A good book...

...has no ending. R.D. Cumming.

One of my shameful little secrets is that I love to read books that are full of murder, manipulation, and mayhem. And, of course, you know those books usually come with a few other spicy and gruesome details. I've been known to go through 5 or 6 books in a good week. The other part of the equation is that after I am done with the book, its plot usually becomes unmemorable. More times than I care to remember, I will be half way through a book and be struck with random fits of deja vu.
 I'm sure I've read this before, I think to myself.
A few chapters later, I'm still wondering.
Sometimes, I will finish the book and still be unsure whether or not I have read it before.
Pitiful.
This is in contrast to Jeff ( and Jon, who apparently inherited the trait) who reads slowly but retains everything.

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.  James Bryce.

Several months ago, I joined the book club at our local library. Gone are my days of mindless reading. So far, every book has not only been one that I normally wouldn't have chosen to read, but also unforgettable. Maybe it's the process of reading, thinking , and then talking about it with like-minded people, but I find myself with new ideas circulating in my mind. Thoughts engendered by these books. So I am sharing the books with you, hoping that you will be as enlightened as was I.
Please note that un-dangled participle.
It was a tricky one.

The first book was So Brave, Young, and Handsome, by Leif Enger.
It's not a book I would have chosen at all, set back in the dying days of the Old West, but it was a quick and enjoyable read. Go here to read a better review than I could write. Leif Enger also wrote Peace Like a River, which is highly recommended by club members that have read it.

Then one of my favourite all-time books, The Widow's War, by Sally Gunning. Set in eighteenth century Cape Cod, it tells the riveting story of Lydia Berry, who is widowed after 20 years of marriage and finds herself subject to the laws of the time. She has no rights without a husband and the book tells of her rugged journey to establish her independence. Here is a good site for Sally Gunning and her books. It made me think about the rights and freedoms enjoyed by women in much, but not all, of the world. and about how many women in the world are still stuck in the mores of eighteenth century America, or worse.

The Geography of Bliss, of course, has already been covered here. I have probably spent more time contemplating this book than any other.

Last month we read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Again, not a book that I would have chosen, consisting of fictional letters between an author and various residents of Guernsey Island after the Second World War, and I don't really "do" books made of letters. I was enthralled. Did you know that the Channel Islands, off the coast of France but belonging to England, were occupied by Germany for five years? My parents have vivid memories of growing up in wartime England, so I was fascinated to learn of another aspect of those years. I took Mum to the book club meeting and everyone loved hearing some of her experiences, being evacuated to "the country" for two years and also enduring the bombing of Birmingham. I love the way history comes alive when presented by a good author.

This month's book is Moloka'i. I was reluctant to begin, thinking the subject matter boring and depressing.  It follows the story of a young Hawaii'an  girl who is taken from her family at a young age because she has leprosy. My goodness, talk about opening my eyes to things that I never knew existed. Leprosy in Hawaii in the early 1900's. I spent about half an hour in tears this morning, lying in bed and finishing the book.
You should read it too.

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. P.J. O'Rourke.