Men's Book Club discussion
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NOVEMBER READ
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im open to any genre. Preferably within 500 pages.
No romance, you guys.After all, this IS the 'he-man-woman-haters' book club.
do we want to do something serious or light?
my first suggestionMother Night by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Excellent nomination, Jake.James- what's yours?
Seems there's just the 3 of us = maybe we can get started before 11-01-2025.
if we start before November. I had an additional recommendation of:The graveyard book by Neil Gaiman
Jake wrote: "if we start before November. I had an additional recommendation of:The graveyard book by Neil Gaiman"
OK Jake, doesn't look like James is getting back to us with his nomination. I vote we go ahead with your Vonnegut title. Agreed?
PRE-READWhat brought your nomination?
Have you read this before? {I haven't}
What are your expectations?
{Only Vonnegut I read was SH5, which was OK-alright- I'd give it a 5/10. Looked at Wikipedia's synopsis = seems like a fictitious personal memoir {a la Kurt's ??, maybe = I know nothing about him} as well as s treatise on conscious formed by life events { kinda like SH5} That's what I'm expecting, anyway.}
actually a friend recommended it to me and got it for me as a gift but haven't had a chance to read it. Didn't really have a theme to match November, but it was short and supposedly interesting concepts.
figured it'd be very thought provoking, so a good read for a book club discussion.
No doubt that's true.Now have the book, will start reading today.
It is something of a novella, might not take us long to finish.
im finishing up another book. Should start by this weekend.
ok. so ive just started reading. and although im not planning to give anything away, or jump to discussion too early. I need to write this down. the Sonderkommado. holy crap.
This is an older one, but try Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Violence and depravity in the old west. What's not to love...lol. Seriously though, it's a great read from a top-notch author.
Jake wrote: "ok. so ive just started reading. and although im not planning to give anything away, or jump to discussion too early. I need to write this down. the Sonderkommado. holy crap."I know, huh? That gave me pause too.
Wait'll you get to Krapptauer...
I read Blood Meridian about 2 years ago. Personally I couldn't get into it, but it has a very high ranking on Goodreads.
I nominate a book about men, for men, Big Blue Society: a secret brotherhood form in the wild devoted to healing, fishing, camping and adventure. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
so im about half way now, and honestly my favorite 3 parts as of recent are when he says goodbye to his father in law, and when he finds out his wife is not his wife.. that statement the father in law makes when he was trying to find proof he was a spy, but then bo longer cared, because even as a spy he did more good for the Nazis than he over could have for the enemy. and thenvthat huge surprise about Resi pretending to be her sister Helga was a big shock.
What about Terminal List. Doesn’t get much manlier than that?
I'm about 70% through it. Agree with the Resi reveal.I did a little research on Vonnegut = as previously indicated, knew nothing about him.
His experiences in Dresden as a POW during the allied bombing {quite possibly THE most devastating of WW2, outside of Japan}, particularly his involvement with forced body recovery in the aftermath obviously left a psychological impact for the rest of his life.
He incorporates such in this title, and SH5.
Many subjects arise here.
This book is about more than the premise presents.
Not altogether certain I'm enjoying the read, though.
ABOUT NOVEMBER NOMINATIONS:To Mark & Walt - Thank you, very much for your nominations.
To them I say, {I previously advised Jake of this}, some time ago, I attempted to contact the moderator of this club, but received a prompt indicating such couldn't be put through.
I endeavored to make myself a moderator of this club; that effort failed.
My reason for these attempts was to set up polls for monthly reads the membership could vote on.
At present that is not do-able for me, or apparently anyone but the moderator, on this book club.
However, I am considering starting a new book club on GR with a similar title, so polls can be done.
My nomination (and vote) is Dugoni's "The Jury Master".
And there we have 4 different titles by 4 different members- representing 100% of the active club.
Seems unlikely each title would get more than one vote = we don't have 50/60 club members with 15% or so making nominations, and 90+% voting. Maybe someday ...
Notwithstanding- we can certainly try it, see what happens.
So - Please get your votes in ASAP.
A decision will be made on November 5, 2025.
Apologies for the brevity of the voting period {my fault entirely}, but in all honesty, I didn't expect much response when 1st posting this, and still don't. Besides, this still gives over 3 weeks to complete the book.
Ive finished Mother Night. Let me know you reach the end.That is interesting about the author himself. I did not know he was a POW of the war, and located in Dresden. A tour in the Auschwitz concentration camp is enough to give you a small understanding of the intensity of what happened there.
Schlachthof Funf was a fantastic read. Actually one of my favorite books. I read it in high school as a ”fun” read as suggested by my favorite English teachers Ms. Mayhugh and Mr. Hill. I still keep in touch with both of them.
