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.

November 2, 2017

Silent Nights of the Shadow Catcher by Timothy Egan (The Local)

This meeting marks the 20th anniversary of our book club.  We started the evening with a short visit to the Minneapolis Club which has a collection of photographs by Edward S. Curtis, the subject of this month's book.  Then we made our way to The Local, an Irish Pub which serves fish and chips, chicken pot pie, roast beef, and other comfort food.

The book by Timothy Egan was very popular.  Most of us knew something of Curtis' work, but we found the nuances of his career interesting and inspirational.  Tragically, in the end he lost control over his own work and lived in semi-poverty for two decades.

The next book for us is Nobel-winning Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day.  Other titles considered were Trevor Noah's Born a Crime and Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday.  We'll meet on December 20 and Paul suggests the next book.