To our new Member Barbara Ruder!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Meeting at Jan's November 2007
Hi Ladies,I tried to fool you and change my address, but you all found me anyway! That's OK, it was a fun evening, complete with a number of other botched date/location confessions. It made me feel much better. I enjoyed sharing our thoughts about our book Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick. Most thought that this book belonged in the same league as two of our other favorite history based books--John Adams and Team of Rivals. Barbara Ruder remarked that if more history was written like this, kids would enjoy it a lot more. We agreed that it was well researched, as evidenced by the huge "notes" and bibliography sections. The characterizations were very detailed, especially those of Benjamin Church and Miles Standish. Our very own Sara Bostock is indeed related to Benjamin Church's grandfather! The one negative consensus was that the details of the many wars in the second half of the book were too lengthy and confusing.
Our December meeting will be at The Mandarin Gourmet in Palo Alto on Wednesday, December 5th, beginning at 6:30. RSVP to Laurie Hills. The December assignment is to read something "Christmasy", your choice. Be sure to bring a festively wrapped book that you have enjoyed, complete with a short note describing why you enjoyed it and consider it a special book. Choose a book that has not been a part of our recent book club selection.
January meeting--home of Kathy Spieker (book--Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle)
February meeting--home of Bev Guichard
March meeting--home of Barb Reis
October meeting (2008) has been claimed by Barbara Ruder who will organize tables at the CAR Author Luncheon
Suggested books:
Away, by Amy Bloom
World Without End, by Ken Follet
My Sister's Keeper, by Jody Picoult
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K.Rowling
Suggested movies/plays/TV:
Golda's Balcony--Theatreworks
American Gangster
Dan In Real Time
Bee Movie (although Marcia says it's "totally anatomically incorrect"!)
KQED American Experience biographies
It Happened One Night (or current movie) at Stanford Theatre
Road trip: The Charles Schultz Museum, Santa Rosa
Have a very Happy Thanksgiving, everyone,
Jan
Monday, October 29, 2007
Keplers and October (and kilts flying in BC)
Here are the October notes as well as Keplers newsletter for November!
October notes 2007
Hi Ladies,
We had a cozy group of 7 at October’s meeting to discuss Mark Haddon’s second novel A Spot of Bother…a pleasurable read with good jokes and funny situations. While we agreed the novel read more like a tv script for a soap opera, the book was entertaining and the writing sprinkled with British-isms was comical. The plot revolves around George’s recent retirement, his wife’s infidelity and the family’s response to daughter Katie’s proposed wedding to Ray.
Although the story was a bit dark at times (George’s fear of dying, his drinking and pill-taking habits, his self mutilation when he thinks he has cancer), this romantic comedy keeps you laughing. I wouldn’t call this book literature, but we all enjoyed a diversion from our usual fare.
As in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Haddon plunges into the heart and head of his characters. We felt the characters were very realistic, and the story an honest representation of family social dynamics. “Any of us might be George Hall or his wife, Jean, or his adult children, Katie and Jamie. We have felt what they feel, thought their thoughts, glimpsed their faces in our own bathroom mirrors.” Mark Haddon’s genius at understanding the strengths and frailties of human nature may be a result of driving a school bus and teaching In a school for autistic children early on in his career. Whatever the reason – he is great at exposing the triumphs and pitfalls of relationships that bind families together.
Unlike The Curious Incident… with the very endearing autistic15-year old Christopher, it was difficult to like the characters in this novel – George, a hypochondriac father emotionally detached from just about everyone and losing his mind, daughter Katie unsure of herself, Jean a mother bored with her marriage to George and having an extramarital affair with her husband’s associate David, Jamie not at all comfortable with his homosexuality, etc. – what a cast of pathetic players! This book made you want to laugh and/or cry.
November’s book: Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
Next meeting Wednesday, November 14 @ 7:30pm at:
Jan Kopf’s home
276 Atherton Ave.
Atherton, CA 94027
Phone: 650-327-5354 or Tahoe14605@aol.com
We had a cozy group of 7 at October’s meeting to discuss Mark Haddon’s second novel A Spot of Bother…a pleasurable read with good jokes and funny situations. While we agreed the novel read more like a tv script for a soap opera, the book was entertaining and the writing sprinkled with British-isms was comical. The plot revolves around George’s recent retirement, his wife’s infidelity and the family’s response to daughter Katie’s proposed wedding to Ray.
Although the story was a bit dark at times (George’s fear of dying, his drinking and pill-taking habits, his self mutilation when he thinks he has cancer), this romantic comedy keeps you laughing. I wouldn’t call this book literature, but we all enjoyed a diversion from our usual fare.
As in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Haddon plunges into the heart and head of his characters. We felt the characters were very realistic, and the story an honest representation of family social dynamics. “Any of us might be George Hall or his wife, Jean, or his adult children, Katie and Jamie. We have felt what they feel, thought their thoughts, glimpsed their faces in our own bathroom mirrors.” Mark Haddon’s genius at understanding the strengths and frailties of human nature may be a result of driving a school bus and teaching In a school for autistic children early on in his career. Whatever the reason – he is great at exposing the triumphs and pitfalls of relationships that bind families together.
Unlike The Curious Incident… with the very endearing autistic15-year old Christopher, it was difficult to like the characters in this novel – George, a hypochondriac father emotionally detached from just about everyone and losing his mind, daughter Katie unsure of herself, Jean a mother bored with her marriage to George and having an extramarital affair with her husband’s associate David, Jamie not at all comfortable with his homosexuality, etc. – what a cast of pathetic players! This book made you want to laugh and/or cry.
