Light summer reading, clubs

Read It and Reap
Telegram & Gazette, June 26
Many clubs take a break over summer, as members catch up on non-club reading. Before they do, though, they often choose one or more books for the fall. Usually, that involves a discussion followed by a vote; in other groups, a leader selects the choices based on input. Library clubs generally are decided among staff members.
To stay current, many clubs choose fewer than three selections at a time. That way, new books are more likely to be discussed. This is a more vital approach than blindly following the ever-growing list of “book club” selections with reader guides. Sure—these are good books. But there are too many good, non-trendy books to stick to a diet of routine club choices.
One helpful process is for members to describe their picks in a brief summary and e-mail each other during the week or two before selection. It’s easy to lose members if a group sticks to choices that are too saccharine or too dark; a blend is important, as is discovery.
One of the biggest book group complaints is that a book was too dark. There’s no escaping harsh reality in them. And, while we all have a different opinion about bleak (I’m thinking of Cormac McCarthy’s haunting take on post-Apocalyptic America, “The Road”), members also can’t agree about what makes them happy. Some wouldn’t touch Chick Lit with a Nook, and some prefer a pithy rather than humor and happy endings.
Dissension makes good conversation. Clubs also expose one to reading one wouldn’t ordinarily select, leading to discoveries. Some clubs consciously seek out cult writers, themed topics or first-time authors. Others define themselves as mystery book clubs, sci-fi readers or history clubs. It’s all good, really. Every genre has its high points.
But it’s summer now—time for a light touch by the pool. Books don’t need to be insipid to entertain. They can be beautifully written, or neatly contrived, to inspire good feelings. That a book expresses joy does not mean it is false or less than a worthy read.
Some of my favorites:
• Jan Karon’s series on a minister’s life in a fictional southern town, beginning with “At Home in Mitford,” portrays good people with light hearts and forgiving souls;
• Concord, Mass., author Gregory Maguire’s revisited fairy tales (the most famous being “Wicked”) includes new takes on Cinderella (“Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister”) and Snow White (“Mirror, Mirror”)—they’re whimsical and imaginative;
• New Hampshire author Nancy Clark’s “The Hills at Home” features a lively family of flaky relatives;
• Westborough’s Daniel Bruce Brown (disclosure: a friend) takes a farcical look at what the nation’s first Jewish president might encounter. “Roll Over, Hitler” won the 2010 fiction award from the Independent Publishers Association in May;
• Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods” is one funny travel story, drawn on his solo trip along the Appalachian Trail;
• “I Feel Bad About my Neck” is Nora Ephron’s wry look at aging: honest and witty;
• Vermont author Howard Mosher writes with warm humor about small town life—and baseball fans—in his books. My favorite, “Waiting for Teddy Williams”;
• A book need not be funny, either. Kent Haruf is a master storyteller, revealing the fears and failures of people with honesty and kindness. I loved “Plainsong” and its old bachelor farmers who take in a teenager who is pregnant and alone;
• Langston Hughes’ “Not Without Laughter” is a rare look inside the childhood and adolescence of a young black man growing up in the Midwest. It’s beautiful;
• Richard Russo’s “Empire Falls” and “Nobody’s Fool” are lasting portrayals of small towns and rich characters. I will always love these two works;
• “To Kill a Mockingbird.” If you somehow missed it in school, read it. If you’ve grown up since you first read it, read it again;
• Annie Proulx is a favorite writer of captivating short stories. Her novel, “The Shipping News,” is absorbing.

This is only a start. Enjoy that beach chair.


