Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Dec 10, 2020 Anxious People by Fredrik Backman Host: Michelle Attendees: JJ, Janna, Debra, Ruth, Susan, Pam, Lisa,

We met yet again, some in person, and some via Zoom. This book generated a lot of discussion. The following is a review from the Washington Independent Review of Books sums it up perfectly: Anxious People: A Novel By Fredrik Backman; translated by Neil Smith Atria Books 352 pp. Reviewed by Robert Allen Papinchak October 15, 2020 A delightfully witty tale of disparate characters caught in a Rube Goldberg-like narrative. How do you follow up a sensational international bestseller like A Man Called Ove? Fredrik Backman does it spectacularly with the entertaining conundrum Anxious People. As equally idiosyncratic and iconoclastic as his debut, it is an outrageously hilarious, flawless novel about “how a bank robber failed to rob a bank but instead managed to spark a hostage drama.” It is the most bizarre heist story since Sidney Lumet’s “Dog Day Afternoon,” with narrative nods to Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto and O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Red Chief.” The dominoes start falling quickly when a bungled robbery turns into a mordantly serious situation. In many ways, it can be read as a locked-apartment mystery bonded with a unique variation on the police procedural. After the 39-year-old robber mistakenly attempts to steal from a cashless bank in a small Swedish town, the culprit stumbles into an open house on the day before New Year’s Eve. Inside, a ragtag group of eight — a real estate broker and unsuspecting prospective buyers — soon becomes trapped in a Rube Goldberg construction. Backman is sly. Nothing is as random nor as obvious as it appears. While he focuses on the current series of curious events in the apartment, he buttresses the character-driven plot with numerous backstories that link a bridge, suicides, and a peculiar drawing of a frog, a monkey, and an elk. Then, just when it seems as though everything has been sorted out, he turns it all topsy-turvy with a stunning revelation that would be a major spoiler to disclose. It would also ruin the fun of discovery. The two local detectives investigating the curiouser and curiouser case are father and son, Jim and Jack. They enter the daffy scene after the situation has ended. The supposed hostages have been released; there’s blood on the carpet; and the robbery suspect is nowhere to be found. With no experience with captor crisis, they rely on Google for advice. They disdain Stockholmers and the syndrome named after them. A good portion of the novel consists of exuberant recorded transcripts of witness interviews with the visitors to the apartment. That includes Zara, a condescending bank manager in therapy for depression; Julia and Ro, a pregnant lesbian couple struggling with the possibilities of parenthood; Estelle, a flummoxed looky-loo neighbor; Anna-Lena and Roger, a long-married couple of property flippers who know IKEA furniture when they see it; Lennart, a rabbit (don’t ask — just accept him in his underwear and socks and go with it) who had his own motives for being there; and the real estate broker, who frequently refers to her cleverly named firm, House Tricks. Backman juggles all of this with exquisite ease and his usual mellifluous style and grace. In the midst of the humor, he manages to inject poignant observations about life and death; love and marriage; parenting and divorce; and social and economic stress. The resolution, when it comes, is unexpected but perfect. Justice is served. Anxious People is a joy to experience, an absurdist black dramedy and lasting treasure for Backman fans. Robert Allen Papinchak is a former university English professor whose reviews and criticisms appear in newspapers, magazines, literary journals, and online including Publishers Weekly, the Los Angeles Review of Books, On the Seawall, World Literature, General consensus: Everyone's an idiot! "We readers were held hostage to find out what happens" We rated this book an exact 3.7 out of 5 Next month's selection: A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

The Lost Girls by Heather Young

Thursday Nov 5 Host: Roxanne Attendees (via Zoom and in person) : Janna, Ruth, Amy, Michelle, Pam M, Susan, Pam T

