Tuesday Book Group Takes on Mythology

The Tuesday Book Group met this week to discuss Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad, the second half of a classic/contemporary pairing that began with the ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey.

At just under 200 sparsely-printed pages, The Penelopiad is a walk in the park compared to the other tomes we’ve been reading (like The Odyssey and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle). We agreed that Atwood’s retelling of the Odyssey from Penelope’s point of view makes for light, fun reading. We found that, while this book may not change your life, it will make you think about how some stories get repeated and others suppressed, it will show you that marriage in mythic times could be just as fraught as it is today, it will dance around the ambiguity of human motivations, and it will make hysterical fun of Helen (of Troy) and her pathetic vanity

The group also touched on such touchy issues as teenage violence and violence against women. If you recall, one of the most gruesome climactic events in the Odyssey is the murder of twelve of Penelope’s maids by Telemachus (Odysseus and Penelope’s teenaged son). We never felt that Atwood settled this unsettling issue, but she does give the maids a voice in the book: they appear in between chapters and perform burlesque song and dance numbers, raging against their plight and powerlessness.

The Penelopiad also had us thinking about contemporary culture quite a bit, and there were several interesting segues into topics such as reality TV, morality, and the history of gender roles. You never know where you’ll end up when you talk with good people about good books.

The Tuesday Book Group reads classic books alongside modern works inspired by them. Kindred readers are welcome to join us the second Tuesday of the month at 1:00pm. On April 14th, we'll tackle Dostoevsky’s classic Crime and Punishment. All are welcome to join. Contact the Reference Desk at info@newportlibraryri.org for more information. LO

The Scene is Boston

Although you might not think it, Boston (Mass.) is a popular location for crime fiction. Maybe it’s the curious mixture of a city steeped in both colonial and ethnic history and the modern building explosion currently going on, that includes such engineering marvels (or misadventures, depending on your point of view) as the “Big Dig” and the TD BankNorth Garden, new home of the Boston Celtics and Bruins.

Whatever it is, there is some really good private eye and detective fiction set in that city of contrasts. Here are some of the best.

Jessica Conant-Park (author of the Cat Lover’s and Dog Lover’s mystery series) and her daughter, Susan Conant, have combined to create the Gourmet Girl, aka Chloe Carter, a boy-crazy 20 year old gourmand who lives in Brighton (a sub-division of Boston). This series contains four titles so far,beginning with Steamed (2006), and has been referred to as a “scrumptious cozy.”

Linda Barnes writes about Carlotta Carlyle – a former Boston cop who works part-time as an investigator and part-time as a Boston cabbie. The flavor of Carlyle’s Boston is very different from the coziness of the Gourmet Girl’s locale. Carlyle and Barnes have been around for a while and seen and done a lot. Barnes began her series with Trouble of Fools (1999) and is up to entry number 12, Lie Down with the Devil (2008).

The master of Boston private investigators is Robert B. Parker. His series starring Spenser was, for a while, a television show starring Robert Urich (as Spenser), Avery Brooks – of Star Trek fame – (as Hawk) and Barbara Stock (as Susan Silverman). The books (as is sometimes the case) are much better than the TV series and Parker, who began with The Godulf Manuscript in 1973, is still writing them. He has even added several more series and characters to his repertoire. I still like the original series best and truly enjoy a good visit with Spenser, Hawk and Susan. My favorite titles from this series are Mortal Stakes (about the Red Sox) and A Catskill Eagle.

Other folks who write detective or thriller fiction with a Boston background are: Robin Cook who writes medical mysteries with a strong thriller element and Tess Gerritsen, whose character, Jane Rizzoli is a Boston-based police detective.

Finally, Dennis LeHane (author of Mystic River) began his writing career with a duo of Boston-based private eyes: Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. The first of this series is entitled A Drink Before the War. These mysteries are carefully crafted and excellent - but not for the faint of heart. Meg

Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L’Engle is probably known best for her popular children’s chapter book, A Wrinkle in Time, (although I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult). L’Engle, however, wrote many more titles – fiction, for children, young adults and adults; poetry; and religious essays and stories. My favorite adult fiction title is The Severed Wasp, written in 1983. The Severed Wasp is the story of Katherine Forester Vigneras, a retired concert pianist who goes to live in New York City near the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

She becomes involved in the community of ministers, lay people and their families that work for and around the Cathedral – and she also becomes involved in a mystery that has one young girl deathly afraid. As Katherine gradually begins to unravel the mystery at St. John’s, we are allowed to delve into the mystery surrounding her own life and the joy and tragedy that has been a part of it.

A Severed Wasp is a fascinating portrait of a successful older woman, mixed with a measure or two of classical music, an atmosphere of spiritual inscrutability, and a mood of mystery that is both open and secretive. I highly recommend it. Meg

Other recommended books by Madeleine L’Engle
The Crosswicks Trilogy
A Circle of Quiet
The Summer of the Great Grandmother
The Irrational Season

The Wrinkle in Time Series
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
A Swiftly Tilting Planet

A Small Rain, L’Engle’s earliest published work, is the first book about Katherine Forrester’s younger years. Meg

Julia Spencer-Fleming and Her “Spiritual” Mysteries

I seem to be in “clerical” mood these days – maybe it’s Lent, maybe it’s just chance or fate – but, after last week’s post on Nuns in Black and White I am now going to recommend a mystery series that has, as one of it primary characters, an Episcopal priest.