Area book clubs, events
Note to clubs: What was your top read in the last season? What’s coming up for Fall? Contact Ann Frantz by e-mailing ann.frantz@gmail.com, or see blog at Readitandreeap.blogspot.com (two ee’s is correct).
STURBRIDGE—Armchair Travelers chooses a general theme for each reading year. Last season’s, No Place Like Home: the New England Experience, included: “The Wordy Shipmates,” Sarah Vowell; “Widow’s War,” Sally Gunning; “That Old Cape Magic,” Richard Russo; “The Orchard,” Adele Crockett Robertson; “The Last Days of Dogtown,” Anita Diamant; “Looking Backward,” Edward Bellamy; and “Country of the Pointed Firs,” Sarah Orne Jewett.
Author Hallie Ephron visited in May at Old Sturbridge Village to discuss her new New England-based suspense novel, “Come and Find Me.” Joshua Hyde Public Library Director Becky Plimpton invites adults and young adult readers to read Padma Venkatraman’s “Climbing the Stairs” before an Aug. 29 discussion, with a demonstration of Indian cooking.
Summer reading begins July 5; selections posted in the library, and at www.readitandreeap.blogspot.com
HOLDEN—Betsy Johnson says, “Our group reads individually over the summer, and we spend the first meeting in September giving a ‘book report’ to the group.” Johnson previews and chooses the books and orders them for members so they’ll all have the same edition, eliminating reference confusion. Another difference: this group meets WEEKLY! “We always have a good discussion,” Johnson said. Members like the classics, and occasionally dip into an anthology to discuss a short story. Two favorites: Flannery O'Connor's “The Artificial Nigger,” and Eudora Welty's “Ladies in Springtime.” Also, Melville's “Benito Cereno.”
SUTTON—“We meet about every six weeks, so we will have another summer meeting, but we choose our book from month to month. Usually whoever is hosting the next book group picks the book, but that is our loosely held methodology. Just read: "The People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks (author of the new “Caleb’s Crossing”). Sutton’s favorite books this year included: "Same Kind of Different as Me," Ron Hall and Denver Moore; and “The Help" or "1000 White Women"—both of which generated a lot of discussion. “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society” also generated a lot of discussion. At its next meeting, in late July, this group will discuss “The Girls with the Pearl Earring” and watch a movie of the book, starring Colin Firth.
GARDNER—The Heywood Library Reading Group meets year round, on the last Wednesday of each month at 4:30 p.m. Director Ann Young says attendance averages a dozen, although faces change with each book. They run by the calendar year, so they choose books in November, reviewing recommendations before voting. In February, everyone reads their own choice, then talks about that book. The group’s best discussion in 2011focused on Nell Painter's “The History of White People.” The funniest—although the subject matter was serious—was “The Help.”

Two events at a great Vermont bookstore!

I always like to let folks know when a writer is appearing at a bookstore or other location within a decent drive's distance. This double-header is a beaut!
Northshire Bookstore is a very big, very wonderful independent bookstore on Main Street in Manchester, Vt. Sure, it's a bit of a drive, but well worth visiting, and a must when you're in the area. It's rambling and chock full of good sections and selections; the children's books department is exceptional too. Plus - oh, joy - it has a neat cafe.

The multi-talented and well-known Roy Blount Jr. - humorist, reporter, actor, musician, author of books ranging from subjects such as the Pittsburgh Steelers to Robert E. Lee, and just what dogs are thinking, is a regular panelist on NPR's Wait, Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! ~ That alone lets anyone who hasn't heard Blount know that he's funny and quick-witted.
He'll be at the Northshire bookstore to present his newest book, Alphabetter Juice, a hilarious collection of English language riffs and raves.

A reception will be held at 6 p.m., before his appearance. There'll be light refreshments, coffee, and a cash bar in the Spiral Press Cafe. This event is limited to 40 people, and tickets are $15. Order online at the bookstore (www.northshire.com), stop by the store, or call 802-362-2200 or 800-437-3700. (Sessions like this help to pay for free programs, like the 7 p.m. talk).

Anyone can attend the free 7 p.m. session with Blount.

On the evening before - Friday - writer Jim Sheperd introduces his latest, You Think That's Bad, which follows Like You'd Understand, Anyway. He'll begin at 7 p.m. Shepard was awarded the Story Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He returns to the Northshire with an even more wildly diverse collection of stories.
Says the bookstore rep.: "Like an expert curator, he populates the vastness of human experience, from its bizarre fringes and lonely, breathtaking pinnacles to the hopelessly mediocre and desperately below average, with brilliant scientists, reluctant soldiers, workaholic artists, female explorers, depraved murderers, and deluded losers, all wholly convincing and utterly fascinating."
Has to be cool, right?

