St. Anne's Reading Group Experience discussion

Starting a simple thread to track what our next book should be as well as collect any parameters we may agree are a good idea to guide our selection.

I am fine with whatever we decide to read--my goal is more around increasing my annual page count rather than reading books that I want to read--whatever we choose will likely be fine with me.

My thoughts are that we should read Modern American Novels Under 400 pages.

Others have voted we move to more 'classic' works--Anne of Green Gables, Great Gatsby, Wuthering Heights, etc.

Mike pointed to the a NY Times list, which I think may be this one:
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/20/boo...

the top ten are:
1. ''Ulysses,'' James Joyce
2. ''The Great Gatsby,'' F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,'' James Joyce
4. ''Lolita,'' Vladimir Nabokov
5. ''Brave New World,'' Aldous Huxley
6. ''The Sound and the Fury,'' William Faulkner
7. ''Catch-22,'' Joseph Heller
8. ''Darkness at Noon,'' Arthur Koestler
9. ''Sons and Lovers,'' D. H. Lawrence
10.''The Grapes of Wrath,'' John Steinbeck

Let me know what you are thinking that we should read after we are done with Red Garden.

Saturday by Ian McEwan
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
The History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Ateood

I liked "The Remains of the Day" but it's been a really long time ago. I wouldn't mind reading it again.

As David has all of the email address I emailed him a list of book with the synopsis and page count. I eliminated some books due to page count (Ulysses is 736 pages, etc). I have read Remains of the Day as well, but it has been many years...

Hola, here is a longish list from Marie:
//begin
Around the World in 80 Days
by Jules Verne
Pages: 160

The eccentric English gentleman, Phileas Fogg, accepts a challenge to circle the globe in no more than 80 days — an incredible feat for the Victorian age. Exotic locales, seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and comic relief (chiefly supplied by Fogg's loyal valet, Passepartout) provide a fantastic blend of adventure, entertainment, and suspense.


Dracula
by Bram Stroker
Pages: 336

A dreary castle, blood-thirsty vampires, open graves at midnight, and other gothic touches fill this chilling tale about a young Englishman's confrontation with the evil Count Dracula. A horror romance as deathless as any vampire, the blood-curdling tale still continues to hold readers spellbound a century later.


Saturday
by Ian McEwan
Pages: 304

In his triumphant new novel, Ian McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement, follows an ordinary man through a Saturday whose high promise gradually turns nightmarish. Henry Perowne–a neurosurgeon, urbane, privileged, deeply in love with his wife and grown-up children–plans to play a game of squash, visit his elderly mother, and cook dinner for his family. But after a minor traffic accident leads to an unsettling confrontation, Perowne must set aside his plans and summon a strength greater than he knew he had in order to preserve the life that is dear to him.


Frankenstein
by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Pages: 256

A young Swiss student discovers the secret of animating lifeless matter and, by assembling body parts, creates a monster who vows revenge on his creator after being rejected from society.


The History of Love
by Nicole Krauss
Page: 252

Leo Gursky taps his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he’s still alive. But it wasn’t always like this: in the Polish village of his youth, he fell in love and wrote a book. . . . Sixty years later and half a world away, fourteen-year-old Alma, who was named after a character in that book, undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family.


The House of the Seven Gables
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Pages: 192

Greedy, piratical Colonel Pyncheon builds his mansion on ill-gotten ground, setting the stage for generations of suffering. Years later, a country cousin and an enigmatic young boarder attempt to reverse the tide of misfortunes surrounding the house in Hawthorne's evocative blend of mystery and romance.


The Great Gatsby
by T.S. Elliot
Pages: 180

The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.

The Remains of the Day
by Karuo Ishiguro
Pages: 245

compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular world postwar England. At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving “a great gentleman.” But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington’s “greatness” and graver doubts about his own faith in the man he served.


The History of the World in 10½ Chapters
by Julian Barnes
Pages: 320

This is, in short, a complete, unsettling, and frequently exhilarating vision of the world, starting with the voyage of Noah's ark and ending with a sneak preview of heaven!


Waiting for the Barbarians
by J.M. Coetzee
Pages: 192

Centers on the crisis of conscience and morality of the Magistrate-a loyal servant of the Empire working in a tiny frontier town, doing his best to ignore an inevitable war with the "barbarians."


Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
Pages: 72

Dark allegory describes the narrator's journey up the Congo River and his meeting with, and fascination by, Mr. Kurtz, a mysterious personage who dominates the unruly inhabitants of the region.


Gulliver’s Travels
By Jonathan Swift
Pages: 240

recounting the 4 remarkable journeys of ship's surgeon Lemuel Gulliver. For children it remains an enchanting fantasy; for adults, a witty parody of political life in Swift's time and a scathing send-up of manners and morals in 18th-century England.


