The Last Painting of Sara de Vos - October CC Book Club Selection

@CBBBlinker - Not my only book club either. I am technically a member of two others and my eldest has convinced me to drop in on hers Nov. 1.

I actually want to read all three choices under discussion but admit to some fear - in terms of time - when I saw a page count of 608 for East of Eden. I hadn’t checked previously but then wondered about the duo. To be honest I’m struck by how short the books in the duo are and how long East of Eden is. I also wonder if the high page count will deter CCers from joining this go-round.

As for me - I’ll read whatever’s chosen - short (duo), in-between (The Gloaming), or long (East of Eden).

I’m for the duo. It’s been a runner up forever.

You know how your first instinct is usually the right one? I think @NJTheatreMOM had it in post #172. Considering all the comments, I’m going to go with East of Eden. It’s time for a classic and I don’t think the length of the book will put off too many readers (who perhaps might find the words “duo” and “Albert Camus” a scarier prospect, however unfair). Steinbeck has a style that carries the reader along pretty quickly.

@mathmom, I think East of Eden will be more than just “good for you.” I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you’ll like it. It’s nothing like *The Pearl/i.

And maybe @jaylynn will join us and relive her youth, which can be very cathartic. :slight_smile:

The duo is timeless enough that it will live to fight another day for the top spot.

I’ll start a new thread. Thanks, everyone!

I was going to vote for the shortest, but I am glad that it is “East of Eden”.

Good choice! Thanks, Mary, and thanks for the good discussion on Sarah de Vos.

I’ve had spotty experience with Steinbeck and am looking forward to revisiting him.

I’ve somehow managed never to have read Grapes of Wrath!

In high school, I read The Winter of Our Discontent and my mind was blown by the details of corruption among the residents of a small town. I thought, “How does Steinbeck know that people can act that way?” (Later, as an adult, I re-read the book and was still impressed but not so amazed.)

In high school, I also read Cannery Row. I felt that it was quite romantic and adored Doc, the quirky, bohemian marine biologist.

Many years later, when my kids were in high school, my son who is slightly neurologically disabled read Of Mice and Men and asked for my help with a paper I read the book very closely and thought about it a lot, and it struck me as utterly brilliant.

Thanks Mary.

So what is everyone reading in the interim - if an interim is in the cards.

Right now I’m in the midst of two books:

*Fates and Furies

The Bookseller: The First Hugo Marston Novel/i

And in one of those “how did this happen” kind of things, I have nine (9!) books waiting for me to pick them up at the library. The books just all happened to come in within a day or two of each other. So yikes. I need to tackle The Haunting of Hill House first as my daughter invited me to her book club discussion of it. I’ve always wanted to read it (and Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, though saving thoughts of that for another day.) It should be an interesting endeavor to slide East of Eden into the mix. I’m fortunate that my library allows me to keep books as long as I want - barring a wait list for the item.

As usual, I enjoyed the discussion. You guys are the best!

I’m still reading A Suitable Boy. Not even half way through and I’ve been reading it for months.

I picked up Margaret Mahy’s The Haunting at a booksale recently. It won the Carnegie Medal in 1982. She’s a New Zealand mostly YA writer. I’ve enjoyed other books of hers. It looks like a quick read, so I’ll probably sneak it in to take a break from India.

Books I’ve been reading in the interim:

As I mentioned in Post #155 above, I’m finishing The Ibis Trilogy by Amitav Ghosh.

I also recently read the following and don’t think I mentioned them here:

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo.

The Return by Hisham Matar, a memoir. If you don’t think a book about Libya, by a Libyan-born author, could be absolutely wonderful, think again. The Return is exquisitely written and very touching.

Right now, I’m reading Stilll Life by Louise Penny after seeing a lot of comments about it on the “best books” thread.

What am I reading next? Bone Gap. This is one of the reasons I love the selection process, even if we ultimately go with the first book mentioned, as we did this time. 48 hours ago, Bone Gap didn’t mean much to me, but I just saw it in my daughter’s room and was like “hey!” So now it’s in my room.

lol @Mary13. I may have to come here during your discussion and sob. I read your discussion though I didn’t comment at all (which was not very nice since I feel like I helped pick the book). Sometimes I’m just not too talkative :slight_smile: And I am sad y’all dismissed The Wonder so quickly. It’s really good. Musings on faith, Ireland after the blight, the horrors of the Crimean War, the nascent days of nursing, etc. I recommend it!

