Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Great Books About the Beach
At the beach, by the beach, for the beach... Here's what the Wall Street Journal has amassed for our reading pleasure.
Monday, August 9, 2010
I want to participate in this book club but I cannot stand certain books on this list....
No problem, fellow reader! Allow us to share our mitigating strategies. We have discussed this challenge at length and noodled several options. Do we bag the Booker assault altogether and pursue something new? Do we vote to skip certain titles? Do we deviate from our set purpose and oh-so-easy method of reading to a set list, when we know that certain undesirable mountains lurch menacingly in our collective futures (we're talking to you, Ondaatje)?
Our thought is no... and yes. Here's the deal. From mutual experience, we like the idea of reading to a previously-set list. It eliminates the monthly scramble to select a book. It focuses and organizes us around a theme and allows our monthly reading to connect itself to a larger related literary set, to which we find ourselves frequently referring, comparing, questioning, revisiting. It exposes us to books that few of us would admittedly read on our own. It seems to regulate and improve attendance in a way that random monthly book selection did not; people know ahead of time to what they have committed, and therefore, they come.
How then, to handle situations where members have already read or simply can't bear to read a selection? We fear that, in the immortal words of Tevye, if we bend too far from our tradition, we will break. So we will not alter our official reading list. However, in dire individual straits, we invite and even encourage authorial substitution. If a member cannot abide an author's Booker winning entry, we hope they will enrich the discussion by reading another work by the author and therefore contribute to the discussion by offering us the perspective of the author's additional writing. How often in our conversations do we ask each other if we've read other works by the same pen, if the affectations that puzzle us are unedited faults of the author or deliberate acts of genius meant to shatter and delight us? By reading into their canon, members can deepen our understanding of the writer and therefore, of the work we are discussing while feeling they are participating without the torture of the book they simply could not read (ah, memories of the Atwood's The Blind Assassin, may it gather dust far away from me).
Alternately or additionally, members can, as so many often do, read commentary and interview with the writers about the month's work. While by instinct we usually save these contributions for the latter part of our discussions, we always value every additional perspective at the table and often find in these comments new layers for dissection and insight.
The bottom line is this: Read. Attend. Discuss. In any sequence and quantity you can in any given month. Each member has to date walked in with books unread, partially read, and fully read. And they have contributed and felt sated from the experience of participating. That's what we hope the continue giving and receiving in the group.
Our thought is no... and yes. Here's the deal. From mutual experience, we like the idea of reading to a previously-set list. It eliminates the monthly scramble to select a book. It focuses and organizes us around a theme and allows our monthly reading to connect itself to a larger related literary set, to which we find ourselves frequently referring, comparing, questioning, revisiting. It exposes us to books that few of us would admittedly read on our own. It seems to regulate and improve attendance in a way that random monthly book selection did not; people know ahead of time to what they have committed, and therefore, they come.
How then, to handle situations where members have already read or simply can't bear to read a selection? We fear that, in the immortal words of Tevye, if we bend too far from our tradition, we will break. So we will not alter our official reading list. However, in dire individual straits, we invite and even encourage authorial substitution. If a member cannot abide an author's Booker winning entry, we hope they will enrich the discussion by reading another work by the author and therefore contribute to the discussion by offering us the perspective of the author's additional writing. How often in our conversations do we ask each other if we've read other works by the same pen, if the affectations that puzzle us are unedited faults of the author or deliberate acts of genius meant to shatter and delight us? By reading into their canon, members can deepen our understanding of the writer and therefore, of the work we are discussing while feeling they are participating without the torture of the book they simply could not read (ah, memories of the Atwood's The Blind Assassin, may it gather dust far away from me).
Alternately or additionally, members can, as so many often do, read commentary and interview with the writers about the month's work. While by instinct we usually save these contributions for the latter part of our discussions, we always value every additional perspective at the table and often find in these comments new layers for dissection and insight.
The bottom line is this: Read. Attend. Discuss. In any sequence and quantity you can in any given month. Each member has to date walked in with books unread, partially read, and fully read. And they have contributed and felt sated from the experience of participating. That's what we hope the continue giving and receiving in the group.
