October 2014

Mom got us into the Halloween spirit by reading Bats to the group.  Then I found a huge one in my garage.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Here's what else we discussed:

The Great Glass Sea - Josh Weil
The Driver's Guide to Hitting Pedestrians - Andersen Prunty
Fuckness - Andersen Prunty
The De-Textbook - Cracked.com
This Book is Full of Spiders - David Wong
John Dies at the End - David Wong
The House I Loved - Tatiana de Rosnay
Still Life with Bread Crumbs - Anna Quindlen
All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
The Boys in the Boat - Daniel James Brown
Object Lessons - Anna Quindlen
One True Thing - Anna Quindlen
The Crossing Places - Elly Griffiths
Strange Wine - Harlan Ellison
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan
The Eye in the Pyramid - Shea and Wilson
Rome's Gothic Wars - Michael Kulikowski
Our Pet Queen - John Higgs
Strange Attractor - Jake Shannon
Today We Choose Faces - Roger Zelazny
The Shadow Factory - James Bamford
The River of No Return - Bee Ridgway
Influx - Daniel Suarez
This American Life
Cop Town - Karin Slaughter
Police - Jo Nesbo
Personal - Lee Child
The Golem of Hollywood - Jonathan Kellerman
Death on Blackheath - Anne Perry
The Map that Changed the World - Simon Winchester
God started the world on October 23, 4004 B.C.
Me Before You - Jojo Moyes
Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri
The Time for Justice - Anthony Curto


From Karen:

SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN by Lisa See. It is a close look into the terrible cultural practices of China during the 1000 years of foot binding. Also, this story graphically depicts the role of women in their society. Published in 2006 so many of you have surely read it.

From Mary Lou in MD:

John Sanford, Rules of Prey (1989). This is the first novel in the Prey series featuring Minneapolis homicide detective Lucas Davenport. I decided to re-read the series and fill in some of the gaps. Davenport is big and tough with a scar across his eye from his forehead to his cheek. He likes women but doesn’t stick with anyone for long. He made a fortune inventing computer games and training scenarios for law enforcement. His wealth enables him to dress well and enjoy driving his black Porsche too fast when a case gives him the excuse. His best friend since childhood is Sister Mary Joseph, a nun and a psychologist who helps him profile serial killers. These novels start from the point of view of the killer and the suspense comes from watching Davenport as he follows the clues and eventually solves the crimes. This takes all of his imaginative intelligence that he developed when designing the computer games. He plays fair only when that approach is effective. There are at least a dozen novels in this series and all of them are spellbinders.

Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune (1993). The Family Tree of the Pilasters is provided at the front of the book and this is useful in keeping track of the five generations of this powerful banking family. The story begins with a tragic accident at an English boys’ school in 1866. Mickey Miranda, the son of a wealthy, ruthless South American rancher makes friends with Edward Pilaster. With some of the other boys they sneak off to a swimming hole where there is some roughhousing and a boy is drowned. By 1873 Mickey has ingratiated himself with the Pilaster family, especially Edward’s mother Augusta. Edward’s poor cousin Hugh Pilaster is living with his Aunt Augusta, Uncle Joseph, and Cousin Edward and working in the family bank. Edward is being groomed to take over when his father retires, but he is weak and incompetent and too much under Mickey’s influence. There are many plot twists and great intrigue as the struggle for control of the bank evolves with international as well as national consequences. Only Hugh is motivated by the best interest of the bank, but it seems impossible that his integrity can prevail over the greed and duplicity of his relatives.

Robert Crais, The First Rule (2010). This action novel is one of a series with Joe Pike as the lead character. Pike is an ex-Marine, an ex-LAPD cop, an ex-special forces mercenary, a silent partner in a detective agency and the owner of a gun store. He has a reputation as a very dangerous man and he lives up to it. Pike learns that one of his fellow mercenary soldiers has been brutally murdered along with his family in a LA suburb. Pike seeks the help of Elvis Cole and Jon Stone, who also served in assorted dangerous places with the murdered former mercenary. Neither the LAPD nor the FBI seem to be able to make any progress in identifying the murderers but Pike and his friends have skills and resources beyond those of establishment law enforcement. Their quest to avenge their friend takes them into the violent underworld of drugs, prostitution, gun smuggling, and rivalry between the Serbian and Russian mobs. The plot is fast and complex and there is plenty of suspense and more than enough violence.

From our sister group in OK:

Lawton Book Bunch
Thursday, October 9, 2014
The next meeting will be Thursday, November 13, 2014

Books

Arnold, Anita G. Oklahoma City Music: Deep Deuce and Beyond
Cook, Robin. Cure
Edelman, Marian Wright. Lanterns: A Memoir of Mentors
Ehrlich, Gretel. Heart Mountain; Match to the Heart; This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland
Erdrich, Louise. Round House
Faulkner, James. Absalom, Absalom!; Flags in the Dust
Halber, Deborah. Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths are Solving America’s Coldest Cases
Henson, Josiah. Life of Josiah Henson: Formerly a Slave, Now a Resident of Canada
Leaf, Monro. The Story of Ferdinand
McDowell, Marta. Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life
Mills, Marja. Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee
Penney, Stef. The Tenderness of Wolves
Penny, Louise. Trick of the Light
Polacco, Patricia. General discussion of the author/illustrator
Ziegler, Philip. King Edward VIII

Of Interest
Madeline in New York: The Art of Ludwig Bemelmans on view July4-October 19, 2014 at the New-York Historical Society.
http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/madeline-new-york
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/arts/design/ludwig-bemelmanss-madeline-celebrates-a-milestone.html?_r=0
Television
Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (PBS). Special attention to the segments about Derek Jeter and Anna Deavere Smith.
Time Team (PBS): The Search for Josiah Henson
The Roosevelts. PBS Sept.14-21, 2014