Yesterday's meeting was delightful. We were sad to miss Anke and Maren (family), Kathleen (work), and Anjuli and Robin (academe), but we remaining 7 had a contentious and stimulating discussion of LULLABIES FOR LITTLE CRIMINALS. Reactions ranged from positive – for the empathetic portraits of characters who might seem stereotypical and the moments of lived-in sensation (Helen mentioned the description of children crowding around their foster mother to be able to smell her presence); to slight disappointment with a wildly popular book; to horrified incredulity at the milieu; to extremely negative – a boring book, a badly written book, and the smarmiest self-regarding author I ever hope to have literary dealings with (dixit Phoebe).
All six guests combined the skills of traiteurs and contortionists to provide wonderful food and get it served up and cleared away gracefully.
Chapeau!
Incidentally, we began a discussion of what each of us thinks makes a given book a good book club selection -- what are your thoughts?
Phoebe