Another book event in western Mass.

Here's an event that writers, especially, may enjoy. But all book lovers, including book club members, might consider attending - this is sure to be an excellent session, as both featured writers have a lot of writing credits, and are active in teaching the writing life to others.

Straw Dog Writers Guild presents a Salon with local authors
Contact: Jacqueline Sheehan at jrsheehan@verizon.net
Sunday, June 26 at 3 p.m. in the Smith Conference Center, Smith College, Northampton

Local authors Suzanne Strempek Shea and Tom Shea, nationally known and recognized for their fiction and nonfiction works, will interview each other about writing while living under one roof. Interviews with the authors can be scheduled.

The Straw Dog Writers Guild announces a rare opportunity to hear a nationally recognized Western MA writing couple interview each other about their art and how they write while living under one roof. On Sunday, June 26th the Guild will host a fund-raising salon featuring Suzanne Strempek Shea and Tom Shea, who each draw from local life lived in western Massachusetts.
A suggested donation of $5 for seniors and students and $10 for general admission is requested. Proceeds provide support for this newly established writers¹ guild whose mission is to support writers and their organizations and provide access to the art and craft of writing in Western
Massachusetts.

Suzanne Strempek Shea, born and raised in western Massachusetts, won the 2000 New England Book Award, which recognizes a literary body of work's contribution to the region. She is the author of five novels: Selling the Light of Heaven, Hoopi Shoopi Donna, Lily of the Valley, Around Again, and Becoming Finola. She has also written three memoirs: Songs From a Lead-lined Room: Notes ­ High and Low ­ From My Journey Through Breast Cancer and Radiation; Shelf Life: Romance, Mystery, Drama and Other Page-Turning Adventures from a Year in a Bookstore; and Sundays in America; A Yearlong Road Trip in Search of Christian Faith. She is currently at work
on several new books.

Tom Shea is the son of Irish immigrants raised on Springfield's Hungry Hill. Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, he was awarded the New England Associated Press News Executive Award for the best local column in 2004, which the Boston Globe noted, "chronicles little-noticed acts of kindness and grace by everyday people." The year 2011 marks his 39th year writing
for Springfield Newspapers. He started as a sports writer and eventually covered the Boston Red Sox - a "pretty good job" ­in his own words, for a Yankee fan. He then worked as a general assignment reporter for thirteen years until being given the column.

Strempek Shea is a member of the faculty at the University of Southern Maine¹s Stonecoast MFA program in creative writing and is writer-in-residence at Bay Path College. Shea has taught journalism at Springfield, Holyoke Community College and Elms Colleges. Both writers have
numerous published works of freelance journalism and fiction.

For western Mass. book clubs

Put this one on your calendar!
On June 12, at 2 p.m., Bay Path College's Longbridge campus will host an event for those who love books and are in bookclubs.
Follow this link to find out more: http://www.baypath.edu/NewsandEvents/EventsCalendar/June2011/BookClubEvent.aspx
Author Hallie Ephron is guest speaker.
This sounds like a blast, and I hope we find more events like this one in other areas of the state!

