READERS & REVIEWERS

READERS & REVIEWERS MEETINGS

Do you love reading and discussing books? Come to the the READERS & REVIEWERS meeting. Come and join us even if you have not read the book but are curious or just like to listen. Our Readers & Reviewers discussions are always fun and a good way to meet other members! The group meets before the regular luncheon meeting in The Fortnightly boardroom after the board concludes its meeting between 10:45 - 11:00 AM.

October 12, 2022 - We will read Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, about how three siblings navigate not only their family dynamics, but their father's scientific examination of their interactions. Ultimately, it explores how one child's difference makes them all question what it means to be human. Fowler has the ability to make us laugh and cry and care about these characters, using prose that dances along so grippingly that we aren't even aware of her skill. Her new book Booth, about the family of John Wilkes Booth, has these same attributes, but it is quite long! This earlier novel is a faster read. You may be tempted to read Booth as well.

March 8, 2023 - Since Ling Ma, author of FAW-award-winning Severance, will be our luncheon speaker, we will read her new collection of short stories, Bliss Montage, coming out in September. These eight stories are by turn funny, sad, strange, and wise, often within one story. There are links among them although each stands alone, and they are often surreal. They are described as investigating "the ways that the outlandish and the ordinary are shockingly, deceptively, heartbreakingly alike." You will certainly be entertained, but you may also have questions, and Ling Ma will be there to answer them after her talk!

Past R & R book discussions

October 20, 2021 - A look back at our favorites. Ten FAW members met before the October luncheon and remembered some winners from the stacks of books FAW has awarded through the years. Read about the list of favorites.

March 9, 2022 - Valentine: A Novel by Elizabeth Wetmore (Harper, 2020). Roberta Gates will facilitate a discussion based on this prize-winning book from last year.

November 18, 2020 The Municipalists by Seth Fried, Joan Gordon - Facilitator.

March 24, 2021 Readers & Reviewers (Virtual Meeting) Please join us at two o'clock on Wednesday, March 24 when the Readers & Reviewers "book club" will dive into My Brilliant Friend, a novel (the first in a four-book series) written by the pseudonymous Elena Ferrante.

Set in a Naples slum during the nineteen-fifties, My Brilliant Friend focuses on two little girls, Elena Greco and Lila Cerullo, who meet in primary school where the two of them are top students. Elena, the teacher's pet, is attracted to Lila not just because she's smart but because she's a rebel and a risk-taker. Later, though, Lila will envy Elena when she's permitted to go on to middle school, but Lila isn't. And later still, boys will enter the equation, complicating not just the story but the relationship between the two "frenemies." But regardless of whether they're best friends or rivals (or both at once), the two girls are always in agreement that, no matter what happens, they have to resist the limitations of their neighborhood.

That neighborhood is just as much a character as the two protagonists. Peopled by tradesmen, shopkeepers and the Camorra (the Neapolitan Mafia), it's a gritty and claustrophobic place that the author brings to life with vivid specificity, whether it's the dust of the roads or the pastries in a shopwindow.

But a word of caution here: There are so many characters and they're introduced so quickly that you may find it hard to keep them straight. Fortunately, the book includes a complete list of characters, grouped by families, which is a great help, but I guarantee that before long you'll get the cast of characters down, knowing where they work, to whom they're related, and what nefarious deeds they're suspected of.

If you're short on time, however, and don't have a chance to read My Brilliant Friend, you can watch the HBO miniseries which is meticulously faithful to the novel. But either way, I hope you'll join us on March 24 for what should be a stimulating discussion! ~ Roberta Gates

November 18, 2020 We had our first Zoom Readers & Reviewers meeting led by Joan Gordon, for discussion of The Municipalistsby Seth Fried. This was a FAW Award Winning novel for 2019. The virtual meeting was very casual and allowed members to chat, divulge what they were currently reading, express thoughts about ‘OWEN’, the wacky Artificial Intelligence partner in the book, or simply listen to the conversation.

March 11, 2020 Please join us when Readers & Reviewers meets on March 11 for a discussion of The Distance Home by Paula Saunders. This moving novel, which was short listed last year for one of our prizes, features two siblings whose love for each other is undermined by the competitive dynamics of their family. Saunders reached back to her own childhood to produce this accessible but beautifully written novel which raises psychological issues common to almost every family.

Our discussion of the book will take place in the boardroom as soon as the board meeting is adjourned, which should be about eleven o'clock. Any member (or guest of a member) is welcome to attend. I look forward to seeing you on March 11!

March 13, 2019 Come to the book discussion of Celeste Ng's novel Little Fires Everywhere lead by Roberta Gates. If you haven't yet read Little Fires Everywhere, I encourage you do so. It's not only readable but relevant, posing questions about the role of women in society, the legitimacy of cross-cultural/racial adoptions, and the viability of a career in the arts even when it doesn't pay the bills.

The discussion of the book will take place in the boardroom as soon as the board meeting is adjourned, which should be about eleven o'clock. Any member (or guest of a member) is welcome to attend.

November 7, 2018, The November 2018 presentation of Readers & Reviewers will be led by Tammie Bob. This is FAW's bi-annual discussion of one particular book. Tammie chose The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Published in 1966, it is a kind of prequel to the 1847's Victorian classic Jane Eyre, although entirely different in tone, setting, and sensibility. All of us who know and love Jane Eyre will want to attend this fascinating presentation. Please mark your calendars.

Meeting March 14, 2018

Tammie Bob was the facilitator for A Man Called Ove.

Meeting November 8, 2017

The November Readers & Reviewers meeting met to discuss A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Thirteen members attended the interesting discussion, facilitated by Shirley Baugher. We all loved the variety of friends of Count Rostov and the importance of each of these relationships in his life and how they contributed to the story line. Another excellent book by Amor Towles.

Meeting April 12, 2017

Ida Hagman lead the Readers & Reviews meeting to discuss Persuasion by Jane Austen. Persuasion is Austen's shortest book and, according to many scholars, her most autobiographical. Ida had recently attended the Jane Austen festival in Bath, England, and had insights about how Jane's background and life experiences contributed to the story line.

Meeting Feb 8, 2017

Six FAW members met on February 8 for a cozy discussion of Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín, a novel about a young girl who emigrates from Ireland to Brooklyn in the 1950s. Roberta Gates, the facilitator, opened the discussion with a biographical sketch of Tóibín. A lively discussion followed, focusing on the various forms of prejudice in the book and the protagonist's seeming passivity.

Readers & Reviewers was launched in November 2016 when Shirley Baugher facilitated a discussion of A Great Reckoning, the latest Louise Penney mystery. A dozen members attended and the discussion was lively and fun.