2 For 1

Maybe you noticed that my last post was April 4 - a mere 3 1/2 months ago, but ancient history in the Book Club world. Remiss is not the word. I've been a book reviewing slacker.

So, to get me in the Book Club mood, I've made myself a martini, and we'll see how this goes.

Last Book Club we met at Maria and Han's and read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Sue suggested this book and frankly when I heard that it was about a book stealing girl living in Nazi Germany I thought ugh! Even though it is a monumental episode in our world's recent history, I really don't want to spend my time reading about how cruel humans can be to each other.

Yes, it is set in Nazi Germany. Yes, there are some moments of supreme human cruelty. But, overall it is a book full of heart and full of the goodness and beauty of the human soul. It is a book that highlights the love that people have for one another and how connection can be formed in the direst of circumstances.

And Mr. Zusak does this brilliantly, and somewhat sneakily, through the narration of the big bad wolf himself - Death. Death becomes quasi-human and connected, and participates with us through the story.

Us Book Clubbers really enjoyed this book. We all agreed that the first few chapters were a bit difficult to get into, but after that The Book Thief was a delight.

I unfortunately don't remember what each member had to say specifically, but as a whole we commented on how much we liked the characters in this book. While we followed our main protagonist Lisbeth as she stole books from cemeteries, bonfires, and private libraries, we also grew to love the other characters who populated her world. The characters were real, and flawed, and coping with very real problems. And, perhaps that's why we liked them so much. We could imagine sitting down to a bowl of pea soup with any of them. Except the Nazi's. But, you'd expect that.

While this book is classified as a young adult book, it certainly is no Twilight - and I mean that in a good way. It is smart, it has depth, and from the quirky type fonts to the hand drawn illustrations it draws us down into the rich, emotional, world of Lisbeth and her family.

I feel so terrible that I can't remember everyone's specific ratings (must... take... notes...). But, we had mostly 9's, a smattering of 8.5's and a 7.5 I believe. A hit, and a definite go out and read recommendation from book club.

A note about pea soup. It is prominent in the book and Hans made us some amazing split pea soup for dinner. (So amazing, I'm cooking it right now). But, that was not the end of the yummy food. Maria blew it out of the park with moussaka. Ohhhhhh.... the drooly drool is happening right now! This was Maria's first time hosting since she is our newest member (I think her darling husband Hans will be joining us more often too) and she did not disappoint. An evening of delight.

An aside - I followed up by reading Markus Zusak's previous book, I Am The Messenger. He's quite a gifted writer, and such a creative thinker. If you want to know more about him and check out his interview video then go to his website.

So.... get in the time machine and go back a couple of months to the Book Club before the last one. (Man, I really AM behind!)

We met at Tess's and read John Irving's Last Night in Twisted River. I was smart enough to take notes since I had spent the day hosting a professional conference and was kind of wiped out.

Quick overview - food stellar, book lukewarm. Tess cooks Mexican and other Latino food like you would not believe and this night was no exception. She and her husband Michael had just gotten a fancy new grill, so it was especially fun having our tostadas and other yummy's fresh from the grill. Muy bueno!

You've likely read a John Irving novel. He's a great writer, a master storyteller and that's why we were excited to read his latest. But, we agreed, it wasn't worth it.

Last Night in Twisted River follows the story of a son and his father, and the craggy pseudo-father/friend as they all live through, and run from the fated last night. (dum dum dum - organ crashing!)

The first 1/3 of the book was typical John Irving - fun, quirky characters in quirky relationships with each other, twisty turns of fate, and dire circumstances that make you go 'oh no' and turn the page wanting to know more. But somehow the editor was sleeping on her job.

We all thought this book was way too long and lacked a cohesive plot. Like the title, it was like riding in a slow boat down a twisty river.

But, John Irving - he's a writing rock star. He doesn't write bad books, does he? So most of us stayed in the boat, but not all of us.

And what was with all the twisty names? We counted 15 different names used for the father/cook. Even though father and son were needing to change their identities throughout the book, Irving still didn't need to confuse us further with his own names for them.

Here's what BCers had to say and how we rated the book.

Dale - 6.5. She said that she wouldn't have finished reading it if it had been another author. She went to the end based on past experience with this normally delicious author, but was disappointed in this writing.

Nikolai - 6. Compared it to a snake eating its tail - where does it end....? Nik noted that there were a lot of dead ends and commented that once he got into the middle the book seemed to lack a plot.

Maria - 6. She read the second 1/2 in 1 day and so she thought she might have a different experience if she had digested it more slowly. She thought it was too long and wondered how many parts of one person's life do we really have to live through?

Hans - 6. Noted that Irving is a wonderful storyteller (he is - that's for sure!). Hans thought that the start was strong, the middle weak and questioned the point of the last third.

Sue - 5.5. Only read 1/2 of the book. Enjoyed learning about logging and Boston, but couldn't get past the dragging middle.

Tess - 7.5. Also, only read 1/2 way and enjoyed the start, but couldn't get any farther.

Catherine - 5.5. Just too long and all over the place. So many other Irving books are better. This one's a disappointment.

We talked about how this book really would be much better as a screenplay and we even started casting the characters. Nick Nolte has a part in our movie version.

Ironically, if a movie version was made, I'd see it. And, unless you simply read everything that John Irving writes, I'd suggest you wait for the movie too (and hope its better than the book).