Some favorite feel-good reads

One of the biggest complaints, when book selection time comes around, is that a book is too dark to enjoy. Depressing books, it seems, are only making readers feel bad.
While we all have a different opinion about bleak reading (I’m thinking of Cormac McCarthy’s haunting take on post-Apocalyptic America in “The Road”), members also can’t agree about what makes them happy. Some wouldn’t touch chick lit with a Nook, while others find good people and good endings just too sugary.
Isn’t that what a book club is all about, though? Being exposed to reading that one wouldn’t ordinarily pick up, and discovering a few wonderful writers we would have otherwise missed? Some clubs make a point of consciously going down that road, seeking out cult writers, first-time authors, or relative unknowns. Others define themselves as mystery book clubs, sci-fi readers or history clubs. It’s all good, really. Every genre has its high points.
In early June, AbeBooks listed 25 Feel-Good Reads on its web site (where you can also find 50 books for 11-year-olds and a selection of bloggers). The editors did their homework. The list includes such classics as Tom Robbins’ “Still Life with Woodpecker,” Fannie Flagg’s “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café,” Truman Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Salinger’s “Franny and Zooey” and Nevil Shute’s “A Town Like Alice.” Yes, this author of “On the Beach” could also write of joy.
The list also includes more contemporary finds, like Garth Stein’s wonderful man-dog friendship, “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” Helen Fielding’s “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and Ann Patchett’s “Bel Canto.”
Books don’t have to be insipid to make readers happy. They can be beautifully written, or neatly contrived, to produce a good feeling. A book that makes one happy may well come from an author who’s feeling good (at least some of the time). That it finds joy in life does not mean it is false or less than a worthy read.
Some of my favorites:
• Jan Karon’s series on a minister’s life in the fictional southern town of Mitford, beginning with “At Home in Mitford,” portrays good people with light hearts and kind souls;
• Concord, Mass., author Gregory Maguire’s series of reshaped fairy tales (the most famous being “Wicked”) includes a new look at Cinderella (“Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister”) and Snow White (“Mirror, Mirror”); they are wonderfully whimsical and imaginative, always fascinating;
• New Hampshire author Nancy Clark wrote “The Hills at Home,” an enjoyable visit into a family of flaky relatives in close quarters with each other;
• Westborough’s Daniel Bruce Brown (a friend, I must tell you) recently published a farcical take on what the nation’s first Jewish president might encounter. “Roll Over, Hitler” even won the 2010 fiction award from the Independent Publishers Association in May;
• Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods” is one of the funniest travel stories I’ve read, drawn on his solo trip along the Appalachian Trail;
• Don’t forget to read “I Feel Bad About my Neck,” Nora Ephron’s wry look at aging; it’s honest and very funny;
• Howard Mosher, a Vermont author, writes warmly and humorously about life in small towns—and among baseball fans—in his books. My favorite, “Waiting for Teddy Williams”;
• A book doesn’t have to be funny to be a feel-good book, either. Kent Haruf is a master storyteller, revealing the fears and failures of people with honesty and kindness. I loved “Plainsong” and its old bachelor farmers—brothers Harold and Raymond McPheron—who take in a teenager who is pregnant and alone;
• Langston Hughes’ “Not Without Laughter” is simply beautiful, a rare look inside the childhood and adolescence of a young black man growing up in the Midwest. It’s semi-autobiographical;
• Oh, how I love Richard Russo. His “Empire Falls” and “Nobody’s Fool” are lasting portrayals of small towns and rich characters. I will always love these two works;
• “To Kill a Mockingbird.” If you somehow missed it in school, read it. If you’ve grown up since you first read it, read it again;
• Annie Proulx is a favorite writer. Her “The Shipping News” was atypical, but a satisfying read.

This list is by no means a complete listing of my own favorites; it contains some that I recall best. Share your favorites here as well.

Online and inline for reading

For central Mass. book clubs
• Seeking others who love reading? Scanning through www.meetup.com, one finds dozens of interest groups, among them readers and writers.
• Leominster’s “Literary Critics” lists 60 members. Find it at http://www.meetup.com/Reading-Sharing-and-Laughing.
• There are 53 members in Baldwinville’s Cover to Cover Book Club, which meets at Gardner cafes and homes. You can find them on Facebook, or at http://www.meetup.com/covertocoverbookclub/
• Candlelight Readers Circle of Ware’s 17 members are also on the Net. Look for them at (http://www.meetup.com/Candlelight-Readers-Circle-of-Ware/).
• Check out the Mark Twain House web site for a listing of Connecticut-area book discussions and author appearances it sponsors, including The Nook Book Club’s Harriet Beecher Stowe discussion on June 2, and an imaginative day dedicated to family activities surrounding Tom Sawyer, “Yo Ho—The Pirate’s Life,” on June 11.

