Apr. 3, 2015, Book: 'The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific'

We're on a roll and Anjanette has selected the Apr. 3, 2015, book: "The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific" by J. Maarten Troost. Don't let the racy title fool you. It's actually a travelogue. Here is a description from the most excellent Amazon.com:

At the age of twenty-six, Maarten Troost—who had been pushing the snooze button on the alarm clock of life by racking up useless graduate degrees and muddling through a series of temp jobs—decided to pack up his flip-flops and move to Tarawa, a remote South Pacific island in the Republic of Kiribati. He was restless and lacked direction, and the idea of dropping everything and moving to the ends of the earth was irresistibly romantic. He should have known better.

Little bit of a cliffhanger there.

Here is a review:

You know how you feel when you've just finished a really good book and want to tell everyone you know about it? That is how I feel about THE SEX LIVES OF CANNIBALS. During the first few chapters I was laughing out loud so much and reading passages to my husband so often that he mentioned he wouldn't even have to read the book. However since he formerly lived in the Marshall Islands, this book hits home to him and he could hardly wait until I was done to grab it from my hand.

Feb. 20, 2015, Book: 'Full Body Burden: Growing up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats'

Amy has changed her book selection to "Full Body Burden" by Kristen Iversen for the Feb. 20, 2015, book club meeting. (This replaces "Lone Survivor.")

Here is the overview from Amazon.com:

"Full Body Burden" is Kristen Iversen's story of growing up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant. It's also a book about the destructive power of secrets—both family secrets and government secrets. Her father's hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what they made at Rocky Flats—best not to inquire too deeply into any of it. But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions and discovered some disturbing realities.

As this memoir unfolds, it reveals itself as a brilliant work of investigative journalism—a shocking account of the government's sustained attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic and radioactive waste released by Rocky Flats, and of local residents' vain attempts to seek justice in court. Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book promises to have a very long half-life.

They are talking about our small town!

Jan. 9, 2015, Book: 'One Second After' by William R. Forstchen

Tony is hosting on Jan. 9, 2015, which will be the next book club meeting after Michelle hosts in November. (As a reminder, we do not host book club in December due to the holidays.)

He has selected an intriguing book: "One Second After" By William R. Forstchen. Here is a synopsis from Amazon.com:

New York Times best selling author William R. Forstchen now brings us a story which can be all too terrifyingly real...a story in which one man struggles to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war, in one second, a war that will send America back to the Dark Ages...A war based upon a weapon, an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP).  A weapon that may already be in the hands of our enemies.

Electro Magnetic Pulse

Here are a few reviews:

"Civilization slides into the abyss of a new dark age in this horrifying apocalyptic novel.  Forstchen has put Bin Laden's wet dream on paper and, in the process, taken civilization straight to the rack."--Stephen Coonts, author of The Assassin
 

“The only thing more terrifying than this masterfully crafted story is the possibility of it actually happening—and not a damn thing being done to protect us.” --W.E.B. Griffin & William E. Butterworth IV

Nov. 7, 2014, Book Selection: 'The Language of Flowers: A Novel' by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Michelle is hosting Nov. 7, and she has selected "The Language of Flowers: A Novel" by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Here is the summary from Amazon.com:

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go, Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger has her questioning what’s been missing in her life. And when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

It's worth checking out Amazon.com's page for this book. It has a lot more information and a great Q&A about flowers.

Reader reviews talk about strong character development and how the story is both sad and beautiful.

Here are a few reviews:

“[An] original and brilliant first novel . . . a mesmerizing storyteller . . . I would like to hand Vanessa Diffenbaugh a bouquet of bouvardia (enthusiasm), gladiolus (you pierce my heart) and lisianthus (appreciation). . . . And there is one more sprig I should add to her bouquet: a single pink carnation (I will never forget you).”—Brigitte Weeks, The Washington Post
 
“A captivating novel in which a single sprig of rosemary speaks louder than words . . . The Language of Flowers deftly weaves the sweetness of newfound love with the heartache of past mistakes. . . . [It] will certainly change how you choose your next bouquet.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Fascinating . . . Diffenbaugh clearly knows both the human heart and her plants, and she keeps us rooting for the damaged Victoria.”—O: The Oprah Magazine (book of the week)

Sept. 19, 2014, Book: 'The Boys in the Boat' by Daniel James Brown

Sam is hosting the Sept. 19, 2014, book club, and his selection is "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown.

A little about this book from Amazon.com:

Out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant.