From GoodReads: In the summer of 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes from her family’s vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her disappearance destroys her mother, who spends the rest of her life at the lake house, hoping in vain that her favorite daughter will walk out of the woods. Emily’s two older sisters stay, too, each keeping her own private, decades-long vigil for the lost child. Sixty years later Lucy, the quiet and watchful middle sister, lives in the lake house alone. Before she dies, she writes the story of that devastating summer in a notebook that she leaves, along with the house, to the only person to whom it might matter: her grandniece, Justine. For Justine, the lake house offers a chance to escape her manipulative boyfriend and give her daughters the stable home she never had. But it’s not the sanctuary she hoped for. The long Minnesota winter has begun. The house is cold and dilapidated, the frozen lake is silent and forbidding, and her only neighbor is a strange old man who seems to know more than he’s telling about the summer of 1935. Soon Justine’s troubled oldest daughter becomes obsessed with Emily’s disappearance, her mother arrives with designs on her inheritance, and the man she left behind launches a dangerous plan to get her back. In a house steeped in the sorrows of the women who came before her, Justine must overcome their tragic legacy if she hopes to save herself and her children. ************************* Most of us said we enjoyed this book, or at least we thought we enjoyed it until we dissected it at Book Club! Had it been a normal year we would have hated this book, but it was an entertaining book during Covid quaratine. We felt we needed more to either hate or like the characters. The author took on too much - too many story lines - and wasn't able to develop the characters in depth. Perhaps the most shocking observation we had was that there was no remorse from the two sisters concerning Emily! Our Covid rating was 3.5 - 4 for entertainment value. Next month's selection is Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

October 8, 2020 The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell Host: Janna Attendees: AMy, Michelle, Debra, Susan, Roxanne, Pam M Thanks Janna for hosting yet another HYBRID In-Person/Zoom/Phone book club.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Book of the Month - Review by Jordan Moblo: Told from three alternating points of view, The Family Upstairs is a fast-paced whodunit that will keep you guessing until the final delicious sentence. If I had any issues with the book, it would be that my productive Sunday afternoon came to a screeching standstill when I naively thought it would be a good idea to start this unputdownable read. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Libby Jones was adopted as a baby and grew up wondering who her birth parents were. Now an adult, she is stunned to receive a letter not only informing her who her mom and dad were, but also notifying her that she is the sole beneficiary of their abandoned London mansion. Said mansion just happens to be the location where her parents were found dead 25 years ago (of course!!). As Libby begins to unravel the secrets around her parents’ deaths, she soon suspects she might not be the only relative looking for answers. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This pretty much sums it up for the PrincetonWalk Ladies, as well. A good who-dunnit which kept us reading and wanting more. Good discussion and a final review of 4 stars. For Nov: we will be reading

The Lost Girls by Heather Young

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

September 17, 2020

Host:  JJ

Attendees: Janna, Michelle, Myra, Ruth, Pam M,  appearances by Julie and Pam T

American Dirt

by 

Jeanine Cummins (Goodreads Author)

 4.30  ·   Rating details ·  160,889 ratings  ·  16,805 reviews

También de este lado hay sueños. On this side, too, there are dreams.

Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable.

Even though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with a few books he would like to buy—two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.

Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia—trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier’s reach doesn’t extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to? 

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Hope you all enjoyed our last book, American Dirt. We had a great discussion at our combo in-person and Zoom meeting.  Thank you JJ for hosting us on your beautiful back porch!

We gave the book a high rating, although I can’t quite remember exactly what is was 😂- I think someone between a 4 and 4.5. 

We decided on another Lisa Jewell suspense book for October - The Family Upstairs. 

It’s a quick read - Janna and I both read it in a few days.

We also discussed choosing a biography and a classic novel for our next few months, so looking for suggestions from everyone.

Janna has offered to host our next gathering on October 8th. I will send out another message a few days before to see who will be planning to come in person (so she can plan snacks and beverages based on our confirmed numbers) and who would like to join via Zoom option. 

Look forward to seeing everyone on the 8th.

Michelle

Dear Edward

May 7, 2020


Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

Attendees:   Amy, Michelle, Janna, Trish, JJ, Ruth, Pam T, Pam M
Zoom Moderator:  JJ

Another month in Covid 19, another meeting via Zoom.   Dear Edward is a novel based on a difficult subject, making it a painful book to read for some.  There is no doubt that the many emotions generated from this book resonate uncannily during this time of unprecedented pandemic lifestyle change and isolation.  Only one fourth of our bookclub group actually read the book, so the discussions were decidedly lopsided yet still interesting.

Straight talk from the author herself: 


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The Irish Times: 

Dear Edward: the novel I wrote to try to save a little boy

Ann Napolitano on how a boy tragically orphaned in a plane crash inspired her book

Tue, Mar 31, 2020, 05:21

The genesis of my novel, Dear Edward, was my obsession with a real plane crash. In 2010, a flight from South Africa to London crashed in Libya and there was only one survivor, a nine-year-old Dutch boy. He was found still buckled into his seat, about a half-mile away from the rest of the wreckage. He had a punctured lung and a broken leg, but was otherwise fine. Everyone else on the flight – including his parents and brother – had died immediately.

This was a huge international news story, though very few people remember it now. (Too much has happened since then, perhaps, and our brains have room for only so many sad stories?)