Thank you all for Sara De Vos and the next pick. I’ve had East of Eden on my shelf for years so I’m feeling the reader’s guilt weight of one book falling away :slight_smile:

I’m currently reading Mercury by Margot Livesey. Another book on the pile is Bright, Precious Days by Jay McInerney whose works I’ve never read. I’m also swamped with magazines since DH subscribed to some incredible number in order to burn up about-to-expire airline miles. I’m not sure if I’ll feel more or less guilt if I sit down to read them all, lol.

I like the choice of East of Eden! Time to pull my dusty copy off the shelf and hope the binding stays together for another read 30 years later.

Great choice for next discussion, and kudos to all, especially @Mary13, for another insightful discussion!

Two weekends ago I read ** “H is for Hawk” **because it was an available download from the library on a dreary rainy nj day.
I never thought I’d be interested in falconry, the journey of a grieving grad student,and TH White. Wow! An amazing book.

Now I’m reading ** the Queen of Katwe ** not an amazing book.
But, notice my screen name. How can I not read a book about a chess prodigy from Uganda??? ( fyi I ran a community chess program for 16 summers—10 years beyond when my gifted chess playing son left the program)

I’ve read better reviews of the movie than this book, but I will finish it :slight_smile:

@SouthJerseyChessMom I assume you’ve read Searching for Bobby Fisher which I thought was a really interesting book about how to parent a prodigy by a lovable but imperfect parent. The movie was quite enjoyable too. My kids (especially the oldest) played scholastic chess for quite a while, but ultimately went on to other pursuits when he realized the next level up would take more work and not just talent.

I’ve been wondering about watching the movie - did not realize it was based on a book.

I’m responding (late) to @nottelling’s post #213. Here’s another really peculiar case of a painting and its provenance. It was in all the local papers around here (Chicago court) as well as the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/24/us/the-artist-peter-doig-wins-case-involving-a-paintings-attribution.html

^What a bizarre story, Mary. I hadn’t heard about Peter Doig and the court case. The painting in question is ugly! Doig must be furious about anyone trying to attribute it to him.

My sister tells me that in the auction world, they treat pronouncements regarding authenticity as definitive when they come from the artist or the artist’s estate. (This is for contemporary art). So, even if they are virtually certain that a particular piece was done by the artist in question, if the estate disavows it, they take the estate’s disavowal as the last word and they will not sell the piece.

She says it is much trickier when they don’t believe the work is authentic but the artist or estate aurhenticates it as genuine.

There’s an interesting novel that gets into all of this: Theft by Peter Carey. Recommended.

Aaaah, @ignatius – I didn’t check the page counts before putting “East of Eden” as my first choice. Oh well, I’ll get it done.

For the September meeting of one of my Book Clubs we read “A Little Life” – 720 pages, but we had all summer since we don’t meet in July and August. It was good, but would still have been good with at least 100 fewer pages. (Reminded me of “The Fireman” in that way.) This month we’re doing “The Orphan Train,” which I’m sure many of you have read.

@ignatius I’m curious about your daughter’s book club and what books they’ve been reading ?

^^^ My daughter says that her book club is not real book-clubby at the moment but here goes.

5 attorneys - all female - with one or two often grabbing lunch with a different one or two. So about six months ago they decided to have a lunch book club where all five meet same day/same time. They set a tentative date and adjust it as needed (trials/sick babies/haven’t had time to finish the book). It sounds disorganized but actually seems like it might work for them. They’ve read and discussed two books and have another scheduled for Nov. 1.

Books so far:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (My daughter had already read it. No problem - she did a quick read-it-again.

Bel Canto - No one liked it or rather no one liked it by the end. @NJTheatreMOM - see you’re not alone.

The Haunting of Hill House - Upcoming discussion. Only 180 pages which works for them as most are swapped with work at the moment.

Big Little Lies - Next after The Haunting of Hill House. Chosen because http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3920596/ The group decided they needed to read something more of the moment. Lianne Moriarty is and the HBO series will make her more so.

Anyway my daughter has hopes that this book club will be a good thing. She’s peeked into another one or two but they weren’t good fits. This group actually discussed the books during the designated lunch - a good sign. They seem relaxed enough that, when one has a sick child or too much work-related reading to finish the book on time, they don’t mind sliding the date back another week.

Anyway, I’m honored she invited me to their discussion of The Haunting of Hill House. (She knew I’ve wanted to read it.)