Here is an Amazon.com review:

Daniel James Brown’s The Boys in the Boat is the kind of nonfiction book that reads like a novel. Centered around the life of Joe Rantz—a farmboy from the Pacific Northwest who was literally abandoned as a child—and set during the Great Depression, The Boys in the Boat is a character-driven story with a natural crescendo that will have you racing to the finish. In 1936, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team raced its way to the Berlin Olympics for an opportunity to challenge the greatest in the world. How this team, largely composed of rowers from “foggy coastal villages, damp dairy farms, and smoky lumber towns all over the state,” managed to work together and sacrifice toward their goal of defeating Hitler’s feared racers is half the story. The other half is equally fascinating, as Brown seamlessly weaves in the story of crew itself. This is fast-paced and emotional nonfiction about determination, bonds built by teamwork, and what it takes to achieve glory. —Chris Schluep

Happy reading!

August 8, 2014, Book Selection: 'Little Bee: A Novel' by Chris Cleave

We are skipping June and July again this year, given it's such a busy time for everyone with their kids, trips and so forth. We will have one meeting in the summer, hosted by Julie, on August 8. Julie has selected "Little Bee: A Novel" by Chris Cleave.

Amazon.com noted: "We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it." However, a top Amazon.com reviewer noted that the book is about a Nigerian refugee whose life changes due to a group of English citizens. So there's a little bit on the book.

With that, here are a few reviews to whet your appetite:

"...[an] immensely readable and moving second novel... The character and voice of Little Bee reveal Cleave at his finest... An affecting story of human triumph." -- New York Times Book Review

"Book clubs in search of the next Kite Runner need look no further than this astonishing, flawless novel... Cleave (Incendiary) effortlessly moves between alternating viewpoints with lucid, poignant prose and the occasional lighter note. A tension-filled dramatic ending and plenty of moral dilemmas add up to a satisfying, emotional read." -- Library Journal

"Little Bee will blow you away....In restrained, diamond-hard prose, Cleave alternates between these two characters' points of view as he pulls the threads of their dark -- but often funny -- story tight. What unfolds between them...is both surprising and inevitable, thoroughly satisfying if also heart-rending." -- Washington Post

May 16, 2014, Book: 'The Tortilla Curtain' by T.C. Boyle

Stacey will be hosting on May 16, and we'll be reading "The Tortilla Curtain" by T. Coraghessan Boyle that was originally published in 1996.

According to Wikipedia, the book is about middle-class values, illegal immigration, xenophobia, poverty and environmental destruction. Wikipedia notes this is T.C. Boyle's most successful book to date.

Here are a few reviews:

This novel examines America's guerrilla war between the haves and have-nots with a zing unequalled since "The Bonfire of the Vanities" -- Observer

A harrowing, even horrific, tale of an immigrant couple's venture into California, and the shockingly brutal reception they receive ... a remarkable feat of imaginative empathy -- Daily Telegraph

Thrilling ... it's the same set up as Tom Wolfe's "The Bonfire of the Vanities" but Boyle immediately enlivens it. -- Independent on Sunday

A powerful novel ... One of the best books I've read this year. -- Marie Claire

Happy reading!

Apr. 4, 2014, Book: 'Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America' by Firoozeh Dumas

The April 4 book is announced! Maureen is hosting and has selected "Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America." Here is an overview from Amazon.com:

In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father’s glowing memories of his graduate school years here. More family soon followed, and the clan has been here ever since.

Funny in Farsi chronicles the American journey of Dumas’s wonderfully engaging family: her engineer father, a sweetly quixotic dreamer who first sought riches on Bowling for Dollars and in Las Vegas, and later lost his job during the Iranian revolution; her elegant mother, who never fully mastered English (nor cared to); her uncle, who combated the effects of American fast food with an army of miraculous American weight-loss gadgets; and Firoozeh herself, who as a girl changed her name to Julie, and who encountered a second wave of culture shock when she met and married a Frenchman, becoming part of a one-couple melting pot.

And a few reviews:

“What’s charming beyond the humor of this memoir is that it remains affectionate even in the weakest, most tenuous moments for the culture. It’s the brilliance of true sophistication at work.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Often hilarious, always interesting . . . Like the movie 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding,'this book describes with humor the intersection and overlapping of two cultures.”
—The Providence Journal

“Heartfelt and hilarious—in any language.”
—Glamour

“Remarkable . . . told with wry humor shorn of sentimentality . . . In the end, what sticks with the reader is an exuberant immigrant embrace of America.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

"A humorous and introspective chronicle of a life filled with love--of family, country, and heritage."
-Jimmy Carter