Another month, another book

The February meeting will be at Coffee Roasters on San Jose Boulevard. It'll be the third Tuesday again; that translates to the nineteenth. If everyone likes that venue, maybe we could make it a default spot with freedom to move around when we like. It's independent, and I've heard good reports about its being a pleasant atmosphere for groups to meet, as well as about the coffee.

Next month's selection will be The Bookseller of Kabul, by Asne Seierstad. This is a journalistic account of a female Norwegian war correspondent's time sharing the household of an Afghan family. It's had a bit of controversy, which you can read about at this site maintained by the American Booksellers' Association It's out in trade paperback and the Jacksonville library owns lots of copies. It's out on audio CD, and new and used copies are widely available.

I'd like to make March a dedicated fiction month, since there have been several suggestions for novels. If you want to recommend a novel or short story collection, please do post your idea! If you want to be able to create a post, please send me the email address where you want me to send authorization. Anybody can comment, with or without signing in, no need for authorization.

I will try to get March and April selection polls up over the next couple of weeks, so that we can vote two months ahead in February, and try to stay that way. I know that especially with some of the longer books and busy busy schedules, advance planing can make the difference between getting around to the book or not!

FInally, if you read American Bloomsbury but weren't able to get to the meeting, please do post a comment or better yet contact me for authorization and start posting to this blog!

meeting place

Anne,
Last night you mentioned that our next meeting might be at the Coffee Roasters on the corner of Crown Point and San Jose. I was wondering if you're considering that as our permanent meetup spot. It's certainly convenient for me. So I'd vote for it to be our permanent spot IF they like us there and have a good decaf latte. It's right next door to The Loop in case people need to come right after work and therefore need a bite to eat before the meetup.

I liked The Grape also. I'm OK with switching from month to month also. The thing that I didn't like about Borders was that I thought we were disturbing people there that were studying and reading. It seemed to me that we were the only ones in Borders that were talking. The thing that I didn't like about The Grotto was that the music was too loud. The Grape was comfortable and would have been even more comfortable if that big group hadn't been there.

I actually wish we'd meet at restaurants for dinner. And the meeting would be from 6 to 7:30 or so. That's what the last book group (that I was in) did. That works well for people pushed for time. We have to eat. So combining dinner with the meeting saves time. BUT if other people don't want to do that, that's fine. Just a thought.
Susan

American Bloomsbury

I really enjoyed the book, especially the way the author very economically shed light on the genesis of The Scarlet Letter, and on the struggles of Louisa Mae Alcott. One thing that puzzled me was the impression conveyed to me at least that Margaret Fuller was the only public feminist in the world. The Seneca Falls conference was in 1848 and was energized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and (I think) Lucreita Mott and Susan B. Anthony. For that matter, The Vindication of the Rights of Women had been published in 1792. With that caveat, though, I thought the book packed a lot of history, personalities and ideas into a short space.

Many great suggestions, thanks!

Thanks to all who responded with suggestions! The ones that were posted on the blog are in the comments to the book threads. Please do keep them coming!