Great turnout today. Welcome, Delaine, and welcome back, Heather! We spent a good while on introductions and catching up with each other, then eventually got around to book talk.
Angie passed around a 2024 Summer Reading List flyer from her alma mater, highlighting books from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. One notable entry is Neighbors and Other Stories, which was much admired and discussed at our last meeting. Angie’s recent readings have all been bonus books: Crow Talk, with themes of nature, science, autism, and perseverance; the controversial-sounding Visitation; and We Don’t Know Ourselves, dealing with cultural shifts in Ireland.
Tracy liked Dawn (#1 in the Xenogenesis trilogy by Octavia Butler), particularly the depiction of the alien beings, but does not (yet) feel compelled to read the next in the series. Ru Paul’s memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings, she read in part because of the Atlanta connection; she enjoyed the book. She had high hopes going into The Lost Journals of Sacajewea but felt disappointed at the end: “what about the journey?”. The book covers everything but. Bonus book The Women: “Oh. My. God. It was fabulous!” She is eager to learn more about women volunteers in the Vietnam war.
Madhavi described Let Us Descend as “beautiful.” Referring to Jillian’s and Stephanie’s earlier (some months ago) assessments as “lyrical” and “torture porn” respectively, she “agrees with those too.” The Centre sounded interesting to her—Pakistani author, themes of language learning—but she gave it a firm Do Not Recommend. When she explained why, a number of voices were heard to mumble “did not see THAT one coming.” The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende is “nice ... sad, but not torture porn ... not disturbing. Tackles law, immigration, foreign policy.” Afterlife Julia Alvarez is “a good book, doesn’t have to be high on your reading list.”
Delaine spoke of Between Shades of Gray as a longtime favorite: “really sad, hard to read, worth reading.” The Book Thief was “surprisingly light and joyful, poetic, with beautiful moments. Heavy but so much heart.” And two Arundhati Roy books, The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: “prose poetry ... yes, trauma happens, but look around at all the beauty in the world.”
Jillian started briefly with Visitation and Crow Talk before launching into long praise for Nickel Boys. Jillian, who “always rates books four stars” on Goodreads, gave this one five. “Painful to read ... extraordinary ... empathy for [innocent] protagonist. Great twist at end.”
Ellen promised to “move us to fluff” with Witch of Wild Things. She said its blurb—which she read to us aloud—was “perfect”. She kvetched mildly about two issues that bothered her, but “enjoyed it; it was fun.” Going into The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store she felt concerned about how a Black male author would portray a Jewish woman, but “he did great.” She “loved how the Jewish and Black communities interacted.” Bonus book The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd, a longtime group favorite writer: “beautiful nature descriptions ... slower pace than [some recent] books.”
Heather has been reading lighthearted fantasy and SF, and recommended Lindsay Buroker’s Dragon Blood and Death Before Dragons series: “like steampunk ... goblin engineering teams drinking too much espresso.” Now there’s an underrepresented voice.
Stephanie called Happiness (Aminatta Forna) “very gentle, slow pace” and was glad to have read it right after Mrs. Dalloway: she might otherwise have rushed through it too quickly. Themes of happiness, trauma, and resilience. She also said “it’s very London.” The Age of Deer she “really recommends ... very poetic and also scientific ... I cried a lot.” The Future, Naomi Alderman’s latest, she described as an “apocalyptic techno thriller.”
Lively post-roundtable discussion on books by Anna Pigeon, except maybe that’s a character and not an author? It was fascinating to watch Delaine and Ellen (principally) discuss nuances among individual books in a series, development and protection of sacred sites, “really beautiful nature descriptions.”
This was an invigorating meetup. Thank you to everyone who made it so, and to PEEC for use of their space.
Angie passed around a 2024 Summer Reading List flyer from her alma mater, highlighting books from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. One notable entry is Neighbors and Other Stories, which was much admired and discussed at our last meeting. Angie’s recent readings have all been bonus books: Crow Talk, with themes of nature, science, autism, and perseverance; the controversial-sounding Visitation; and We Don’t Know Ourselves, dealing with cultural shifts in Ireland.
Tracy liked Dawn (#1 in the Xenogenesis trilogy by Octavia Butler), particularly the depiction of the alien beings, but does not (yet) feel compelled to read the next in the series. Ru Paul’s memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings, she read in part because of the Atlanta connection; she enjoyed the book. She had high hopes going into The Lost Journals of Sacajewea but felt disappointed at the end: “what about the journey?”. The book covers everything but. Bonus book The Women: “Oh. My. God. It was fabulous!” She is eager to learn more about women volunteers in the Vietnam war.
Madhavi described Let Us Descend as “beautiful.” Referring to Jillian’s and Stephanie’s earlier (some months ago) assessments as “lyrical” and “torture porn” respectively, she “agrees with those too.” The Centre sounded interesting to her—Pakistani author, themes of language learning—but she gave it a firm Do Not Recommend. When she explained why, a number of voices were heard to mumble “did not see THAT one coming.” The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende is “nice ... sad, but not torture porn ... not disturbing. Tackles law, immigration, foreign policy.” Afterlife Julia Alvarez is “a good book, doesn’t have to be high on your reading list.”
Delaine spoke of Between Shades of Gray as a longtime favorite: “really sad, hard to read, worth reading.” The Book Thief was “surprisingly light and joyful, poetic, with beautiful moments. Heavy but so much heart.” And two Arundhati Roy books, The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: “prose poetry ... yes, trauma happens, but look around at all the beauty in the world.”
Jillian started briefly with Visitation and Crow Talk before launching into long praise for Nickel Boys. Jillian, who “always rates books four stars” on Goodreads, gave this one five. “Painful to read ... extraordinary ... empathy for [innocent] protagonist. Great twist at end.”
Ellen promised to “move us to fluff” with Witch of Wild Things. She said its blurb—which she read to us aloud—was “perfect”. She kvetched mildly about two issues that bothered her, but “enjoyed it; it was fun.” Going into The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store she felt concerned about how a Black male author would portray a Jewish woman, but “he did great.” She “loved how the Jewish and Black communities interacted.” Bonus book The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd, a longtime group favorite writer: “beautiful nature descriptions ... slower pace than [some recent] books.”
Heather has been reading lighthearted fantasy and SF, and recommended Lindsay Buroker’s Dragon Blood and Death Before Dragons series: “like steampunk ... goblin engineering teams drinking too much espresso.” Now there’s an underrepresented voice.
Ed really wanted to love Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science but couldn’t. He considers its topic important and will continue seeking books in that vein. Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer, set in a thinly disguised Santa Fe, was a “compendium of trauma”: every character was deeply hurt; as the reader learns more about each one, understands them, it’s hard to judge. Stay True was “gentle, beautiful.”
Stephanie called Happiness (Aminatta Forna) “very gentle, slow pace” and was glad to have read it right after Mrs. Dalloway: she might otherwise have rushed through it too quickly. Themes of happiness, trauma, and resilience. She also said “it’s very London.” The Age of Deer she “really recommends ... very poetic and also scientific ... I cried a lot.” The Future, Naomi Alderman’s latest, she described as an “apocalyptic techno thriller.”
Lively post-roundtable discussion on books by Anna Pigeon, except maybe that’s a character and not an author? It was fascinating to watch Delaine and Ellen (principally) discuss nuances among individual books in a series, development and protection of sacred sites, “really beautiful nature descriptions.”
This was an invigorating meetup. Thank you to everyone who made it so, and to PEEC for use of their space.