November’s book: Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
Next meeting Wednesday, November 14 @ 7:30pm at:
Jan Kopf’s home
276 Atherton Ave.
Atherton, CA 94027
Phone: 650-327-5354 or Tahoe14605@aol.com
Kepler's News, November 2007
Highlights:
· Join Kepler's and 75 other independent bookstores across the nation to view a film celebrating the final work of David Halberstam: The Coldest Winter.
· Kepler's launches its Adult Writing Workshop on November 4 at 4:00 p.m.
· We are thrilled to present an Author à la Carte dinner with bad boy chef, Anthony Bourdain. Don't miss out - seats are going fast!
· We are proud to host two authors whose books have generated some recent controversy: Fake Steve Jobs, of blogdom fame, and David Michaelis with his biography of Charles Schulz.
· Don't miss Naomi Wolf discussing her fascinating book The End of America.
· Kepler's and the Commonwealth Club of Silicon Valley present Tom Perkins and Chris Matthews in November.
· Customer favorites Clive Cussler, Judith Thurman and Ellen Litman will appear this month.
· Acclaimed science writer Fritjof Capra will discuss his book about Leonardo da Vinci.
· Acterra will host "Greening Your Holidays" at Kepler's.
· Be sure to check out the entire list of November events below.
· To receive the Youth and Children's department e-newsblast, please contact Angela Kroner-Grafmiller, angelak@keplers.com
November Programs and Events
· We look forward to seeing you at these exciting programs and events. All of these events are free and take place at Kepler's unless otherwise noted. For more information on Kepler's events:
http://keplers.com/?sec=programs-events&subsec=upcoming-events
· A special note on Book Signings: Your purchase of the author's book at Kepler's allows us to bring these events to our store. Thank you for your support!
Attention Kepler's members! Stay tuned for information about our Members-Only Chocolate and Champagne holiday shopping party on December 2nd.
Win a Kepler's Shopping Spree!
This holiday season, for every $10 worth of Kepler's gift cards you purchase, win a chance to win a $300 shopping spree at Kepler's Bookstore! The more gift cards you buy, the better your chances to win. Offer good 11/23-12/24.
Author Events:
Fake Steve Jobs (a.k.a. Forbes reporter Dan Lyons)
Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs: A Parody
Thursday, November 1, 7:30 p.m.
Unlike the off-the-cuff ramblings on his blog, Options is a well-plotted satire that imagines Apple's chief executive grappling with his real-life stock option backdating troubles and getting help, and bad advice, from friends like Larry Ellison, Bono and
Al Gore.
NOTE: There will be a party after the reading, open to the public, at the British Banker's Club (BBC). If you plan to attend, please notify the host by emailing fakestevefriends@coghead.com.
Adult Writing Workshop
Sunday, November 4, 4:00 p.m.
Due to popular demand, Kepler's has formed a Writing Group. This will be the first meeting.
Juan de Recacoechea and Adrian Althoff (translator)
American Visa
Monday, November 5, 7:30 p.m.
A best-seller in its own country, this novel about a man desperate to get into America is one of the few Bolivian novels to be translated into English, and especially with the present furor about immigration, it is sure to spark interest.
Acterra Hosts "Greening Your Holidays"
Wednesday, November 7, 7:00 p.m.
Join Cecile Andrews, author of Slow Is Beautiful: New Visions of Community, Leisure and Joie de Vivre, in a discussion about enjoying the holidays without overextending your wallet, your carbon footprint, or your sanity. Find out about Global Exchange fair trade and their November 18th "Buy Local Day."
Jonah Lehrer
Proust Was a Neuroscientist
Thursday, November 8, 7:30 p.m.
From a rising journalist and Rhodes scholar, a dazzling look at how five writers, a painter, a composer, and a chef discovered the truth about the mind. This is the ultimate tale of art trumping science. An ingenious blend of biography, criticism, and first-rate science writing, Proust Was a Neuroscientist urges science to listen more closely to art, for the right minds can combine the best of both to brilliant effect.
David Michaelis
Schulz and Peanuts
Friday, November 9, 7:30 p.m.
Charles M. Schulz (1922 - 2000), the most widely syndicated and beloved cartoonist of all time, is also one of the most misunderstood figures in American culture. Now, acclaimed biographer David Michaelis gives us the first full-length biography of Schulz.
Page Stegner (Editor)
The Selected Letters of Wallace Stegner
Monday, November 12, 7:30 p.m.
As an author, historian, teacher, and environmentalist, Wallace Stegner influenced countless prominent individuals during his long life. Showcasing some of those relationships, these letters (written between 1933 and 1993) cover a broad range of topics, including literature, history, conservation, and Stanford.
Wallace Stegner's son Page is a novelist, historian, essayist, and a professor emeritus of American Literature at UC Santa Cruz.
Clive Cussler
The Chase
Tuesday, November 13, 7:30 p.m.
For decades, Clive Cussler has been delighting readers with novels filled with suspense, action, and sheer audacity. Now he does it again, in one of the wildest, most entertaining historical thrillers in years.
Tom Perkins
Valley Boy: The Education of Tom Perkins
Wednesday, November 14, 7:00 p.m.
Crowne Plaza Cabana, 4290 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
For reservations and more information, go to http://www.commonwealthclub.org/sv
A revealing memoir from Tom Perkins-renowned venture capitalist, Silicon Valley and biotechnology pioneer, and one of America's most successful businessmen.
Naomi Wolf
The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot
Wednesday, November 14, 7:30 p.m.
