Orange Beach Library Reading Group

Dear Cambridge Ladies ,
We had a fabulous discussion Tuesday on Jeffrey Eugenides’ epic narrative “Middlesex”. This book was so many things to me (still is, because I’m only half-way through it). I love the writing style, the humour (gloomy underpants), the history (I didn’t know all those things about Smyrna), the characters (I must investigate Wallace D. Fard and his place in history, if it exits), and of course the constant mythological and biological juxtaposition of his/her (Cal’s) thought processes. He immediately had my attention when in the very beginning Eugenides gives a nod to E.O. Wilson, and in the next breath talked about the gods of Mt. Olympus! This really was a thought provoking novel and I can hardly wait to see what he writes next. Here’s one of thosse multilayered novels that I love so much. Thank you for all the really insightful comments. Here’s another review of the book so you can see what else is being said:
Salon.com Books “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides
I also get reading group guides from www.readinggroupguides.com.
We also chose some new books for the next few months. Of course, we are still on track for Gods in Alabama (for March) and here’s a web site to look at for more information on the book: http://joshilynjackson.com/gods.html.
April’s choice is “Mr. Muo’s Traveling Couch” by Dai Sijie. Here’s a review http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400042593.
In May, we will read “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4629918. Npr has a story on the author that is worth reading.
In June, we’ll read McArthur Award winner Cormac McCarthy’s “No Place for Old Men”. Here’s a link to find out more about the book. Make sure you visit the Cormac McCarthy link at the bottom of the page. http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375406775.
We still need to pick some more titles for the rest of the year. We mentioned doing a biography and if anyone has some good suggestion, we’d like to hear about them, so please post a comment to the blog. A good and fun non-fiction we could do is “The Lost Painting” by Jonathan Harr. It was a real page turner and would lead to some very invigorating discussion. I nominate it for July.
I am in the process of making more name buttons for our group members. I apologize for not having everyone’s ready, but that will be remedied by our next meeting on the 2nd Tuesday of March @ 3 P.M. , which is March 14. If ya’ll have ideas about what kinds of snacks you’d like to have, I’ll get them. I just never know what ya’ll eat and I eat everything. Thanks for coming and I’d like to see some comments on the blog. I’ll also be updating the book review blog.