One aspect of the coverage that fascinated me was that, for the first time, a story of this scope wasn’t being told only by journalists. In 2010 social media had taken a drastic leap in popularity, and was close to what we recognise it as today, which meant that everyone you knew – including your mother – was on Facebook.

Young girls, around the same age as the Dutch boy, created Facebook pages devoted to him, and posted about how sad they were for the little boy, and how cute he was. Airplane aficionados were speculating online about why the flight might have crashed. It was leaked online that the president of Libya had phoned the boy in the hospital to wish him well.I was able to sit at my kitchen table in Brooklyn and read the questions and emotions of not just the gatekeepers to the news event, but of everyone. Perhaps this contributed to my feeling that this story was mine to engage with, too? I’m not sure.

I do know that as I sat at my table and read everything I could about this disaster, nearly every post, article and feature contained the same photograph. When I think of the news story now, 10 years later, it’s that image that comes to mind first. It was a photo of the Dutch boy in his hospital bed, looking so beautiful, and so broken, and so small. I had two little boys at the time – they were one and three – and I wondered how this child could possibly climb out of that hospital bed, and leave that hospital, without his mom and dad and brother? The photograph haunted me, and that question did, too.

Plane crashes remain one of the top fears across the population. Most of us have flown in an airplane, and will fly again, multiple times. We are keenly aware, as we board a plane, that we are not in control of what happens to us once the entrance door is closed. We don’t like being out of control.

If you’re in a car with a driver who seems unsteady, you can tell them to pull over and get out if you like. This isn’t possible – unless you’re a trained pilot – on an airplane. To see that lack of control play out to its worst possible conclusion might explain why we watch with fascination and horror when a plane does crash.

When Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in 2014, we were riveted. How could it disappear in this highly wired world? Where had it gone? How would we feel, if we were one of the passengers looking out the oval-shaped window as our plane flew into…nothingness?

Social media played a role in the aftermath of that flight, too. There was a fascinating article in The Atlantic last summer that caught us up on the story of that incident, and told about a Seattle lawyer who had read about the disappeared plane and devoted his life to finding the missing pieces of the aircraft across the world. He used social media to find clues, and connect with the families that had lost loved ones on the flight.

Perhaps we follow these stories because we can imagine ourselves playing every role. We can imagine gripping the armrest on the plane, screaming and scanning our life history as the plane we’re on plummets, and we can imagine getting a phone call one afternoon telling us that the plane carrying our husband crashed and that there were no survivors.

I experienced the crash in 2010 as a young mother, and a writer. I needed the Dutch boy to be okay, because I wanted to believe that if something this terrible happened to one of my boys, they could not only survive, but find a way to live. I created a set of fictional circumstances in Dear Edward that plotted a path in which that could believably happen.

I wrote to keep that plane in the sky, and to help the young boy starting a new life alone on the ground. I tried to build a world that was stitched together with kindness and love, because I knew that without kindness, Edward wouldn’t have a chance. In the novel, people follow Edward, in person and on social media. I had followed the story of the Dutch boy on social media, so I understood that those strangers were invested in Edward’s story.

After all, I had been so invested that I’d done something crazy: write a novel to try to save a little boy on the other side of the world, and to save my sons, who didn’t yet need saving. The people who logged online to follow Edward after his crash were probably thinking: that could have been me who just lost everything. I want him to be okay. I want to be okay. In these moments of communal grief, we see – we understand – that we belong to one another. We try, with whatever tools we have at our disposal – our attention, our kindness, our words – to save one another.

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano is published by Viking

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That's it for the season,  we should be meeting back in August.  Whether via computer or in person that remains to be seen...  No specific books were selected for our next meeting -- hope everyone stumbles across some good reading and recommendations in the next few months.  

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

April 9, 2020


Hostess:  Trish
Attendees: 
Amy, Michele, MaryMargaret, Susan, Pam T, Myra, Ruth, Pam M, Janna

Zoom Zoom!
It's the year 2020.  The world has run out of toilet paper.  There are bread (or milk/eggs/paper towels/ you-name-it) lines at the grocery stores.  A handshake could be considered rude, but you smile with your eyes because you're wearing a face mask.   With orders to stay home and shelter in place, socializing takes on a new definition.  Six feet!  Anxiety, disbelief, despair.  Hope, kindness, creativity.  Sound like the makings of an apocalyptic novel?
Nope.
Life in 2020 under the Covid-19 Corona virus pandemic. 

We adapt.  No bookclubs allowed the usual way, so we hold it via Zoom Meeting.