An impassioned call to action to Americans from all walks of life to restore the checks and balances and our time-honored protections against abuses of power outlined by our Founding Fathers.
Fritjof Capra
The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance
Thursday, November 15, 7:30 p.m.
Leonardo da Vinci's pioneering scientific work was virtually unknown during his lifetime. Now acclaimed scientist and bestselling author Fritjof Capra reveals that Leonardo was in many ways the unacknowledged "father of modern science."
Chris Matthews
Life's a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me about Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation and Success
Thursday, November 15, 7:45 a.m.
Check-In/Breakfast: 7:45 a.m. - Program: 8:15 a.m. - Book Signing: 9:15 a.m.
Location: SRI International Events Center, 333 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park
For reservations and more information, go to http://www.commonwealthclub.org/sv
Out of the Book Film Event featuring David Halberstam
The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War
Sunday, November 18, 2:00 p.m.
Kepler's will join nearly 75 independent booksellers around America in celebrating the final, great work of David Halberstam: The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War.
Come see the film, stay for a lively discussion, and enjoy light refreshments.
Author à la Carte Event with Anthony Bourdain ONLY A FEW SEATS LEFT!
No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach
Tuesday, November 20, 6:30 p.m.
Location: Left Bank Brasserie, 635 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park
Single ticket $110/Couple $180.
To reserve your seat, call (650-324-4231) or visit Kepler's, or purchase your ticket online at www.keplers.com.
Judith Thurman
Cleopatra's Nose: 39 Varieties of Desire
Tuesday, November 27, 7:30 p.m.
Cleopatra's Nose is an exuberant gathering of essays and profiles representing twenty years of Judith Thurman's celebrated writing, particularly her fascination with human vanity, femininity, and "women's work"-from haute couture to literature to commanding empires.
Ellen Litman
The Last Chicken in America
Wednesday, November 28, 7:30 p.m.
Twelve linked, wryly humorous stories about an unforgettable cast of Russian-Jewish immigrants trying to assimilate in a new world.
Paula Kamen
Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind
Thursday, November 29, 7:30 p.m.
A friend and confidante reveals the private Iris Chang - international celebrity author and indomitable personality - and attempts to understand Chang's terrible psychological decline.
Kepler's is continuing to book many more exciting programs. Please visit www.keplers.com for frequent updates.
The Kepler's Youth and Children's Department newsletter offers information on new and recommended books, as well as exciting upcoming family events. To receive this newsletter, please contact Angela Kroner-Grafmiller: angelak@keplers.com
For details about Youth and Children's Department events, please click here.
For an up-to-date event list and calendar, please visit our Programs and Events page at www.keplers.com.
Kepler's Books
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650-324-4321
Friday, May 25, 2007
May 2007 Meeting at Jay's Home
Hi everyone,
Thank you to everyone who braved the country lanes of Woodside to come to my house a couple weeks ago. We had a warm and joyful time together discussing The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, among other things. And special thanks to Mary Ann who updated the list of books we’ve read over the years – you are wonderful to keep this impressive list up-to-date!
The fundamental issue underlying our discussion of The Glass Castle was whether Jeannette’s parents were mentally ill or rebels who chose to live without responsibility. We all agreed that the children’s relative normalcy (well, maybe not all of them) was a remarkable feat.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday, June 13 at Marcia’s house. Please RSVP to her. As stated in the earlier email below, we are reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
Some of the “other” discussions were about how to give advice to our adult children…
“I know you’ve already thought of this…”
Complain to yourself on voicemail and listen to it before saying something negative aloud to your children
“That’s wonderful/that’s terrible…let me know how it turns out.”
And then there was Laurie’s statement, “Someday I’m going to write a book about cowboys.” Our girl Laurie never ceases to be amazing!
Some book suggestions for the group:
Walking on Eggshells by Janes Isay
To Hell with All That by Caitlin Flanagan about stay-at-home vs. working moms
The Witch of Cologne, good summer reading
Grace (Eventually) by Annie Lamott
Eat Pray Love
Born on a Blue Day (memoir by an autistic savant)
Movie suggestions:
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (on DVD now)
Black Book about the Dutch Resistance in WWII
The Namesake
Congratulations to all the graduates in our midst!
Xxoo Jay
Saturday, April 28, 2007
The Cantor Spring Schedule
May 2007
View Web Version of this Newsletter
Pick of the Month
Exhibitions
Events
Members Only
PICK OF THE MONTH
Opens May 30
Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World
This is the first major U.S. exhibition to examine Tuareg art, culture, and history, and it features more than 200 objects, including jewelry, clothing, leatherwork, and other distinctive items of these semi-nomadic North African people of Niger, Mali, and Algeria.
EXHIBITIONS
On view through July 1
Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks
A retrospective of the works of the late Gordon Parks featuring 73 works chosen specifically by Parks as examples of his most potent imagery.
Last chance - on view through May 6
In the American West: Photographs by Richard Avedon
20th-Anniversary tour ends at the Cantor Arts Center. View 63 of Avedon's oversized images of working-class Westerners.
Now open
Living Traditions: Arts of the America
Exciting commissions of new Northwest Coast art go on view, in addition to important Mesoamerican works that compliment the Center's unique collection.
