What We Thought: The Memory of Running

Combined Book Club Potluck!

This evening’s Book Club meeting began with a hot and cold dish supper enjoyed by everyone. Afternoon and Evening Book Club members look forward to the biennial event showcasing tasty treats including vegetarian casseroles and home style favorites of chicken, spicy sausage and other tempting ingredients.

After dinner the group moved from the Community Room to the Library’s  front room for desserts; decorated cake, trifle, cookies, and even chocolates and a discussion of author Ron McLarty’s The Memory of Running. This book evoked strong reactions and opinions about family issues and the treatment of psychiatric disorders during the past fifty years.

 

All agreed that the author wrote a beautiful story about difficult subjects. There was enough humor to lighten up the overall sadness of the character’s lives. Familiar locations in Rhode Island enhanced the background of events as the characters moved through the highs and lows of life.

The story revolved around family and the love and devotion of parents and children as well as goodness radiating from all of them. The Memory of Running is a story of hope and resilience that exists throughout experience despite life’s trials.

This quote from one of the group inspired Book Club members and was a fitting conclusion to the evening’s program, “In a dog-eat-dog world, Smithy wore Milk-Bone underwear.”

This Month's Selection: The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty

This month is the special Combined Book Club Potluck meeting, when Evening Readers and Afternoon Readers get together for supper and conversation. The Combined Book Club Potluck is Tuesday, August 20, at 6:00 p.m.

 

Bring a dish to share that night, or join us on the blog the next day!

 

This month's selection is The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty. Here's what some reviewers have said about this debut novel:

 

"Smithy is an American original, worthy of a place on the shelf just below your Hucks, your Holdens, your Yossarians." —Stephen King
"Endearing . . . it’s a ride worth taking." —USA Today
"In The Memory of Running, professional actor and long aspiring novelist Ron McLarty has invented a character so fully and elegantly defined that the book soars with originality and life." —San Francisco Chronicle
"Captivating . . . McLarty unspools passage after passage of devastating grace and melancholy, and his taciturn hero hooks himself to your heart." —Entertainment Weekly
"Riders who hop onto the back of Smithy Ide's bike and ride America with him will cherish the journey. I loved this sad, funny, life-affirming novel." —Wally Lamb

 

Click here to read an excerpt from The Memory of Running.

What We Thought: The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

The book club discussion emphasized how much freedom the three pre-adolescent boys -- main characters in the story -- enjoyed on board the Oransay. They were unsupervised, for the most part; took advantage of the run of a cruise ship; and suffered little consequences of their actions.

 

Book club members contrasted the boys’ coming of age stories with the likelihood of such activities today. Now children are closely regulated and supervised. Young children would never be dropped off to travel alone on a long ocean voyage without a strict schedule and accountability. People spoke fondly about their own lives growing up and how they were able to freely roam for extended periods of time. As long as they were home in time for dinner and not caught doing anything forbidden, everyone was satisfied. There was also talk about the secret lives of children.

 

Although the book is fictional, the author actually did travel as a young boy on the real-life Oronsay from Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) to London. Ondaatje says that the characters and events in the book are not real, but one could wonder how much in life is remembered and how much is imagined? It might be that people can’t or don’t wish to be certain of their own life story. This is a great story for reflection about childhood behavior and the effect it has on adult life. A quote from The Cat's Table:

"Over the years, confusing fragments, lost corners of stories, have a clearer meaning when seen in new light, a different place."

Have you read The Cat's Table? Please tell us your thoughts. You do not have to be a member of the group to comment on the blog!

This Month's Selection: The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

The Cat's Table

by Michael Ondaatje

In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy in Colombo boards a ship bound for England. At mealtimes he is seated at the “cat’s table”—as far from the Captain’s Table as can be—with a ragtag group of “insignificant” adults and two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin. As the ship crosses the Indian Ocean, the boys tumble from one adventure to another, bursting all over the place like freed mercury. But there are other diversions as well: they are first exposed to the magical worlds of jazz, women, and literature by their eccentric fellow travelers, and together they spy on a shackled prisoner -- his crime and fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever.

By turns poignant and electrifying, The Cat’s Table is a spellbinding story about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood, and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage.

Have you read this? Read along with the Afternoon Book Club and comment on the discussion post next week!

What We Thought About: Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods

A lively discussion of author Stuart Woods and Fresh Disasters (Putnam, 2007)dominated June’s Afternoon Book Club meeting. A majority of the group wholeheartedly enjoyed reading about lawyer Stone Barrington and his exploits and romances. Readers new to Stuart Woods liked the book, as well as those who were already fans.

It was said that although Woods writes great stories, he is not necessarily a prize winner. He has a devoted following and his books consistently are best sellers. The books are predictable, easy to read and very entertaining and spicy. Readers pick up the books and read them to the end eager to find out what happens to the characters. Even though his fiction is a welcome escape from everyday life some members said that there was enough realism to hold their attention. The consensus was that reading anything by Stuart Woods is a guilty pleasure without the guilt.

One member did say that Stone Barrington was not like any lawyer that she had ever worked for. Perhaps this was wistful thinking on her part! Another member of the group remarked that while she was reading one of Woods' books on a plane flight another passenger approached her reading the same book in Italian.

It must be said that a few members of the group were not enthusiastic supporters but confessed to finishing the book and did appreciate the mass market appeal of the author. This anonymous quote from one of many Internet sites sums up the general feeling of the Afternoon Book Club about Stuart Woods and Fresh Disasters.

“I will confess to being a fan of Stuart Woods' novels. I know that he is literary popcorn, that’s one of the reasons I like his stuff. When I pick up one of his books, I know I’m in for a good, fast, tight read. It’s perfect beach reading. I have read almost all of his books, and I realized something: This guy writes well across a variety of genres. In all of his books the characters come alive, and I care about them. That is perhaps the hardest thing to do as a writer. Yes, I realize that it’s not Shakespeare or Salinger; still, I am always interested in what Stone Barrington, Will Lee or Holly Baker is up to now. Does anyone else share this guilty pleasure?”

The answer as far as the Holmes Public Library Afternoon Readers Book Club is a resounding “Yes!”