The Weaver Library "Mostly
Fiction"
Book Club of East Providence, Rhode Island
recommends:
THE COFFEE TRADER by David Liss
"David Liss was a new author for us, and
most
agreed that his work was a delicious find! This is an
historical novel
of investment intrigue presenting both male and
female
characters who are lively, complicated, driven, and
mysterious in a setting so vivid that members felt
they could
smell the teeming streets and canals of 17th century
Amsterdam. The novel's plot captured us with its
multi-
layered twists and turns, raising moral and ethical
questions
applicable to today's financial markets and dealings.
It
revolved around a community of Portuguese Jews
who had
escaped from the Inquisition, a subject about which
members
wanted to learn more. Finally, Liss's use of language
excited
us with several members reading aloud the elegant
sentences they
wanted all of us to remember."
Paired with: Dark Chocolate
Coffee Beans (one of the characters in the book
chewed
them)
The Thomas Jefferson Book Club of Falls Church,
Virginia
recommends:
THE SHADOW OF THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz
"This wonderful novel with many layers takes place
in
Barcelona beginning in 1945. Everyone in our
women's book
group loved the book. We discussed how our
perception of
Lain Coubert changed as we discovered who he really
was,
and that re-reading passages we once thought were
sinister
could actually make his character appear
sympathetic. We
had an extended book discussion because different
people
would bring up an aspect that the rest of us missed
and we
wanted to hear more."
Paired with: Spanish foods (tapas) -
Spanish
olives, serrano
ham, manchego cheese, chorizo, almonds, dried
apricots,
magdalenas, Maria cookies and non alcoholic sangria
The Martha's Vineyard Reading Group of Martha's
Vineyard,
Massachusetts
recommends:
SUMMER by Edith Wharton
"Edith Wharton is well known for her major works that
fully
describe the New York social strata that she
inhabited. The
less well-known SUMMER is so amazingly complete,
and the
characters so well formed because Edith Whatron
understood
people and human behavior. She did have a way of
knowing
and understanding the working class, and it occurred
to us that when she was building the gardens at her
home in
Lenox,
Massachusetts she knew the workmen and knew
what their
family lives were like. Thus stories such as ETHAN
FROME and
SUMMER are not contrived, or 'a stretch', but ring
true. Our
reading group loved SUMMER,and it gave us an
enjoyable and
memorable evening's conversation and discussion."
East Regional Library Travel Book Club, Knightdale,
North
Carolina
recommends:
MCCARTHY'S BAR: A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY IN
THE WEST OF IRELAND by Pete
McCarthy
"We loved McCarthy's account of his return to West
Cork,
where his
travels around the South and West of Ireland
culminate in a
pilgrimage to the ancient retreat Lough Derg. We
were
fascinated by the
pilgrimage he did at the end, recreating the fasting
and
prayers that
the knights went through. We enjoyed our
discussion of the
tourism
McCarthy describes versus preserving the natural
charm of
the area."
Paired with: Homemade Irish Pudding
with
Caramel Sauce, Kerry Apple
Cake, Irish Breakfast Tea, Irish Soda Bread and Irish
Butter