EVENTS
Films
Thurs, May 17, 6 pm
Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks
2000, 90 minutes
Directed by Craig Rice, narrated by Alfre Woodard
Introduction by Jan Krawitz, Documentary Film Studies, Art and Art History, Stanford University
Cantor Arts Center Auditorium
Fri, May 18, 7 pm
Shaft
1971, 100 minutes
Directed by Gordon Parks
Introduction by Scott Bukatman, Film and Media Studies, Art and Art History, Stanford University
Annenberg Auditorium, Cummings Art Building
Lectures
Thurs, May 10, 5:30 pm
Art History Lecture Series
Rachael DeLue, Assistant Professor of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University
Cummings Art Building, Room 2, cosponsored by Cantor Arts Center
Performances
Thurs, May 10 and 24, 6 pm
Dance Performance
Step on the Grass
Stanford Dance Division, South Lawn
Faculty Choice
Wed, May 16, ongoing at various times through May 23
Janice Ross presents People-Various
Cantor Arts Center lobby
Free Tours
- Introducing the Cantor Arts Center: Saturdays and Sundays, 1 pm
- Rodin collection: Wednesdays at 2 pm, Saturdays at 11:30, Sundays at 3 pm
- Outdoor Sculpture Walk: First Sunday of each month at 2 pm. Meet at the Main Quad entrance where The Oval meets Serra Street
- New Guinea Sculpture Garden: Third Sunday of the Month, 2 pm. Meet on the corner of Santa Teresa and Lomita Drive
View Web Version of this Newsletter
Pick of the Month
Exhibitions
Events
Members Only
PICK OF THE MONTH
Opens May 30
Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World
This is the first major U.S. exhibition to examine Tuareg art, culture, and history, and it features more than 200 objects, including jewelry, clothing, leatherwork, and other distinctive items of these semi-nomadic North African people of Niger, Mali, and Algeria.
EXHIBITIONS
On view through July 1
Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks
A retrospective of the works of the late Gordon Parks featuring 73 works chosen specifically by Parks as examples of his most potent imagery.
Last chance - on view through May 6
In the American West: Photographs by Richard Avedon
20th-Anniversary tour ends at the Cantor Arts Center. View 63 of Avedon's oversized images of working-class Westerners.
Now open
Living Traditions: Arts of the America
Exciting commissions of new Northwest Coast art go on view, in addition to important Mesoamerican works that compliment the Center's unique collection.
EVENTS
Films
Thurs, May 17, 6 pm
Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks
2000, 90 minutes
Directed by Craig Rice, narrated by Alfre Woodard
Introduction by Jan Krawitz, Documentary Film Studies, Art and Art History, Stanford University
Cantor Arts Center Auditorium
Fri, May 18, 7 pm
Shaft
1971, 100 minutes
Directed by Gordon Parks
Introduction by Scott Bukatman, Film and Media Studies, Art and Art History, Stanford University
Annenberg Auditorium, Cummings Art Building
Lectures
Thurs, May 10, 5:30 pm
Art History Lecture Series
Rachael DeLue, Assistant Professor of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University
Cummings Art Building, Room 2, cosponsored by Cantor Arts Center
Performances
Thurs, May 10 and 24, 6 pm
Dance Performance
Step on the Grass
Stanford Dance Division, South Lawn
Faculty Choice
Wed, May 16, ongoing at various times through May 23
Janice Ross presents People-Various
Cantor Arts Center lobby
Free Tours
- Introducing the Cantor Arts Center: Saturdays and Sundays, 1 pm
- Rodin collection: Wednesdays at 2 pm, Saturdays at 11:30, Sundays at 3 pm
- Outdoor Sculpture Walk: First Sunday of each month at 2 pm. Meet at the Main Quad entrance where The Oval meets Serra Street
- New Guinea Sculpture Garden: Third Sunday of the Month, 2 pm. Meet on the corner of Santa Teresa and Lomita Drive
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Bookstore banter
Kepler's does have a snazzy sign 'Ladies of the Bookclub' up with our book Glass Castle along with at least fifty other book clubs. It is interesting to see all the bookclub readings. As I picked up the book, a woman (complete stranger) told me what she thought of it and we got into a great conversation...to the point a salesperson came over and told us she LOVED listening to us trading info ...it was why she loved being a bookseller. It made me realize how much more personal it is to go to a bookshop once in awhile. Anyway...just a thought . Cheers!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Left Bank/ Keplers event
Jan Kopf and I are going!
Anyone who enjoys the shenanigans of Gordon Ramsey and the bad boys of British Cuisine...will enjoy this. Marco Pierre White was the youngest chef ever to receive three Michlin stars and the first Brit! He is a legend...and a odd character. It should make for a lively evening.
Contact Keplers online if you want to join Jan and I.
barb
Left Bank Menlo Park and Kepler's Books Present
Authors A La Carte
A Kepler's Chef/Author Series at Left Bank Brasserie
635 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park CA
Join us for a special dinner with one of the world's most decorated chefs:
Marco Pierre White
Author of
"The Devil in the Kitchen"
Thursday, May 10th, 6:30 P.M.
$95 per person / $165 per couple
What do Mario Batali, Heston Blumenthal, and Gordon Ramsay have in common?
They all survived tours of duty in the kitchen of Marco Pierre White.
In the U.K., White's brilliant cooking and high wattage antics have made him a legend. He is the first British chef and the youngest chef anywhere to win three Michelin stars. A chain smoking, pot throwing, multiple married culinary genius whose fierce devotion to food and restaurants has been the only constant in a life of tabloid-ready turmoil.
******
Tickets must be purchased in advance through Kepler's Books.
The price includes meal, wine, tax, and a signed copy of
"The Devil in the Kitchen"
Space is limited so purchase your tickets now by calling Kepler's Books at 650-324-4321 or visit www.keplers.com for complete ticket ordering and additional information.