Friday, July 30, 2010
The New Dirty Dozen
And here they are, the short list, the last men and women standing, the 2010 Man Booker Dozen... (Is two-time winner Peter Kelley Gang Carey just a mandatory nominee by now?) Apparently they went with a baker's dozen of 13 books. They'll announce the winner on September 7. Do you think it's an honor just to be nominated?
- "Parrot and Olivier in America" by Peter Carey
- "Room" by Emma Donoghue (coming in September)
- "The Betrayal" by Helen Dunmore (not yet available)
- "In a Strange Room" by Damon Galgut
- "The Finkler Question" by Howard Jacobson (not yet available)
- "The Long Song" by Andrea Levy
- "C" by Tom McCarthy (coming in September)
- "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet " by David Mitchell (LA Times review)
- "February" by Lisa Moore
- "Skippy Dies" by Paul Murray (coming in August)
- "Trespass" by Rose Tremain (coming in October)
- "The Slap" by Christos Tsiolkas
- "The Stars in the Bright Sky" by Alan Warner
WHO PICKS THESE BOOKS???
We keep asking ourselves and each other: Who selects these Booker prize-winners, and on what basis? What is the magic formula, if any, and how does it vary between years? We discuss how and whether politics, ethnocentricity, culture, age, literary snobbery, or other secret ingredients produce the list that we are so faithfully plundering.
Here is a peek into the 2010 committee - for a book we have not read as a group, as it was selected after we began our journey back in time. Does the mighty selection process seem somewhat defanged when you see a mere group of young mortals standing together for an office photograph, or do we get insight into the truly subjective and ever dynamic reality of literature?
And do we still wonder what they were thinking when they chose ______________ (fill in the blank with your most painful Booker memory!)
http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1310
Here is a peek into the 2010 committee - for a book we have not read as a group, as it was selected after we began our journey back in time. Does the mighty selection process seem somewhat defanged when you see a mere group of young mortals standing together for an office photograph, or do we get insight into the truly subjective and ever dynamic reality of literature?
And do we still wonder what they were thinking when they chose ______________ (fill in the blank with your most painful Booker memory!)
http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1310
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Most Anticipated Books for the Rest of 2010
Here's what they say is coming...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/the-most-anticipated-book_b_655312.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/the-most-anticipated-book_b_655312.html
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Top Ten Books You Were Forced To Read In School
From Time Magazine. Have you read them? Have you re-read them? Do you agree they are greats?
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2002836_2002835_2003010,00.html?hpt=C2
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2002836_2002835_2003010,00.html?hpt=C2
Friday, January 1, 2010
Bestsellers of the Decade - Huffington Post
Click here for a fun look at Decade Blockbusters
(Click "Next" at the top right of each book cover to advance through the slide show.)
(Click "Next" at the top right of each book cover to advance through the slide show.)
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Key To Literary Success - Be A Man or Write Like One?
Interesting piece from 12/30/09 Washington Post.
"This fall, Publishers Weekly named the top 100 books of 2009. How many female writers were in the top 10? Zero. How many on the entire list? Twenty-nine."
"What are the best books? The answer is always subjective, and I'm not a literary arbiter. But the message I received from this year's lists was painfully familiar. It forced me to explain to my students -- the next generation of writers -- that the men in the class have double if not five times the chance of this kind of recognition. I'll hand over the statistics and explain that an industry kept afloat by women is sexist. I'll confess to my own sexism. And I'll tell them that we have failed, but they don't have to."
"This fall, Publishers Weekly named the top 100 books of 2009. How many female writers were in the top 10? Zero. How many on the entire list? Twenty-nine."
"What are the best books? The answer is always subjective, and I'm not a literary arbiter. But the message I received from this year's lists was painfully familiar. It forced me to explain to my students -- the next generation of writers -- that the men in the class have double if not five times the chance of this kind of recognition. I'll hand over the statistics and explain that an industry kept afloat by women is sexist. I'll confess to my own sexism. And I'll tell them that we have failed, but they don't have to."
Monday, December 28, 2009
Should It Stay or Should It Go?
Books You Can Live Without - fun views from the New York Times, 12/28/2009.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
UCSB Arts & Lecture Series
Some of these events are held on campus at Campbell Hall, and some of the bigger celebrity shows are at the Arlington Theater on State Street.
