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...