Anyone who enjoys the shenanigans of Gordon Ramsey and the bad boys of British Cuisine...will enjoy this. Marco Pierre White was the youngest chef ever to receive three Michlin stars and the first Brit! He is a legend...and a odd character. It should make for a lively evening.
Contact Keplers online if you want to join Jan and I.
barb
Left Bank Menlo Park and Kepler's Books Present
Authors A La Carte
A Kepler's Chef/Author Series at Left Bank Brasserie
635 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park CA
Join us for a special dinner with one of the world's most decorated chefs:
Marco Pierre White
Author of
"The Devil in the Kitchen"
Thursday, May 10th, 6:30 P.M.
$95 per person / $165 per couple
What do Mario Batali, Heston Blumenthal, and Gordon Ramsay have in common?
They all survived tours of duty in the kitchen of Marco Pierre White.
In the U.K., White's brilliant cooking and high wattage antics have made him a legend. He is the first British chef and the youngest chef anywhere to win three Michelin stars. A chain smoking, pot throwing, multiple married culinary genius whose fierce devotion to food and restaurants has been the only constant in a life of tabloid-ready turmoil.
******
Tickets must be purchased in advance through Kepler's Books.
The price includes meal, wine, tax, and a signed copy of
"The Devil in the Kitchen"
Space is limited so purchase your tickets now by calling Kepler's Books at 650-324-4321 or visit www.keplers.com for complete ticket ordering and additional information.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
April 2007 meeting at Karens
Hi everyone:
First of all I would like to convey that the next meeting will be at Jay's house on May 9th,
PLEASE LET HER KNOW IF YOU WILL ATTEND IN A TIMELY FASHION....
The book we will be reading: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. If you mention our Book Club's name at Kepler's you will get a discount, since Barbara Beattie has registered us there.
Marcia and Jan both highly recommended the book and Marcia mentioned she had heard the author speak at a fundraiser for the Shelter Network. She was very impressed by this author who donated a lot of her time for discussion and presence at a cocktail party.
About our meeting last night: 8 of us were present and it was a nice cozy evening by a fire due to the cold weather. The conversation was lively and it seemed a lot of subjects were discussed.
Regarding the book, only 2 of us had finished the book. 3 only read 1/3 and the other 3 maybe 1/2. These last 6 had not liked the book and quit reading it.... I, for one, felt I had to finish it because I was holding the meeting. I did not care for the book and found the main character a pathetic individual, and all the different happenings, coups, romances, suicides, convoluted.
Unfortunately my printers both had problems (it may have been my computor) and I couldn't print out any reviews. In general the reviews had been somewhat favorable.
The people who liked the book and had recommended it, Laurie and Barbara (Reiss) were not present. Jane who could not attend at the last minute also liked the book. Barbara Beattie had not liked the book.
My suggestion is that we could have another short discusssion at the next Book CLub to hear the viewpoints from the others who could not be here last night. Here is a belated note from Barbara Reiss:
Barbara Reis
Hi Karen,
Forgive the late notice that I will not be in attendance this month. I was
trying to make it work. It is my inlaws' 61st wedding anniversary. I wasn't
sure the family was celebrating since we had a large party last year for
them, but apparently the fun continues...
I am particularly sorry to be unable to attend because I recommended the
book. I hope it is considered worthwhile by the group. Here are some of my
thoughts:
I personally learned a great deal about Turkey as the (not-so-perfect)
bridge between East and West.
I enjoyed the ironic and largely rational Arabic voice.
I'm glad to have never spent time in Kars (means snow in Arabic) where
people seem to have nothing else to do but argue over social and religious
ideologies. Seemingly no one who is even slightly Westernized can breathe
free in this place.
I would have liked more character development. Everyone falls into one of
four categories: secularist, conformist, opportunist or radical Islamist.
Individual identities are not well forged.
I enjoyed follow-up reading on Ataturk and his secular revolution in Arab
society.
Does anyone know the history of the importance of poetry in this culture?
Will miss everyone--and the discussion!
Barb Reis
Recommendations:
Audacity of Hope by Senator Barack Obama
Made in Heaven: Bill Bryson
The Emperor's Children
Him, Her, Him Again, the end of Him, Patricia Mary
What Came Before he Shot Her, Elizabeth George
You're Wearing That? Deborah Tannen
The Lost Painting, Jonathan Harr
movies:
Lives of Others
Namesake
Netflix:
Green Fingers
Water
TV: Planet Earth!!!!on Discovery Channel, Sundays at 8:00 (check tv listings)
Who knows about downloading book on tapes throught the Peninsula Library System?
Find recipes on:
Foodnetwork.com
Epicurious.com
Cooking.com
We also had a brief discussion about Myspace and Facebook.....
This will be it, I am busy this weekend and wanted to get this off immediately. I am sorry if it is a bit short.
Until then, have a great month and enjoy the nice green spring!
Hugs, Karen
Saturday, March 31, 2007
2007 - recent book recommendations..
Marcia emailed me with thi list of recent book rec's that the group suggested. I think Mary jack may have put this out a few months ago...here goes...
Recommended Reading: As listed and described by our readers.
The Three Cups of Tea........Greg Mortinson and David Relin. An inspiring story(true) of an amateur climber in the Himalayans who was lost and then cared for by villages in the remote places. He later returns to build schools (53) in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Ghost Wars......by Steve Coll. Secret history of the CIA , Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10th 2001.
The Shadow of the Wind....Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Bestseller in Europe. Great fantasy/reality with a literary theme.
Anna Karenina... Leo Tolstoy. Better than I remembered! I recommend this for our Classic Novel.(Laurie)
The Orkney Scroll....Hamilton. Great mystery. By a new mystery writer.
