We are seven handsome and charming* guys who meet at a different restaurant every month or so, having read a book in common, and discuss whatever we want--generally the assigned book, but usually many other timely topics as well. We rotate the responsibility to suggest titles, but the group has the final say. Our book club rules: 1) Anything goes, fiction or nonfiction; 2) paperbacks are preferred; and 3) staying under 300 pages is desirable (N.B., we violate this one all the time). We rate all books and restaurants on a 5-point scale.

* All other adjectives were vetoed.

March 31, 2009

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Nick and Eddie)

Despite one strong dissent, we gave this month's book, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, pretty uniformly high marks (not apparent from the mediocre average rating). It was an interesting story, well told, and some found it inspiring. Much of the discussion focused on whether or not Mortenson's exploits amount to a kind of "imperialism". For the next book, Max suggested Gladwell's Blink, Shields' Mockingbird, French's In the Woods, and Tyson's Blood Done Sign My Name. We chose the latter. Our venue for the evening, Nick and Eddie, was noisy and unsatisfying, although the food was (mostly) good.