White Tiger

Yesterday, we discussed The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.

Feel free to leave comments discussing this novel!

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Today we discussed Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. To quote one of our members' husbands: "His foreplay is kinda rapey."

That is pretty much the consensus among the ladies, that this bodice-ripper was definitely written by a man -- one who appears to scorn sexual aggression in women but celebrates it in men. Couple that with the political messages behind the book that the post-WWI British intellectual is impotent and the class struggle would bring down the country, it makes for a very interesting read. He also likes to talk a lot about the wonders of the penis. He may have spent more time thinking about penis than he did class warfare in the wake of Bolshevism.

If you were unable to make the meeting and would like to comment on the book, feel free!




The next book will be The White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga. A synopsis is as follows:

"In this darkly comic début novel set in India, Balram, a chauffeur, murders his employer, justifying his crime as the act of a "social entrepreneur." In a series of letters to the Premier of China, in anticipation of the leader’s upcoming visit to Balram’s homeland, the chauffeur recounts his transformation from an honest, hardworking boy growing up in "the Darkness"—those areas of rural India where education and electricity are equally scarce, and where villagers banter about local elections "like eunuchs discussing the Kama Sutra"—to a determined killer. He places the blame for his rage squarely on the avarice of the Indian élite, among whom bribes are commonplace, and who perpetuate a system in which many are sacrificed to the whims of a few. Adiga’s message isn’t subtle or novel, but Balram’s appealingly sardonic voice and acute observations of the social order are both winning and unsettling."

The meeting will be held on Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 1pm, in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Book Club: The Resurrection!

We are resurrecting Book Club.



The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

The next meeting will be on Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 11:30 a.m. at my house. There will be brunch! If anyone wants to be fancy and make Swedish food, go for it. Otherwise, it'll probably be quiche and maybe some left-over panettone from the holidays, who knows.

Updating!

Sometimes I forget this blog even exists! I was recently reminded of it by a publisher who contacted me, offering to send an advanced copy of the paperback of this new novel. It's historical fiction, and sounds really interesting, so I'm excited to read it. Since the suck of law school is over, and in two weeks the EPIC SUCK of the bar exam is over, I can use my free time (Free time? What's free time?) to reading books for fun again!

So... I was thinking, if anybody is still out there, that if anyone else wanted to read the same book (and I'd be happy to loan out my copy), we can discuss it virtually through the blog. Since we all seem to be in different cities/states these days, it might be a good way to keep in touch!

It's been a long time, but...

Over the weekend I watched Perfume: The Story of A Murderer. The movie is just as f*cked up as the book.

That is all.

Book Review: World War Z by Max Brooks

i think one of the weaknesses of the fantasy/sci-fi genre is that it is, by its nature, often escapist and self-indulgent and irrelevant to what's going on in the world today. world war z, is still escapist, et al (that's why i like the genre), but it is at the same time a caustic commentary on current world dynamics.

the whole book is a compendium of retrospectives from different characters - political, military, average joe/jane-turned hero, and less savory types - 10 years after the world was finally able to turn back the tide of a widespread virus that killed the living and turned the dead into zombies.

it offers reasonable depictions of how certain countries and peoples might respond to disaster and their regrets and what-ifs years after.

while there is not really a single protagonist, the work is tied together by an "interviewer" who just keeps the words going. i recommend this to people who can appreciate sharp fiction that involves zombies and insightful social/political commentary.

Next date

Book club will be taking place on May 10. There is no book, however. There will be Meredith and some "fancy hats."

After that, Book Club will be May 18. My place. The book will be Birdsong (still). Sorry for such a long hiatus, all our lives have been a bit crazy, eh?