DECEMBER BOOK

For December, we've selected Motherless Brooklyn (link) by contemporary American author Jonathan Franzen.  Edward Norton wrote and directed the entertaining 2019 film version of the novel.  We're back to our regular second Tuesday of the month schedule (Tuesday, December 9).  All interested parties are welcome to join the gang at 7pm at Zawa Restaurant (ZAWA) on Commercial Drive.  And hearty ritual winter solstice greetings to everyone.  May a boon filled holiday season continue into the new year for one and all.

Brooklyn's very own self-appointed Human Freakshow, Lionel Essrog is an orphan whose Tourettic impulses drive him to bark, count and rip apart our language in startling and original ways. Together with three veterans of the St. Vincent's Home for Boys, he works for small-time mobster Frank Minna's limo service cum detective agency. Life without Frank Minna, the charismatic King of Brooklyn, would be unimaginable, so who cares if the tasks he sets them are, well, not exactly legal.

NOVEMBER BOOK

Our November selection is Dusklands (link) by South African author J.M. Coetzee, who has collected a Nobel Prize and two Bookers  amongst his roomful of awards.  Note:  as the second Tuesday of November falls on the 11th (Remembrance Day), we've pushed next month's meeting to Tuesday, November 18th.  No changes otherwise:  our usual 7pm start time at the cozy Zawa Restaurant (link) at Commercial Drive & Venables.  All and sundry welcome to join the usual suspects.

A shattering pair of novellas, Dusklands probes the links between the powerful and the powerless.  'Vietnam Project' is narrated by a researcher investigating the effectiveness of United States propaganda and psychological warfare in Vietnam.

The question of power is also explored in 'The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee', the story of an eighteenth-century Boer frontiersman who vows revenge on the Hottentot natives because they have failed to treat him with the respect that he thinks a white man deserves.

OCTOBER BOOK

Our October book is Barchester Towers (link) by the prolific Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope.  It's back to indoor dining as autumn is upon us, so come and enjoy some fine food and drink, and literary palaver (as well as the comforts of central heating) this Tuesday, October 14 at our usual spot, Zawa Restaurant (link) on Commercial Drive.  Start time is 7pm and all are welcome.

After the death of old Dr. Grantly, a bitter struggle begins over who will succeed him as Bishop of Barchester. And when the decision is finally made to appoint the evangelical Dr. Proudie, rather than the son of the old bishop, Archdeacon Grantly, resentment and suspicion threaten to cause deep divisions within the diocese. Trollope's masterly depiction of the plotting and back-stabbing that ensues lies at the heart of one of the most vivid and comic of his Barsetshire novels, peopled by such very different figures as the saintly Warden of Hiram's Hospital, Septimus Harding, the ineffectual but well-meaning new bishop and his terrifying wife, and the oily chaplain Mr Slope who has designs on Mr Harding's daughter.

SEPTEMBER BOOK

For September we've chosen the International Booker Prize winner The Vegetarian (link) by Korean author Han Kang (winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize).  You can find the gang at our usual haunt  Zawa Restaurant (link) on Commercial Drive on Tuesday, September 9th at the regular 7pm start time.  All and sundry are welcome to join us for literary logorrhea and libations as we usher out the summer (on the patio one last time with any luck).

Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman's struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.

AUGUST BOOK

Our selection for August is The Bostonians (link) by the august (couldn't resist) Anglo-American author Henry James.  Join the crew for a festive fun-filled evening on Tuesday, August 12 at our usual 7pm start time at  Zawa Restaurant (link) on Commercial Drive.  It should be another splendid summer evening on the patio; everyone welcome as always.

Basil Ransom, an attractive young Mississippi lawyer, is visiting his cousin Olive, a wealthy feminist, in Boston when he accompanies her to a meeting on the subject of women's emancipation. One of the speakers is Verena Tarrant, and although he disapproves of all she claims to stand for, Basil is immediately captivated by her and sets about "reforming" her with his traditional views. But Olive has already made Verena her protégée, and soon a battle is under way for exclusive possession of her heart and mind.

JULY BOOK

We return to the classics for our July selection, namely Anton Chekhov's only full-length novel The Shooting Party (wikilink).  Although more celebrated for his plays and short stories, this early work of Chekhov's had a clear influence on the development of the mystery genre.  Join the usual suspects this Tuesday, July 8 at our den of bibliquity, Zawa Restaurant (link).  Look for the gang on the patio (weather co-operating) at the regular start time of 7pm.

