May 2010 Meeting

We discussed A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. This farcical work wasn't as well thought of by the book club members as I had hoped. Three members disliked it so much that they couldn't suffer to read the whole book. I think you have to be in the mood for a book like this. I caught myself on many occasions laughing out loud; this behavior is so unlike me.

The story is set in New Orleans, where I spent Easter of 2010. Here's a photo of Louis the webmaster at the Café du Monde.


Buddy, Barbara, and Sam hosted the meeting with terrific Mexican food, consisting of fajitas of both beef and chicken, fresh fluffy tortillas, chile con queso, pico de gallo, rice, beans and a plenitude of wine. We ate and discussed the book, then went outside to see Barbara's new addition to her house.

Jessica then directed our attention skyward, as the exact moment that the space shuttle would be over Houston was at hand. We saw it!!

All in all, it was a lovely evening, and I look forward to next month when the meeting will be at Linda's.
Cheers!
Louis

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

I finished the book club selection (my selection) of A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I am forbidden to discuss my views, according to our bylaws, so as not to prejudice our meeting's discussion.

I just finished Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith last Saturday. It started out intense,and grew more so in the next 400+ pages. This novel is set in Stalinist Russia, 1953. Communism gives killers an easy time of it, as there is always someone to blame their crimes on.

This is a powerful story, well told. I liked it so much that I've now ordered Tom Rob Smith's second book 'a Secred Speech." His characters invite either your sympathy or contempt, without being too stereotypical.

This one rates five jalapeños!

Next Meeting Date Established for May's Meeting

The next meeting will be held at the home of Ms. Barbara's. on
Thursday 20 May, 2010.

Barbara has a gorgeous dog who (unfortunately for the next door neighbor) has a taste for Easter bunnies. Buddy is the blackest-furred dog I've ever seen. Really, a name like "Satan" would be so perfect for him. The other dog is nice too. The cats are indifferent to us, and I to them. Ms. Barbara always lays a good spread of victuals and accompanying libation.

See you there!

Pondering on a Sunday Afternoon

I've not yet started the current selection by Southern writer Charlaine Harris, but am just about through with The Hunt for Confederate Gold. It gave me a lot of ideas I'd like to use some day. Southern writers tend to be more gothic (dark), connected to the role of religion in their lives and those of their communities, ancestor worship, tradition and understanding of the quirks, foibles and pecadillos of men and women of whatever station in life.


I find I'm increasingly more interested in buying a Kindle. Linda R. loves hers, and she's not easy to please. Now that they are under $300, the Kindle is becoming affordable. However, I think it's still too much to pay when you can get closer and closer to the price of a laptop for which there are far more uses. Once the Kindle price falls to $199 I think that's when I'll bite and make a needlepoint case for it (you laugh, but my grandmother made a lot of things out of needlepoint like eyeglass cases, Kleenex dispensers, belts, vest fronts, etc.).

Netbooks are very close now in price to the Kindle, and they do a lot more than the Kindle can. I like the ASUS EE netbooks, and would consider one if I didn't already have a desktop (Starship Lord Fu XI has 8 GB RAM, 2 TB disk space, Windows 7), a laptop (personal) and a laptop from work.

Louis Hemmi - HoustonBookClub.com
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Cheers!

After discussion of "Rain Gods" by James Lee Burke

The new book club selection, the third in the topic "Southern Writers" is called "Dead Over Heels" and is an Aurora Teagarden  mystery written by Charlaine Harris. That's all I can tell you, as I've not yet started :)

Our last meeting was at Jessica's and we discussed the book club selection "Rain Gods." Several members opined that it did have some similarity to "No Country for Old Men." I'd not thought about it, but had to agree.

Another point of discussion was whether the selected book really  was "Southern" rather than "Western." I think it qualifies as both. True, it is distinctly different in tone than works typically thought to qualify as "Southern" but I think that the genre is evolving, and this is Southern writing in the teens.

I think it's safe to say that our consensus is that this was a good, fun read with some original twists on popular themes.

John R was not feeling well, and we hope he is better. We're not sure of where the next meeting will be, but we are able to coordinate well by email and perhaps a phone call or two.

Congratulations Jessica!!

Jessica is one of our longest-tenure members, and is especially vivacious and brilliant. We are happy to announce that as of December 2009, her son is now slated to be going to Columbia University on a football scholarship!

Columbia is of course one of the IV league schools (it's not "ivy," it's the roman numeral for 4 because the big 4 schools are Columbia, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton).
We are excited and happy for her!
<-- Here's Duncan on the left, working to save the planet.

Goodbye Xmas, Happy New Year!

Now that the effort of selecting, buying, wrapping, driving, and visiting is over, I am glad to be home so I can pursue my technical interests. I'm now focusing on finishing out the Mayan page on www.SacredCodes.com

I am reading the current book club selection, Rain Gods by James Lee Burke. We of course don't discuss our take on a book until the meeting (most of the time). Our next meeting is scheduled for 14 January 2010 at this writing. It's subject to change to accommodate the majority of members.

I look forward to making 2010 a bit brighter for all those I know, and continue to walk a path blessed with prosperity and good fellowship. I intend to keep Tweeting and posting to Facebook.

¡Enjoy reading!

Louis Hemmi -- Louis@HoustonBookClub.com