4th book: The Poisonwood Bible

The next one is a big one. Not sure how long it will take.

From Amazon.com

In this risky but resoundingly successful novel, Kingsolver leaves the Southwest, the setting of most of her work (The Bean Trees; Animal Dreams) and follows an evangelical Baptist minister's family to the Congo in the late 1950s, entwining their fate with that of the country during three turbulent decades. Nathan Price's determination to convert the natives of the Congo to Christianity is, we gradually discover, both foolhardy and dangerous, unsanctioned by the church administration and doomed from the start by Nathan's self-righteousness. Fanatic and sanctimonious, Nathan is a domestic monster, too, a physically and emotionally abusive, misogynistic husband and father. He refuses to understand how his obsession with river baptism affronts the traditions of the villagers of Kalinga, and his stubborn concept of religious rectitude brings misery and destruction to all. Cleverly, Kingsolver never brings us inside Nathan's head but instead unfolds the tragic story of the Price family through the alternating points of view of Orleanna Price and her four daughters.

3rd book: The Buddha of Suburbia

After the long Mambo book, the next choice would be a different book, "a darkly comic portrayal of adult and adolescent confusion" according to San Francisco Chronicle.

From Amazon.com

Midway through the first page of this delectable first novel by screenwriter Kureishi ( My Beautiful Laundrette ; Sammy and Rosie Get Laid ), the 17-year-old narrator--"My name is Karim Amir, and I am an Englishman born and bred, almost"--observes that the plodding existence he has shared with his Indian father and English mother is about to undergo a disorienting change. The catalyst is the father, a civil servant and self-proclaimed guru whose falling in love with one of his followers precipitates events that propel his restless son out of the suburbs and into the fast lane. Karim relates these developments in a series of erotically charged episodes no less charming for their undercurrent of desperation. Though continually yanked about among disparate cultures, classes, colors, even genders--"I felt it would be heartbreaking to
have to choose one or the other, like having to decide between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones"--Karim never loses his capacity for affectionate mockery. Resembling a modern-day Tom Jones , this is an astonishing book, full of intelligence and elan.

2nd book: The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

We are so eager to continue reading, that before writing our impressions about the first book -- "A Human Being Died That Night", the second one has been divinely chosen...

Yeah Baby! "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" by Oscar Hijuelos.

From Amazon.com:

Inspired by their heroes Xavier Cugat and Desi Arnaz, brothers Cesar and Nestor Castillo come to New York City from Cuba in 1949 with designs on becoming mambo stars. Eventually they do--performing with Arnaz on "I Love Lucy" in 1955 and recording 78s with their own band, the Mambo Kings. In his second novel, Hijuelos traces the lives of the flashy, guitar-strumming Cesar and the timid, lovelorn Nestor as they cruise the East Coast club circuit in a flamingo-pink bus. Enriching the story are the brothers' friends and family members--all driven by their own private dreams. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love won a
Pulitzer Prize in 1990.

"Tibet WAS,IS,and ALWAYS WILL BE a part of China"

Food for thought. Not saying that I agree with this video (I don't even know if it's true or not, and talk about rude, sheesh). It just made me think that there are usually two sides to every story... and that I really don't know anything about Tibet.

Thoughts?

1st book: A human being died that night

We decided as our first foray into book club country would be A human being died that night by Pumla Gobodo Madikizela. It's non-fiction, so not strictly a novel, but still seems interesting.

From Amazon.com:

More focused than most books about South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), this searing account is by a psychologist who grew up in the black townships and who served on the TRC under Archbishop Tutu. She brings you close to the horrific testimony about what apartheid's perpetrators did, and also to what Tutu called "holy" scenes of forgiveness by victims' families. But at the center are her personal prison interviews with Eugene de Kock, who directed "the blood, the bodies and the killing" against apartheid's enemies. Does he feel remorse? Can Gobodo-Madikizela feel empathy for him? Demonizing him as monster, as hopelessly other, lets him--and us--off too easily, she maintains. The elemental issues about perpetrators, victims, and bystanders stretch back to the Holocaust and will spark intense discussion. How can apartheid Prime Minister De Klerk say his hands were clean? What about the majority of whites who say they didn't know? No easy answers, just the hope embodied in the TRC that cycles of political violence can be broken and that there are alternatives to revenge. Hazel Rochman

Let's get started!

I added three polls on the left nav bar. Please vote on the following:

1. The books you would like to read for the first meeting. We will select the one with more votes.
2. The dates you can meet to discuss the books. As this is our first meeting, we should all select at least one day in common -- if not, I will add more options to the poll.
3. The frequency you would like to have these meetings.

David -- if you want to add a book to the poll, please do :)

blog name

any other ideas for blog titles?

sarah on the essence of ruben

"at least he's a big fan of alanis." Sarah on Ruben

link here for alanis on "my hump" [warning: its prety horrible]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W91sqAs-_-g

blogspot a-hoy

hmm... well looks like were doing a blogspot forum instead. I just wanted to take the initative and get it going... i kind of figured you were going to want a blogspot, Ruben, but I went with livejournal because i dont have a google email account set up (which blogspot requires) and wanted to avoid doing that, but...im not too fussy and the multiple author access seems to lend itself more to what we're trying to do.

And... those were not insults in my first two posts, they were just facts! ;) lets start blogging!

I already started reading the book about the consititution, not sure if you all are interested in starting with that... perhaps we should start out with something more symbolic or grandeois...? what say yous?

like your book list a lot, sarah! i think im going to update/amend mine.

although a bit of a fuss, your initative and appreciation for the astetic are entertained, fancy and honorable, Ruben. yay! its begun...

how are we going to choose our first book? how are we going to recruit more people for our club?

lets post this email to the blog...

The chosen one

I went ahead and created links for all suggestions up to now. From your own list, choose your top two options, so we can decide which book will go first.

Does that sound like a plan?

First Book List

From David's pen...

This is just a preliminary list of books that we may choose from to start with. These were conjured up in prep for a dinner meeting, perhaps what could be dubbed the first official meeting, in preparation of the club. We'll add books to the list and come up with better suggestions. We haven't conjured up a meeting place, time, format for discussion, means of choosing the books, and many other important factors.

Ruben is reading a ridiculously long book right now and refusing to start participating until he finishes. Sarah has not contributed to the book club yet, to be fair she just heard about our idea last week. Hopefully we'll be able to work out some of those details -- it doesn't have to be too formal, could just be a bi-monthly discussion of sorts over tea or something equally or more gay.

I'm kinda excited about this in a really dorky way because i think it will get my brain moving, give me motivation to read more and give me a place to list the books that i always think about wanting to read but of which I soon after forget the names.

David's List

• Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius -- David Eggers
• Decision in Philadelphia, The Constitutional Convention of 1787 -- Christopher Olive rand James Collier
• Mountains Beyond Mountains -- Tracy Kidder
• Alexis o tratado del inutil combate -- Marguerite Yourcenar
• A Confederacy of Dunces -- John Kennedy Toole
• The Road -- Cormec McCarthy
• Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Ruben's List -- Ruben was really dorky about it and prepared synopsis of each book--- maybe making a link to amazon.com descriptions of the books we list wouldn't be a bad idea for choosing purposes.

• The Indian Clerk -- David Leavitt
• Ladies Coupe -- Anita Nair
• Call Me by Your Name -- Andre Aciman
• Kindred -- Octavia E. Butler
• The Real Thing -- Tom Stoppard
• Beloved -- Toni Morrison
• Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love -- Oscar Hijuelos
• The Buddha of Suburbia -- Hanif Kureishi