Little Bee
by Chris Cleave
Pages: 271

It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there, but the book doesn't. And it's what happens afterward that is most important. Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.



The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson
By Mark Twain
Pages: 138

There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless. Observe the ass, for instance: his character is about perfect, he is the choicest spirit among all the humbler animals, yet see what ridicule has brought him to. Instead of feeling complimented when we are called an ass, we are left in doubt.


Crooked House
by Agatha Christie
Pages: 256

The Leonides family all live together in a not-so-little crooked house. But which of them poisoned the patriarch, Aristides? Another example of a sinister reinterpretation of a nursery rhyme with an ending that her publishers initially considered too shocking, even for Agatha Christie.


The Hounds of the Baskervilles
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Pages: 166

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a crime novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in the Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound.

1984
By George Orwell
Pages: 304
Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, Orwell's narrative is more timely that ever. 1984 presents a "negative utopia," that is at once a startling and haunting vision of the world—so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of entire generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions—a legacy that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.
//end

//Begin Candace
The Little Bee and The History of the World sound very intriguing. The Agatha Christie selection caught me off guard but it could be a winner too.
//end Candace

//begin Shelly
I agree with Candace : )
//end Shelly

Hola, so the current plan for the next book is to have Colleen's Sister submit a list of five books we should read and a list of five books we should never read. We will shuffle the lists and decide from these 10 books. Thanks, David S.

THIS should be interesting! And after Steadman's comment I can't wait to get to the last sentence of our current book!

Third Book Decision Process!

1. British
2. Over 300 pages
3. Great Book
4. Hitorical Novel
5. Not sure Candace had a strong position

David Suggested Kraken from his goodreads to read list.

Fred is recommending this book about an Australian Drug Smuggler who escapes to India.


Shantaram

BTW, I believe that was my recommendation.

Oops! Sorry--my notes were not clear. Fwiw, I vote Candace picks the next book.

Marie mentioned the new Dan Brown book--I am hoping Candace makes a more unifying selection then Kraken which not everyone is enjoying.

People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Disappeared
From the Streets of Tokyo and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up by Richard Lloyd Parry
Described as our generation's In Cold Blood and The Executioner's Song.

“Richard Lloyd Parry’s remarkable examination of [this] crime, what it revealed about Japanese society and how it unsettled conventional notions of bereavement, elevates his book above the genre. People Who Eat Darkness is a searing exploration of evil and trauma, and how both ultimately elude understanding or resolution . . . Just as the grief of Blackman's parents is unassaugeable, Obara and his motives are unknowable. That is the darkness at the heart of this book, one Lloyd Parry conveys with extraordinary effect and emotion . . . People Who Eat Darkness is a fascinating mediation that does not pretend to offer pat answers to obscene mysteries.” ―Susan Chira, The New York Times Book Review

Americans have an advantage in reading People Who Eat Darkness―we are less likely to know about Lucie Blackman. The blond Brit was 21 when she disappeared in Japan in 2000; the months-long search for her made headlines in both Japan and England. Unlike readers there, we have an extra level of suspense―we don't know what happened to Lucie―although we will by the middle of this masterful literary true crime story, which earns its comparisons to Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Norman Mailer’s The Executioner's Song . . . Like the case of Etan Patz, the Lucie Blackman disappearance captured the public imagination. By writing about it in such culturally informed detail, Parry subtly encourages an understanding that goes past the headlines. It is a dark, unforgettable ride.” ―Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Time

[In People Who Eat Darkness], Mr. Parry finds his voice, and it’s a sturdy one. His book becomes not merely an exemplary piece of reportage but a sustained and quietly profound work of moral inquiry as well. It becomes ominous in ways that go well beyond the calculated shock value of its cover . . . Mr. Parry writes exceedingly well . . . [and] People Who Eat Darkness is surprisingly soulful, especially in its portrait of Ms. Blackman . . . He’s restored her to life in this vivid book.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times

People Who Eat Darkness is a factual account, but it is as compelling as any thriller. The narrative gallops along, with dramatic twists, turns and half-resolutions. Joji Obara, Lucie's abductor and apparent murderer, is every bit as brilliant and terrifying as the fictional Hannibal Lecter . . . The author's discussion of the effects of Lucie's murder on Tim and the rest of the Blackman family is intimate, sensitive and chilling . . . intelligent, compassionate.” —Melanie Kirkpatrick, The Wall Street Journal

One of the best books of the Year
—The Economist, The Guardian, and New Statesman

“Parry is a sensitive, knowledgeable guide through the murky world of Japanese hostess clubs . . . A thoughtful book about an inevitably sensational subject . . . Methodically present[s] a nightmare that engulfs an entire city: the police, the shady networks of semilegal businesses whose economic livelihood is threatened by the investigation, and a riveted public whose taste for true crime stories is questioned.” —Gregory Leon Miller, San Francisco Chronicle