Water for Elephants... Sara Gruen. A wonderful old time story about an older gentleman who reminisces about his time with the circus and his life.
Kim... Rudyard Kipling.
Mayflower....by Nathaniel Philbrick Good for Book Club (BarbB.)
Rise and Shine...Anna Quinlan. Fast,Fun read.
A Year in the World....Frances Mayes. Travel. Done well.
Basillica... The story of the building of St. Peter's ,Rome.
The Syringa Tree....Pamela Gien. Tour de force solo drama about growing up in apartheid Africa.
Passage to Juneau... Jonathan Raban. A story of one man's solo boat trip from Seattle to Alaska. Traces the geography of the the Pacific Northwest Coast and the mindset and experiences of those who have traveled the waters from Captain Vancouver's time to ours.
Brick Lane...Monica Ali. A great story of a women's "fate" as she goes from Pakistan to London. Good character development and sense of place. I recommend this highly.(Mary J.)
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight...wonderful autobiography about growing up in troubled East Africa.
Tortilla Curtain...TC Boyle .
The Unwanted...Kien Nguyen .
The History of Love...Nicole Krauss
My Friend Leonard...James Fry
Memory Keepers Daughter..... A story of twins .
My Sister's Keeper...... A gripping story . Recommended on College reading list. Good discussion material.
Suite Francaise... Irene Nemirovsky
The Other Boleyn Sister ..........
and Phillipa Gregory-English court setting which appeals to
Constant Princess .................... my romantic side (JanK)
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets....Eva Rice. A fun post war novel set in London.
Case Histories...Kate Atkinson
A Woman in Berlin.....Anonymous
Digging to America....Anne Tyler
Cradle to Cradle......
Animals in Translation....written by an autistic woman who feels she intuits dog behavior. Many of her statements were interesting because she backed up her claims with real life experiences-not a book for everyone though. (MaryAnn)
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Reminder!
Just a reminder about the Stanford Treasure Market. Bev tells me that this years may be the last time they do it! This weekend. Go to link on left.
Mary Anne!
Mary Anne compiled alot of this history and I neglected to mention her. She is hot on the trail of more recent history as well. Thanks!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Book Club History! Thanks!
thanks to Sara Clair and Marcia for finding the following history. If you can...look through your emails..pick a year since 2001 and email the selections to me or post them on the blog. It will be nice to have this information in one place.
If you have any photos of yourself reading...even as a child. email them to me and I will make a fun page up of all of us.
If you have any photos of yourself reading...even as a child. email them to me and I will make a fun page up of all of us.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Girl With a Pearl Earring
Since we read this book, I'd like to mention that
author, Tracey Chevalier, will be presenting at Keplers 7:30pm, March 24 at Kepler's.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The Lives of others....
...after all the good reviews ...mom and I went to matinee....wonderful. go see it.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Stanford Treasure Market 2007
The Cantor/ Stanford Treasure Market will take place on March 30-April 1 at the Arrillaga Center on the Stanford Campus. It is a fun jumble of amazing items. Everything from major works of art to sets of dishes are donated for this event that benefits The Cantor Museum. There is a first night gala for $$ but regular hours are free (I think). This is the 50th year!
Website info
http://museum.stanford.edu/TM
Website info
http://museum.stanford.edu/TM
Monday, March 19, 2007
April's Book...
Sorry if I made it confusing. April's book is SNOW by Orhan Pamuk.
The End of Iraq was a suggested book. We did not decide to read it yet.
On a good note...thanks to Marcia and Sara Clair..I have some of the book history for the group and will attempt to get it into the site when it rains..!
Barb
The End of Iraq was a suggested book. We did not decide to read it yet.
On a good note...thanks to Marcia and Sara Clair..I have some of the book history for the group and will attempt to get it into the site when it rains..!
Barb
mary pickard
This blog is a great idea and will get us educated on how to use this modern day method of communication. As for recommended movies, I highly recommend "The Tunnel." This is a German film (subtitles) based on the true story of Harry Melchior, a German Olympic swimming champion who escaped from East to West Berlin and then built a tunnel for his family and friends to follow. This may be relevant to our April selection and the idea of Baghdad being walled. The film presents a good look into the tradgedy of that time in history. Besides, the actor who plays the swimmer is quite a hunk!
Yeah!
Hi Sara..glad this is already doing our intial idea..HISTORY! Can you fax it to me? 650-299-0334. Thanks, Barb
ARCHIVED BOOK HISTORY 1985 - 2001
Sunday, March 18, 2007
March Meeting Barb Beatties
Hello all,
Book-club was a great success with 11 members present.
Our book this month "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortensen/David Relin was very well received. There were a few hesitations in the room but we all had to agree that Greg Mortensen is a modern day hero.
It was sugggested that many great men and women in history, overcame tremendous barriers to accomplish their goals. The words entrepeneur, pioneer and American Hero were used to describe Greg Mortensen. We compared this to "A Caliphs House" by Tahir Shah mainly how different dealing in the Muslim world is. It was a great story in real time. Proof that the twists and turns of real humans trumps fiction. You cannot make this stuff up!
We missed hearing Mortensen at Keplers on February 1st. It was decided to re-join Keplers as a bookclub (Barb Reis signed us up a few years ago )so that we are assured in getting all the local info. There is no cost and if you purchase through Kepler's you receive a 15% discount. I am in the process on registering our group under the decided name."The Ladies of the Bookclub". (I have added the kepler's link below}
Other books suggested ;
Red River by Lalita Tademy
Marley and Me by John Grogan
Bee Season by Myla Goldberg (we may have already read this!)
