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.

June 29, 2016

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher (Longfellow Grill)

A lot of talk about politics--local, national, Brexit--and upcoming travel to London, Galapagos, Myanmar, etc.  Longfellow is a pretty reliable place, but few of us had been there for dinner.  Everything was above average.

(Almost) everybody liked the book, an academic satire which had much resonance for those of us who worked in academe.  Nobody liked the main character much and for some reason that seemed to lower the rating of the book somewhat.  And we agreed that despite the enjoyment most of us had with the book, it was not of the same quality as books by Richard Russo (Straight Man) or David Lodge (Changing Places).

Our next title is Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time, but we also considered David Rieff, In Praise of Forgetting.  We plan to meet on August 22, and Phil will suggest the following book.
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