This series has no”official name” – it is just called the Clare Fergusson / Russ Van Alstyne series. It is written by Julia Spencer-Fleming and the first book in the series is In the Bleak Midwinter. Anyone who has attended a Christian church during the Christmas holidays might recognize the title as belonging to a fairly subtle, but very beautiful hymn of the same name. The lyrics continue “frostly wind made moan. Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.” This calls to my mind the cold and desolation that can be winter and it is an appropriate title for this first series entry.

The whole series takes place in Millers Kill, a small town in the Adirondack’s region of upstate New York. Clare Fergusson is a newly ordained Episcopal priest and a former Army helicopter pilot (talk about interesting combinations). Russ Van Alstyne is Chief of Police and not at all sure what to make of this “lady priest.” I began reading In the Bleak Midwinter a while back and did not finish. It did not grab me, the way I feel a mystery should. However, I just finished reading All Mortal Flesh (another hymn lyric, by the way) – 5th in the series – and I could not put it down.

So – I am going to go back and reread the series from the beginning – and recommend that you try the series, too. The characters are well drawn; what happens to and around them is often tragic and unexpected; the mystery (at least in All Mortal Flesh) was adequate to keep me guessing – at least at first. The spiritual backdrop – Clare’s exhausting and continuous struggle with her conscience; her devotion to her pastoral duties; her kindness and thoughtful approach to who she is and why – these all make me want to read more. Meg

Nuns - in Black and White

Nuns are often looked at as mysterious and fascinating. In the last few years, a number of memoirs have been published by nuns, ex-nuns or journalists who seem to have discovered that fascination, and spent months researching and then writing about their experiences with the sisters. Here are some non-fiction titles that you might find interesting.

For the Love of God: The Faith and Future of the American Nun by Lucy Kaylin. Kaylin sets out to do an expose, but finds she actually came to like and admire the women whom she met. She visits a Trappistine monastery that observes strict silence, attends a “clothing ceremony” at a Poor Clare community and visits an inner-city shelter run by Franciscan sisters.

The Tupip and the Pope by Deborah Larsen. Larsen smokes her last cigarette in the taxi as it drops her off at the mother house. She entered the convent in 1960. It was not a “fit” for her and by 1965 she realized she needed to leave. She shares with the reader her intense experiences.

Karen Armstrong is a prolific writer (History of God; The Great Transformation, etc.), but often people do not realize she was a nun. Karen entered the convent when she graduated (what would be our) high school, when she was 17 years old. Her account of these first, difficult, pre-Vatican II years in the convent is described in Through the Narrow Gate. She, too, realizes she must leave and her description of this equally traumatic event is recounted in The Spiral Staircase. Both books are deeply interesting. Meg

[The idea for this post came from Library Journal's Reader's Shelf.]

Novels of the Norse - Viking Fiction

Between the 8th and 11th century, the Vikings swept out of Scandinavia, raiding and trading from the Middle East to North America. It was a turbulent time filled with technological advances, religious turmoil and more than a few battles. The following books are set in this turbulent and tense period and offer some great action and memorable characters.

Robert Low’s The Whale Road opens with narrator, Orm Rurikson, narrowly surviving a murder attempt. Joining his father and a band of Viking warriors known as the Oathsworn on their search for a mythic treasure, Orm learns that fame and intrigue can be perilous.

Judith Lindbergh sets her bleak and haunting, The Thrall’s Tale, during the Viking colonization of Greenland. Katla, an Irish slave; Bibrau, her daughter born of a rape; and their benefactor, Thorbjorg, a norse priestess, labor to eke out an existence at the far edge of the Viking world.

Bernard Cornwell has written the Uhtred / King Alfred the Great series of three novels: The Last Kingdom, Pale Horseman and Lords of the North. King Alfred is engaged in a desperate war against the Vikings and Uhtred, a dispossessed English nobleman, comes to his aid.

The Corban Loose-Strife series, by Cecilia Holland, centers around Corban and his sister, Mav, and what happens when their village is plundered by the Vikings and they are both taken captive. The books in this series are Soul Thief, Witches’ Kitchen and Serpent Dreamer. Meg

[Thanks go to Neal Wyatt for his article in a recent Library Journal. Click on titles to check availability.]

Excellent Online Resources for Book Groups

Last Saturday I attended the Reading Across Rhode Island** Launch Conference for this “one state, one book, literally” program and came away with some wonderful memories (of author Ron Carlson almost getting choked up when speaking about one of the book's characters), and all kinds of resources and ideas for books and reading.

One workshop I went to was entitled “Reinvigorating Your Bookgroup.” The presentation was excellent and I came away with a sheet listing some really interesting websites that would be helpful to any book discussion group. I thought I would share a few of these sites with you.

BookMovement
This is an online resource that was set up in 2001 in order to give book clubs across the United States a way to communicate with each other, and to recommend and review titles on a national scale. You can view a Book Club Bestseller List and a List of Top-rated Books. There are over 16,000 Book Clubs registered.

Reviews of Books
This site offers full length book reviews and synopses of books from major, online media sites that are available without having to register or pay to read them. Includes books published since 2002 and books that have a mimimum of three reviews in online media such as NYTimes, Washington Post, Boston Globe, etc.

Also check out
Reading Group Guides
Reading Group Choices
and finally, Seattle Public Library’s discussion of Book Group “how tos.”

**The Reading Across Rhode Island selection for 2009 is Ron Carlson’s Five Skies. A sweet, short book about three broken and lonely men who meet in the badlands of Idaho and find friendship and healing. I highly recommend it. Meg

[The information contained in this post is thanks to Librarian Joyce May and her wonderful workshop on reinvigorating books groups.]