USCB Arts & Lectures - 2009/2010 Lecture List
USCB Arts & Lectures - 2009/2010 Lecture List
Monday, November 9, 2009
Our Reads on Film
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (Nov 2009 Read):
Last Orders by Graham Swift (August 2010 Read):
Last Orders by Graham Swift (August 2010 Read):
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
If we could read all day...
We'd be like Nina, reading and reviewing one book a day for a year. Here's her site, with great book lists and reviews.
Here's the New York Times article about it.
(It took me two weeks to read Revolutionary Road, and love it though I do, I almost didn't make it back. How'd she do that in a day?) --jmw
Here's the New York Times article about it.
(It took me two weeks to read Revolutionary Road, and love it though I do, I almost didn't make it back. How'd she do that in a day?) --jmw
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Man Booker Prize Explained
The Man Booker Prize site
From the site:
"The Man Booker Prize promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year. The prize is the world's most important literary award and has the power to transform the fortunes of authors and even publishers...."
"The prize, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, aims to reward the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. The Man Booker judges are selected from the country's finest critics, writers and academics to maintain the consistent excellence of the prize. The winner of the Man Booker Prize receives £50,000 and both the winner and the shortlisted authors are guaranteed a worldwide readership plus a dramatic increase in book sales."
From the site:
"The Man Booker Prize promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year. The prize is the world's most important literary award and has the power to transform the fortunes of authors and even publishers...."
"The prize, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, aims to reward the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. The Man Booker judges are selected from the country's finest critics, writers and academics to maintain the consistent excellence of the prize. The winner of the Man Booker Prize receives £50,000 and both the winner and the shortlisted authors are guaranteed a worldwide readership plus a dramatic increase in book sales."
Our All-Time Favorites
Please contribute to this section! Send an email or a comment, and we'll grow our list.
Novels (Great Stuff)
Novels (Great Stuff)
- Everything is Illuminated by Jonathon Safran Foer
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- Song of the Dodo by David Quammen
- Shining Through by Susan Isaacs
What Else We're Reading
Books
August 2010
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
The Center Cannot Hold by Elin Saks
Whip It by Shauna Cross
The Island by Elin Hilderbrand
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
Authors
August 2010
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
The Center Cannot Hold by Elin Saks
Whip It by Shauna Cross
The Island by Elin Hilderbrand
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
July 2010
- Typee by Herman Melville
- Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving
- Bluebeard's Egg by Margaret Atwood
- Under the Broken Sky by Shandee Mitchell
- Innocence by Scott Turow
- A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
- The Odyssey by Homer
- To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- I Was Told There'd be Cake by Sloan Crosley
- Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
- Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and The Brain by Jon Ratey
- Falling Apart in One Piece by Stacy Morrison
- The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
- Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the World's Worst Buddhist by Mary Pipher
- The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens
- Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof
- Whip It by Shauna Cross
June 2010
- Infidel by Ayyan Hirsi Ali
- Henderson's Spear by Ronald Wright
- The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
- Staying True by Jenny Sanford
- The Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
- O. Henry Short Stories
- Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin
May 2010
- The White Queen by Phillippa Gregory
- The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
- Little Bee by Chris Cleave
- Orange is the New Black: My Year In A Woman's Prison by Piper Kerman
- How to Be Good by Nick Hornby
- Little Prisoner: How a Childhood was Stolen and Betrayed by Jane Elliott
- Lasr Chance To See by Douglas Adams
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
- The Servant by Robin Maugham
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
- How I Write by Janet Evanovich
- Strangers On A Train Patricia Highsmith
- The Storyteller by Patricia Highsmith
February 2010
- The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
- Old Filth by Jane Gardam
- Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
- II, Henry IV Part 1; 2, Henry V by William Shakespeare
- The Loss of Leon Meed by Josh Emmons
- The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
- World Without End by Ken Follett
- What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
January 2010
- The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle
December 2009
- The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans
- Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
- The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
- Mrs. Miracle by Debbie Macomber
- Under the Dome by Stephen King
- Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad by David Zucchino
- Wolf At The Table: A Memoir of My Father by Augusten Burroughs
- Being There by Jerzy Kosinski
- Jealousy by Robbe-Grillet
- The Body Artist by Don DeLillo
- The World According to Garp by John Irving
- Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
- Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- Edie: Girl on Fire by Melissa Painter and David Weisman
- The Loss of Leon Meed by Josh Emmons
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
- Sunset Landscaping in the Southwest
- Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson
- Inherent Vice by Thomas Pinchon
- Chicago by Alaa Al Aswany
- 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- House of Night (series - Book 4) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
- In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan - 10/2009
- The Battle for Love and Wine: Or How I Saved the World from Parkerization by Alice Feiring - 10/2009
- Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos - 10/2009
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood - 10/2009
- Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (HATED IT) - 10/2009
- When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris (Do not recommend) - 10/2009
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - 9/2009
- Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult - 9/2009
- Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Green - 9/2009
- The Monk by Matthew Lewis - 9/2009
- A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood - 9/2009
- The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion - 9/2009
- Annie Dillard - 9/2009
- Cormac McCarthy - 9/2009
- Leo Tolstoy - 9/2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Meetings
NEXT MEETING - November 14, 2010: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
Santa Barbara Book Club meets:
Next Meetings Dates:
November 14, 2010
December 12, 2010
We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email your questions as a comment to the blog. They go privately to the blog commentator. Thanks!