“Clear-eyed, thorough reporting on the Japanese underworld . . . Parry . . . mak[es] the reader feel not like a voyeur, but a witness to this deeply human tragedy that illustrates how a single murder creates many victims and proves that the seemingly distant political past can continue to influence individual lives into the present day.” —Elyssa East, The Boston Globe

“People Who Eat Darkness is an exceptionally perceptive and nuanced look at a terrible crime, one that put nations, institutions and family members at odds, and often into bitter and toxic conflict . . . [L]ike Capote, [the author is] less interested in dishing the eerie or lurid details than he is in exploring the penumbra of the crime, the complex factors that fed into it and the unpredictable effects it had on an ever-spreading network of people.” —Laura Miller, Salon.com

“A big, ambitious true crime book in the tradition of Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.” —Esquire

“A masterpiece of writing this surely is, but it is more than that—it is a committed, compassionate, courageous act of journalism that changes the way we think. Everyone who has ever loved someone and held that life dear should read this stunning book, and shiver.” —Chris Cleave, author of Little Bee and Incendiary

“Extraordinary, compulsive and brilliant.” —David Peace, author of the Red Riding quartet and the Tokyo trilogy

“An utterly compelling read.” —Mo Hayder, autho r of Ritual and Tokyo

“Parry has a knack of tacitly cross-examining his readers . . . not implicating them exactly, but immersing them in a darkness that thickens as facts come to light . . . [He] skilfully manipulates the narrative to keep the reader in a state of awful uncertainty about what will happen next.” —Geoff Dyer, The Observer (London)

“Compelling . . . Rich in intelligence and insight . . . This isn’t just the tale of a murder case but a book that sheds light on Japan, on families, on the media, and . . . on the insidious effects of misogyny.” —Blake Morrison, The Guardian

“A work not only of page-turning intensity but also of touching sensitivity and deep insight.” —David Pilling, Financial Times

“The most compelling book I read this year . . . Written with a novelist’s eye for insight and narrative, it's a cracking read that tracks the haphazard investigation, the eventual arrest of the truly bizarre killer and the heartbreaking plight of the Blackman family members left to cope with the dreadful consequences.” —Sydney Morning Herald“A classic of the rather compromised true crime genre, a rigorous, meticulous and intelligent work of long form journalism . . . Lloyd Parry deals with the consequences for families, friends and lovers—unassuageable pain, guilt and recrimination—with most unusual thoroughness and scrupulous empathy.” —Peter Alford, Weekend Australian

“Thoroughly researched [and] very well written, appalling and absolutely enthralling.” —Patrick Skene Catling, The Irish Times
People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
Although Kingsley Amis's acid satire of postwar British academic life has lost some of its bite in the four decades since it was published, it's still a rewarding read. And there's no denying how big an impact it had back then--Lucky Jim could be considered the first shot in the Oxbridge salvo that brought us Beyond the Fringe, That Was the Week That Was, and so much more.

In Lucky Jim, Amis introduces us to Jim Dixon, a junior lecturer at a British college who spends his days fending off the legions of malevolent twits that populate the school. His job is in constant danger, often for good reason. Lucky Jim hits the heights whenever Dixon tries to keep a preposterous situation from spinning out of control, which is every three pages or so. The final example of this--a lecture spewed by a hideously pickled Dixon--is a chapter's worth of comic nirvana. The book is not politically correct (Amis wasn't either), but take it for what it is, and you won't be disappointed. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Bookforum

We still read it for the humor, the biting dialogue, the bitter lines.
—Christian LorentzenLucky Jim

Paul voted for Times Arrow and said he would send a list of ten other books to Candace.

Marie also voted for a book, but I forgot the title.

I vote Mike selects the next book.

I vote that Mike selects the next book and I also prefer Modern American authors : )

#from groupme text discussion
Mike Hood
Ok...my vote for the next book is Winesburg Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. Never read it. Sounds interesting.
Steadman
Excellent pornography.
sman

James Hendershot
Tee hee.
Mike Hood
It's porn?
It's listed on the greatest modern novels list!
James Hendershot
Its porn only if you were raised catholic.
Mike Hood
I wasn't. Pity.
Shelly Stewart
Its not porn and Tandy is my favorite short story in the collection. Great book but i do believe it is a collection of short stories. Havent read it since high school but i would read it again.
James Hendershot
Apparently you weren't raised catholic.
Shelly Stewart
Nope. Atheist =] god is dead and all that...now my dad is a methodist and gay mom is a lutheran.
James Hendershot
God died? That puts my program down the tubes.
Shelly Stewart
I dont believe that anymore! God is obviously alive and well. Look what He/She did for us! =]
James Hendershot
you mean sobering up alcoholics and keeping us this way? Miracle.
//end

hey dave...what file format on the link you posted do i download for an ipad mini? just bought an ipad; not familiar yet with appropriate e-books formats.