A Year of magical Thinking by Joan Didion ( now on broadway with Vanessa Redgrave- FYI-it will be showcased on the TV show Sunday Morning next sunday on CBS)
the Book Thief by Markus Zasak
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
We discussed more about the middle east and Iraq trying hard not to fall into political pitfalls.
Karen suggested THE END OF IRAQ BY PETER GALBRAITH.
This as a good read into understanding the reality of civil war in Iraq and that Baghdad might possibly need to be walled, as Berlin was after WW2.
My notes get a little sketchy here...but I do believe that next months meeting is at Karen Perlroth's
phone #851-8184
kperlroth@gmail.com
April 11, 2007
NEXT MONTHS SELECTION IS ;
keplers site is to the right.
SNOW BY ORHAN PAMUK
Friday, March 16, 2007
SUGGESTED MOVIES ?
Please suggest movies! In March 2007, Karen Perlroth suggested 'The Lives of Others". It is at the Guild. She said it may be the best movie she has ever seen. here is the description from Fandango
Release Date: February 9, 2007
Run Time: 2 hr. 17 min.
Rating: R - some sexuality/nudity
Cast: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Genre: Art House/Foreign
Synopsis: In 1983 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler, doubting that a famous playwright is loyal to the Communist Party, receives approval to spy on the man and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, then faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria and orders him to get the playwright out of the way.
Release Date: February 9, 2007
Run Time: 2 hr. 17 min.
Rating: R - some sexuality/nudity
Cast: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Genre: Art House/Foreign
Synopsis: In 1983 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler, doubting that a famous playwright is loyal to the Communist Party, receives approval to spy on the man and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, then faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria and orders him to get the playwright out of the way.
2007 ARCHIVED BOOK HISTORY
2007
JANUARY
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
FEBRUARY
SUITE FRANCAISE
MARCH
THREE CUPS OF TEA
APRIL
SNOW
JANUARY
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
FEBRUARY
SUITE FRANCAISE
MARCH
THREE CUPS OF TEA
APRIL
SNOW
REVIEWS of recent books read
MARCH 2007- THREE CUPS OF TEA BY GREG MORTENSEN
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Captivating and suspenseful, with engrossing accounts of both hostilities and unlikely friendships, this book will win many readers' hearts. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
FEBRUARY 2007-SUITE FRANCAISE BY IRENE NEMIROVSKY
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
This extraordinary work of fiction about the German occupation of France is embedded in a real story as gripping and complex as the invented one. Composed in 1941-42 by an accomplished writer who had published several well-received novels, Suite Française, her last work, was written under the tremendous pressure of a constant danger that was to catch up with her and kill her before she had finished.
Irène Némirovsky was a Jewish, Russian immigrant from a wealthy family who had fled the Bolsheviks as a teenager. She spent her adult life in France, wrote in French but preserved the detachment and cool distance of the outsider. She and her husband were deported to Auschwitz in 1942, where he was gassed upon arrival and she died in the infirmary at the age of 39. Her manuscript, in minuscule and barely readable handwriting, was preserved by her daughters, who, ignorant of the fact that these notebooks contained a full-fledged masterpiece, left it unread until 60 years later. Once published, with an appendix that illuminates the circumstances of its origin and the author's plan for its completion, it quickly became a bestseller in France. It is hard to imagine a reader who will not be wholly engrossed and moved by this book.
Némirovsky's plan consisted of five parts. She completed only the first two before she was murdered. Yet they are not fragmentary; they read like polished novellas. The first, "Storm in June," gives us a cross section of the population during the initial exodus from the capital, when a battle for Paris was expected and people fled helter-skelter south, so that the roads were clogged with refugees of all classes. Némirovsky shows how much caste and money continued to matter, how the nation was not united in the face of danger and a common enemy. In her account, the well-to-do continue to be especially egotistical and petty. And yet a deep, unsentimental sympathy pervades this panorama. Looking up to the sky at enemy planes overhead, the refugees who have to sleep on the street or in their cars "lacked both courage and hope. This was how animals waited to die. It was the way fish caught in a net watch the shadow of the fisherman moving back and forth above them." I can't think of a more chilling and concise image to convey the helplessness of civilians in an air raid.
Not being French herself but steeped in French culture may have made it easier for Némirovsky to achieve her penetrating insights with Flaubertian objectivity. She gives us startling, steely etched sketches of both collaboration and resistance among people motivated by personal loyalties and grievances that date from before the war.
The second part, "Dolce" (the title -- Italian for "sweet" -- derives from Némirovsky's plan to give the work a musical structure), covers the occupation by the Germans of a small village, from the so-called armistice in June 1940 to the Soviet Union's entry into the war a year later. One can forget that there was a period after the defeat of France when World War II could be seen simply as a war between Germany and Britain. The villagers yearn for peace, and many are indifferent as to who wins, England or Germany, as long as their own men come home. Némirovsky is superb in describing how fraternization comes about, including French girls and women giving in to the attractions of the handsome German occupants -- there are no other men around, most of the French men having been taken prisoner. But the unnatural situation also breeds fierce feelings of resentment and humiliation. Némirovsky embodies this conflict in the story of a woman who falls in love with a German officer and at the same time hides a villager wanted for the murder of another German -- a murder motivated partly by patriotic hatred and partly by marital jealousy.
One puzzling omission from the spectrum of conquered and cowering French society is the Jews -- the one group that was more endangered than any other, as Némirovsky knew only too well. Perhaps she wanted to save the fate of the Jews for the next part, which was to be entitled "Captivity." Even so, when one thinks of the threat the Jewish population endured even at this early stage of persecution, one feels the significant gap here.