Santa Barbara Book Club meets:
- LOCATION: Natural Cafe (click here) 361 Hitchcock Way, (805) 563-1163
- Second (2nd) Sunday of every month at 11:30 a.m.
Next Meetings Dates:
November 14, 2010
December 12, 2010
We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email your questions as a comment to the blog. They go privately to the blog commentator. Thanks!
Books
We are reading through the Booker Award winners, in reverse chronological order.
Next book for November 2010:
1993 - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
2008 The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga [discussed April 2009]
2007 The Gathering by Anne Enright [discussed previously]
2006 The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai [read Sept 2009]2005 The Sea by John Banville [discussed October 2009]
2004 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst [discussed November 2009]
2003 Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre [read December 2009]2002 Life of Pi by Yann Martel [discussed February 2010]
2001 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey [discussed March 2010]
2000 The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood [discussed April 12, 2000]
1999 Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee [discussed May 16, 2010]
1998 Amsterdam: A Novel by Ian McEwan [discussed June 13, 2010]
1997 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy [discussed July 18, 2010]
1996 Last Orders by Graham Swift - [discussed August 8, 2010]
1995 The Ghost Road by Pat Barker
1994 How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
1992 The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (co-winner)
1992 Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth (co-winner)
1991 The Famished Road by Ben Okri
1990 Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt
1989 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
1988 Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
1987 Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
1986 The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis
1985 The Bone People by Keri Hulme
1984 Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner
1983 Life & Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee
1982 Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
1981 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
1980 Rites of Passage by William Golding
1979 Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
1978 The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch
1977 Staying on by Paul Scott
1976 Saville by David Storey
1975 Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
1974 The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer
1973 The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell
1972 G. by John Berger
1971 In a Free State by V. S. Naipaul
1970 The Elected Member by Bernice. Rubens
1969 Something to Answer For by P. H. Newby
Next book for November 2010:
1993 - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
2008 The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga [discussed April 2009]
2007 The Gathering by Anne Enright [discussed previously]
2006 The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai [read Sept 2009]2005 The Sea by John Banville [discussed October 2009]
2004 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst [discussed November 2009]
2003 Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre [read December 2009]2002 Life of Pi by Yann Martel [discussed February 2010]
2001 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey [discussed March 2010]
2000 The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood [discussed April 12, 2000]
1999 Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee [discussed May 16, 2010]
1998 Amsterdam: A Novel by Ian McEwan [discussed June 13, 2010]
1997 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy [discussed July 18, 2010]
1996 Last Orders by Graham Swift - [discussed August 8, 2010]
1995 The Ghost Road by Pat Barker
1994 How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
1992 The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (co-winner)
1992 Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth (co-winner)
1991 The Famished Road by Ben Okri
1990 Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt
1989 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
1988 Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
1987 Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
1986 The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis
1985 The Bone People by Keri Hulme
1984 Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner
1983 Life & Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee
1982 Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
1981 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
1980 Rites of Passage by William Golding
1979 Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
1978 The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch
1977 Staying on by Paul Scott
1976 Saville by David Storey
1975 Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
1974 The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer
1973 The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell
1972 G. by John Berger
1971 In a Free State by V. S. Naipaul
1970 The Elected Member by Bernice. Rubens
1969 Something to Answer For by P. H. Newby
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