Jake wrote: "Ive finished Mother Night. Let me know you reach the end.That is interesting about the author himself. I did not know he was a POW of the war, and located in Dresden. A tour in the Auschwitz conce..."
Also finished. I dunno.
My preferred genre is Suspense/Thriller, and this was far from that {not that reading something different is a bad thing}.
More than anything else, it lived up to all my expectations {usually a bad thing, and no exception here}.
My research indicated KV is a quintessential satirist, one of America's foremost, and satire shines here {much prefer the satirical style of Mr. Clemens, however}.
His portrayals & comment on such basic human tenets as good/evil, act/react, and situation/decision are all effective, and real, but I found them to be predictable and somewhat droll.
Notwithstanding- my favorite is his treatment on judgementalism {not sure if there is such a word ...}.
I liked that Campbell didn't reject Resi after the reveal, rather loved her and continued to even through the 2nd reveal that she was a plant watching him. To her end she was truly in love with our protagonist = neither of them passed judgment on the other; they accepted each other for what they were {how's that for someone who doesn't like reading romance ...}.
Want to indicate I found Resi's suicide rather trite and kinda' dumb = something of a cheat toward the reader.
Also felt the same for the ending of the book = thought KV missed an opportunity in that he had no real trial, no Israeli panel offering judgment {which I believe to be the theme of this work}.
Seems that would have been a real boon for a satirist to dive into.
It was easy for me to put this down, so i wasn't captivated by it.
I wouldn't recommend this, and give it a 5 out of 10.
Looking forward to your comments Jake.
wow, what a review. I have to agree with you regarding Resi and Campbell's deaths. Resis was almost annoying and unnecessary, and Campbell's although made sense and aligned with the overall plot, could have gone into further detail like you had said. Some parts I liked about it is the view on suicide on the beginning by the blue fairy godmother amd Campbell but later as everyone seems to find nothing else to live for, slide to this result. Although the book was rather predictable, and didnt have as much substance, I liked how it put me in a different mindset. A man pretending to be Nazi is viewed as one of the most successful nazis in the war. Even Blue Fairy looked at him with hatred and he's the one thst employed him to be a spy in the first place. The father in law recognizing it didnt matter if he was a spy, because he did more for the cause than anyone could have hoped. It really makes you think at the end of the day, about the masks we wear. Are they the true us because that is all others perceive, or is the person we are when we are alone who we are? I enjoyed my thought provoking thoughts during the read more than the read itself, where I didnt mind putting it down because I would still consider situations from the book. id rank it higher at about a 7 or 8 for those reasons.
Good review.You present some excellent observations, and solid viewpoints.
Agree with everything about your 'pretend Nazi' perspective {and liked that phraseology}.
Jake,
I'm assuming we'll get no votes, but we'll wait until 11-5, as promised {originally made it 11-3, but didn't think that enough time/fair to the other 2}.
In the event there aren't any, then it's just u-n-me and my turn to pick.
I'll go with the above mentioned title = Robert Dugoni, "The Jury Master".
OK?
Don't know if i mentioned it, but i like Suspense/Thrillers; all types.
What's your favorite genre?
I hit all types. it may take me longer to complete that one, as I have a few lined up to read as well. is that one a series or a 1 off?
It's the 1st of a series.Don't know how you feel about serials - personally i prefer the stand-alone {and shame on Rowling for showing publishers how much money they can save on marketing by publishing serials instead of the stand-alone; now something of a de riguer in writer contracts; life just hasn't been the same since she came along = i'll never forgive her}.
i pick this as Dugoni writes legal-thrillers, a vein of thriller i like and haven't visited for a while.
This was his debut novel, and i haven't read him = don't know what to expect; could be good {seriously doubt it's par with the legal thriller grand master- Grisham}.
This title has over 16K ratings on GR with the average over 4.0 and 75% 4 & 5 stars.
Now I ask you, what could possibly go wrong, hmm? If it sucks we can always DNF it.
Like Thoreau said, "Read the best books first, you may not have a chance to read them at all."
im ok woth serious. love them actually. I just have a lot and am usually hesitate to add another series to my list of TBR. but I will add this one for this club, as it does sound interesting. we can start this one next. nice props to Grisham though!
Jake wrote: "im ok woth serious. love them actually. I just have a lot and am usually hesitate to add another series to my list of TBR. but I will add this one for this club, as it does sound interesting. we ca..."Jake, I started a new book club, "Book Club For Men". Want to be able to conduct polls.
To that end created one, added a few titles, put up a happy picture, and some etcetera's.
Take a look at it when you get a chance and please join if you care to.
Have moved to "Book Club For Men".Please join us there.
Thank you.
Too bad we can't do this via a poll, but since there doesn't seem to be an active moderator we can't set a poll up {i tried}.
I'll nominate Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep" and/or "Farewell My Lovely" = little to no romance in either one; it is the MEN'S book club after all.