Book Club Reads

I thought it was about time that I brought you up to date on our book readings. March’s book is “Little Bee” by Chris Cleaver. I am not enjoying it. It has taken more than half the book to get into the nitty gritty, which was intense and well done, I will say that. But I am not enamoured of any of the characters though I am getting worried about Little Bee. I am afraid she will die or get sent back to Nigeria and then die. No, don’t tell me. I like the suspense.

But as anyone in my book club will tell you, I really, really dislike adultery. I have no use for anyone who commits adultery. Particularly in this day and age where everything is disposable, including marriage. There is no stigma about divorce. If you aren’t happy in your marriage, tell your spouse and then get out. Don’t skirt around. It’s pathetic. Here in this book we have two adulterers. That’s bad enough but I cannot find anything else to charm me. And I am not believing the kid at all, especially the fake baby talk. Spare me.

One of my favorite reads was in our first year “The Red Tent”; there were so many complex characters and the idea of the women having their flow at the same time was new to me. We had quite a discussion just on menstruation, as I recall. Adultery in this book was not annoying to me in the same way as it is in modern day stories. Life was different back then so I don’t get all tensed up and irritated by it. Besides, I was pretty familiar with my bible story so no big surprises there!

“Saying Grace” by Beth Gutcheon was another one about modern day adultery. I did not understand how the adultery in that book happened. But then, Gutcheon’s other book “Leeway Cottage” was another bizarre story where the female character inexplicably has at least one affair on her husband.

We don’t always have adulterous books (yikes, what a picture that creates in my mind). Some profoundly impacting books are “Left To Tell” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns”. We’ve read a number of Jodi Picoult’s books which we enjoy because of her “hot button topics”.

I adore books, as you can tell by my lists on this blog. Now that I have my Kindle I have to tell you that I am really excited by all the free books I can get which are so hard to get hold of in reality. Elizabeth Gaskell’s books. Love them. Gene Stratton Porter. Ditto. Edith Wharton. I am having a great time but the only problem is that I am falling behind on my book club reading! I think the Kindle (or any e-book) is the greatest invention this century. Who cares about cell phones or I-pads. Carrying around a whole library in my purse is just the greatest invention since lipstick.