December's meeting -- "Woman With Birthmark" Next meet 2/24/2011 at John's.

We conducted our gift exchange which was terrific fun with some good deal of thought obviously involved. I just love my dragon, and admire Jessica's book and Barbara's Houdini wine bottle opener. Drew got socks, Linda a lighted page magnifier with LED light. John got a lovely bottle of Zinfandel from a favorite vintner of Linda's that is in Sonoma.

We talked about the book and ate a repast of Mexican Food, lovingly provided by our hostess, Barbara. She was assisted by Sam and Buddy (aka "Diablo").

Cheers! Have a Happy and Safe Christmas!

Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery: Woman with Birthmark - Dec 7 @Barbara's

Dinner at Jessica's was a great Texas treat - grilled beef steaks, Caesar salad, red potatoes, and succulent steamed mushrooms with key lime pie with a graham cracker crust!

Discussion of the book "Out Stealing Horses" was tame, as we all pretty much liked it, so not a lot of controversy.

The next meeting will find us discussing Jessica's selection "Woman with Birthmark" by Hakan Nasser, another fine Norwegian writer.
Happy Thanksgiving to all !!!!!!!!!!!!

Nov 4,2010 at Jessica's - "Out Stealing Horses" by Per Petterson

For our third selection of the six-month topic of "Scandinavian Authors" we are reading "Out Stealing Horses." This coming of age novel in the harsh Norwegian countryside  was first published in 2003, and voted "One of the best ten books of the year" by the New York Times Book Review.
   If you have read, or are reading this, or have any other comments, we'd love to see them. Just click on the "comments" button :)   We now have 'reactions' buttons which right now are "funny," "interesting," or "cool."
Thanks for looking!!

Help -- Anybody know what's on the porch?

I can't figure out something that is described in KO Dahl's novel "The Last Fix." The question is about the "Palace."

When  goes to Frølich goes to Gunnarstranda's country cabin for barbecue,Gunnarstranda is sitting on the porch rolling cigarettes. To his right is something with a cap and arms, but it's never explained what it is.

This is in the chapter called "Palace" which is what Gunnarstranda calls the cabin.

Thanks for any help.

Scandinavian Writers: KO Dahl's "The Last Fix" - 10/7/2010 @ Drew's

Our next selection in the topic of "Scandinavian Authors" is KO Dahl's "The Last Fix." Dahl is one of Norway's better known crime novelists. It's been a long time since we had a whodunit.

Linda will be able to enjoy it on her Kindle; since I'd already bought the book before I got mine, I'm going to read the hardback. Happily, my Kindle 3 #-G  arrived the evening we discussed "The Hunger" at my house.

In the future, we may all have digital books, but I bet it will be decades until all the books we like are available that way. Since I bought my Kindle, I've looked for a lot of books in Kindle format, and have had very little success. Even "Gone With the Wind" isn't available. It's posted on Amazon's website, but has a "pricing information unavailbale" so I couldn't buy it. Happily, a lot of technical software books are available, so I'll load up as my budget permits!

August's meeting is 9-Sep-2010 at Louis's House

All except Drew. Maybe he'll be at the next meeting!

We'll be discussing the current "Scandinavian Writers" selection "Hunger" by Knut Hamsun.

I saw "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" but it's so long for a book club selection, so I'll be passing out something a bit shorter, but interesting.

Did I mention I just bought a Kindle? Now 1/3 of us have this marvelous piece of technology, with 3-g cellular networking no less!

July's Meeting - Thursday the 22nd 2010

Several members are going to be taking some vacation, or out of town for other reasons in June and July. Our meeting will be Thursday July 22, 2010.



We are all reading "Clock Without Hands" by Carson McCullers. I finished it a couple of weeks ago, and am now reading "The Optimist's Daughter" by Eudora Welty. Fun fact: the email client "Eudora" was written by a programmer who liked Ms. Welty's writing and her name, so he named it after her. I don't know if she got any royalties. The poet / ex-professor Stella Nesanovich (www.Nesanovich.com) met her and has an autographed first edition of "The Optimist's Daughter."



We hope everyone is enjoying this hot weather. Our topic is now "Scandinavian Authors."
Louis Hemmi - www.Hemmi.us www.SacredCodes.com