More of the Early Years

As we found our way through those first months, we found the need for some more structure.  We eventually settled on a few rules.  Book choice and host would rotate among the members.  We would meet once per month.  The book must be available in paperback.  (That rule had two roots.  In the days before ebooks, hardcovers could be very expensive.  Also, one member thought they were just too heavy to read comfortably.)  It was preferable, but not an absolute requirement that the book be easily available from the library.  No one can have read the book before.  Everyone MUST read the book or suffer a lifetime of gentle and not-so-gentle teasing about it.

A little later on, after a few members had come and gone, we added one more rule.  New members don't get to pick a book until they have attended a full rotation of meetings (meaning they have read a book chosen by every other member.)

Since I can't organize the early books chronologically, I'm going to list them by who chose them.  These are the books chosen by those members whose time with us was short.

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
     I loved it, but mine was a minority opinion.  Others liked it, some thought it was just too out there.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham
    Exact opposite.  Others loved it, but I was underwhelmed.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
     Not being an especially literary person, I hadn't heard of Sherman Alexie.  I was surprised how much I liked the book, though I haven't felt like reading any other of his work.

Master Butchers' Singing Club by Louise Erdrich
      Love! Pretty unanimous praise for this one.

Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
     LOVE!!! Again, rather unanimous praise, though a warning that the content may be uncomfortable for some.

The Doorman by Reinaldo Arenas
     This was a strange one.  I liked it (pause) but it was weird.  I felt compelled to keep reading but not in the same way I do when I am really enjoying a book.  Others liked it more than me I think.  I do remember that we read it shortly after the attacks on 9/11 and it had a weird resonance that it might not have had if we had read it when it was written (1994).

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
      I loved it.  Such a short, but beautiful book.

The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
     I confess to having no memory of this one which probably means I didn't read it.  Maybe I should...

The Alchemist by Paul Cohelo
     I liked this book a lot though such poetic writing is not usually my cup of tea.