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.

May 2, 2023

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout (Soberfish)

Most of us had read some of Elizabeth Strout's previous work, including Olive Kitteridge, and we were eager to dive into her latest novel.  Lucy by the Sea is written in the same easy, unadorned language and focuses on the same domestic kind of relationships as appeared in earlier work, but the neat interrelationships and the sparkle in writing were somehow lacking.  Maybe we have just heard enough of Strout's fantasy (or maybe real) world of characters.  The restaurant, however, was quite enjoyable and we liked most of the dishes we ordered.  Our next book is Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait.  Other titles considered were Eddie Jaku, The Happiest Man on Earth, Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel, and Eric Larson, The Devil in the White City.  (The bookclub previously read the Diamond and Larson books.) Don is in line to suggest the following book.  We plan to meet on June 6.

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