TIME/PLACE: 7:00 for 7:30 pm -- at Cheryl's house: #01-02 Kellett Court, Shelford Road
The Zigzag Way by Anita Desai has been postponed until January.
Come to this December gathering with just with a reading suggestion for everyone -- whether a favorite book, a poem, an article, or whatever....
FYI: The "Best of 2008" lists are starting to appear. Here are some links for you:
-- New York Times -- 10 Best Books of 2008 (drawn from a longer list they also provide a link to)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/books/review/10Best-t.html
-- Amazon.com's list
http://www.amazon.com/Best-2008-Books-Holidays-Seasonal/b?ie=UTF8&node=1239030011
-- The Times (UK)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/The_Times_Christmas_Books_Speci/
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article5236390.ece
-- Guardian (UK) -- Season's Readings
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/29/best-books-year-2008-review
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/30/top-reads-2008
-- The Age (AUS)
http://www.readings.com.au/collection/the-age-book-of-the-year-shortlist-2008-non-fiction
Updated post-December:
Books mentioned at the December get-together.....
For those who wanted to read Doris Lessing, do have a look at a very unusual online collaboration on The Golden Notebook (which many consider her masterpiece). The whole text is available online.
Adult:
Children's:
I also recommended the TED talk on foie gras.
TIME/PLACE: 7:00 for 7:30 pm -- at Cathy's house
ADDRESS/DIRECTIONS: 60 Greenleaf View. Approach via Maryland Drive off Holland Road opposite Jelita, or from Ming Teck Park off Sixth Avenue. Greenleaf Road continues from Maryland Drive and Greenleaf View is the next turning after the restaurant on the RHS. 60 is second on the right.
On David Wroblewski's website, there are even "questions for book group discussions" (probably because the book was selected for Oprah's Book Club -- though that's not why we selected it, I hasten to add...).
Also check out his list of Further Reading (re dogs and their relationship with humans).
Wroblewski has a page called Tangents, which he describes as, "a pushdown list of curiosities, miscellany, recommendations, and generally fun stuff. It's not quite a blog, but I try to keep it updated with whatever has caught my eye recently." For example, one of the recent items is about a TED talk on how the study of population genetics can tell the story of human development.
Other links you might want to explore:
Follow-up notes from the evening's discussion, e.g., books mentioned:
Another recent "dog" book: The Art of Racing in the Rain -- Garth Stein -- review in The Bookreporter, and an interview with the author in Library Journal
Review of the film, "Talk to Me" -- from the New York Times
Fugitive Pieces -- by Anne Michaels -- 1997 review in the New York Times
David Foster Wallace on Life and Work -- from the Wall Street Journal
Adapted from a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace to the 2005 graduating class at Kenyon College. Mr. Wallace, 46, died last Friday, after apparently committing suicide.
And Megan just sent me these links to add:
Netherland -- by Joseph O'Neill
"But here’s what “Netherland” surely is: the wittiest, angriest, most exacting and most desolate work of fiction we’ve yet had about lifein New York and London after the World Trade Center fell." -- from a New York Times article commenting on 9/11 novels...
The Sorrows of an American -- Siri Hustvedt
"This novel is easily described as wonderful, although, like a lot of great novels, it doesn't sound so good in the retelling. You have to read it to believe it. The Sorrows of an American does have a lot of plot, but that is not the main attraction: its beauty lies in the ability of the narrator to reveal the frailties of the human mind." -- from a review in the Guardian (UK)
List of recommended recent publications sent to Sonia by a friend who works in publishing:
1. The Northern Clemency, Philip Hensher
2. Hurry Down Sunshine, Michael Greenberg
3. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, Rick Perlstein
4. The Forever War, Dexter Filkins
5. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel, David Wroblewski
6. The Likeness: A Novel, Tana French
7. Serena: A Novel, Ron Rash
8. So Brave, Young and Handsome: A Novel, Leif Enger
9. The Lazarus Project, Aleksandar Hemon
10. The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, David Hajdu
11. The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America, Thurston Clarke
12. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
13. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, M.T. Anderson
14. Sitting Bull, Bill Yenne
15. Netherland: A Novel, Joseph O'Neill
16. Home: A Novel,Marilynne Robinson
17. Duma Key: A Novel, Stephen King
18. Lush Life: A Novel, Richard Price
19. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, Michael Pollan
20. The Underneath, Kathi Appelt
21. Knockemstiff, Donald Ray Pollock
22. A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, David Tanis
23. Pravda: A Novel, Edward Docx
24. 2666: A Novel, Roberto Bolano
25. Alinea, Grant Achatz
Plus, I just saw this list of the 50 Best Winter Reads (Independent UK)
Review of biography of VS Naipul that describes how he treated his wife...