Can I vote for the next book?
I pick this one:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...
Really a well written and fun book. Well, by my standards. Much better than the review and plot summary suggested here on goodreads. They mention it as being in the tradition of Patrick O'Brian's maritime novels; not true at all, way more surrealism and myth involved here. Not your boring typical pirate story.
Or I vote for this one, another favorite:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...

The Requiem Shark by Nicholas Griffin & McTeague by Frank Norris are both solid recommendations--I think Hood has selected the next one & then Shelly is selecting after that--maybe you can select our book after Shelly?

Thanks, David S.

Sounds good, say hello to everyone for me, or as we say here in Hawaii - ALOHA!

Tipping the Velvet

And if Shelly is still interested in selecting a Lesbian Book another book club I am in is reading Tipping the Velvet which I have not read & which gets very high marks.

Not really interested in that type of love story. I may have to pick an independent study book.

McTeague by Frank Norris

After Shelly's pick.

> David, maybe I should pick "12 Reasons" for my
> bookclub selection? Thoughts?
Shelly, I will buy you a cup of coffee if you do this! I am so looking foreword to this...

Seriously, I think our selection process is getting better with each book we select [excepting Kraken which was selected at the last minute because Saint Anne did not bless us with a pick]...

Aaron, I think McTeague is a great pick--an American classic that I have not read that looks interesting...

I read it many years ago, recently found a used Norton Critical Ed. for $1! Scooped it up (like to think of it as saving it from the trash.) I remember thoroughly enjoying it. I like to imagine that Norris captured that period of America and the Bay Area accurately; but it is fiction. I hope you all decide to give it a go! If not, there is always the new Pynchon coming out!

For our next book, I vote we return to the Newport Beach Public Library Book Club in a Bag--perhaps after this week when we give up on the Iliad!

Here are the current offerings--let me know if any look better than the new book by Donna Tratt:
http://millennium.newport.lib.ca.us/s...

1 The red garden: a novel [book club in a bag]
Hoffman, Alice.
New York : Broadway Books, c2011.

2 The other Wes Moore : one name, two fates [book club in a bag]
Moore, Wes, 1978-
New York : Spiegel & Grau Trade Paperbacks, 2011, c2010.

3 A dog's purpose [book club in a bag]
Cameron, W. Bruce.
New York : Forge, 2011

4 Born to run : a hidden tribe, superathletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen [book c
McDougall, Christopher, 1962-
New York : Vintage Books, 2011, c2009.

5 The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks [book club in a bag]
Skloot, Rebecca, 1972-
New York : Broadway Paperbacks, c2011.

6 The calligrapher's daughter : a novel [book club in a bag]
Kim, Eugenia
New York : Holt Paperbacks, 2010

7 A reliable wife : a novel [book club in a bag]
Goolrick, Robert, 1948-
Chapel Hill : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2010.

8 Cleopatra: a life [book club in a bag]
Schiff, Stacy.
New York : Little, Brown and Co., 2010.

9 Handle with care : a novel [book club in a bag]
Picoult, Jodi, 1966-
New York, NY : Washington Square Press, 2009.

10 Little Bee [book club in a bag]
Cleave, Chris.
New York : Simon & Schuster, 2009.

11 The white garden : a novel of Virginia Woolf [book club in a bag]
Barron, Stephanie.
New York : Bantam Books, c2009.

12 Beautiful lies : a novel [book club in a bag]
Unger, Lisa, 1970-
New York : Vintage Books, 2008.

13 Out stealing horses [book club in a bag]
Petterson, Per, 1952-
New York : Picador, 2008, c2005.

14 The giant's house : a romance [book club in a bag]
McCracken, Elizabeth.
New York : Dial Press, 2007.

15 The thirteenth tale: a novel [book club in a bag]
Setterfield, Diane.
New York : Washington Square Press, 2007.

16 Intuition : a novel [book club in a bag]
Goodman, Allegra.
New York : Dial Press, 2007, c2006.

17 The river of doubt : Theodore Roosevelt's darkest journey [book club in a bag]
Millard, Candice.
New York : Broadway Books, 2005.

18 The forest lover [book club in a bag]
Vreeland, Susan.
New York : Penguin Books, 2004.

19 Chang and Eng : a novel [book club in a bag]
Strauss, Darin.
New York : Plume, c2001.

20 A walk in the woods : rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail [book club in a bag]
Bryson, Bill.
New York : Broadway Books, c1998.

21 The big book of Christmas mysteries

22 Henry and the clubhouse [book on CD]
Cleary, Beverly.