beautiful Rosa Saks, a surrealist artist and surprisingly retrograde muse. But when even that fiction fails him, Joe performs an escape of his own, leaving Rosa and Sammy to pick up the pieces in some increasingly wrong-headed ways. More amazing adventures follow--but reader, why spoil the fun? Suffice to say, Michael Chabon writes novels like the Escapist busts locks. Previous books such as The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys have prose of equal shimmer and wit, and yet here he seems to have finally found a canvas big enough for his gifts. The whole enterprise seems animated by love: for his alternately deluded, damaged, and painfully sincere characters; for the quirks and curious innocence of tough-talking wartime New York; and, above all, for comics themselves, "the inspirations and lucubrations of five hundred aging boys dreaming as hard as they could." Far from negating such pleasures, the Holocaust's presence in the novel only makes them more pressing. Art, if not capable of actually fighting evil, can at least offer a gesture of defiance and hope--a way out, in other words, of a world gone completely mad. Comic-book critics, Joe notices, dwell on "the pernicious effect, on young minds, of satisfying the desire to escape. As if there could be any more noble or necessary service in life." Indeed.