TIME/PLACE: 7:00 for 7:30 pm -- at Adele's house
ADDRESS/DIRECTIONS: 63 Cavenagh Road, 01-01 Cavenagh Mansions, Singapore 229618. Nex to the Istana. / MRT: Dhoby Ghaut/Somerset
Other links you might want to explore:
Ten things you need to know about Haruki Murakami: the key facts about the coolest writer in the world today - July 20, 2008 article in the Sunday Times (UK)
Wikipedia entry on Haruki Murakami
Everything is Illuminated
by Jonathan Safran FoerTIME/PLACE: 7:00 for 7:30 pm -- at Barb's house
ADDRESS/DIRECTIONS: 42 Pasir Panjang Hill, #02-10 Le Hill, (h) 6777-5835, (m) 9006-2495
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran FoerTIME/PLACE: 7:00 for 7:30 pm -- at Cathy Elliott's house
ADDRESS/DIRECTIONS: 60 Greenleaf View. Approach via Maryland Drive off Holland Road opposite Jelita, or from Ming Teck Park off Sixth Avenue. Greenleaf
Road continues from Maryland Drive and Greenleaf View is the next
turning after the restaurant on the RHS. 60 is second on the right.
A few links you might find of interest:
By the way, I found these links by using the Book Reviews Search Engine (link at top of page)...
On Chesil Beach
TIME/PLACE: 7:00 for 7:30 pm -- at Cecilia's house (Address: 10-12 Bassein Road ( v close to Tan Tock Seng hospital) my tel 91193500 - if you get lost! -- Directions from Newton circus - turn up Newton Road ( left if coming from West ie along Dunearn Rd/ straight on from Scotts Rd) Go straight across traffic lights at junction with Thompson Rd into Moulmein Road.(Novena/Velocity shopping mall on your left across the junction). Take 4th left off Moulmein - Mandalay road - and Bassein Rd is the first turn on the LEFT - over the hill. Our house is at the top of the road on the right.)
A few links you might find of interest:
&
TIME/PLACE: 7:00 for 7:30 pm -- at Cheryl's house: #01-02 Kellett Court, Shelford Road
Links of interest re ANIMAL'S PEOPLE:
7:00 for 7:30 pm -- at Barb Philip's house
The Man Booker Prize 2007 winner
TIME/PLACE: 7:00 for 7:30 pm -- at Cecilia's house (Address: 10-12 Bassein Road ( v close to Tan Tock Seng hospital) my tel 91193500 - if you get lost! -- Directions from Newton circus - turn up Newton Road ( left if coming from West ie along Dunearn Rd/ straight on from Scotts Rd) Go straight across traffic lights at junction with Thompson Rd into Moulmein Road.(Novena/Velocity shopping mall on your left across the junction). Take 4th left off Moulmein - Mandalay road - and Bassein Rd is the first turn on the LEFT - over the hill. Our house is at the top of the road on the right.)
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Description: In 1814 Napoleon Bonaparte arrived on St. Helenad surreal exile that would last until his death six years later. "A resonant meditation on exile, fame, the stories we tell about ourselves (and) the bigger stories we tell about our great figures."--Los Angeles Times Book Review.
Julia Blackburn is the author of three books of nonfiction, Charles Waterton, The Emperor's Last Island, and Daisy Bates in the Desert, and of two novels, The Book of Color and The Leper's Companions, both of which were shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She lives in England.
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The National Library has several copies available. It was published in 1997 and is still in print, so we should be able to find it in Kinokuniya.