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.

April 20, 2020

The Control of Nature by John McPhee (Zoom Online)

Well, we did meet. But because of the pandemic it was online at cocktail hour.  It was a relatively short discussion, experimental and punctuated with scratchy connections. We did, however, enjoy reading McPhee's accounts of three human interventions into nature's plans in the lower Mississippi, an Icelandic volcano, and the erosion of LA's San Gabriel mountains.  The author's insights and writing made reading a pleasure and invited further investigation.  Some of us looked online for maps and photos that should have been included in the book for clarity.

The next book is Albert Camus, The Plague.  Meeting date TBA.  The next book will be suggested by Don.