Most of us finished The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.   Didn't matter if one didn't finish the book, it was just nice to see everyone's faces on screen. (a la Brady Bunch!)  Our virtual book club was a first, thanks Amy,  for setting it up!



From Goodreads:   

The New York Times and USA Today bestseller!

In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry. The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government's new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a powerful message about how the written word affects people--a story of hope and heartbreak, raw courage and strength splintered with poverty and oppression, and one woman's chances beyond the darkly hollows. Inspired by the true and historical blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek showcases a bold and unique tale of the Packhorse Librarians in literary novels — a story of fierce strength and one woman's belief that books can carry us anywhere — even back home.
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One of the most interesting topics of the book was learning about the true Blue People of Kentucky.  The book appeared to be well researched on this subject.  Sad to say that prejudice abounds, no matter what color your skin.  We also learned a little more about the WPA and the library program.  Good discussion points and we were concise with our time!
    Quote of the night:  "they won't get the news  (in rural Appalachia)  about the pandemic until the book woman comes" 

Next month's selection:   Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
Probably via Zoom again....

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

March 12, 2020

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone


Host:  Julie
Attendees:   Ruth, Michelle, Pam M, Debra

Short synopsis from Goodreads :
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
by Lori Gottlieb (Goodreads Author)

Stars:  4.39  ·   Rating details ·  70,138 ratings  ·  6,875 reviews

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.

As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives -- a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys -- she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.

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A very small group made for an intimate setting (which could be said to almost mimic a one-on-one with a therapist...)  We answered a lot of book club discussion questions and explored some of the author's featured characters (were they considered patients or clients? How would you want to be described, if you were in therapy, as a patient, or a client? )  We agreed we enjoyed this book and took away a lot from it.  Despite our forgetting to actually rate it, it's probably safe to say it ranks way up there! 
PS.  This is being made into a television series...stay tuned, it should be quite entertaining!


Next month:    The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richadson

February 13, 2020

Then She Was Gone  by Lisa Jewell
Host:  Ruth
Attendees:  Julie, Pam T., Lori, Michelle, JJ, Amy, Myra, Debra, Pam M.



From Simon & Schuster:  
A 2018 Goodreads Choice Award Finalist—Top 5 Best Mystery & Thriller * A Suspense Magazine “Best of 2018” Thriller/Suspense Pick

“An acutely observed family drama with bone-chilling suspense.” —People

“Jewell teases out her twisty plot at just the right pace, leaving readers on the edge of their seats. Her multilayered characters are sheer perfection, and even the most astute thriller reader won’t see where everything is going until the final threads are unknotted.” —Booklist, starred review

“Sharply written with twists and turns, Jewell’s latest will please fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, or Luckiest Girl Alive." —Library Journal

Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She was fifteen, the youngest of three. She was beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers. She and her boyfriend made a teenaged golden couple. She was days away from an idyllic post-exams summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her.

And then she was gone.

Now, her mother Laurel Mack is trying to put her life back together. It’s been ten years since her daughter disappeared, seven years since her marriage ended, and only months since the last clue in Ellie’s case was unearthed. So when she meets an unexpectedly charming man in a café, no one is more surprised than Laurel at how quickly their flirtation develops into something deeper. Before she knows it, she’s meeting Floyd’s daughters—and his youngest, Poppy, takes Laurel’s breath away.

Because looking at Poppy is like looking at Ellie. And now, the unanswered questions she’s tried so hard to put to rest begin to haunt Laurel anew. Where did Ellie go? Did she really run away from home, as the police have long suspected, or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance? Who is Floyd, really? And why does his daughter remind Laurel so viscerally of her own missing girl?


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A lot of suspense, some interesting but not necesarily likeable characters, a lot of unexplained and 
very far-fetched oddities in the story, (was it a turkey baster?!) but we pretty much agreed this novel kept our interest.   It gave us a chance for some stimulating conversation; also a chance to gather and catch up with each other in general..... on Galentine's Day, no less.

We selected the next three months' reading:  
March   -   Maybe You Should Talk to Someone  - Lori Gottlieb
April     -    The BookWoman of Troublesome Creek*  - Kim Michele Richardson
May      -    Dear Edward - Ann Napolitano 

*Another novel that mirrors The Bookwoman is The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes.  (Author of Me Before You, remember?)   Both books published almost in tandem.  Same subject and similar story.   Read both and decide for yourself?

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2020  January selection  was   The Alice Network  by Kate Quinn  (Michelle)