Still, this is an incomparable book, in some ways sui generis. While diaries give us a day-to-day record, their very inclusiveness can lead to tedium; memoirs, on the other hand, written at a later date, search for highlights and illuminate the past from the vantage point of the present. In Némirovsky's Suite Française we have the perfect mixture: a gifted novelist's account of a foreign occupation, written while it was taking place, with history and imagination jointly evoking a bitter time, correcting and enriching our memory.
Reviewed by Ruth Kluger
Copyright 2006, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.
JANUARY 2007 - WATER FOR ELEPHANTS BY SARA GRUEN
Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.
Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.
The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch. There is one glorious passage about Marlena and Rosie, the bull elephant, that truly evokes the magic a circus can create. It is easy to see Marlena's and Rosie's pink sequins under the Big Top and to imagine their perfect choreography as they perform unbelievable stunts. The crowd loves it--and so will the reader. The ending is absolutely ludicrous and really quite lovely. --Valerie Ryan
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Captivating and suspenseful, with engrossing accounts of both hostilities and unlikely friendships, this book will win many readers' hearts. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
FEBRUARY 2007-SUITE FRANCAISE BY IRENE NEMIROVSKY
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
This extraordinary work of fiction about the German occupation of France is embedded in a real story as gripping and complex as the invented one. Composed in 1941-42 by an accomplished writer who had published several well-received novels, Suite Française, her last work, was written under the tremendous pressure of a constant danger that was to catch up with her and kill her before she had finished.
Irène Némirovsky was a Jewish, Russian immigrant from a wealthy family who had fled the Bolsheviks as a teenager. She spent her adult life in France, wrote in French but preserved the detachment and cool distance of the outsider. She and her husband were deported to Auschwitz in 1942, where he was gassed upon arrival and she died in the infirmary at the age of 39. Her manuscript, in minuscule and barely readable handwriting, was preserved by her daughters, who, ignorant of the fact that these notebooks contained a full-fledged masterpiece, left it unread until 60 years later. Once published, with an appendix that illuminates the circumstances of its origin and the author's plan for its completion, it quickly became a bestseller in France. It is hard to imagine a reader who will not be wholly engrossed and moved by this book.
Némirovsky's plan consisted of five parts. She completed only the first two before she was murdered. Yet they are not fragmentary; they read like polished novellas. The first, "Storm in June," gives us a cross section of the population during the initial exodus from the capital, when a battle for Paris was expected and people fled helter-skelter south, so that the roads were clogged with refugees of all classes. Némirovsky shows how much caste and money continued to matter, how the nation was not united in the face of danger and a common enemy. In her account, the well-to-do continue to be especially egotistical and petty. And yet a deep, unsentimental sympathy pervades this panorama. Looking up to the sky at enemy planes overhead, the refugees who have to sleep on the street or in their cars "lacked both courage and hope. This was how animals waited to die. It was the way fish caught in a net watch the shadow of the fisherman moving back and forth above them." I can't think of a more chilling and concise image to convey the helplessness of civilians in an air raid.
Not being French herself but steeped in French culture may have made it easier for Némirovsky to achieve her penetrating insights with Flaubertian objectivity. She gives us startling, steely etched sketches of both collaboration and resistance among people motivated by personal loyalties and grievances that date from before the war.
The second part, "Dolce" (the title -- Italian for "sweet" -- derives from Némirovsky's plan to give the work a musical structure), covers the occupation by the Germans of a small village, from the so-called armistice in June 1940 to the Soviet Union's entry into the war a year later. One can forget that there was a period after the defeat of France when World War II could be seen simply as a war between Germany and Britain. The villagers yearn for peace, and many are indifferent as to who wins, England or Germany, as long as their own men come home. Némirovsky is superb in describing how fraternization comes about, including French girls and women giving in to the attractions of the handsome German occupants -- there are no other men around, most of the French men having been taken prisoner. But the unnatural situation also breeds fierce feelings of resentment and humiliation. Némirovsky embodies this conflict in the story of a woman who falls in love with a German officer and at the same time hides a villager wanted for the murder of another German -- a murder motivated partly by patriotic hatred and partly by marital jealousy.
One puzzling omission from the spectrum of conquered and cowering French society is the Jews -- the one group that was more endangered than any other, as Némirovsky knew only too well. Perhaps she wanted to save the fate of the Jews for the next part, which was to be entitled "Captivity." Even so, when one thinks of the threat the Jewish population endured even at this early stage of persecution, one feels the significant gap here.
Still, this is an incomparable book, in some ways sui generis. While diaries give us a day-to-day record, their very inclusiveness can lead to tedium; memoirs, on the other hand, written at a later date, search for highlights and illuminate the past from the vantage point of the present. In Némirovsky's Suite Française we have the perfect mixture: a gifted novelist's account of a foreign occupation, written while it was taking place, with history and imagination jointly evoking a bitter time, correcting and enriching our memory.
Reviewed by Ruth Kluger
Copyright 2006, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.
JANUARY 2007 - WATER FOR ELEPHANTS BY SARA GRUEN
Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.
Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.
The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch. There is one glorious passage about Marlena and Rosie, the bull elephant, that truly evokes the magic a circus can create. It is easy to see Marlena's and Rosie's pink sequins under the Big Top and to imagine their perfect choreography as they perform unbelievable stunts. The crowd loves it--and so will the reader. The ending is absolutely ludicrous and really quite lovely. --Valerie Ryan
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