June-July 2012 -

The Women 

by T.C. Boyle

Having brought to life eccentric cereal king John Harvey Kellogg in The Road to Wellville and sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in The Inner Circle, T.C. Boyle now turns his fictional sights on an even more colorful and outlandish character: Frank Lloyd Wright. Boyle's incomparable account of Wright's life is told through the experiences of the four women who loved him. There's the Montenegrin beauty Olgivanna Milanoff, the passionate Southern belle Maude Miriam Noel, the tragic Mamah Cheney, and his young first wife, Kitty Tobin. Blazing with his trademark wit and inventiveness, Boyle deftly captures these very different women and the creative life in all its complexity. (Book Description)

Discussion Meeting: Sometime in July, check back.
Location: TBD

Check this NPR web feature and podcast about this book:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101170584

May 2012 -

The Hummingbird's Daughter / La Hija de la Chuparrosa 

by Luis Alberto Urrea

Twenty years in the making, Urrea's epic novel recounts the true story of his great-aunt Teresita. In 1873, amid the political turbulence of General Porfirio Díaz's Mexican republic, Teresita is born to a fourteen-year-old Indian girl, "mounted and forgotten" by her white master. Don Tomàs Urrea later takes his illegitimate daughter into his home, where she learns to bathe every week and read "Las Hermanas Brontë." But Teresita also continues a folk education as a curandera, discovering healing powers and a mystical relationship with God. Indian pilgrims swarm to the Urrea ranch, where "St. Teresita," a mestiza Joan of Arc, kindles in them a powerful faith in God and a perilous hunger for revolution. The novel brings to life not only the deeply pious figure whom Díaz himself dubbed "the Most Dangerous Girl in Mexico" but also the blood-soaked landscape of pre-revolutionary Mexico. (The New Yorker) 

Leader/Host: Isabella
Discussion Meeting: June 3rd (11am) - Potluck!
Location: Bella's place 

Here is the author's page:

http://www.luisurrea.com/books/fiction/hummingbirds-daughter

and an article...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/books/review/03DERASMO.html?pagewanted=all

 

April 2012 -

Gold Boy, Emerald Girl 

by Yiyun Li 

“Li's collection well deserves a celebration with its sophistication and honesty, which often derive from a deep understanding of the history, culture and politics of China, and of their impact on ordinary people. . . . Yes, sorrows may arise during times of reflection, but it's impossible not to fall in love with the privacy and tranquility of the time and place.”
—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review, Cover Review

Leader/Host: Open
Discussion Meeting: Sun April 1st (1pm).

This was the title selected for One Book One Chicago this spring. Here is the library page for it that includes interviews, programs & events, timeline, etc):
http://www.chipublib.org/eventsprog/programs/oboc/12s_gold/oboc_12s_greeting.php  

March 2012

The Bridge of San Luis Rey
By Thornton Wilder

"The Bridge of San Luis Rey opens in the aftermath of an inexplicable tragedy--a tiny foot-bridge in Peru breaks, and five people hurtle to their deaths. For Brother Juniper, a humble monk who witnesses the catastrophe, the question in inescapable. Why those five? Suddenly, Brother Juniper is committed to discover what manner of lives they led--and whether it was divine intervention or a capricious fate that took their lives." (Product Description)




Here are some fun wiki-facts about it:

• First published in 1927. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928.
• In 1998, the book was rated #37 by the editorial board of the American Modern Library on the list of the 100 best 20th-Century novels.
• Time Magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.
• The book was quoted by Tony Blair during the memorial service for victims of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
• The book was cited during the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse by Brian Williams of NBC News as well as Charlie Gibson of ABC News.
• Three films have been based on the novel.
• An opera by German composer Hermann Reutter was based on the novel.
• A play for puppets and actors was based on the novel, adapted by Greg Carter and directed by Sheila Daniels.

Here is the official Thornton Wilder Website:
http://www.thorntonwilder.com/fiction/the-bridge-of-san-luis-rey.html
(Nice image gallery with all the covers of the book)

Leader/Host: Open
Special Guest: Laura Harkness

Discussion Meeting: Sun March 4th @6pm
Location: 4 Suyos Peruvian Cusine (BYOB in Logan Square)
2727 W. Fullerton
http://www.4suyos.com

Jan-Feb 2012

El Tiempo Entre Costuras
By Maria Duenas.

"La historia de Sira Quiroga, una joven modista empujada por el destino hacia un arriesgado compromiso en el que los patrones y las telas de su oficio se convertirán en la fachada de algo mucho más turbio y trascendente. Bajo esta trama esquemática se tejen múltiples lecturas transversales que la convierten a un tiempo en una novela de superación personal, una novela colonial, una novela de amor, una novela de conspiraciones históricas y políticas, y una novela de espías. Una novela de ritmo imparable cargada de encuentros y desencuentros, de identidades encubiertas y quiebros inesperados; de ternura, traiciones y ángeles caídos." (Maria Dueñas)

Check out the gallery and background info:
http://eltiempoentrecosturas.blogspot.com

Leader/Host: Sarah
Discussion Meeting: Sat Feb 11 @3pm
Location: Sarah's place

Nov-Dec 2011

The Ask
By Sam Lipsyte

"In his vastly entertaining--but dark--social satire, Lipsyte exposes the plight of the highly educated and discontented. Critics particularly enjoyed protagonist Milo Burke who, unlike most people, is keenly aware of his own mediocrity. They also enjoyed Lipsyte's well-rounded secondary characters: the embittered war amputee, the indifferent wife, the vaguely dissatisfied entrepreneur. One notable exception came from the Los Angeles Times critic, who found the novel strange and humorless. Overall, however, reviewers hailed The Ask as a worthy, amusing read, and a "witty paean to white-collar loserdom" (New York Times Book Review). Did we mention it was dark? The Cleveland Plain Dealer called it an "exercise in dread." Since we're throwing around words like "amusing," "witty," and "entertaining," we had to warn you. " (From Booksmarks Magazine).

Leader/Host: Isabella
Discussion Meeting: Sat Dec 17 @3pm
Location: Bella's place