The Luminaries - February CC Book Club Selection

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<p>I think the whole first section of the book could have been shorter. Catton was writing according to a formula that required the first section to be quite long compared to subsequent ones. The first time I read the book, some of the interactions in the first section among minor characters like Frost and Nilssen, etc, seemed kind of endless.</p>

<p>Just today, somebody on the “one of the best books…” thread mentioned that this book had been a good selection for their book club:</p>

<p>A Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes.</p>

<p>I’ve had my eye on that book for a while as something I might want to read. Here are two other novels that interest me:</p>

<p>A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra.</p>

<p>The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan.</p>

<p>There’s also The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, which I believe was one of our finalists last time.</p>

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<p>I thought the structure of waning chapter lengths was rather silly. And while all the business with astrology and the 12 men was amusing, again, I felt like some of those men played pretty marginal parts in the plot. I’m pretty sure the book would have been better 200 pages shorter. It would still have been a nice long book. </p>

<p>It wouldn’t be new to me, but I really liked Penelope Lively’s Family Album. (Second to last novel, but better than her more recent novel.) She also has a new memoir out about what it’s like to be old. (She’s 80.)</p>

<p>No other particular thoughts regarding what to read!</p>

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<p>“Tedious” was the word I used for my description of the book back when I first posted. I think the book could have been shorter and could have had fewer characters. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>The above books all look good. I would read The Goldfinch because it is already on my Kindle and I will read it eventually anyway. Other than that, I would prefer a shorter book. It takes a lot of time to get through an 800+ page book if you are not loving it. I usually don’t mind, but would rather not take on another big book club book right away.</p>

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<p>From past lists (not yet mentioned):</p>

<p>*The Good Lord Bird</p>

<p>The Maid’s Version</p>

<p>Night Film</p>

<p>The Signature of All Things*</p>

<p>New titles to consider:</p>

<p>*Claire of the Sea Light</p>

<p>The Invention of Wings</p>

<p>A Tale for the Time Being*</p>

<p>and just because we haven’t looked in this direction in a while:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html”>http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan is quite short. Actually, I was wondering about the possibility of combining it with another short book about Ireland (possibly by a woman author?), if we could figure out one that looked good.</p>

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<p>Not a woman, but if you want Ireland, there’s a new Roddy Doyle - The Guts. I haven’t actually read any of his books, but I did like the movie of The Commitments.</p>

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<p>I dug out my old GOLDEN NOTEBOOK when Doris Lessing died in the fall, not having reread it since the first time in 1973. I would really like to revisit it and thought perhaps several of us probably had read it in college soon after it first came out so rereading would lead to some interesting discussions about who we were then and who we are now, plus the evolving nature of feminism.</p>

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<p>I would classify The Golden Notebook as a classic, and I’m all for reading classics. I think they lead to great discussions. I have never read the book, though I read a book of stories by Lessing that I really liked.</p>

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<p>I’ve never read it - always thought I should.</p>

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<p>I’m surprised but my library system carries neither The Spinning Heart nor The Golden Notebook. I honestly can’t remember another time that I’ve looked up two books and haven’t found either one. I have access to a great library system that also partners with the libraries in the next county, so it’s unusual not to find a book (any book) in at least one of the two systems.</p>

<p>I don’t know if it’s something to take into consideration or not. I often buy my book club books … but not always. Still, we usually try to make it easy for anyone who wants to join in the discussion. </p>

<p>Still surprised!</p>

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<p>I have the book A Tale for Time Being that ignatius had on her list yesterday. My son gave me this book for Christmas, but I haven’t read it yet. I would love to read it for book club, if others are interested. <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Time-Being-Novel/dp/0143124870”>http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Time-Being-Novel/dp/0143124870&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>The Spinning Heart might be something to read in conjunction with Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, not for setting but for structure. The two novels were compared in three different reviews. That would be a lot of reading, but still only half as much as The Luminaries. If we wanted to match up with an Irish female author, maybe something by Edna O’Brien or Anne Enright?</p>

<p>The following are the suggestions so far. Remember, everyone has veto power, so if there is a title on here that you have absolutely no interest in reading (at least for our next selection), say the word and I will strike it. Actually, I’ll make the first move on that: I am going to eliminate The Goldfinch from this round. I don’t think we want two back-to-back 800 page novels (especially if we want to lure back SouthJerseyChessMom :slight_smile: – Hi SJCM!). </p>

<p>We have too many titles to vote yet. Let’s whittle:</p>

<p>The Good Lord Bird by James McBride</p>

<p>The Maid’s Version by Daniel Woodrell</p>

<p>Night Film by Marisha Pessl</p>

<p>The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert</p>

<p>Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat</p>

<p>The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd</p>

<p>A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki</p>

<p>The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes</p>

<p>A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra</p>

<p>The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (plus a companion title…?)</p>

<p>Family Album by Penelope Lively</p>

<p>The Guts by Roddy Doyle</p>

<p>The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing</p>

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<p>I’ll think more about this later - definitely books I want to read more than others - but for now I’ll knock off Night Film. Easy for me to knock off since I listed it. I aimed for something different but we have enough choices. </p>

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<p>Okay, I do have definite preferences but am not going to veto any book. Can we each list our top five or six choices and hope that a few books don’t show up on anyone’s list? Eliminate those books and then narrow it down again.</p>

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<p>^ Sounds like a good idea. Let’s do that. </p>

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<p>I adore As I Lay Dying. I’ve already read it twice and would be more than happy to read it again. Mary’s suggestion of pairing it with The Spinning Heart sounds great.</p>

<p>Here are my top six:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing.</p></li>
<li><p>The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes.</p></li>
<li><p>A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra.</p></li>
<li><p>The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan, (plus a companion title…?)</p></li>
<li><p>The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert.</p></li>
<li><p>Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Sorry, but I think I’d like to veto The Guts by Roddy Doyle. Looking at a sample on amazon, there seems to be a lot of swearing and Irish slang…and the book is kind of a follow-up to The Commitments…and it’s at least partially about cancer.</p>

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<p>Arggh the italics came out wrong on my last post, and I find that the program won’t let me correct them.</p>

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<p>No problem, if I were going to read Roddy Doyle, I’d want to start at the beginning. He’s a favorite of my sister-in-laws. I’ve tried to read Faulker in the past without much luck. The same sister-in-law loves him. I need to get back to work, but I’ll need to at least look at the summaries to have an idea. Should Americanah go back on the list? Or at least on the back burner?</p>

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<p>^ I believe that ignatius said during the last selection that she had already read Americanah, and although she liked it very much, it was not a book she was keen on re-reading at this time. </p>

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<p>I read Americanah and liked it a lot (I also recommend the same author’s Half of a Yellow Sun), but I’d rather read something else this time around.</p>