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.

October 28, 2014

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (Libertine)

Libertine is a new restaurant in Uptown that specializes in meat.  It has an energetic vibe that was not very conducive to a group discussion, but I think we were all glad to have tried it.  We talked about the World Series, the election, and travel to places like Berlin, Sicily, and Aruba.  Several of us had read Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle many years ago and considered it a minor classic. Others, reading it for the first time, were somewhat less impressed.  A bitter satire on modern culture, religion, and science, it is pretty bleak and nihilistic but Vonnegut's outrageous sense of humor and underlying compassion pull the tale into balance.

Next time, we'll read Robert Graves, Goodbye to All That.  We also considered Ernst Junger, Storm of Steel.  We'll meet on Monday, December 22, and Phil will suggest the next title.


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