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Surviving the Minions of May May 18, 2009

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Go ahead, roll your eyes. I deserve it. Titles were never my strong suit. Moving on…

minionsThis month is an exciting one for the Oakland Book Club. We’re meeting Richard Bowes, author of Minions of the Moon, one of our two scheduled books. If you  haven’t gotten a copy of it yet, there is still time. Although the book is out of print, I purchased a “like new” hardcover through barnesandnoble.com for under six dollars (including shipping), and I received it in only a few days. I’m waiting to read this one until closer to the date (it’s all about my failing memory), but I’m intrigued by the description of it as an “urban fantasy” and also by the cover art. Yes, friends, I judge books by their covers.

 

We’re also reading Chuck Palahniuk’s Survivor. I’m 3/4 of the way through this one, and clearly, it’s by the guy who brought us Fight Club. This is not a criticism. Where Fight Club brought us soap made from suburban ass fat, Survivor brings us spray-painted garden flowers, carefully selected from the local masoleum.  There is some fun to be had here.survivor

This month, we’re meeting on Tuesday May 26th, 7:00, at the home of Christopher Barzak. In the interest of protecting Chris from stalkers (he is an award-winning author, and if we’re honest, a hottie), I won’t print his address here. If you’re a book club regular, I’ve emailed it to you. If you didn’t receive this email, contact me at kharrington@ysu.edu.

The meeting is pot luck, so bring a dish to share and your favorite bottle of wine.

(Make sure to pick on the links. I put in the basic amazon.com descriptions along with another couple of fun sites to explore)

The Love We Share Without Knowing December 27, 2008

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love-we-share

I’m particularly excited about this month’s meeting because we’re discussing our own Chris Barzak’s The Love We Share Without Knowing. We’re holding our meeting on Tuesday December 30th, 7:00 at Cafe Cimmento (in the board room). Chris will join us at 8:00 to answer our questions or to explain all of that Japenese stuff.

Here are some links to reviews that Chris was so kind to send me (he even included an unfavorable one, brave soul).

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/books/sfw19921.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/04/AR2008120403097.html

http://christopherbarzak.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/booklist-1111loveweshare1.jpg

I’ve already read them, and then I started re-reading sections of the book because, well, it seems I missed some important things. I don’t want to spoil, so let me just say that my gaijin brain wasn’t holding onto the Japanese names so well (I ended up making a chart).

I will, however, share my early reactions. I was about 40 pages into the book, and I said to my husband, “I wasn’t sure how this was going to work with the Japanese setting and all, but now I’m reading a Chris Barzak book.”

If you’ve read One For Sorrow, you’re already familiar with the ways Chris’s characters move between the worlds of the living and the dead. This time, these magical crossings are woven among people who all connect to one core event in a van in a rice paddy, and the books title derives (I think) from the fate of those four lonely souls and the spiritual trails they left in the lives they touched.

obon11

I hope to see you all on Tuesday.

Kris

all the way home November 11, 2008

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Don’t forget that November’s Book Club meeting is one week from today, Tuesday November 18, 7:00, Cedars Cafe. If you had the chance to meet David Giffels at last week’s Ytown Readers Series, you’re probably as intrigued as I was. Giffels’s humility and self-effacing humor are charming, and it is this charm that makes all the way home such an engrossing read.

The Giffels Family

The Giffels Family

Woven into Giffels’s chronicles of restoring a crumbling mansion (that he purchased for the shocking price of $65,000) are memories of his family, observations about his marriage, tidbits of Akron history. Giffels’s description of the mansion’s “dark charm” where the overwhelming opulence meets the equally overwhelming disrepair:  a ten foot tall harp and twin crystal chandeliers share space with 55 turkey pans filled with rain water. Giffels is encouraged in his restoration (more like resurrection) adventures by his father, my favorite person in the book, who believes that any struture still standing can be fixed.

What's a little water damage?

Although I’m only about a third of the way through the book so far, I’d say that my favorite feature is the sense of place as it is communicated through Giffels’s relationships with other people. As a Ytown native and fellow rustbelter, I understood perfectly when Giffels he describes how he chose his home inspector: “I called my dad and asked him if he knew anyone who might do the job. (This is how professional relationships are forged in places like Akron, by people like us).” Of course, the inspector, Steve, drives a beaten yellow pick-up truck that runs on propane. These are the real people, the most interesting characters, that we meet along this journey.

I hope you’ll join us to discuss this original and yet familiar memoir. Also, don’t forget to mark your calendars for Saturday November 29, when we celebrate the release of Chris’s The Love We Share Without Knowing.

Mark Your Calendars! October 22, 2008

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November is a hot month for our little book club. On Monday November 3, The YSU/Youngstown Readers Series is hosting writer David Giffels at Cedars. We’re reading his book All the Way Home for our November selection.*

Here’s a summary of Giffels’s memoir from Harper Collins:

Finding the perfect house is never easy. Rebuilding one from a crumbling pile-to say nothing of making it into a home-is even harder.

With their infant son in tow, David Giffels and his wife comb the environs of Akron, Ohio, in search of just the right house for their burgeoning family. Running through David’s head the whole time are the lyrics of a Replacements song, “. . . Look me in the eye, then tell me that I’m satisfied,” and it gives all the more purpose to their quest. But nothing seems right . . . until they spot a beautiful, decaying Gilded Age mansion. A former rubber industry executive’s domain, the once grand residence lacks functional plumbing and electricity, leaks rain like a cartoon shack, and is infested with all manner of wildlife. But for a young man at a coming-of-age crossroads-”suspended between a perpetual youth and an inevitable adulthood”-the challenge is exactly the allure.

All the Way Home follows Giffels’s funny, poignant, and confounding journey as he and his wife and a colorful collection of helpers turn a money pit into a house that will complete their family. Nothing could prepare them for a home restoration epic that includes evicting squatters (both four- and two-legged), battling an invading wisteria vine, hunting a ghost, and discovering thousands of dollars in hidden Depression-era cash. But the story’s heart lies deeper, in an unexpected series of personal hardships that call into question what “home” really means, and what it means to grow up.

You can meet Giffels and purchase his book at the Reading Series Event on November 3, 7:00, Cedars. If you can’t attend, you can still purchase the book through the traditional means (Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc.).

We’ll discuss All the Way Home at our next meeting on Tuesday November 18, 7:00, Cedars.

Mark your calendars for Friday November 29 when award-winning local author, book club co-founder, and superhero Chris Barzak will release his second novel The Love We Share Without Knowing. The party is at the Oakland Center for the Arts at 7:00. Chris will read from his novel, and copies will be available for purchase (you can even get it autographed). We’ll read Chris’s book for our December selection.

And just to give you some advanced notice on our January and February suggested-by-members titles, in January we’re reading Kindred by Octavia Butler, and in February we’re reading The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Expery. Put them on your Christmas lists.

As always, I’ll send out reminders closer to the meeting times. Our thanks go to all of your who share your time and enthusiasm each month to keep our book club going. Good times, my friends, good times.

 Kris

*please note that this is a change from our original selection