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.

February 5, 2013

To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild (Wilde Roast Cafe)

We met at a pleasant restaurant at Riverplace in Minneapolis, Wilde Roast Cafe.  It was quiet and roomy, had good service, and served mostly good food at a reasonable price.  Our book was To End All Wars, an account of WWI--especially the home front in Britain--by Adam Hochschild.  It was a popular choice that recounted much of the horror of the war at the front as well as the actions of the war's opponents at home.  We debated whether the war was notable for the idiocy of the responsible political and military leaders and how important the war resisters were.  Other topics of discussion included the indignities of contemporary air travel, movies, and the Superbowl, but surprisingly not politics.

For next time, March 26, we'll read Losing It: In Which an Aging Professor Laments His Shrinking Brain by William Ian Miller.  Other titles considered were The Photographer by Guibert, How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Bayard, How to Live, or a Life of Montaigne by Blackwell.  Phil will suggest the following book.
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