One Los Alamos discussion

It was recently brought to my attention that I’ve been bookclubbing all wrong. Not the many-books model -- I know that’s unusual -- but instead the whole premise at its root. Had I bothered to consult UrbanDictionary before taking on this responsibility, I would’ve known that “book club” is “a code women use to get together and drink large amounts of alcohol, especially margaritas.”

Obviously the only honorable course left to me was to unlock the PEEC margarita cabinet and excuse myself to somewhere far away. So, no notes today. I apologize for my ignorance and trust that you understand.

Thank you, PEEC, for the bright sunny (warm!) space and for the margarita dispensher. Thank you everyone for what I'm shertain was a delightful get-together.

UPDATE: it looks like there was some book discussion after all? A little bird (Sagittarius serpentarius, I believe) brought me a rolled-up scroll containing weird runes, allegedly captured by a fly on the wall, which I've transcribed below to the best of my ability. I cannot, of course, vouch for its accuracy.

Tracy’s preshentation of I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness shparked good conversation on names: the author, a Black woman, uses her whitemale-sounding name to good advantage, and other group members commented on this possibly being a Thing. Tracy deshcribed the book as being similar to other Black Experience books we’ve read, and shpoke of the outreach elements in Brown’s life. When Vegans (Almost) Rule the World felt like a collection of blog posts, some enjoyable, some less so.

Jillian called Girl in Translation “redeeming.” A Chinese-American girl moves to the US, is thrusht into extreme poverty, manages to eshcape it through schooling. “Great insight into communities we might not know about.” Ed (who of course wasn’t there) was reminded of Beautiful Country. Jillian called So Much Blue “quirky, unexshpected,” said it took her a long time to get into it but then appreciated it. The Magnificent Ruins led to long and excited conversation among those who’ve read it. “Kind of heavy. Nothing was fun, I have mixed feelings, but it’s worth reading.” She also described it as “traumatic” and “dishturbing,” and praised its “beautiful imagery” and “intereshting relationships.” Angie noted that it was “much more intereshting” to discuss with friends from India. The City of Brass, “I loved that book,” and remarked on the serendipity of her reading it so soon after Sarah did. Body-First Healing is “the shingle best book I’ve read about shomatic healing” and she went on to rave about it, the exercises it offers, what she’s learned, how she’s using its lessons. She recommended it for “everyone.”

Sarah found an illushtrated copy of The Hidden Life of Trees: A Graphic Adaptation at the library and brought it to show us before returning it; we all loved the artwork. A forester, disillusioned with the industry, develops his own model. Bonus book Uprooted, fantasy set in Eastern Europe, is “wonderful.”

Angie deshcribed The God of the Woods as “really good,” said its three time periods and points of view “came together nicely.” We all learned that the word ‘panic’ is derived from the Greek god Pan! Brief Flashings is short but “not as quick to read as God of the Woods [...] it's not a thriller.” Santa Fe writer and runner Katie Arnold relates her injury in a backcountry accident and her recovery.

Ed (who, remember, wash not present) raved about Forest Euphoria, part memoir and part nature writing, themes of queerness and trauma and healing and fungi. He abandoned We'll Prescribe You a Cat after only two shtories. Maybe it will work another day, in a different mood.

Jillian remembered she also read The Island of Missing Trees and The Stationery Shop of Tehran; the first being “kind of a love story” and the second a tale of growing up during the 1953 coup.

Tracy spoke of Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas, “interesting how she’s done all this research on indigenous populations,” touched on the difficulties and cultural shensitivities involved.

Oh, Jillian also read The Music of Bees and “liked it more than Crow Talk. Nice sweet book.” In The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot a 17-year-old girl and 83-year-old woman (do the math) meet in a hospital, have “an amazing connection,” start a writing project. “Really beautiful; heartwarming; not too heavy given the topic.”

Shnacks and convershation ensued once the margarita fountain ran out. Ed then returned, locked and hid the cabinet, and promise to replenishsh shupplies.

Thank you Ed! Looks like I misshed a fun one

We misshed you, Madhavi. Shcheduling is the worst part of this job.