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 31, 2020

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (Zoom)

The book is a well-known classic, but most of us had read it long ago or not at all.  It's easy to see why it made a big impression almost 60 years ago: written in the modest form of everyday correspondence, it's a bold and eloquent assessment of the state of race relations in America.  It was good to read it during this contemporary period of racial re-assessment, and it's amazing how it reflects much of the current dialogue.

Our next book is Carl Hiassen, Squeeze Me.  Other titles considered were P. D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley and Eric Larson's The Splendid and the Vile.  We'll connect again via Zoom on October 28 and Max will suggest the next book,

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