When a young woman dies during a shooting party at the country estate of a dissolute count, a magistrate is called to investigate. But suspicion descends upon virtually everyone, for, as we soon learn, the victim was at the center of a tangled web of relationships with her elderly husband, with the lecherous count, and with the magistrate himself. One of Anton Chekhov's earliest experiments in fiction, The Shooting Party prefigures the mature style he would develop in his magnificent stories and plays.

JUNE BOOK

Our June selection is one of Mark Twain's least known works, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (wikilink), an 1896 historical novel recounting the life of Joan of Arc.  We'll be meeting the evening of Tuesday, June 10 at our usual time and place (Zawa Restaurant link at 7pm).  As always, all are welcome.  Look for us on the patio if the weather warms up.

From Wikipedia:  The novel is presented as a translation by "Jean Francois Alden" of memoirs by Sieur Louis de Conte, a fictionalized version of Joan of Arc's page Louis de Contes. He has the same initials as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Mark Twain's real name. The novel is divided into three sections according to Joan of Arc's development: a youth in Domrémy, a commander of the army of Charles VII of France, and a defendant at trial in Rouen. They are entitled "In Domremy", "In Court and Camp", and "Trial and Martyrdom".

MAY BOOK

     Our book for May was Oscar and Lucinda (link) by Australian writer Peter Carey, one of only five authors to win two Booker Prizes.  (In addition to our current selection, his novel True History of the Kelly Gang was also a Booker winner.)  The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 1997, starring Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett.  A good time was had by all on a cool May 13th evening at our usual Zawa Restaurant location (link).  The weather continued to be uncooperative, but we hope to be on the patio next month.

From Wikipedia: 

The book tells the story of Oscar Hopkins, an Anglican priest from Devon, England, and Lucinda Leplastrier, a young Australian heiress, who are both traveling to Australia by ship. It explores their adventures on the large continent.  They meet on a ship to Australia, where Lucinda has bought a glass factory, having long been fascinated by the material. Oscar had grown up as the son of a fundamentalist Brethren of Plymouth minister and naturalist. He has used his observation of nature as a sign from God for something less severe, and believes he has joined a more compassionate church with the Anglicans.   The travelers discover that they are both gamblers, one obsessive, the other compulsive.

APRIL BOOK

We've selected the short story collection Antarctica by Irish author Claire Keegan (link) for our April meeting and discussion.  Keegan's impressive debut was followed by several prize-winning books, including Small Things Like These which was adapted for film just last year.  It's Tuesday, April 8 at our regular Zawa Restaurant location (link) for all those interested in an evening of fine food, beverages and booktalk.  Opening kickoff at 7pm as usual.  The patio may even be a possibility if the spring weather continues to improve.

First published in 1999 and proclaimed "an impressive debut" by William Trevor, Antarctica introduced the world to Claire Keegan, whose short fiction has since captured readers worldwide and established her as "among the form's most masterful practitioners" (New York Times). Now with a revised titular story, this iridescent first collection of stories draws readers into a world of obsession and betrayal in Keegan's singular, commanding and award-winning prose.

MARCH BOOK

 Our book for March is The Big Sleep (wikilink), by Raymond Chandler, considered by many to be the doyen of hard-boiled detective/noir fiction.  The novel was filmed twice, first with Humphrey Bogart in the starring role followed by Robert Mitchum.  Join the bantering bookworms for another lively evening on Tuesday, March 11 at our Zawa (link) meeting spot.  Festivities commence at 7pm as per usual.  Newcomers always welcome.

A dying millionaire hires private eye Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in.

FEBRUARY BOOK

 We'll lighten things up in February with our selection of War With the Newts (wikilink), a classic science fiction satire by the Czech author Karel Čapek.  The second Tuesday falls on February 11 this time around.  Join the burgeoning bevy of bibliophiles at Zawa (link) at our usual 7pm start time.  Everyone welcome as always.

War with the Newts (1936) is Karel Capek's darkly humorous satire of humanity, its foibles, pretensions and hubris. Captain van Toch discovers a colony of newts in Sumatra which can not only be taught to trade and use tools, but also to speak. As the rest of the world learns of the creatures and their wonderful capabilities, it is clear that this new species is ripe for exploitation - they can be traded in their thousands, will do the work no human wants to do, and can fight - but the humans have given no thought to the terrible consequences of their actions.