Explore the writing of T.C. Boyle
Los Angeles novelist and short story writer T.C. Boyle, wry and insightful, writes across a diverse territory of very human characters in conflict with their world. While he’s among the most-published writers in the magazine world, not many book clubs read him yet. I first encountered Boyle through short stories like “Greasy Lake” and “Dogology.” Two of his novels, The Tortilla Curtain and Talk Talk, are favorites. His latest is When the Killing’s Done, exploring the conflict between animal rights activists and biologists. While he sticks to fiction, he’s creatively explored the life of architect and philanderer Frank Lloyd Wright in The Women and the cornflakes’ founder, John Harvey Kellogg, in The Road to Wellville. He even hit on Alfred Kinsey in The Inner Circle.

The dearly departing

Feeling inundated? Cluttered? There are solutions.
Those who love the sensations of paper and print, clinging to books despite electronic readers, can become hoarders of the best sort, jamming books into bags and backpacks, squeezing them onto shelves and bedside tables, sharing them with friends. But sometimes friends must part—at least those less-loved—and that’s where library sales, second-hand stores, book boxes and book swaps come in. In some cases, donated books make a big difference in others’ lives.
‘Read It and Reap’ feedback indicates readers stand firm: Give us this day our daily book! They treasure their books. As the mega-stores pare down their books and extend into other retail areas, we may even see a resurgence of small, independent bookstores. Every town needs a place to read, hang out with computer/wifi, meet friends, buy books and enjoy coffee and snacks. Is there anything better?
Admittedly, e-readers are aboard airplanes, in cafes and waiting rooms, but books aren’t going away. The reading life is about more than a screen: collectors love to acquire, and book lovers are no different. But we all need to thin the shelves occasionally. With over 1,000 books, I'm faced with the task too often, gleaning the chaff from the shelves. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Here are some ways to pare down:
• Book exchanges. Have each club member bring books to a meeting. You set the rules: book for book, or open selection. Donate what’s left over to the local library.
• Store collections. Some cafes, like the Starbucks in Leominster, have a nook for “leave-one, take-one” choices. We’ve even seen them at The Strand movie theater lobby in Clinton, in medical offices, even some very good ones in our hairstylist’s waiting room.
• The Prison Book Program (www.prisonbookprogram.com). This national organization's Massachusetts chapter is in the basement of United First Parish Church in Quincy, as the "Lucy Parsons Bookstore." Donated books in good condition are redistributed to prisoners throughout the state, to provide educational and recreational reading for prisoners, especially as state budgets reduce funds for such materials. Prisoners aren’t allowed books from family or friends; they must either be shipped from bookstores and publishers or received through the prison library. This program accepts books with an ISBN (bar code) on the cover or jacket, and textbooks no more than three years old, but not damaged books, encyclopedias or academic journals and magazines. Phone (617) 423-3298 or write info@prisonbookprogram.org for drop-off details.
• Amazon.com's buyback program accepts recent textbooks from a designated listing. You'll be paid, if they're accepted, with an amazon.com credit.
• Used bookstores vary as to which topics they like, but often have websites listing their preferences. The Toadstool, an excellent bookstore with used and new books, is in Keene and Peterborough, N.H. The Book Bear on Route 9, West Brookfield (www.bookbear.com) is a big store, buying and selling. The Rabbit Hole in Fitchburg features an eclectic collection including used vinyl and books. The Haunted Bookshop in W. Boylston is another specialty shop with collections of uncommon books on history, art, medieval life. Call (508) 835-4738 for details. Barely Read Books on Route 20 in Sudbury is terrific. While some shops are better, and more varied, payback is usually a few dollars.
• Libraries. Most libraries hold daily, weekly and annual book sales as a way to raise money for operations. Worcester Public Library's "storefront" bookshop is open most days. Libraries love your new used books, children's books, classics in good condition, how-to manuals and cookbooks. (Check upcoming library sales at www.booksalefinder.com/MA)
• Worcester. John and Anne-Marie Monfredo, founders of Worcester: The City that Reads Committee, run an annual book drive (the fifth ended in May), seeking books for children in preschool through Grade 8. They are distributed to schools, preschools and local organizations in June. For more information, call the Monfredos at (508) 853-3444.
Ann Connery Frantz’s past columns are included on her blog about books and book clubs at http://readitandreeap.blogspot.com (note the two ee’s). Email comments or questions to ann.frantz@gmail.com.